Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Sorrento Therapeutics Goes Public In Reverse Merger

San Diego-based Sorrento Therapeutics, a privately held firm which says it is developing proprietary platform technology for the generation of fully human monoclonal antibodies, announced Tuesday that it has merged with publicly traded QuikByte Software, which is traded over the country (OTC). QuickByte is a "shell" company--a firm which has public listing status, but no active operations. According to Sorrento Therapeutics, QuickByte will be renamed to integrate the Sorrento brand, and its headquarters moved to San Diego. The firm said the merger is subject to $2M in funding from affiliates of Dr. Phillip Frost, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of OPKO Health, Inc., a current sharedholder in the firm, Glenn L. Halpryn, chairman, president and CEO of QuikByte, and Steven Jerry Glauser, President of the Glauser Group. OPKO Health purchased around a third of Sorrento Therapeutics in June.

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