Monster Digital Completes Reverse Merger

Monster Digital Inc. completed on Tuesday its reverse merger with a North Carolina drug maker. The Simi Valley action sports camera developer and distributor will take on the name of the company it merged with, Innovate Biopharmaceuticals Inc. The combined companies will begin trading under a new ticker symbol, INNT, on Wednesday. Innovate, in Raleigh, N.C., is a research biotech that plans to use the public capital markets to finance development of its main pipeline drug to treat celiac disease. Founder Jay Madan called the reverse merger an exciting transition as the company strives to become a leader in autoimmune and inflammatory drug development. “With the continued support from our existing investors, and now with access to the capital markets, our main focus will be rapidly progressing our clinical assets,” Madan said in a prepared statement. A spin-off company, MD Holding Co. Inc., that will include assets not assumed through the merger, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Innovate. On their final day of trading Tuesday, shares of Monster Digital (MSDI) closed up 3 cents, or more than 5 percent, to 61 cents on the Nasdaq.