Item 1A. Risk factors
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following information about these risks, together with the other information about these risks contained in this Annual Report, as well as the other information contained in this Annual Report generally, before deciding to buy our securities. Any of the risks we describe below could adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results or prospects. The market prices for our securities could decline if one or more of these risks and uncertainties develop into actual events and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties that we do not yet know of, or that we currently think are immaterial, may also impair our business operations. You should also refer to the other information contained in this Annual Report, including our financial statements and the related notes.
Summary of Risk Factors
Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that you should understand before making an investment decision. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:
Risks Related to our Business
● There may be unforeseen challenges in developing our biodefense products.
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● We may not be able to utilize all of our net operating loss carryforwards.
Risks Related to our Intellectual Property
Risks Related to Technology and Intellectual Property
Risks Related to our Securities
● The price of our common stock may be highly volatile.
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Risks Related to our Business
We have had significant losses and anticipate future losses; if additional funding cannot be obtained, we may reduce or discontinue our product development and commercialization efforts.
We have experienced significant losses since inception and, at December 31, 2025, had an accumulated deficit of approximately $245.1 million. We expect to incur additional operating losses in the future and expect our cumulative losses to increase. As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately $7.9 million in cash and cash equivalents available, and as of March 24, 2026 we had approximately $5.9 million in cash and cash equivalents available. Without additional funding, based on our projected budgetary needs and funding from existing contracts and grants over the next year, we expect to be able to maintain the current level of our operations into the fourth quarter of 2026.
In September 2014, we entered into a contract with the NIH for the development of RiVax® to protect against exposure to ricin toxin that would provide up to $24.7 million of funding in the aggregate over six years if options to extend the contract are exercised by the NIH. In 2017, we were awarded two separate grants from the NIH of approximately $1.5 million each to support our pivotal Phase 3 trials of HyBryteTM for the treatment of CTCL and SGX942 for the treatment of oral mucositis in head and neck cancer. In December 2020, we were awarded Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from NIAID of approximately $1.5 million to support manufacture, formulation (including thermostabilization) and characterization of COVID-19 and EBOV disease vaccine candidates in conjunction with the CoVaccine HTTM adjuvant. Our biodefense grants have an overhead component that allows us an agency-approved percentage over our incurred costs. As of December 31, 2025, there was no previously awarded grant funding available.
Our product candidates are positioned for or are currently in clinical trials, and we have not yet generated any significant revenues from sales or licensing of these product candidates. From inception through December 31, 2025, we have expended approximately $132 million developing our current product candidates for pre-clinical research and development and clinical trials. We currently expect to spend approximately $3.3 million for the year ending December 31, 2026 in connection with the development of our therapeutic and vaccine products, licenses, employment agreements, and consulting agreements. We do not anticipate any contract and grant reimbursements revenue in the next twelve months to offset our research and development expenses.
We have no control over the resources and funding U.S. government agencies may devote to our programs, which may be subject to periodic renewal and which generally may be terminated by the government at any time for convenience. Any significant reductions in the funding of U.S. government agencies or in the funding areas targeted by our business could materially and adversely affect our biodefense program and our results of operations and financial condition. If we fail to satisfy our obligations under the government contracts, the applicable Federal Acquisition Regulations allow the government to terminate the agreement in whole or in part, and we may be required to perform corrective actions, including but not limited to delivering to the government any incomplete work. If U.S. government agencies do not exercise future funding options under the contracts or grants, terminate the funding or fail to perform their responsibilities under the agreements or grants, it could materially impact our biodefense program and our financial results.
Unless and until we are able to generate sales or licensing revenue from one of our product candidates, we will require additional funding to meet these commitments, sustain our research and development efforts, provide for future clinical trials, and continue our operations. There can be no assurance we can raise such funds. If additional funds are raised through the issuance of equity securities, stockholders may experience dilution of their ownership interests, and the newly issued securities may have rights superior to those of the common stock. If additional funds are raised by the issuance of debt, we may be subject to limitations on our operations. If we cannot raise such additional funds, we may have to delay or stop some or all of our drug development programs.
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Our losses from operations, negative cash flows, and shareholders' deficit as of December 31, 2025 raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern absent obtaining adequate new debt or equity financings.
We have concluded that substantial doubt exists about our ability to continue as a going concern for the 12 months following the issuance of the financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. As of December 31, 2025, we had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $7.9 million and current liabilities of approximately $3.7 million. As of the issuance date of these financial statements, we believe that we have sufficient resources available to support our development activities and business operations and timely satisfy our obligations as they come due into the fourth quarter of 2026. We do not have sufficient cash and cash equivalents as of the date of filing this Annual Report on Form 10-K to support our operations for at least the 12 months following the issuance of the financial statements.
To mitigate the conditions that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, our plans include securing:
● additional proceeds from government contract and grant programs; and
In January 2026, we entered into the Rodman Sales Agreement (See Note 12 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements – Subsequent Events). The Rodman Sales Agreement provides for the offer and sale of shares of common stock having aggregate potential gross proceeds of up to approximately $3.5 million. We have up to approximately $3.2 million of potential gross proceeds capacity remaining from the Rodman Sales Agreement as of March 24, 2026 under the prospectus supplement dated January 23, 2026.
While the Rodman Sales Agreement is in place, none of the other funding alternatives are currently committed. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in obtaining sufficient funding on acceptable terms to fund continuing operations, if at all, identify and enter into any strategic transactions that will provide the capital that we will require, or achieve the other strategies to alleviate the conditions that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If none of these alternatives are available, or if available, are not available on satisfactory terms, we will not have sufficient cash resources and liquidity to fund our business operations for at least the 12 months following the date the financial statements are issued. The failure to obtain sufficient capital on acceptable terms when needed may require us to delay, limit, or eliminate the development of business opportunities and our ability to achieve our business objectives and our competitiveness, and our business, financial condition, and results of operations will be materially adversely affected. In addition, market instability, including as a result of geopolitical instability, may reduce our ability to access capital, which could negatively affect our liquidity and ability to continue as a going concern. In addition, the perception that we may not be able to continue as a going concern may cause others to choose not to deal with us due to concerns about our ability to meet our contractual obligations.
The report of our independent registered accounting firm on our audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 contains an explanatory paragraph relating to our ability to continue as a going concern.
The auditor’s opinion on our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025 includes an explanatory paragraph stating that we have incurred recurring losses from operations that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. While we believe that we will be able to obtain the capital we need to continue our operations, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in these efforts or will be able to resolve our liquidity issues or eliminate our operating losses. If we are unable to obtain sufficient funding, we would need to significantly reduce our operating plans and curtail some or all of our development efforts. Accordingly, our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected, and we may be unable to continue as a going concern. If we seek additional financing to fund our business activities in the future and there remains substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, investors or other financing sources may be unwilling to provide additional funding on commercially reasonable terms or at all.
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If we are unable to develop our product candidates, our ability to generate revenues and viability as a company will be significantly impaired.
