NEW YORK and LONDON, Sept. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akari Therapeutics, Plc (Nasdaq: AKTX), a late-stage biotechnology company developing advanced therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, today announced it has entered into definitive agreements with healthcare-focused institutional investors alongside participation from certain existing investors, including the Akari Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr. Ray Prudo, for the purchase and sale of 15,000,000 Akari American Depository Shares (ADSs) at a purchase price of $0.85 per ADS. The company further agreed to issue to the investors Series A Warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 15,000,000 ADSs and Series B Warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 15,000,000 ADSs in a concurrent private placement. Series A and Series B Warrants will have an exercise price of $0.85 per ADS, will be exercisable immediately following the date of issuance and will expire in 2024 and 2029, respectively. Gross proceeds from the offering are expected to be approximately $12.75 million. The offering is expected to close on September 14, 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
Net proceeds from the transaction are expected to support advancement of Akari’s two priority pipeline programs investigating nomacopan, a bispecific recombinant inhibitor of complement C5 and leukotriene B4 (LTB4). The first pipeline priority is the acceleration of the Phase 3 clinical trial of nomacopan in severe pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant-related thrombotic microangiopathy (HSCT-TMA) to Part A data readout, expected in the first half of 2023. The second pipeline priority is the promising pre-clinical program investigating long-acting PAS-nomacopan to address key areas of unmet need in geographic atrophy (GA).
A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners is acting as the placement agent for the offering.
The ADSs are being offered by Akari in a registered direct offering in connection with a takedown of the company’s shelf registration statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-251673) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on December 23, 2020, and declared effective on December 31, 2020. The offering of the ADSs will be made only by means of a prospectus, including a prospectus supplement, forming a part of the effective registration statement. A prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus describing the terms of the proposed offering will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC’s website located at http://www.sec.gov. Electronic copies of the prospectus supplement may be obtained, when available, from A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners, 590 Madison Avenue, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10022, or by telephone at (212) 624-2060, or by email at prospectus@allianceg.com.
The Series A and Series B Warrants being issued to the above investors will be issued in a private placement under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”), and Regulation D promulgated thereunder. The Series A and Series B Warrants and the ADSs underlying the Series A and Series B Warrants will not be registered under the Act or applicable state securities laws and, hence, may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an effective registration statement or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Act and such applicable state securities laws.
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 Therapeutics, plc (Nasdaq: AKTX) is a biotechnology company developing advanced therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Akari’s lead asset, investigational nomacopan, is a bispecific recombinant inhibitor of C5 complement activation and leukotriene B4 (LTB4) activity. Akari’s pipeline includes a Phase 3 clinical trial program investigating nomacopan for severe pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant-related thrombotic microangiopathy (HSCT-TMA), as well as pre-clinical research of long-acting PAS-nomacopan in geographic atrophy (GA). For more information about Akari, please visit akaritx.com.
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; 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 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (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 impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; 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 SEC, 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:
Mike Moyer
LifeSci Advisors
(617) 308-4306
mmoyer@lifesciadvisors.com
Media Contact:
Eliza Schleifstein
Schleifstein PR
(917) 763-8106
eliza@schleifsteinpr.com
