Akari Therapeutics, Plc Announces Private Placement
February 20 2020 - 5:34PM
Akari Therapeutics, Plc (Nasdaq: AKTX), a biopharmaceutical
company focused on innovative therapeutics to treat orphan
autoimmune and inflammatory diseases where the complement and/or
leukotriene systems are implicated, today announced that it has
entered into definitive agreements with certain accredited
investors, the majority of whom are existing investors of the
Company, including Dr. Ray Prudo, Akari’s Chairman, to receive
gross proceeds of approximately $6 million through the private
placement of its equity securities.
In connection with the offering, the Company will issue
unregistered American Depository Shares (ADSs) at a purchase price
of $1.70 per ADS. Additionally, for each ADS purchased by
investors, the investors will receive an unregistered warrant to
purchase one-half ADS. The warrants will have an exercise price
of $2.20 per ADS, will be exercisable upon their issuance
and will expire five years from the issuance date. The closing of
the offering is expected to take place during or before the week of
February 24, 2020, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing
conditions.
Paulson Investment Company, LLC, is acting as the exclusive
placement agent in connection with this offering.
The ADS and warrants described above are being offered in a
private placement under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of
1933, as amended (the “Act”), and Regulation D promulgated
thereunder and, along with the ADSs issuable upon exercise of the
warrants, have not been registered under the Act, and may not be
offered or sold in the United States absent registration
with the SEC or an applicable exemption from such
registration requirements.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described
herein. There shall not be any offer, solicitation of an offer to
buy, or sale of securities in any state or jurisdiction in which
such an offering, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to
registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such
state or jurisdiction.
About Akari Therapeutics
Akari is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing
inhibitors of acute and chronic inflammation, specifically for the
treatment of rare and orphan diseases, in particular those where
the complement (C5) or leukotriene (LTB4) systems, or both
complement and leukotrienes together, play a primary role in
disease progression. Akari's lead drug candidate, nomacopan
(formerly known as Coversin), is a C5 complement inhibitor that
also independently and specifically inhibits leukotriene B4 (LTB4).
Nomacopan is currently being clinically evaluated in four
indications: bullous pemphigoid (BP), atopic keratoconjunctivitis
(AKC), thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), and paroxysmal nocturnal
hemoglobinuria (PNH). Akari believes that the dual action of
nomacopan on both C5 and LTB4 may be beneficial in AKC and BP.
Akari is also developing other tick derived proteins, including
longer acting versions.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other
things, statements related to the offering, the expected gross
proceeds and the expected closing of the offering. These
forward-looking statements reflect our current views about our
plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which
are based on the information currently available to us and on
assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans,
intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected in
or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we
can give no assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations or
strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual
results may differ materially from those described in the
forward-looking statements and will be affected by a variety of
risks and factors that are beyond our control. Such risks and
uncertainties for our company include, but are not limited to:
needs for additional capital to fund our operations, our ability to
continue as a going concern; uncertainties of cash flows and
inability to meet working capital needs; an inability or delay in
obtaining required regulatory approvals for nomacopan and any other
product candidates, which may result in unexpected cost
expenditures; our ability to obtain orphan drug designation in
additional indications; risks inherent in drug development in
general; uncertainties in obtaining successful clinical results for
nomacopan and any other product candidates and unexpected costs
that may result therefrom; difficulties enrolling patients in our
clinical trials; our ability to enter into collaborative,
licensing, and other commercial relationships and on terms
commercially reasonable to us; failure to realize any value
of nomacopan and any other product candidates developed and being
developed in light of inherent risks and difficulties involved in
successfully bringing product candidates to market; inability to
develop new product candidates and support existing product
candidates; the approval by the FDA and EMA and any other
similar foreign regulatory authorities of other competing or
superior products brought to market; risks resulting from
unforeseen side effects; risk that the market for nomacopan may not
be as large as expected; risks associated with the departure of our
former Chief Executive Officers and other executive officers; risks
associated with the SEC investigation; inability to
obtain, maintain and enforce patents and other intellectual
property rights or the unexpected costs associated with such
enforcement or litigation; inability to obtain and maintain
commercial manufacturing arrangements with third party
manufacturers or establish commercial scale manufacturing
capabilities; the inability to timely source adequate supply of our
active pharmaceutical ingredients from third party manufacturers on
whom the company depends; unexpected cost increases and pricing
pressures and risks and other risk factors detailed in our public
filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
including our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 20-F filed
with the SEC. Except as otherwise noted, these forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of this press release and we
undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these statements
to reflect events or circumstances occurring after this press
release. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on
the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
Investor Contact:
Peter Vozzo Westwicke (443) 213-0505
peter.vozzo@westwicke.com
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