In order to generate revenues and profits, our organization must, along with corporate partners and collaborators, positively research, develop and commercialize our technologies or product candidates. Our current product candidates are in various stages of clinical and pre-clinical development and will require significant further funding, research, development, pre-clinical and/or clinical testing, regulatory approval and commercialization, and are subject to the risks of failure inherent in the development of products based on innovative or novel technologies. Specifically, each of the following is possible with respect to any of our product candidates:
● we may not be able to maintain our current research and development schedules;
● we may encounter problems in clinical trials; or
If any of the risks set forth above occur, or if we are unable to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals as discussed below, we may be unable to develop our technologies and product candidates and our business will be seriously harmed. Furthermore, for reasons including those set forth below, we may be unable to commercialize or receive royalties from the sale of any other technology we develop, even if it is shown to be effective, if:
● we are not able to manufacture the product reliably;
● others have brought to market similar or superior products; or
We expect a number of factors to cause our operating results to fluctuate on a quarterly and annual basis, which may make it difficult to predict our future performance.
We are a late-stage biopharmaceutical company. Our operations to date have been primarily limited to developing our technology and undertaking pre-clinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates in our two active business segments, Specialized BioTherapeutics and Public Health Solutions. We have not yet obtained regulatory approvals for any of our product candidates. Consequently, any predictions made about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had commercialized products. Our financial condition has varied significantly in the past and will continue to fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter or year-to-year due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Factors relating to our business that may contribute to these fluctuations include other factors described elsewhere in this Annual Report and also include:
● our ability to obtain additional funding to develop our product candidates;
● delays in the commencement, enrollment and timing of clinical trials;
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● market acceptance of our product candidates;
● competition from existing products or new products that may emerge;
● our ability to discover and develop additional product candidates;
● potential product liability claims;
● potential liabilities associated with hazardous materials; and
● our ability to obtain and maintain adequate insurance policies.
Accordingly, the results of any quarterly or annual periods should not be relied upon as indications of future operating performance.
We have no approved products on the market and therefore do not expect to generate any revenues from product sales in the foreseeable future, if at all.
To date, we have no approved product on the market and have not generated any significant product revenues. We have funded our operations primarily from sales of our securities and from government contracts and grants. We have not received, and do not expect to receive for at least the next several years, if at all, any revenues from the commercialization of our product candidates. To obtain revenues from sales of our product candidates, we must succeed, either alone or with third parties, in developing, obtaining regulatory approval for, manufacturing and marketing drugs with commercial potential or successfully obtain government procurement or stockpiling agreements. We may never succeed in these activities, and we may not generate sufficient revenues to continue our business operations or achieve profitability.
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Our business is subject to extensive governmental regulation, which can be costly, time consuming and subjects us to unanticipated delays.
Our business is subject to very stringent federal, foreign, state and local government laws and regulations, including the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Environmental Protection Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and state and local counterparts to these acts. These laws and regulations may be amended, additional laws and regulations may be enacted, and the policies of the FDA and other regulatory agencies may change.
The regulatory process applicable to our products requires pre-clinical and clinical testing of any product to establish its safety and efficacy. This testing can take many years, is uncertain as to outcome, and requires the expenditure of substantial capital and other resources. We estimate that the clinical trials of our product candidates that we have planned will take at least several years to complete. Furthermore, failure can occur at any stage of the trials, and we could encounter problems that cause us to abandon or repeat clinical trials. Favorable results in early studies or trials, if any, may not be repeated in later studies or trials. Even if our clinical trials are initiated and completed as planned, we cannot be certain that the results will support our product candidate claims. Success in preclinical testing, Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials does not ensure that later Phase 2 or Phase 3 clinical trials will be successful. In addition, we, the FDA or other regulatory authorities may suspend clinical trials at any time if it appears that we are exposing participants to unacceptable health risks or the FDA or other regulatory authorities find deficiencies in our submissions or conduct of our trials.
We may not be able to obtain, or we may experience difficulties and delays in obtaining, necessary domestic and foreign governmental clearances and approvals to market a product (for example, the FDA may not recognize fast track designation upon an NDA submission, resulting in no priority review and subjecting us to longer potential review times than originally anticipated). Also, even if regulatory approval of a product is granted, that approval may entail limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed.
Following any regulatory approval, a marketed product and its manufacturer are subject to continual regulatory review. Later discovery of problems with a product or manufacturer may result in restrictions on such product or manufacturer. These restrictions may include product recalls and suspension or withdrawal of the marketing approval for the product. Furthermore, the advertising, promotion and export, among other things, of a product are subject to extensive regulation by governmental authorities in the U.S. and other countries. If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, we may be subject to fines, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, product recalls, seizure of products, operating restrictions and/or criminal prosecution.
There may be unforeseen challenges in developing our biodefense products.
For development of biodefense vaccines and therapeutics, the FDA has instituted policies that are expected to result in accelerated approval. This includes approval for commercial use using the results of animal efficacy trials, rather than efficacy trials in humans, referred to as the Animal Rule. However, we will still have to establish that the vaccines we are developing are safe in humans at doses that are correlated with the beneficial effect in animals. Such clinical trials will also have to be completed in distinct populations that are subject to the countermeasures; for instance, the very young and the very old, and in pregnant women, if the countermeasure is to be licensed for civilian use. Other agencies will have an influence over the risk benefit scenarios for deploying the countermeasures and in establishing the number of doses utilized in the Strategic National Stockpile. We may not be able to sufficiently demonstrate the animal correlation to the satisfaction of the FDA, as these correlates are difficult to establish and are often unclear. Invocation of the Animal Rule may raise issues of confidence in the model systems even if the models have been validated. For many of the biological threats, the animal models are not available and we may have to develop the animal models, a time-consuming research effort. There are few historical precedents, or recent precedents, for the development of new countermeasures for bioterrorism agents. Despite the Animal Rule, the FDA may require large clinical trials to establish safety and immunogenicity before licensure and it may require safety and immunogenicity trials in additional populations. Approval of biodefense products may be subject to post-marketing studies, and could be restricted in use in only certain populations. The government’s biodefense priorities can change, which could adversely affect the commercial opportunity for the products we are developing. Further, other countries have not, at this time, established criteria for review and approval of these types of products outside their normal review process, i.e., there is no Animal Rule equivalent, and consequently there can be no assurance that we will be able to make a submission for marketing approval in foreign countries based on such animal data.
Additionally, few facilities in the U.S. and internationally have the capability to test animals with ricin, or otherwise assist us in qualifying the requisite animal models. We have to compete with other biodefense companies for access to this limited
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pool of highly specialized resources. We therefore may not be able to secure contracts to conduct the testing in a predictable timeframe or at all.
We are dependent on government funding, which is inherently uncertain, for the success of our biodefense operations.
We are subject to risks specifically associated with operating in the biodefense industry, which is a new and unproven business area. We do not anticipate that a significant commercial market will develop for our biodefense products. Because we anticipate that the principal potential purchasers of these products, as well as potential sources of research and development funds, will be the U.S. government and governmental agencies, the success of our biodefense division will be dependent in large part upon government spending decisions. The funding of government programs is dependent on budgetary limitations, congressional appropriations and administrative allotment of funds, all of which are inherently uncertain and may be affected by changes in U.S. government policies resulting from various political and military developments. Our receipt of government funding is also dependent on our ability to adhere to the terms and provisions of the original grant and contract documents and other regulations. We can provide no assurance that we will receive or continue to receive funding for grants and contracts we have been awarded. The loss of government funds could have a material adverse effect on our ability to progress our biodefense business.
If the parties we depend on for supplying our drug substance raw materials and certain manufacturing-related services do not timely supply these products and services, it may delay or impair our ability to develop, manufacture and market our products. We do not have or anticipate having internal manufacturing capabilities.
