Atossa Therapeutics gets Nasdaq minimum bid price deficiency notice, has until August 20, 2025

Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS) said on February 24, 2025 that Nasdaq has told the company it no longer meets the minimum bid price requirement for continued listing. Atossa reported the notice in a Form 8-K under Item 3.01, the item for delisting notices and failures to satisfy a continued listing rule.

What the Nasdaq notice says

On February 21, 2025, Atossa received a letter from The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC informing it that it is not in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). The reason, according to the filing, is that the common stock failed to maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days.

Atossa has until August 20, 2025 to regain compliance. To do so, the closing bid price must be at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days. If it does not regain compliance by August 20, 2025, the filing says it may be eligible for an additional 180 calendar day compliance period.

The notice has no immediate effect on the listing or trading of the stock, according to the company. Atossa says it intends to actively monitor the bid price and is committed to considering available options to regain compliance. The 8-K names no specific plan, such as a reverse stock split. Chief Financial Officer Heather Rees signed it on February 24, 2025.

The business behind the stock

Atossa describes itself as a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, with an emphasis on women's breast cancer and other breast conditions. Its lead candidate is oral (Z)-endoxifen, an active metabolite of tamoxifen, which it is developing for both prevention and treatment of breast cancer. The company says up to 50% of breast cancer survivors who take tamoxifen do not reach therapeutic endoxifen levels, and argues its drug does not need liver metabolism. That is the company's thesis, not an approved advantage.

The latest annual report available as of the notice, the Form 10-K filed April 1, 2024, says Atossa had completed four Phase 1 studies and two Phase 2 studies, and had four Phase 2 trials ongoing: EVANGELINE, Karisma-Endoxifen, I-SPY 2 and RECAST DCIS. In EVANGELINE, a 40mg run-in cohort was well tolerated and showed what the company called encouraging efficacy but did not reach the plasma concentrations it wanted, so an 80mg cohort was started. In Karisma-Endoxifen, which tests breast density reduction, the company noted that input from the FDA and the Swedish Medical Products Agency in March 2020 indicated that reduction in density may not be an approvable indication unless it also reduces the incidence of breast cancer. All four are Phase 2 trials.

Cash and capital

The same report said Atossa had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $88.5 million as of December 31, 2023. It also said the company had not established an ongoing source of revenue to cover operating costs, expected no revenue until its programs are developed and approved, and planned to raise capital by selling equity securities and borrowing when needed. It added that it believed it had enough capital for at least 12 months but that its plan could change, in particular because of strategic transactions. Its stated uses of capital include in-licensing or acquiring additional programs and making investments in other companies, including special purpose acquisition companies.

That figure is more than a year old at the date of the notice, and the 8-K gives no current cash balance. The notice itself concerns the share price.

People

Steven C. Quay, M.D., Ph.D. signed the 2023 annual report as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Heather Rees signed it as Senior Vice President, Finance and Accounting, and Principal Financial and Accounting Officer.

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