NeuBase Therapeutics Inc.’s board of directors voted Thursday to dissolve and liquidate the Pittsburgh-based biotech firm, according to a document filed Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The brief filing said the board “determined that it is in the best interests of NeuBase Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NBSE) stockholders for the company to dissolve, liquidate and distribute to stockholders its available assets.”
There was no timing of the dissolution nor amount of value of the assets. It follows by several months the announcement that it had paused its operations.
The filing said the board plans to approve a formal plan of dissolution and then hold a special shareholder meeting to approve the plan.
“The board reserves the right to abandon the proposed liquidation and dissolution and the Plan of Dissolution, even if approved by the company’s stockholders, if the board, in its discretion, determines that the liquidation and dissolution of the company or the plan of dissolution is no longer in the best interests of the company and its stockholders,” NeuBase said in the filing.
NeuBase shares dropped 7.5% to 71 cents a share in trading on the Nasdaq on Friday. Shares were up 40%, or 29 cents, in after-hours trading. It's well below the $5.40 a share 52-week high and has dropped 98% of its value since March 2019.
NeuBase announced last August that it was exploring strategic alternatives at the same time it was halting further development of its gene editors. The board had also declined a September request by a shareholder to issue a $1 a share special dividend. Carnegie Mellon University halted its licensing agreement with NeuBase in December. Last year, the company employed two dozen people but it wasn’t clear how many worked at the company now. It went through a 60% cut in its staff in the fall of 2022. The company stock price had fallen below compliance with Nasdaq rules earlier in 2023 and had done a reverse stock split in June 2023 to remain in compliance.
A review of SEC filings made by NeuBase shows that the company paid $1.5 million in January to Armistice Capital Master Fund Ltd. to repurchase shares after it had done a private placement of debt with Armistice Capital in June 2023.