We rely on suppliers for our drug substance raw materials and third parties for certain manufacturing-related services to produce material that meets appropriate content, quality and stability standards, which material will be used in clinical trials of our products and, after approval, for commercial distribution. To succeed, clinical trials require adequate supplies of drug substance and drug product, which may be difficult or uneconomical to procure or manufacture. We and our suppliers and vendors may not be able to (i) produce our drug substance or drug product to appropriate standards for use in clinical studies, (ii) perform under any definitive manufacturing, supply or service agreements with us or (iii) remain in business for a sufficient time to be able to develop, produce, secure regulatory approval of and market our product candidates. If we do not maintain important manufacturing and service relationships, we may fail to find a replacement supplier or required vendor or develop our own manufacturing capabilities which could delay or impair our ability to obtain regulatory approval for our products and substantially increase our costs or deplete profit margins, if any. If we do find replacement manufacturers and vendors, we may not be able to enter into agreements with them on terms and conditions favorable to us and, there could be a substantial delay before a new facility could be qualified and registered with the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities.
We rely on third parties for pre-clinical and clinical trials of our product candidates and, in some cases, to maintain regulatory files for our product candidates. If we are not able to maintain or secure agreements with such third parties on acceptable terms, if these third parties do not perform their services as required, or if these third parties fail to timely transfer any regulatory information held by them to us, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for, or commercialize, our product candidates.
We rely on academic institutions, hospitals, clinics and other third-party collaborators for preclinical and clinical trials of our product candidates. Although we monitor, support, and/or oversee our pre-clinical and clinical trials, because we do not conduct these trials ourselves, we have less control over the timing and cost of these studies and the ability to recruit trial subjects than if we conducted these trials wholly by ourselves. If we are unable to maintain or enter into agreements with these third parties on acceptable terms, or if any such engagement is terminated, we may be unable to enroll patients on a timely basis or otherwise conduct our trials in the manner we anticipate. In addition, there is no guarantee that these third parties will devote adequate time and resources to our studies or perform as required by a contract or in accordance with regulatory requirements, including maintenance of clinical trial information regarding our product candidates. If these third parties fail to meet expected deadlines, fail to timely transfer to us any regulatory information, fail to adhere to protocols or fail to act in accordance with regulatory requirements or our agreements with them, or if they otherwise perform in a substandard manner or in a way that compromises the quality or accuracy of their activities or the data they obtain, then preclinical and/or clinical trials of our product candidates may be extended, delayed or terminated, or our data may be rejected by the FDA or regulatory agencies.
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The manufacturing of our products is a highly exacting process, and if we or one of our materials suppliers encounter problems manufacturing our products, our business could suffer.
The FDA and foreign regulators require manufacturers to register manufacturing facilities. The FDA and foreign regulators also inspect these facilities to confirm compliance with cGMP or similar requirements that the FDA or foreign regulators establish. We, or our materials suppliers, may face manufacturing or quality control problems causing product production and shipment delays or a situation where we or the supplier may not be able to maintain compliance with the FDA’s cGMP requirements, or those of foreign regulators, necessary to continue manufacturing our drug substance. Any failure to comply with cGMP requirements or other FDA or foreign regulatory requirements could adversely affect our clinical research activities and our ability to market and develop our products.
We may use our financial and human resources to pursue a particular research program or product candidate and fail to capitalize on programs or product candidates that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
Because we have limited financial and human resources, we are currently focusing on the regulatory approval of certain product candidates. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on existing and future product candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through strategic alliance, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate, or we may allocate internal resources to a product candidate in an area in which it would have been more advantageous to enter into a partnering arrangement.
Even if approved, our products will be subject to extensive post-approval regulation.
Once a product is approved, numerous post-approval requirements apply. Among other things, the holder of an approved NDA is subject to periodic and other FDA monitoring and reporting obligations, including obligations to monitor and report adverse events and instances of the failure of a product to meet the specifications in the NDA. Application holders must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain FDA approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling, or manufacturing process. Application holders must also submit advertising and other promotional material to the FDA and report on ongoing clinical trials.
Depending on the circumstances, failure to meet these post-approval requirements can result in criminal prosecution, fines, injunctions, recall or seizure of products, total or partial suspension of production, denial or withdrawal of pre-marketing product approvals, or refusal to allow us to enter into supply contracts, including government contracts. In addition, even if we comply with FDA and other requirements, new information regarding the safety or effectiveness of a product could lead the FDA to modify or withdraw product approval.
Even if we obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates, our product candidates may not be accepted by the market.
Even if the FDA approves one or more of our product candidates, physicians and patients may not accept it or use it. Even if physicians and patients would like to use our products, our products may not gain market acceptance among healthcare payors such as managed care formularies, insurance companies or government programs such as Medicare or Medicaid. Acceptance and use of our products will depend upon a number of factors including: perceptions by members of the health care community, including physicians, about the safety and effectiveness of our drug product; cost-effectiveness of our product relative to competing products; availability of reimbursement for our product from government or other healthcare payers; and effectiveness of marketing and distribution efforts by us and our licensees and distributors, if any.
The degree of market acceptance of any product that we develop will depend on a number of factors, including:
● cost-effectiveness;
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● the timing of market entry as compared to competitive products;
● the rate of adoption of our products by doctors and nurses;
● reimbursement policies of government and third-party payors;
● unfavorable publicity concerning our products or any similar products.
Our product candidates, if successfully developed, will compete with a number of products manufactured and marketed by major pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and manufacturers of generic drugs. Our products may also compete with new products currently under development by others. Physicians, patients, third-party payors and the medical community may not accept and utilize any of our product candidates. If our products do not achieve market acceptance, we will not be able to generate significant revenues or become profitable.
Because we expect sales of our current product candidates, if approved, to generate substantially all of our product revenues for the foreseeable future, the failure of these products to find market acceptance would harm our business and could require us to seek additional financing.
We do not have extensive sales and marketing experience and our lack of experience may restrict our success in commercializing some of our product candidates.
We do not have extensive experience in marketing or selling pharmaceutical products whether in the U.S. or internationally. To obtain the expertise necessary to successfully market and sell any of our products, the development of our own commercial infrastructure and/or collaborative commercial arrangements and partnerships will be required. Our ability to make that investment and also execute our current operating plan is dependent on numerous factors, including, the performance of third-party collaborators with whom we may contract.
Our products, if approved, may not be commercially viable due to change in health care practice and third-party reimbursement limitations.
Initiatives to reduce the federal deficit and to change health care delivery are increasing cost-containment efforts. We anticipate that Congress, state legislatures and the private sector will continue to review and assess alternative benefits, controls on health care spending through limitations on the growth of private health insurance premiums and Medicare and Medicaid spending, price controls on pharmaceuticals, and other fundamental changes to the health care delivery system. Any changes of this type could negatively impact the commercial viability of our products, if approved. Our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates, if they are approved, will depend in part on the extent to which appropriate reimbursement codes and authorized cost reimbursement levels of these products and related treatment are obtained from governmental authorities, private health insurers and other organizations, such as health maintenance organizations. In the absence of national Medicare coverage determination, local contractors that administer the Medicare program may make their own coverage decisions. Any of our product candidates, if approved and when commercially available, may not be included within the then current Medicare coverage determination or the coverage determination of state Medicaid programs, private insurance companies or other health care providers. In addition, third-party payers are increasingly challenging the necessity and prices charged for medical products, treatments and services.
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Our product candidates may cause serious adverse events or undesirable side effects which may delay or prevent marketing approval, or, if approval is received, require them to be taken off the market, require them to include safety warnings or otherwise limit their sales.
