CLEVELAND, Ohio — Biopharmaceutical company Athersys Inc. is seeking to register 20 million shares of common stock, or warrants to buy the stock, which the company might or might not sell in the future.
The so-called “shelf registration” filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is meant to give Athersys the room to sell more shares, if it wants to. The company raised $65 million and went public through a reverse-merger, sometimes called a reverse-IPO, in 2007.
“This filing is a strategic, proactive measure that will give us flexibility over the next few years to access the capital markets in a timely and efficient way when we feel it is in the best interest of our shareholders to do so,” said William “B.J.” Lehmann, president and chief operating officer of Athersys, in a press release.
If Athersys did sell shares or warrants — promises to sell shares at a certain price on a future date — it would use the “net proceeds from the sale of securities for general corporate purposes, including, but not limited to, research and development costs, payment obligations and capital expenditures,” the company said in its filling.
At the proposed maximum offering price of $3.52 per share or warrant — the price used on the registration statement to calculate a registration fee — Athersys could raise as much as $70.4 million, before fees.
In December, Athersys announced a development and marketing agreement with Pfizer Regenerative Medicine for a stem cell therapy to treat patients who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease. The agreement could mean up to $111 million in revenue for Athersys.
The agreement validated the scientific and commercial viability of MultiStem, the company’s adult stem cell therapy. It also was a shot in the arm for Athersys, which has for years been investing in its development programs in stages, trying to make its cash stretch far enough to cover products like MultiStem, as well as drug candidates the company discovers through a proprietary technology.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
In the last year, Athersys has been beating the bushes for partners to help pay for development and clinical trials of MultiStem to treat heart attack and stroke patients, as well as cancer patients who have rejected bone marrow transplants. Almost a year ago, the company shelved a promising drug to treat obesity because it couldn’t land a partner to share the rising cost of drug development.
Languishing around $1, Athersys shares shot up to a peak of $5.55 on Dec. 22, the day following the Pfizer announcement. As of Thursday, Athersys shares were 247 percent higher at $3.47 than they were on Dec. 18 when they cost $1 apiece.
