TriSalus Life Sciences Poised for Public Market Entry Following Strategic SPAC Merger Agreement

Game-Changing Technology Transforms Approach to Treating Liver and Pancreatic Tumors

TriSalus Life Sciences, a privately held biotech company focused on reimagining cancer treatment, has announced a definitive merger agreement with MedTech Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: MTAC), paving the way for the combined entity to trade on NASDAQ under the ticker “TLSI”. The transaction values TriSalus Life Sciences at approximately $244.4 million post-close, marking a significant milestone for the company’s path to becoming a publicly traded organization.

At the heart of this merger lies TriSalus Life Sciences’ proprietary approach to addressing a critical challenge in oncology: the difficulty of delivering effective therapeutics to tumors in the liver and pancreas. These cancer types have historically presented treatment barriers that limit therapeutic efficacy, creating substantial unmet medical needs affecting tens of thousands of patients annually.

Disrupting Cancer Delivery Through Proprietary Technology Platform

The TriSalus Life Sciences platform centers on Pressure-Enabled Drug Delivery™ (PEDD™), a mechanism designed to overcome the natural pressure barriers within tumors that prevent drugs from penetrating deeply into diseased tissue. This technological foundation supports two key clinical assets: the commercially-available TriNav® Infusion System and the investigational immunotherapy candidate SD-101.

The TriNav® Infusion System represents the most advanced iteration of TriSalus Life Sciences’ delivery technology. FDA-cleared since 2020, TriNav has already demonstrated substantial clinical utility across more than 17,000 patient procedures at multiple medical centers, establishing itself as a recognized tool for optimizing existing cancer interventions. The system has generated meaningful commercial traction, with 2021 net sales reaching $8.4 million and projected 2022 revenues of $12.6 million—evidence that the market recognizes the value of improved therapeutic delivery.

Beyond current commercial applications, TriNav is designed to work synergistically with SD-101, TriSalus Life Sciences’ investigational toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist. SD-101 functions by promoting immune system activation in the tumor microenvironment, reducing immunosuppressive mechanisms that typically protect cancer cells from immune attack. When combined with checkpoint inhibitors and other cell-based therapies through the TriNav delivery platform, SD-101 aims to create more durable and comprehensive anti-tumor responses.

Clinical Progress and Development Timeline

The development program for SD-101 has demonstrated encouraging safety and biological activity across early-stage trials. More than 300 patients have been enrolled in Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies investigating SD-101 in melanoma, lymphoma, and head and neck cancers. Within TriSalus Life Sciences’ focused oncology programs, over 100 infusions of SD-101 have been administered to more than 20 patients, consistently showing tolerability and preliminary evidence of therapeutic activity.

Phase 1/1b efficacy data are anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2022 for rare indications including uveal melanoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. TriSalus Life Sciences is deliberately targeting these orphan disease categories where regulatory pathways may accelerate, potentially enabling a New Drug Application submission as early as 2025.

Addressing Substantial Market Opportunity

The addressable market for TriSalus Life Sciences’ technology extends well beyond current applications. Approximately 41,000 new primary liver cancer cases and 96,000 cases with liver metastases are projected annually in the United States alone. Globally, the incidence of these conditions creates a $15 billion addressable market opportunity, particularly since existing immunotherapy approaches have delivered disappointing outcomes in hepatic and pancreatic malignancies.

Current standard-of-care approaches, including transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and transcatheter arterial radioembolization (TARE), remain suboptimal for many patients. TriSalus Life Sciences’ platform is positioned to meaningfully enhance the effectiveness of these interventions while enabling integration with next-generation immunotherapies, including CAR-T cell approaches.

Transaction Structure and Financial Positioning

The merger has been unanimously approved by both boards and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023. Upon completion, the combined company anticipates cash on hand of at least $60 million (assuming significant shareholder redemptions), supplemented by up to $50 million from a convertible note from a leading institutional investor. This financing structure positions TriSalus Life Sciences to fund critical data readouts for both its device portfolio and immunotherapy platform through late 2024.

The post-merger board will comprise nine members, with TriSalus Life Sciences leadership maintaining operational control under CEO Mary Szela. MedTech’s leadership team brings extensive experience commercializing medical device companies, providing relevant expertise as TriSalus Life Sciences scales its commercial operations and advances its clinical development programs.

Strategic Implications

The merger represents recognition of TriSalus Life Sciences’ differentiated technology platform and the substantial opportunity to improve outcomes for patients with limited therapeutic options. Access to public capital markets will accelerate commercialization of the TriNav® Infusion System while enabling more robust funding of the SD-101 clinical development program across multiple tumor types and combination strategies.

For investors, the transaction combines near-term commercial revenue potential from an FDA-cleared device with long-term value creation optionality from an immuno-oncology program targeting significant unmet needs in oncology.