Seattle-based biotech Atossa Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS) faces delisting from the Nasdaq because its share price has dipped below the minimum bid threshold.
In a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Atossa said it received a letter from the Nasdaq saying the company is no longer in compliance with listing rules because its stock price was below $1 per share for 30 consecutive business days.
Atossa has until April 3 to regain compliance by getting its stock price to at least $1 per share for at least 10 consecutive business days.
Atossa's stock price was trading at 81 cents per share as of Tuesday morning, down from more than $3 per share a year ago. Atossa didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the potential delisting from the Nasdaq.
According to the filing, Atossa can get more time to regain compliance if it meets all the other Nasdaq continued and initial listing rules. Other continued listing rules for the Nasdaq include having at least 300 public holders and having a market value of publicly held shares of at least $1 million.
Atossa would also have to provide written notice of how it plans to get its stock price back to at least $1 per share to qualify for the additional time. One option, the filing notes, is a reverse stock split, a way for companies to raise their stock prices by consolidating shares, making for fewer total shares that are more valuable.
Atossa was founded in 2009 and went public in 2012. The company is developing treatments for both Covid-19 and breast cancer, and the treatments are undergoing clinical trials. Steven Quay has been the company's president and CEO since its founding.
According to a July regulatory filing, Atossa paid $3 million for the exclusive rights to negotiate with an unnamed company that is developing CAR T-cell therapies, immune cells that are grown in a lab and used as a cancer treatment. Atossa has until Nov. 1 to negotiate the acquisition, according to the filing. Kyle Guse, Atossa's chief financial officer, previously said the potential acquisition was a way for Atossa to broaden its pipeline.
"We view immunotherapy, including CAR T-cell therapy, as an area that could have a lot of appeal to our investors," Guse told the Business Journal in July. "We do have a fair amount of cash on our balance sheet, which will help support an acquisition, either this one or another one. It fits in nicely with our broader strategy."