Serious adverse events or undesirable side effects from any of our product candidates could arise either during clinical development or, if approved, after the approved product has been marketed. The results of future clinical trials may show that our product candidates cause serious adverse events or undesirable side effects, which could interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials, resulting in delay of, or failure to obtain, marketing approval from the FDA and other regulatory authorities.
If any of our product candidates cause serious adverse events or undesirable side effects:
● we may be required to limit the patients who can receive the product;
● we may be subject to limitations on how we promote the product;
● sales of the product may decrease significantly;
● we may be subject to litigation or product liability claims; and
● our reputation may suffer.
Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the affected product or could substantially increase commercialization costs and expenses, which in turn could delay or prevent us from generating significant revenues from the sale of our products.
If we fail to obtain or maintain orphan drug exclusivity for our product candidates, our competitors may sell products to treat the same conditions and our revenue will be reduced.
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product as an orphan drug if it is intended to treat a rare disease or condition, defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 in the U.S., or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the U.S. where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug will be recovered from sales in the U.S. In the EU, the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products grants orphan drug designation to promote the development of products that are intended for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition affecting not more than five in 10,000 persons in the EU. Additionally, designation is granted for products intended for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of a life-threatening, seriously debilitating or serious and chronic condition when, without incentives, it is unlikely that sales of the drug in the EU would be sufficient to justify the necessary investment in developing the drug or biological product or where there is no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention, or treatment, or, if such a method exists, the medicine must be of significant benefit to those affected by the condition.
In the U.S., orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages, and user-fee waivers. In addition, if a product receives the first FDA approval for the
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indication for which it has orphan designation, the product is entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which means the FDA may not approve any other application to market the same drug for the same indication for a period of seven years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority over the product with orphan exclusivity or where the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient product quantity. In the EU, orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as reduction of fees or fee waivers and ten years of market exclusivity following drug or biological product approval. This period may be reduced to six years if the orphan drug designation criteria are no longer met, including where it is shown that the product is sufficiently profitable not to justify maintenance of market exclusivity.
Even though we have orphan drug designation for HyBryteTM in the U.S. and Europe, and RiVax® in the U.S., we may not be the first to obtain marketing approval for any particular orphan indication due to the uncertainties associated with developing drugs or biologic products. Further, even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs with different active moieties can be approved for the same condition. Absent patent or other intellectual property protection, even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA or EMA may subsequently approve the same drug with the same active moiety for the same condition if the FDA or EMA concludes that the later drug is safer, more effective, or makes a major contribution to patient care.
Our business strategy includes the potential receipt and monetization of PRVs, but there can be no assurance that we will qualify for, receive or realize value from any such voucher, and changes in the PRV programs or our development plans could materially and adversely affect this aspect of our business.
From time to time, certain of our product candidates (currently including SuVaxTM, MarVaxTM or combination thereof) may be eligible for a PRV under programs administered by the FDA, including the neglected tropical disease, rare pediatric disease or medical countermeasure PRV programs established under amendments to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. These programs permit a sponsor that obtains FDA approval of a qualifying product to receive a PRV that may be used to obtain priority review for a subsequent marketing application or may be transferred or sold to another sponsor. While PRVs have historically been sold in private transactions for significant amounts, the availability and value of any PRV are subject to substantial uncertainty. Accordingly, even if one or more of our product candidates successfully complete development and receive regulatory approval, we may not qualify for, receive or realize meaningful value from a PRV.
Eligibility for a PRV depends on numerous statutory and regulatory requirements, and the FDA retains significant discretion in determining whether a particular product satisfies the applicable criteria. For example, a product must generally target a disease that qualifies under the relevant PRV program and must itself satisfy specific eligibility requirements, including, in certain programs, that the product represents a “new chemical entity” or otherwise meets applicable novelty requirements. If our product candidates do not meet these criteria, if the FDA interprets or applies these criteria differently than we expect, or if our development programs are modified in ways that affect eligibility, we may not qualify for a PRV even if the product ultimately receives marketing approval. In addition, the FDA may request or require additional data, analyses or clinical studies that could alter the regulatory pathway or timing of approval in ways that affect PRV eligibility. Certain PRV programs have statutory sunset provisions or limitations that could affect eligibility depending on the timing of regulatory submissions and approvals. For example, the rare pediatric disease PRV program has historically been subject to periodic legislative reauthorization and could expire or otherwise change unless extended by U.S. Congress. Congress has, from time to time, proposed amendments that would narrow eligibility, impose additional conditions or eliminate the program entirely, and similar proposals could be advanced in the future.
Even if we qualify for and receive a PRV, the timing of receipt would be uncertain and dependent on the timing of regulatory approval of the underlying product candidate. Delays in clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory review or other aspects of the approval process could delay the issuance of any PRV, potentially reducing its strategic or economic value. In addition, the FDA could determine that a product does not meet PRV eligibility criteria at the time of approval, even if we previously believed it would qualify. Further, the FDA has broad authority to rescind or decline to recognize a PRV if it determines that the underlying approval was based on incomplete, inaccurate or subsequently invalidated data, or if the sponsor fails to comply with post approval requirements.
The market value of PRVs is highly variable and has fluctuated significantly over time as a result of market supply and demand, regulatory developments and the perceived utility of priority review. The number of PRVs available may increase if additional sponsors receive vouchers, which could reduce market demand and depress prices. Conversely, changes in FDA review practices or the perceived advantages of priority review could affect the willingness of potential purchasers to acquire PRVs or the prices they are willing to pay. As a result, even if we obtain a PRV and seek to monetize it through a sale or other transfer, the proceeds we receive, if any, may be significantly lower than historical transaction values or our
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expectations. In addition, PRV transactions are typically complex, privately negotiated arrangements that may require us to make representations, warranties, indemnities or other commitments that could expose us to post closing liabilities.
In addition, the regulatory and legislative framework governing PRVs could change in ways that adversely affect our ability to obtain or benefit from a voucher. Congress could amend, suspend or terminate PRV programs, modify eligibility requirements, impose additional conditions on issuance or transferability or otherwise limit the availability or value of PRVs. Similarly, the FDA could adopt new guidance, regulations or interpretive positions affecting the eligibility criteria, review process or administration of the PRV programs. Any such changes could occur at any time, including during the development of our vaccine candidates, and could prevent us from qualifying for a PRV or reduce the value of any voucher we may receive. Moreover, changes in user fee legislation or FDA resource allocation could diminish the practical benefits of priority review, thereby reducing the attractiveness of PRVs to potential purchasers.
Moreover, a PRV may not provide the strategic or financial benefits we anticipate. If we elect to use a PRV to obtain priority review for one of our own future marketing applications, we would be required to pay an additional user fee to the FDA, which in recent years has exceeded several million dollars, and there can be no assurance that priority review would ultimately result in a successful approval or meaningful acceleration of the product’s commercial launch. Alternatively, if we elect to sell or transfer a PRV, we may encounter limited market demand, delays in identifying a buyer or other transaction related risks. The transfer of a PRV must also be reported to the FDA and may be subject to other procedural requirements. We may also be unable to consummate a sale on acceptable terms or within the time frame we anticipate, and any delay or failure to monetize a PRV could adversely affect our liquidity planning.
