Athersys, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATHX) today announced the Company’s
slate of director candidates for its 2022 Annual Meeting of
Stockholders being held on Thursday, July 28, 2022, at 8:30 a.m.
ET. As previously announced, in connection with the Company’s
cost-cutting and restructuring initiatives, the Board of Directors
approved reducing its size from ten to five members on June 6,
2022, effective as of the Annual Meeting on July 28, 2022. In order
to accelerate the implementation of this change, on June 16, 2022
the Board requested and received resignations from the following
Directors: John J. Harrington, Hardy TS Kagimoto, Katherine Kalin,
Lorin J. Randall and Baiju R. Shah.
The Board members’ decisions to depart were not the result of
any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the
Company’s operations, policies, or practices. These Board members
agreed that their departures now would align the Company’s
resources with its current strategy and operations.
The following directors comprise the current composition of the
Board and will be proposed for reelection at the Annual Meeting:
Daniel Camardo, Ismail Kola, Kenneth H. Traub, Jane Wasman and Jack
L. Wyszomierski.
"I extend my thanks to all the exiting Board members. Their
input has been invaluable, and they have made significant
contributions to Athersys over the years," said Dan Camardo, Chief
Executive Officer and director of Athersys. "Reducing the size of
the Board and driving both cost-savings and decision-making
efficiencies are additional steps we are taking, as part of a
larger plan, to put Athersys on the right path forward," concluded
Mr. Camardo.
"We are pleased with this reduction in Board size, which we
expect will help enhance efficient decision-making at this
important time for Athersys," commented Dr. Ismail Kola, Chairman
of the Board. "We believe we have five excellent directors with the
right experience and commitment to help Athersys reach its
goals.
"On behalf of Athersys and its Board, I want to thank the
directors who have departed the Board as of June 16, 2022—John J.
Harrington, Hardy TS Kagimoto, Katherine Kalin, Lorin J. Randall
and Baiju R. Shah—for their dedicated service to the Company,"
concluded Dr. Kola.
The Company’s partner and largest shareholder, HEALIOS K.K.
(Healios), currently has the right to nominate one director to the
Board, and Mr. Traub has been nominated to serve as Healios’
nominee to the Board, allowing Dr. Kagimoto, Chairman, Chief
Executive Officer and President of Healios, to step down as an
Athersys director.
"I would like to express my strong support for the current Board
and management team of Athersys," commented Dr. Kagimoto. "The
cooperation between Athersys and Healios is now excellent, and we
are working closely together to seek regulatory approval and
prepare for potential commercialization of MultiStem to treat
patients suffering from stroke and acute respiratory distress
syndrome in Japan. I also believe Athersys is appropriately
shrinking the size of its management team, staff and Board to both
reduce operating expense and improve efficiencies. In support of
the reduction in the size of the Board from ten directors to five
directors, I have agreed to resign from the Board, and Ken Traub
will serve as the Healios nominee on the Board."
"It has been a privilege to serve on the Athersys Board for the
past 15 years and witness what the Company has developed in
MultiStem," commented Lorin J. Randall, an independent director of
Athersys since 2007. "I am excited about the future of Athersys and
look forward to following the Company’s progress," concluded Mr.
Randall.
"Athersys is in strong hands with a capable Board and management
team, and I support the initiatives to shrink the Board and
organization to reduce cost and improve efficiencies," commented
Katherine Kalin, an independent director of Athersys since
2020.
The stockholders as of the record date of June 9, 2022 will be
mailed updated proxy materials and will be asked to vote for the
revised slate of directors at the Annual Meeting of Stockholders
taking place virtually on July 28, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. ET.
About MultiStem®
MultiStem® cell therapy (invimestrocel) is a patented
regenerative medicine product candidate in clinical development
that has shown the ability to promote tissue repair and healing in
a variety of ways, such as through the production of therapeutic
factors in response to signals of inflammation and tissue damage.
MultiStem therapy’s potential for multidimensional therapeutic
impact may distinguish it from traditional biopharmaceutical
therapies focused on a single mechanism of benefit. MultiStem
represents a unique "off-the-shelf" stem cell product candidate
that can be manufactured in a scalable manner, may be stored for
years in frozen form, and is administered without tissue matching
or the need for immune suppression. Based upon favorable outcome
data, its novel mechanisms of action and favorable and consistent
tolerability data in clinical studies, we believe that MultiStem
therapy may provide a meaningful benefit to patients, including
those suffering from serious diseases and conditions with unmet
medical need.
About Athersys
Athersys is a biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and
development of therapeutic product candidates designed to extend
and enhance the quality of human life. The Company is developing
its MultiStem® cell therapy product, a patented, adult-derived
"off-the-shelf" stem cell product, initially for disease
indications in the neurological, inflammatory and immune,
cardiovascular and other critical care indications and has several
ongoing clinical trials evaluating this potential regenerative
medicine product. Athersys has forged strategic partnerships and a
broad network of collaborations to further advance MultiStem cell
therapy toward commercialization. Investors and others should note
that we may post information about the Company on our website at
www.athersys.com and/or on our accounts on Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn or other social media platforms. It is possible that the
postings could include information deemed to be material
information. Therefore, we encourage investors, the media and
others interested in the Company to review the information we post
on our website at www.athersys.com and on our social media
accounts. Follow Athersys on Twitter at www.twitter.com/athersys.
