metacrine inc shares rose 10 to 48 cents in afterhours trading friday after the company and equillium inc mutually agreed to terminate their merger deal the biotechnology company said it continues to evaluate all strategic opportunities equillium said it first approached metacrine in early 2022 to add cash runway in a difficult financing market but the clinicalstage biotechnology companys recent partnership with ono pharmaceutical is expected to extend its cash runway into 2025 said chief executive bruce steel and possibly further with potential option exercise and milestone payments shares of metacrine are down roughly 36 for the year shares of equillium which were flat in afterhours trading are down 76 on the year