Additionally, our ability to obtain, retain or monetize a PRV may depend on factors outside our control, including the actions of collaborators, licensors, contract manufacturers or other third parties involved in the development or regulatory submission for a qualifying product. Any failure by these parties to meet their obligations, maintain compliance with regulatory requirements or provide timely and accurate data could jeopardize PRV eligibility or delay issuance.
Because the potential receipt and monetization of a PRV may be viewed by investors as a component of our overall business strategy or potential future liquidity, the failure to qualify for, obtain or realize expected value from a PRV could adversely affect market perceptions of our development programs and prospects. Any such outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and the market price of our securities. Even if we ultimately receive a PRV, there can be no assurance that it will generate any revenue or strategic benefit or that the PRV programs will continue to exist in their current form at the time we seek to use or monetize a voucher.
Federal and/or state health care reform initiatives could negatively affect our business.
The availability of reimbursement by governmental and other third-party payers affects the market for any pharmaceutical product. These third-party payers continually attempt to contain or reduce the costs of healthcare. There have been a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change the healthcare system and further proposals are likely. Medicare’s policies may decrease the market for our products. Significant uncertainty exists with respect to the reimbursement status of newly approved healthcare products.
Third-party payers are increasingly challenging the price and cost-effectiveness of medical products and services. Once approved, we might not be able to sell our products profitably or recoup the value of our investment in product development if reimbursement is unavailable or limited in scope, particularly for product candidates addressing small patient populations. On July 15, 2008, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 became law with a number of Medicare and Medicaid reforms to establish a bundled Medicare payment rate that includes services and drug/labs that were separately billed at that time. Bundling initiatives that have been implemented in other healthcare settings have occasionally resulted in lower utilization of services that had not previously been a part of the bundled payment.
In addition, in some foreign countries, the proposed pricing for a drug must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. The requirements governing drug pricing vary widely from country to country. We expect that there will continue to be a number of U.S. federal and state proposals to implement governmental pricing controls. While we cannot predict whether such legislative or regulatory proposals will be adopted, the adoption of such proposals could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and profitability.
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We may not be able to retain rights licensed to us by third parties to commercialize key products or to develop the third-party relationships we need to develop, manufacture and market our products.
We currently rely on license agreements from New York University, Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd., the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the University of British Columbia, and George B. McDonald, MD as well as sublicense agreement from VitriVax for the rights to commercialize key product candidates. We may not be able to retain the rights granted under these agreements or negotiate additional agreements on reasonable terms, if at all. Our existing license agreements impose, and we expect that future license agreements will impose, various diligence, milestone payment, royalty, and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with our obligations under these agreements, or we are subject to a bankruptcy, we may be required to make certain payments to the licensor, we may lose the exclusivity of our license, or the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, in which event we would not be able to develop or market products covered by the license.
Additionally, the milestone and other payments associated with these licenses will make it less profitable for us to develop our drug candidates. See “Business – Patents and Other Proprietary Rights” for a description of our license agreements.
Licensing of intellectual property is of critical importance to our business and involves complex legal, business, and scientific issues. Disputes may arise regarding intellectual property subject to a licensing agreement, including but not limited to:
● the sublicensing of patent and other rights;
● the priority of invention of patented technology.
If disputes over intellectual property and other rights that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates.
Additionally, the research resulting in certain of our licensed patent rights and technology was funded by the U.S. government. As a result, the government may have certain rights, or march-in rights, to such patent rights and technology. When new technologies are developed with government funding, the government generally obtains certain rights in any resulting patents, including a non-exclusive license authorizing the government to use the invention for non-commercial purposes. The government can exercise its march-in rights if it determines that action is necessary because we fail to achieve practical application of the government-funded technology, because action is necessary to alleviate health or safety needs, to meet requirements of federal regulations or to give preference to U.S. industry. In addition, our rights in such inventions may be subject to certain requirements to manufacture products embodying such inventions in the U.S. Any exercise by the government of such rights could harm our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Furthermore, we currently have very limited product development capabilities and no manufacturing, marketing or sales capabilities. For us to research, develop and test our product candidates, we need to contract or partner with outside researchers, in most cases with or through those parties that did the original research and from whom we have licensed the technologies. If products are successfully developed and approved for commercialization, then we will need to enter into additional collaboration and other agreements with third parties to manufacture and market our products. We may not be able to induce the third parties to enter into these agreements, and, even if we are able to do so, the terms of these agreements may not be favorable to us. Our inability to enter into these agreements could delay or preclude the development, manufacture and/or marketing of some of our product candidates or could significantly increase the costs of
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doing so. In the future, we may grant to our development partners rights to license and commercialize pharmaceutical and related products developed under the agreements with them, and these rights may limit our flexibility in considering alternatives for the commercialization of these products. Furthermore, third-party manufacturers or suppliers may not be able to meet our needs with respect to timing, quantity and quality for the products.
Additionally, if we do not enter into relationships with additional third parties for the marketing of our products, if and when they are approved and ready for commercialization, we would have to build our own sales force or enter into commercialization agreements with other companies. Development of an effective sales force in any part of the world would require significant financial resources, time and expertise. We may not be able to obtain the financing necessary to establish a sales force in a timely or cost effective manner, if at all, and any sales force we are able to establish may not be capable of generating demand for our product candidates, if they are approved.
We may suffer product and other liability claims; we maintain only limited product liability insurance, which may not be sufficient.
The clinical testing, manufacture and sale of our products involves an inherent risk that human subjects in clinical testing or consumers of our products may suffer serious bodily injury or death due to side effects, allergic reactions or other unintended negative reactions to our products. As a result, product and other liability claims may be brought against us. We currently have clinical trial and product liability insurance with aggregate limits of liability of $10 million, which may not be sufficient to cover our potential liabilities. Because liability insurance is expensive and difficult to obtain, we may not be able to maintain existing insurance or obtain additional liability insurance on acceptable terms or with adequate coverage against potential liabilities. Furthermore, if any claims are brought against us, even if we are fully covered by insurance, we may suffer harm such as adverse publicity.
We may use hazardous chemicals in our business. Potential claims relating to improper handling, storage or disposal of these chemicals could affect us and be time consuming and costly.
Our research and development processes and/or those of our third-party contractors involve the controlled use of hazardous materials and chemicals. These hazardous chemicals are reagents and solvents typically found in a chemistry laboratory. Our operations also may produce hazardous waste products. Federal, state and local laws and regulations govern the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of hazardous materials. While we attempt to comply with all environmental laws and regulations, including those relating to the outsourcing of the disposal of all hazardous chemicals and waste products, we cannot eliminate the risk of contamination from or discharge of hazardous materials and any resultant injury. In the event of such an accident, we could be held liable for any resulting damages and any liability could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Compliance with environmental laws and regulations may be expensive. Current or future environmental regulations may impair our research, development or production efforts. We might have to pay civil damages in the event of an improper or unauthorized release of, or exposure of individuals to, hazardous materials. We are not insured against these environmental risks. We may agree to indemnify our collaborators in some circumstances against damages and other liabilities arising out of development activities or products produced in connection with these collaborations.
In addition, the federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of hazardous or radioactive materials and waste products may require us to incur substantial compliance costs that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may not be able to compete with our larger and better financed competitors in the biotechnology industry.