Information that we may post about the Company on our website
and/or on our accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other
social media platforms may contain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties. You should not place
undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained on our
website and/or on our accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or
other social media platforms, and we undertake no obligation to
publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking
statements relate to, among other things, potential cost-savings
from our restructuring; expected reductions of operating expenses;
the potential benefits of our MultiStem product candidate;
anticipated results of clinical trials involving our MultiStem
product candidate; the expected timetable for development of our
product candidates; our growth strategy; and our future financial
performance, including our operations, economic performance,
financial condition, prospects, and other future events. We have
attempted to identify forward-looking statements by using such
words as "anticipates," "believes," "can," "continue," "could,"
"estimates," "expects," "intends," "may," "plans," "potential,"
"should," "suggest," "will," or other similar expressions. These
forward-looking statements are only predictions and are largely
based on our current expectations. A number of known and unknown
risks, uncertainties, and other factors could affect the accuracy
of these statements. Some of the more significant known risks that
we face are the risks and uncertainties inherent in the process of
discovering, developing, and commercializing products that are safe
and effective for use as therapeutics, including the uncertainty
regarding market acceptance of our product candidates and our
ability to generate revenues. The following risks and uncertainties
may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or
achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels
of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by
these forward-looking statements: our ability to raise capital to
fund our operations in the near term, including, but not limited
to, our ability to access our traditional financing sources and to
continue as a going concern; our ability to enter into a
partnership for the co-development and co-commercialization of
MultiStem; the possibility of unfavorable results from ongoing and
additional clinical trials involving MultiStem; the risk that
positive results in a clinical trial may not be replicated in
subsequent or confirmatory trials or success in an early stage
clinical trial may not be predictive of results in later stage or
large scale clinical trials; our ability to regain compliance with
the requirement to maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00
per share as set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2); the
timing and nature of results from MultiStem clinical trials,
including the MASTERS-2 Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the
administration of MultiStem for the treatment of ischemic stroke;
the success of our MACOVIA clinical trial evaluating the
administration of MultiStem for the treatment of COVID-19 induced
ARDS, and the MATRICS-1 clinical trial being conducted with The
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston evaluating the
treatment of patients with serious traumatic injuries; the
possibility that the COVID-19 pandemic could continue to delay
clinical site initiation, clinical trial enrollment, regulatory
review and potential receipt of regulatory approvals, payments of
milestones under our license agreements and commercialization of
one or more of our product candidates, if approved; the
availability of product sufficient to meet commercial demand
shortly following any approval, such as in the case of accelerated
approval for the treatment of COVID-19 induced ARDS; the impact on
our business, results of operations and financial condition from
the ongoing and global COVID-19 pandemic, or any other pandemic,
epidemic or outbreak of infectious disease in the United States;
the possibility of delays in, adverse results of, and excessive
costs of the development process; our ability to successfully
initiate and complete clinical trials of our product candidates;
the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the production capabilities
of our contract manufacturing partners and our MultiStem trial
supply chain; the possibility of delays, work stoppages or
interruptions in manufacturing by third parties or us, such as due
to material supply constraints, contamination, operational
restrictions due to COVID-19 or other public health emergencies,
labor constraints, regulatory issues or other factors which could
negatively impact our trials and the trials of our collaborators;
uncertainty regarding market acceptance of our product candidates
and our ability to generate revenues, including MultiStem cell
therapy for neurological, inflammatory and immune, cardiovascular
and other critical care indications; changes in external market
factors; changes in our industry’s overall performance; changes in
our business strategy; our ability to protect and defend our
intellectual property and related business operations, including
the successful prosecution of our patent applications and
enforcement of our patent rights, and operate our business in an
environment of rapid technology and intellectual property
development; our possible inability to realize commercially
valuable discoveries in our collaborations with pharmaceutical and
other biotechnology companies; our ability to meet milestones and
earn royalties under our collaboration agreements, including the
success of our collaboration with Healios; our collaborators’
ability to continue to fulfill their obligations under the terms of
our collaboration agreements and generate sales related to our
technologies; the success of our efforts to enter into new
strategic partnerships and advance our programs; our possible
inability to execute our strategy due to changes in our industry or
the economy generally; changes in productivity and reliability of
suppliers; the success of our competitors and the emergence of new
competitors; and the risks mentioned elsewhere in our Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 under Item 1A,
"Risk Factors" and our other filings with the SEC. You should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and we
undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220621005520/en/
Ivor Macleod Chief Financial Officer Tel: (216) 431-9900
ir@athersys.com
Karen Hunady Director of Corporate Communications and Investor
Relations Tel: (216) 431-9900 khunady@athersys.com
David Schull Russo Partners, LLC Tel: (212) 845-4271 or (858)
717-2310 David.schull@russopartnersllc.com
Peter Vozzo ICR Westwicke Tel: (443) 213-0505
peter.vozzo@westwicke.com
Athersys (NASDAQ:ATHX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Athersys (NASDAQ:ATHX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024