PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Soligenix,
Inc. (Nasdaq: SNGX) (Soligenix or the Company), a late-stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing
products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical
need, announced today that it has entered into a
$20 million convertible debt
financing agreement with Pontifax Medison Debt Financing
(Pontifax), the healthcare-dedicated venture and debt fund of the
Pontifax life science funds.
"The access to less dilutive capital provided by this facility
is designed to increase our financial flexibility as we continue to
advance our rare disease pipeline, and build toward
commercialization in the United
States with SGX301 for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell
lymphoma (CTCL) and SGX942 for the treatment of oral mucositis in
head and neck cancer patients," stated Christopher J. Schaber, PhD, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Soligenix.
"Pontifax is pleased to enter into this strategic financing
partnership with Soligenix as it continues to advance its pipeline
of clinically meaningful products for treating rare diseases," said
Momi Karako, Partner at Pontifax.
"Soligenix has deep expertise in development of products that
treat diseases such as CTCL and oral mucositis in head and neck
cancer patients, which is a perfect fit with our portfolio of
transformative, cutting-edge life science companies."
Under the terms of the agreement with Pontifax, Soligenix will
have access to up to $20 million in
convertible debt financing in three tranches, which will mature
over a four and a half year period and have an interest-only period
for the first two years. Upon the closing of this transaction, the
Company has accessed the first tranche of $10 million, and has the option to draw the
second tranche of $5 million at any
time over the next 12 months and the third tranche of $5 million upon filing of the SGX301 new drug
application, subject to certain conditions.
Pontifax may elect to convert the outstanding loan drawn under
the first two tranches into shares of Soligenix's common stock at
any time prior to repayment at a conversion price of $4.10 per share. Soligenix also has the ability
to force the conversion of the loan into shares of its common stock
at a conversion price of $4.92 per
share, subject to certain conditions.
About Pontifax Ventures
Founded in 2004, Pontifax is a healthcare-dedicated venture
capital firm with over $775 million
under management. It seeks transformative, cutting-edge life
sciences technologies at all development stages. Its portfolio
comprises of about 80 companies that develop breakthrough solutions
to substantial unmet needs.
About Soligenix, Inc.
Soligenix is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on
developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases
where there is an unmet medical need. Our Specialized
BioTherapeutics business segment is developing SGX301 as a novel
photodynamic therapy utilizing safe visible light for the treatment
of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, our first-in-class innate defense
regulator (IDR) technology, dusquetide (SGX942) for the treatment
of oral mucositis in head and neck cancer, and proprietary
formulations of oral beclomethasone 17,21-dipropionate (BDP) for
the prevention/treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders
characterized by severe inflammation including pediatric Crohn's
disease (SGX203) and acute radiation enteritis (SGX201).
Our Public Health Solutions business segment includes active
development programs for RiVax®, our ricin toxin vaccine
candidate, SGX943, our therapeutic candidate for antibiotic
resistant and emerging infectious disease, and our research
programs to identify and develop novel vaccine candidates targeting
viral infection including Ebola, Marburg and SARS-CoV-2 (the cause
of COVID-19). The development of our vaccine programs incorporates
the use of our proprietary heat stabilization platform technology,
known as ThermoVax®. To date, this business
segment has been supported with government grant and contract
funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID), the Defense Threat Reduction Agents (DTRA) and
the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
(BARDA).
For further information regarding Soligenix, Inc., please visit
the Company's website at www.soligenix.com.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that
reflect Soligenix, Inc.'s current expectations about its future
results, performance, prospects and opportunities, including but
not limited to, potential market sizes, patient populations and
clinical trial enrollment. Statements that are not historical
facts, such as "anticipates," "estimates," "believes," "hopes,"
"intends," "plans," "expects," "goal," "may," "suggest," "will,"
"potential," or similar expressions, are forward-looking
statements. These statements are subject to a number of
risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual
events or results in future periods to differ materially from what
is expressed in, or implied by, these statements, such as
experienced with the COVID-19 outbreak. Soligenix cannot
assure you that it will be able to successfully develop, achieve
regulatory approval for or commercialize products based on its
technologies, particularly in light of the significant uncertainty
inherent in developing therapeutics and vaccines against bioterror
threats, conducting preclinical and clinical trials of therapeutics
and vaccines, obtaining regulatory approvals and manufacturing
therapeutics and vaccines, that product development and
commercialization efforts will not be reduced or discontinued due
to difficulties or delays in clinical trials or due to lack of
progress or positive results from research and development efforts,
that it will be able to successfully obtain any further funding to
support product development and commercialization efforts,
including grants and awards, maintain its existing grants which are
subject to performance requirements, enter into any biodefense
procurement contracts with the US Government or other countries,
that it will be able to compete with larger and better financed
competitors in the biotechnology industry, that changes in health
care practice, third party reimbursement limitations and Federal
and/or state health care reform initiatives will not negatively
affect its business, or that the US Congress may not pass any
legislation that would provide additional funding for the Project
BioShield program. In addition, there can be no assurance as to the
timing or success of the Phase 3 clinical trial of SGX942
(dusquetide) as a treatment for oral mucositis in patients with
head and neck cancer receiving chemoradiation therapy, or any of
our other clinical/preclinical trials. Despite the
statistically significant result achieved in the HYBRYTE Phase 3
clinical trial for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma,
there can be no assurance that a marketing authorization from the
FDA or EMA will be successful. Further, there can be no
assurance that RiVax® will qualify for a biodefense Priority Review
Voucher (PRV) or that the prior sales of PRVs will be indicative of
any potential sales price for a PRV for RiVax®. Also, no
assurance can be provided that the Company will receive or continue
to receive non-dilutive government funding from grants and
contracts that have been or may be awarded or for which the Company
will apply in the future. These and other risk factors are
described from time to time in filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Soligenix's
reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K. Unless required by law,
Soligenix assumes no obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future
events.
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SOURCE Soligenix, Inc.