The biotechnology industry is intensely competitive, subject to rapid change and sensitive to new product introductions or enhancements. Most of our existing competitors have greater financial resources, larger technical staffs, and larger research budgets than we have, as well as greater experience in developing products and conducting clinical trials. Our competition is particularly intense in the gastroenterology and transplant areas and is also intense in the therapeutic area of inflammatory bowel diseases. We face intense competition in the biodefense area from various public and private companies and universities as well as governmental agencies, such as the U.S. Army, which may have their own proprietary technologies that may directly compete with our technologies. In addition, there may be other companies that are currently developing competitive technologies and products or that may in the future develop technologies and products that are comparable or
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superior to our technologies and products. We may not be able to compete with our existing and future competitors, which could lead to the failure of our business.
Additionally, if a competitor receives FDA approval before we do for a drug that is similar to one of our product candidates, FDA approval for our product candidate may be precluded or delayed due to periods of non-patent exclusivity and/or the listing with the FDA by the competitor of patents covering its newly-approved drug product. Periods of non-patent exclusivity for new versions of existing drugs such as our current product candidates can extend up to three and one-half years. See “Business – The Drug Approval Process.”
These competitive factors could require us to conduct substantial new research and development activities to establish new product targets, which would be costly and time consuming. These activities would adversely affect our ability to commercialize products and achieve revenue and profits.
Competition and technological change may make our product candidates and technologies less attractive or obsolete.
We compete with established pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that are pursuing other forms of treatment for the same indications we are pursuing and that have greater financial and other resources. Other companies may succeed in developing products earlier than us, obtaining FDA approval for products more rapidly, or developing products that are more effective than our product candidates. Research and development by others may render our technology or product candidates obsolete or noncompetitive, or result in treatments or cures superior to any therapy we develop. We face competition from companies that internally develop competing technology or acquire competing technology from universities and other research institutions. As these companies develop their technologies, they may develop competitive positions that may prevent, make futile, or limit our product commercialization efforts, which would result in a decrease in the revenue we would be able to derive from the sale of any products.
There can be no assurance that any of our product candidates will be accepted by the marketplace as readily as these or other competing treatments. Furthermore, if our competitors’ products are approved before ours, it could be more difficult for us to obtain approval from the FDA. Even if our products are successfully developed and approved for use by all governing regulatory bodies, there can be no assurance that physicians and patients will accept our product(s) as a treatment of choice.
Furthermore, the pharmaceutical research industry is diverse, complex, and rapidly changing. By its nature, the business risks associated therewith are numerous and significant. The effects of competition, intellectual property disputes, market acceptance, and FDA regulations preclude us from forecasting revenues or income with certainty or even confidence.
Our business could be harmed if we fail to retain our current personnel or if they are unable to effectively run our business.
We currently have 14 employees and we depend upon these employees, in particular Dr. Christopher Schaber, our President and Chief Executive Officer, to manage the day-to-day activities of our business. Because we have such limited personnel, the loss of any of them or our inability to attract and retain other qualified employees in a timely manner would likely have a negative impact on our operations. We may be unable to effectively manage and operate our business, and our business may suffer, if we lose the services of our employees.
Instability and volatility in the financial markets could have a negative impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
During recent years, there has been substantial volatility in financial markets due at least in part to the uncertainty regarding the global economic environment. In addition, there has been substantial uncertainty in the capital markets and access to additional financing is uncertain. Moreover, customer spending habits may be adversely affected by current and future economic conditions. These conditions could have an adverse effect on our industry and business, including our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
To the extent that we do not generate sufficient cash from operations, we may need to issue stock or incur indebtedness to finance our plans for growth. Recent turmoil in the credit markets and the potential impact on the liquidity of major financial
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institutions may have an adverse effect on our ability to fund our business strategy through borrowings, under either existing or newly created instruments in the public or private markets on terms we believe to be reasonable, if at all.
Changes in U.S. and international trade policies may adversely impact our business and operating results.
U.S. trade policy remains subject to significant uncertainty following a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court limiting the executive branch’s authority to impose certain tariffs without clear congressional authorization. Although this decision invalidated a number of previously imposed tariffs, it has also created uncertainty regarding the scope of future trade measures and the mechanisms by which they may be implemented. The Administration may seek to impose new or replacement tariffs under alternative statutory authorities, and Congress may consider additional trade legislation. As a result, the timing, scope and structure of future tariffs, export controls or other trade restrictions remain uncertain.
Any unfavorable government policies on international trade, including new or replacement tariffs, export controls, capital controls, or other trade barriers, could increase the cost of manufacturing our product candidates, disrupt the import or export of raw materials or finished product candidates used in our and our collaborators’ preclinical studies and clinical trials, and affect the demand for our drug products, if approved. In addition, uncertainty surrounding trade enforcement, potential refund claims related to previously imposed tariffs, and possible renegotiation of trade agreements could create volatility in global supply chains. Any such developments could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Adverse developments affecting financial institutions such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults or non-performance, could adversely affect our operations and liquidity.
Actual events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) as receiver. Despite subsequent actions taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the FDIC to ensure that all depositors of SVB had access to all of their cash deposits following the closure of SVB, uncertainty and liquidity concerns in the broader financial services industry remain.
We maintain cash balances at a third-party financial institution in excess of the FDIC insurance limit. Our access to our cash and cash equivalents in amounts adequate to finance our operations could be significantly impaired to the extent the financial institution with which we maintain cash balances faces liquidity constraints or failures. Any material decline in our ability to access our cash and cash equivalents could adversely impact our ability to meet our operating expenses, result in breaches of our contractual obligations or result in significant disruptions to our business, any of which could have material adverse impacts on our operations and liquidity. There is no guarantee that the U.S. Department of Treasury, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the FDIC will provide access to uninsured funds in the future in the event of the closure of other banks or financial institutions in a timely fashion or at all.
We may not be able to utilize all of our net operating loss carryforwards.
The State of New Jersey’s Technology Business Tax Certificate Program allows certain high technology and biotechnology companies to sell unused net operating loss (“NOL”) carryforwards to other New Jersey-based corporate taxpayers. We sold 2024 and 2023 New Jersey NOL carryforwards, resulting in the recognition of $506,615 and $409,114 of income tax benefit, net of transaction costs during the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Both amounts were recorded as receivables and are included in prepaid expenses and other current assets on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. We have not yet sold our 2025 New Jersey NOL carryforwards but may do so in the future. If there is an unfavorable change in the State of New Jersey’s Technology Business Tax Certificate Program (whether as a result of a change in law, policy or otherwise) that terminates the program or eliminates or reduces our ability to use or sell our NOL carryforwards or if we are unable to find a suitable buyer to utilize our New Jersey NOL carryforwards to the extent the NOLs expire before we are able to utilize them against our taxable income, our cash taxes may increase which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition.
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Global pathogens that could have an impact on financial markets, materials sourcing, patients, governments and population (e.g. COVID-19).
Global pathogens (e.g., SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen responsible for COVID-19) could cause an impact on financial markets and therefore repercussions to our operating business, including but not limited to, the sourcing of materials for our product candidates, manufacture of supplies for our preclinical and/or clinical studies, delays in clinical operations, which may include the availability or the continued availability of patients for our trials due to such things as quarantines, our conduct of patient monitoring and clinical trial data retrieval at investigational study sites.
The impacts of outbreaks are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, and we cannot provide any assurance that any outbreak will not have a material adverse impact on our operations or future results or filings with regulatory health authorities. The extent of the impact to us, if any, will depend on future developments, including actions taken to contain the pathogen.
Escalation of armed conflict and geopolitical instability in the Middle East, including tensions involving Israel, Iran and the United States, could materially disrupt our clinical development activities in general and specifically those relating to SGX945 (dusquetide) for the treatment of BD.
