NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Spherix
Incorporated (NASDAQ: SPEX) an intellectual property
development company committed to fostering of technology, today
issued a letter to shareholders.
Dear Fellow Shareholder,
It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to update
you on recent events at the Company and describe in greater detail
our strategic path forward. The fundamentals at Spherix
are stronger than they have been in recent memory and our path to
value creation is moving forward with precision and focus.
Our Company is focused on three areas of shareholder value
creation.
Capital Deployment
We intend to use most of the
capital we have recently raised to pursue additional opportunities
for increasing shareholder value. Each day we seek and vet
opportunities in the biopharmaceutical industry that also hold some
intellectual property. Our newly established technology board gives
us a firm footing to review the many situations that come our way
and to pursue new opportunities in the marketplace while being
synergistic to our existing business.
Hoth Therapeutics
We are extremely excited about our
investment in Hoth Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company that
is developing therapeutics for patients suffering from
eczema. Our Company's efforts are focused on moving Hoth into
a Phase 2 study and providing additional infrastructure
support. As previously noted, the eczema space has been
active from an M & A perspective and the Hoth platform offers a
unique treatment method. A host of recent M&A validates
our belief that large pharmaceutical companies recognize the
substantial unmet need for novel and safe treatments in
dermatology, such as atopic dermatitis, and are actively seeking
out assets with near term revenue potential.
Many shareholders have asked us if we are obligated to fund
Hoth's ongoing development efforts. Under the negotiated
terms of the Hoth transaction, our monetary investment in Hoth is
fixed and we do not anticipate additional funding from Spherix to
develop this unique compound. Management was conscious of the
time and investment required to bring new drug therapies to
market. We are confident that Hoth will develop the BioLexa
platform without additional funding from us. Naturally this
consideration was paramount to our decision to invest.
Hoth's BioLexa platform is a unique, patent-protected compound
that has achieved positive results in its initial studies.
BioLexa is not an untested compound. To the contrary, an
initial study of BioLexa was conducted at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine,
Department of Dermatology. That study showed that BioLexa
inhibited the growth of the staphylococcus bacteria associated with
eczema. As stated in the study results, "novel therapies that
can reduce the bacterial loads of wounds would have significant
clinical implications." Spherix believes that these positive
test results, from a well-known and respected medical institution,
supports the exciting development prospects for this compound.
Investors can rest assured that we will update you as new
milestones are achieved and with the progress of Hoth.
Patent Monetization with Equitable IP
Finally, we have
been working with Equitable IP on vetting new, mostly unlicensed,
optical patents acquired earlier this year as part of a licensing
deal. These patents originated from a global network company
focused on managed security, network, voice and data services and
are all related to improvements in optic fiber transmission, a
market that is over $3b and growing
rapidly. The patents have priority dates going back to the
late 1990s and have been widely cited by existing patents filed by
leading technology companies. Our preliminary work has
identified at least eight patents that show promising infringement
potential. We are working with Equitable to implement a
monetization strategy around these new patents and hope to see new
cases on file soon. As we have stated in the past, our unique
relationship with Equitable allows us to monetize these
intellectual property assets without incurring litigation
costs. It is a capital light strategy with exciting
upside.
The last few months have been busy at Spherix and we have much
to show for our efforts. The Company has a healthy balance
sheet and no financial debt. We've acquired a large interest
in an exciting new biopharmaceutical company and taken an active
role in developing its value for the benefit of Spherix
shareholders. We have reduced our year over year cash burn,
while continuing our patent monetization efforts. Our efforts
have resulted in both tangible and intangible benefits, including
the removal of the "going concern" language from our public
filings.
Communicating with our investors remains a top priority as we
execute on our strategic plan. We fully intend to increase our
outreach efforts by attending more investor conferences and
proactively updating our shareholders on new
developments.
It is an exciting time to be a part of Spherix. During the last
few months, we have applied ourselves with energy and enthusiasm
and feel privileged to be able to grow and build our Company on
your behalf. The future holds great potential. Our path to value
creation is moving forward with focus and conviction.
I thank you for your continued investment.
Sincerely,
Anthony Hayes
Contact:
Investor Relations Contact:
Hayden IR, LLC
Brett Mass
Phone: (646) 536-7331
Email: investorrelations@spherix.com
www.haydenir.com
Spherix Contact:
Phone: (703) 992-9325
Email: info@spherix.com
www.spherix.com
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SOURCE Spherix Incorporated