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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 8-K

 

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): June 5, 2025

 

Estrella Immunopharma, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware   001-40608   86-1314502
(State or other jurisdiction
of Incorporation)
  (Commission File Number)   (IRS Employer
Identification Number)

 

5858 Horton Street, Suite 370
Emeryville, California
  94608
(Address of registrant’s principal executive office)   (Zip code)

 

(510) 318-9098

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

 

N/A

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

 

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below):

 

Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 

Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 

Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 

Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of each class   Trading symbol(s)   Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share   ESLA   The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC
Warrants, each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50   ESLAW   The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

 

Emerging growth company

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Item 8.01 Other Events

 

On June 5, 2025, Estrella Immunopharma, Inc. announced the activation of a second clinical site for its ongoing STARLIGHT-1 Phase I/II clinical trial evaluating EB103, a CD19-Redirected ARTEMIS® T-cell therapy, in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL).

 

The information in this Current Report on Form 8-K and Exhibit 99.1 attached hereto is intended to be furnished and shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.

 

Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.

 

Exhibit No.   Description
99.1   Press Release dated as of June 5, 2025
104   Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document)

 

1

 

 

SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

 

  Estrella Immunopharma, Inc.
   
Date: June 5, 2025 By: /s/ Cheng Liu
  Name:  Cheng Liu
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

 

2

 

 

Exhibit 99.1

 

Estrella Immunopharma Announces Activation of Additional Site for Phase I/II STARLIGHT-1 Trial in B-cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

 

Emeryville, California, June 5, 2025 – Estrella Immunopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESLA) (“Estrella” or the “Company”), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing CD19 and CD22-targeted ARTEMIS® T-cell therapies to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announced the activation of a second clinical site for its ongoing STARLIGHT-1 Phase I/II clinical trial evaluating EB103, a CD19-Redirected ARTEMIS® T-cell therapy, in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). The new site, Baylor Research Institute d/b/a Baylor Scott & White Research Institute in Dallas, Texas, is now open for patient enrollment.

 

“Partnering with Baylor Research Institute, a nationally recognized medical institution, represents a key step forward in broadening the reach of our STARLIGHT-1 trial,” said Cheng Liu, Chief Executive Officer of Estrella. “The expansion of our clinical footprint will help accelerate development and increase patient access to EB103, while we remain focused on our mission to deliver safer, more effective treatments for patients with advanced NHL.”

 

The Phase I/II clinical trial for EB103 is an open-label, dose escalation, multi-center, Phase I/II clinical trial to assess the safety of EB103 autologous T-cell therapy and to determine the Recommended Phase II Dose (RP2D) in adult subjects (≥ 18 years of age) who have relapsed/refractory (R/R) B-cell NHL. The study includes a dose escalation phase followed by an expansion phase. Further details of the trial can be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov under NCT identifier: NCT06343311.

 

About EB103

 

EB103, a T-cell therapy, also referred to as Estrella’s “CD19-Redirected ARTEMIS® T-Cell Therapy,” utilizes ARTEMIS® technology licensed from Eureka Therapeutics, Inc. (“Eureka”), Estrella’s parent company. Unlike a traditional CAR-T cell, the unique design of an ARTEMIS® T-Cell, like EB103 T-cell, allows it to be activated and regulated upon engagement with cancer targets that use a cellular mechanism more closely resembling the one from an endogenous T-cell receptor. Once infused, EB103 T-cells seek out CD19-positive cancer cells, bind to these cells, and destroy them.

 

About Estrella Immunopharma

 

Estrella is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing CD19 and CD22-targeted ARTEMIS® T-cell therapies to treat cancers and autoimmune diseases. Estrella’s mission is to harness the evolutionary power of the human immune system to transform the lives of patients fighting cancer and other diseases. To accomplish this mission, Estrella’s lead product candidate, EB103, utilizes Eureka’s ARTEMIS® technology to target CD19, a protein expressed on the surface of almost all B-cell leukemias and lymphomas. Estrella is also developing EB104, which also utilizes Eureka’s ARTEMIS® technology to target not only CD19, but also CD22, a protein that, like CD19, is expressed on the surface of most B-cell malignancies.

 

For more information about Estrella, please visit www.estrellabio.com.

 

 

 

 

Forward Looking Statements

 

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements, including but not limited to those regarding the potential benefits and therapeutic advantages of EB103 and ARTEMIS® T-cell therapy, the anticipated progress and milestones of the STARLIGHT-1 Phase I/II clinical trial, and the future development plans for EB103, are based on our management’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about the industry and markets in which we operate and our management’s current beliefs and assumptions. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking expressions, including, but not limited to, “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. These statements relate to future events or our financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, those listed under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we have no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

 

Contact:

 

Investor Relations

Estrella Immunopharma, Inc.

[email protected]