Lumos Pharma Inc. and NewLink Genetics Corp. in Ames recently announced that NewLink’s shareholders have voted to approve the issuance of shares in connection with their previously announced merger agreement. In a news release, the companies said the vote was approved “by an overwhelming majority” of shareholders. The combined company will operate as Lumos Pharma Inc. and will trade on Nasdaq under the stock symbol “LUMO.” Its focus will be development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics for rare and neglected diseases. The combined company plans to initiate a Phase 2b trial in mid-2020 evaluating its lead therapeutic candidate, LUM-201 (ibutamoren), an orally administered small molecule, with the potential to address other rare endocrine disorders. Lumos Pharma’s projected cash position on a combined basis will be $80 million as of March 31, which the company expects to be sufficient to fund operations through data read-out for the Phase 2b trial.