Dogwood Therapeutics, Inc. Announces Conversion of Existing $19.5M in Debt to Equity, Strengthening Balance Sheet Moving Forward
March 12 2025 - 8:30AM
Dogwood Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: DWTX) (“Dogwood” or the
“Company”), a development-stage biopharmaceutical company focused
on advancing first-in-class, non-opioid, treatments for chronic and
acute pain, announces that its largest shareholder, CK Life
Sciences Int’l., (Holdings), Inc. (“CKLS”) has agreed, through its
wholly-owned subsidiary, Conjoint Inc. (“Conjoint”), to assign to
the Company all outstanding indebtedness under the previously
existing $19.5 million Loan Agreement plus accrued interest in
exchange for 284.2638 shares of preferred equity of the Company,
effective today.
“We believe the decision by CKLS to exchange the
outstanding loan amounts for equity in the Company is anchored to
its conviction in Halneuron®, NaV 1.7 as a priority target for
reducing pain. The conversion further underscores its confidence in
the Dogwood management teams’ ability to execute the Halneuron®
Phase 2b chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (“CINP”) program,”
said Greg Duncan, Dogwood’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
“This agreement enables us to remove all existing debt from our
balance sheet, which, combined with the potential for Halneuron® to
be the first FDA approved therapy to treat CINP, we believe makes
us a more attractive investment opportunity moving forward.”
The strategic financing, initially provided by
CKLS in October 2024, ensures the Company has sufficient capital to
recruit patients through a planned interim assessment of its
ongoing Phase 2b CINP trial in Q4 of this year without the burden
of making debt payments as originally structured. Dosing of the
first patient in its Phase 2b clinical trial, referred to as the
HALT-CINP (Halneuron® Treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathic
Pain) trial, is anticipated in the near term.
Pursuant to the Debt Exchange and Cancellation
Agreement entered into between Conjoint and the Company on March
12, 2025, the principal amount of all loans made to the Company
under the Loan Agreement, along with accrued interest through March
12, 2025, will be deemed repaid by the Company and all of the
Company’s obligations with respect to the principal amount and
accrued interest will be satisfied in full and cancelled. In
exchange, the Company has agreed to issue to Conjoint 284.2638
shares of Series A-1 Non-Voting Convertible Preferred Stock, par
value $0.0001 per share (“A-1 Preferred Stock”). Each share of A-1
Preferred Stock will be convertible into 10,000 shares of the
Company’s common stock, subject to and contingent upon approval of
the Company’s stockholders and relevant Nasdaq rules and
regulations. The terms of the A-1 Preferred Stock are substantially
the same as the Company’s Series A Non-Voting Convertible Preferred
Stock, except that the terms of the A-1 Preferred Stock do not
provide for any cash settlement or dividend rights.
Halneuron® is a first-in-class, NaV 1.7 specific
voltage gated sodium channel inhibitor being developed as an
alternative to chronic pain treatment with opioids. Patients
treated with Halneuron® demonstrated a statistically significant
reduction in cancer-related pain in a previous Phase 2 clinical
trial with an acceptable safety profile. Halneuron® has been
evaluated in over 700 patients in a series of Phase 1 and Phase 2
studies and shows no signs of addiction potential.
About Dogwood Therapeutics
Dogwood Therapeutics (Nasdaq: DWTX) is a
development-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing
new medicines to treat pain and fatigue-related disorders. The
Dogwood research pipeline includes two separate mechanistic
platforms with a non-opioid analgesic program and an antiviral
program. The proprietary, non-opioid, NaV 1.7 analgesic program is
centered on our lead development candidate, Halneuron®, which is a
highly specific voltage-gated sodium channel modulator, a mechanism
known to be effective for reducing pain transmission. In clinical
studies, Halneuron® treatment has demonstrated pain reduction in
pain related to general cancer and in pain related to chronic
chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (“CINP”). Interim data from
the forthcoming Halneuron® Phase 2 CINP study are expected in Q4 of
2025.
Dogwood’s antiviral program includes IMC-1 and
IMC-2, which are novel, proprietary, fixed-dose combinations of
anti-herpes antivirals and the anti-inflammatory agent celecoxib.
These combination antiviral approaches are being applied to the
treatment of illnesses believed to be related to reactivation of
previously dormant herpesviruses, including fibromyalgia (“FM”) and
Long-COVID (“LC”). IMC-1 is poised to progress into Phase 3
development as a treatment for FM and is the focus of external
partnership activities. IMC-2 has been assessed in both active
control and double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials and,
in both cases, demonstrated successful reduction of the fatigue
associated with LC. The company has reached an agreement with FDA
on using reduction in fatigue as the primary endpoint for future LC
research and is currently planning to advance IMC-2 into Phase 2b
research.
For more information, please visit
www.dwtx.com.
Follow Dogwood Therapeutics
Email Alerts:
https://ir.dwtx.com/resources/email-alerts
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dogwoodther/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dogwoodther
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/dogwoodther
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release contain
“forward-looking statements,” within the meaning of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that are subject
to substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than
statements of historical fact, contained in this press release are
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in
this press release may be identified by the use of words such as
“anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “could,” “estimate,”
“expect,” “intend,” “seek,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,”
“predict,” “project,” “suggest,” “target,” “aim,” “should,” "will,”
“would,” or the negative of these words or other similar
expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain
these words. Forward-looking statements are based on Dogwood’s
current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties,
risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including
risks related to the completion, timing and results of current and
future clinical studies relating to Dogwood’s product candidates.
Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on
assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate.
These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in
the section titled “Risk Factors” in the Amended Annual Report on
Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2023 and the Company’s
quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended
September 30, 2024, which are filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements contained in this
announcement are made as of this date, and Dogwood undertakes no
duty to update such information except as required under applicable
law.
Investor Relations:CORE IR (516)
222-2560IR@dwtx.com
Dogwood Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DWTX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2025 to Apr 2025
Dogwood Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DWTX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to Apr 2025