aibioDermata Therapeutics gets Nasdaq stockholders' equity deficiency notice, has until May 9, 2025
Tickers DRMA
Dermata reported stockholders' equity of about $1.6 million against the $2.5 million Nasdaq minimum. It must regain compliance or submit a plan by May 9, 2025.
Key facts
- Company
- Dermata Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRMA)
- News type
- Listings
- Primary source
- Dermata Therapeutics, Inc. Form 8-K filed March 25, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)
Dermata Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRMA) said on March 25, 2025 that Nasdaq has notified it of a deficiency under the minimum stockholders' equity requirement for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. The company disclosed the letter in a Form 8-K. The equity figure comes from the company's own annual report for 2024, and Nasdaq has given Dermata until May 9, 2025 to regain compliance or submit a plan to do so.
What the notice requires
Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(b)(1) requires companies on the Nasdaq Capital Market to keep stockholders' equity of at least $2.5 million. Dermata's annual report, filed March 17, 2025, showed stockholders' equity of approximately $1.6 million. The 8-K adds that, as of March 25, 2025, the company also does not meet the alternative standards for the market value of listed securities or for net income from continuing operations.
The letter has no immediate effect on the listing, according to the filing. The company has 45 calendar days, or until May 9, 2025, to submit a plan. If Nasdaq accepts the plan, it may grant an extension until September 21, 2025 to regain compliance. If the plan is not accepted, or the company does not regain compliance in time, Nasdaq could issue a delisting notice. The company could then ask an independent Hearings Panel for up to 180 calendar days more.
The company says it is evaluating various courses of action and intends to submit a plan on time. It also says there is no assurance the plan will be accepted, or that it will regain compliance and stay listed. Chief Executive Officer Gerald T. Proehl signed the 8-K.
Cash and the going concern warning
The annual report says Dermata had cash and cash equivalents of $3.2 million at year-end 2024, an accumulated deficit of $65.7 million, and used approximately $11.1 million in operations during 2024. In January 2025 the company raised $2.6 million gross from a private placement of common stock, warrants and pre-funded warrants.
The report says existing cash is expected to fund operations into the third quarter of 2025. That is the same period as the September 21, 2025 extension date that Nasdaq could grant. The auditor's reports for the fiscal years 2024 and 2023 contain an explanatory paragraph on substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern.
The clinical programs
Dermata describes itself as a late-stage medical dermatology company. Its two candidates, XYNGARI (formerly DMT310) and DMT410, use a Spongilla technology derived from a freshwater sponge.
The main event for XYNGARI is the first of two Phase 3 studies in moderate-to-severe acne, called STAR-1, which enrolled 520 patients by November 2024. The annual report expected top-line results from it in March 2025. The 8-K does not report those results, so the filing offers nothing yet on whether the trial met its endpoints.
The company's case rests on earlier work. In a Phase 2b acne study, the company says it initially saw a 45% reduction in inflammatory lesions after four treatments. That is a company-reported figure from a smaller study, and the report does not show it against a comparison of the kind a Phase 3 would use. The psoriasis work is a Phase 1b proof-of-concept trial in 30 patients, and the company says a larger Phase 2 trial depends on raising more money.
On January 17, 2025, Dermata signed a clinical trial collaboration with Revance Therapeutics, which recently merged with Crown Laboratories, to test XYNGARI with Revance's DAXXIFY botulinum toxin in a multi-center Phase 2 study.