Ongoing hostilities and escalating tensions in the Middle East may materially and adversely affect our ability to conduct clinical development activities and execute our development strategies in general and specifically for SGX945 (dusquetide) for the treatment of BD. BD has a significant prevalence in countries situated along the historic “Silk Road,” including Turkey, Iran, Japan and China, and we currently anticipate that a meaningful portion of our clinical trial activities, including site selection, patient enrollment and investigator engagement, may occur in jurisdictions in the Middle East and adjacent regions.
Military conflict, acts of terrorism, civil unrest, political instability, cyberattacks, retaliatory measures or other disruptions in areas in which we conduct clinical trials could impair our ability to initiate, conduct or complete clinical trials on anticipated timelines, if at all. Armed conflict or the threat of further escalation may result in new or continual travel restrictions, border closures, airspace limitations, damage to infrastructure, interruptions in power and telecommunications, and the diversion of medical personnel and hospital resources to emergency or military-related activities. Clinical trial sites located in affected regions may suspend operations, delay patient visits, experience challenges maintaining protocol compliance or be unable to access drug products, laboratory supplies or other essential materials. Patients may also be unwilling or unable to travel to trial sites due to safety concerns, displacement or logistical constraints, which could materially impair patient enrollment and retention, increase protocol deviations and adversely affect the integrity, completeness and regulatory acceptability of our clinical data. If such disruptions occur, we may be required to amend clinical protocols, shift development activities to alternative jurisdictions, add or replace clinical sites, or suspend or terminate affected studies, any of which could result in significant delays, increased costs and uncertainty regarding the timing or outcome of our clinical programs.
The conflict has also contributed to heightened geopolitical tensions and has the potential to result in additional economic sanctions, export controls and other governmental restrictions. Sanctions or trade restrictions imposed by the government of the United States or other authorities could limit our ability to engage clinical research organizations, investigators, suppliers or other service providers in affected jurisdictions, restrict the cross-border movement of drug products, biological samples or data, or impede the transfer of funds necessary to support clinical operations. Compliance with evolving sanctions regimes and trade controls may require us to implement additional procedures and controls and may cause us to modify, delay or discontinue planned activities in certain jurisdictions. Failure to comply with applicable sanctions or trade restrictions could expose us to civil or criminal penalties and reputational harm.
In addition, the conflict may contribute to broader macroeconomic and financial market instability, including volatility in global markets, inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions. These developments could increase the cost of manufacturing, storing and transporting our drug products, disrupt the availability of key materials or services and otherwise increase our operating expenses. Geopolitical instability may also adversely affect the availability of capital for biotechnology companies and contribute to increased volatility in equity markets, which could impair our ability to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms, or at all, and thereby limit our ability to advance our clinical programs.
Moreover, because BD is geographically concentrated in regions that may be directly or indirectly affected by ongoing hostilities or geopolitical tensions, our clinical development strategy may be inherently more exposed to regional instability than programs focused on diseases with more geographically diversified patient populations. The scope, duration and
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potential escalation of the current conflict remain highly uncertain, including the possibility of broader regional involvement or retaliatory actions by additional state or non-state actors. Any further deterioration in regional security conditions could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Risks Related to our Intellectual Property
We may be unable to commercialize our products if we are unable to protect our proprietary rights, and we may be liable for significant costs and damages if we face a claim of intellectual property infringement by a third party.
Our near and long-term prospects depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patents, protect trade secrets and operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others. In the absence of patent and trade secret protection, competitors may adversely affect our business by independently developing and marketing substantially equivalent or superior products and technology, possibly at lower prices. We could also incur substantial costs in litigation and suffer diversion of attention of technical and management personnel if we are required to defend ourselves in intellectual property infringement suits brought by third parties, with or without merit, or if we are required to initiate litigation against others to protect or assert our intellectual property rights. Moreover, any such litigation may not be resolved in our favor.
Although we and our licensors have filed various patent applications covering the uses of our product candidates, patents may not be issued from the patent applications already filed or from applications that we might file in the future. Moreover, the patent position of companies in the pharmaceutical industry generally involves complex legal and factual questions, and has been the subject of much litigation. Any patents we own or license, now or in the future, may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. To date, no consistent policy has been developed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the “PTO”) regarding the breadth of claims allowed in biotechnology patents.
In addition, because patent applications in the U.S. are maintained in secrecy until patent applications publish or patents issue, and because publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature often lags behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain that we and our licensors are the first creators of inventions covered by any licensed patent applications or patents or that we or they are the first to file. The PTO may commence interference proceedings involving patents or patent applications, in which the question of first inventorship is contested. Accordingly, the patents owned or licensed to us may not be valid or may not afford us protection against competitors with similar technology, and the patent applications licensed to us may not result in the issuance of patents.
It is also possible that our owned and licensed technologies may infringe on patents or other rights owned by others, and licenses to which may not be available to us. We may be unable to obtain a license under such patent on terms favorable to us, if at all. We may have to alter our products or processes, pay licensing fees or cease activities altogether because of patent rights of third parties.
In addition to the products for which we have patents or have filed patent applications, we rely upon unpatented proprietary technology and may not be able to meaningfully protect our rights with regard to that unpatented proprietary technology. Furthermore, to the extent that consultants, key employees or other third parties apply technological information developed by them or by others to any of our proposed projects, disputes may arise as to the proprietary rights to this information, which may not be resolved in our favor.
We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents, which could be expensive and time consuming.
The pharmaceutical industry has been characterized by extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights, and companies have employed intellectual property litigation to gain a competitive advantage. We may become subject to infringement claims or litigation arising out of patents and pending applications of our competitors, or additional interference proceedings declared by the PTO to determine the priority of inventions. The defense and prosecution of intellectual property suits, PTO proceedings, and related legal and administrative proceedings are costly and time-consuming to pursue, and their outcome is uncertain. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our issued patents, to protect our trade secrets and know-how, or to determine the enforceability, scope, and validity of the proprietary rights of others. An adverse determination in litigation or interference proceedings to which we may become a party could subject us to significant liabilities, require us to obtain licenses from third parties, or restrict or prevent us from selling our products in certain markets. Although patent and intellectual property disputes might be settled through licensing or similar arrangements, the costs associated with such arrangements may be substantial and could include our paying large fixed payments and ongoing royalties. Furthermore, the necessary licenses may not be available on satisfactory terms or at all.
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Competitors may infringe our patents, and we may file infringement claims to counter infringement or unauthorized use. This can be expensive, particularly for a company of our size, and time-consuming. In addition, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours is not valid or is unenforceable or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover its technology. An adverse determination of any litigation or defense proceedings could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly.
Also, a third party may assert that our patents are invalid and/or unenforceable. There are no unresolved communications, allegations, complaints or threats of litigation related to the possibility that our patents are invalid or unenforceable. Any litigation or claims against us, whether or not merited, may result in substantial costs, place a significant strain on our financial resources, divert the attention of management and harm our reputation. An adverse decision in litigation could result in inadequate protection for our product candidates and/or reduce the value of any license agreements we have with third parties.
Interference proceedings brought before the PTO may be necessary to determine priority of invention with respect to our patents or patent applications. During an interference proceeding, it may be determined that we do not have priority of invention for one or more aspects in our patents or patent applications and could result in the invalidation in part or whole of a patent or could put a patent application at risk of not issuing. Even if successful, an interference proceeding may result in substantial costs and distraction to our management.
Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation or interference proceedings, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If investors perceive these results to be negative, the price of our common stock could be adversely affected.
If we infringe the rights of third parties we could be prevented from selling products, forced to pay damages, and defend against litigation.
If our products, methods, processes and other technologies infringe the proprietary rights of other parties, we could incur substantial costs and we may have to: obtain licenses, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all; abandon an infringing product candidate; redesign our products or processes to avoid infringement; stop using the subject matter claimed in the patents held by others; pay damages; and/or defend litigation or administrative proceedings which may be costly whether we win or lose, and which could result in a substantial diversion of our financial and management resources.
Risks Related to Technology and Intellectual Property
Our strategy includes an increasing dependence on technology in our operations. If any of our key technology fails, our business could be adversely affected.
Our operations are increasingly dependent on technology. Our information technology systems are critical to our ability to develop our products and otherwise operating our business. Problems with the operation of the information or communication technology systems we use could adversely affect, or temporarily disable, all or a portion of our operations. Further, any systems failures could impede our ability to timely collect and report financial results in accordance with applicable laws.
Our use of generative artificial intelligence tools in our operations may expose us to risks related to confidentiality, accuracy, regulatory compliance and intellectual property ownership or rights.
We may utilize generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools in certain aspects of our operations, including drafting, analysis, administrative functions and other business processes. While these technologies may enhance efficiency, their use involves risks that could adversely affect our business.
Generative AI platforms are typically operated by third-party providers and may process information through external systems. Although we maintain internal policies governing the use of such tools, there can be no assurance that confidential, proprietary or sensitive information will not be inadvertently disclosed, misused or accessed by unauthorized parties. Any such disclosure could result in reputational harm, competitive disadvantage, regulatory scrutiny or potential legal liability.
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In addition, AI-generated outputs may contain inaccuracies, incomplete information, outdated data or unintended biases. If such outputs are relied upon without appropriate review and validation, they could impair internal decision-making or result in errors in communications or disclosures.
The legal and regulatory landscape surrounding artificial intelligence technologies is evolving. Future laws, regulations or regulatory interpretations could impose additional requirements or restrictions on the use of AI tools, increase compliance costs or limit our ability to utilize such technologies effectively.
Further, uncertainty regarding intellectual property ownership or rights associated with AI-generated materials may create additional legal risk. Any failure to appropriately manage the risks associated with our use of generative AI tools could adversely affect our operations, financial condition or results of operations.
A cybersecurity incident could negatively impact our business and our relationships with our employees, service providers, patients, clinical study sites and government agencies.
We use information technology and operational technology assets, including computer and information networks, in substantially all aspects of our business operations. We also use mobile devices, social networking and other online activities to connect with our employees, service providers, patients, clinical study sites and government agencies. Such uses give rise to cybersecurity risks, including security breach, espionage, system disruption, theft and inadvertent release of information. Our business involves the storage and transmission of numerous classes of sensitive and/or confidential information and intellectual property, including clinical trial participants’ personal information, private information about employees and financial and strategic information about us and our business partners. If we fail to assess and identify cybersecurity threats, we may become increasingly vulnerable to such threats. Additionally, while we have implemented measures to prevent security breaches and cyber incidents, our preventive measures and incident response efforts may not be entirely effective. Also, the regulatory environment surrounding information security and privacy is increasingly demanding, with the frequent imposition of new and constantly changing requirements. This changing regulatory landscape may cause increasingly complex compliance challenges, which may increase our compliance costs. Any failure to comply with these changing security and privacy laws and regulations could result in significant penalties, fines, legal challenges and reputational harm. The theft, destruction, loss, misappropriation, or release of sensitive and/or confidential information or intellectual property, or interference with our information technology systems or the technology systems of third parties on which we rely, could result in business disruption, negative publicity, brand damage, violation of privacy laws, loss of confidence, potential liability and competitive disadvantage.
Risks Related to our Securities
The price of our common stock may be highly volatile.
The market price of our securities, like that of many other research and development public pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, has been highly volatile and the price of our common stock may be volatile in the future due to a wide variety of factors, including:
● our quarterly operating results and performance;
● developments or disputes concerning patents or other proprietary rights;
● mergers or acquisitions;
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● litigation and government proceedings;
● adverse legislation;
● changes in government regulations;
● our available working capital;
● economic and other external factors; and
● general market conditions.
Since January 1, 2025, the closing stock price of our common stock has fluctuated between a high of $4.96 per share to a low of $1.02 per share. On March 24, 2026, the last reported sale price of our common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market was $1.17 per share. The fluctuation in the price of our common stock has sometimes been unrelated or disproportionate to our operating performance. In addition, potential dilutive effects of future sales of shares of common stock and warrants by us, as well as potential sale of common stock by the holders of warrants and options, could have an adverse effect on the market price of our shares.
If we fail to meet Nasdaq’s listing requirements, we could be removed from The Nasdaq Capital Market, which would limit the ability of broker-dealers to sell our securities and the ability of shareholders to sell their securities in the secondary market and negatively impact our ability to raise capital.
Companies trading on Nasdaq, such as our company, must be reporting issuers under Section 12 of the Exchange Act, and must meet the listing requirements in order to maintain the listing of common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market. If we do not meet these requirements, the market liquidity for our securities could be severely adversely affected by limiting the ability of broker-dealers to sell our securities and the ability of shareholders to sell their securities in the secondary market.
Nasdaq has also proposed amendments to its continued listing standards that would require companies listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market to maintain a minimum market value of at least $5 million. Under the proposed rules, if a company’s market value remains below $5 million for a period of 30 consecutive business days, Nasdaq would issue a Staff Delisting Determination and immediately suspend trading of the company’s securities, without providing a cure or compliance period. In addition, a timely request for a hearing would not stay the suspension of trading, and the hearings panel would have limited authority to grant relief, including being unable to provide additional time to regain compliance. If adopted and applicable to us, these proposed rule changes could materially increase the risk of immediate suspension and delisting during periods of sustained market capitalization decline, which would likely have a material adverse effect on the liquidity and market price of our common stock and our ability to raise additional capital.
If our common stock is delisted from Nasdaq, it will have material negative impact on the actual and potential liquidity of our securities, as well as material negative impact on our ability to raise future capital. If, for any reason, Nasdaq should delist our common stock from trading on its exchange and we are unable to obtain listing on another national securities exchange or take action to restore our compliance with the Nasdaq continued listing requirements, a reduction in some or all of the following may occur, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our shareholders:
● the liquidity of our common stock;
● the market price of our common stock;
● our ability to obtain financing for the continuation of our operations;
● the number of market makers in our common stock;
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Shareholders may suffer substantial dilution related to issued common stock warrants, and options.
As of March 24, 2026, we had a number of agreements or obligations that may result in dilution to investors. These include:
We also have an incentive compensation plan for our management, employees and consultants. We have granted, and expect to grant in the future, options to purchase shares of our common stock to our directors, employees and consultants. To the extent that common stock warrants, or options are exercised, our stockholders will experience dilution and our stock price may decrease.
Additionally, the sale, or even the possibility of the sale, of the shares of common stock underlying these common stock warrants, and options could have an adverse effect on the market price for our securities or on our ability to obtain future financing.
Our shares of common stock are thinly traded, so stockholders may be unable to sell at or near ask prices or at all if they need to sell shares to raise money or otherwise desire to liquidate their shares.
Our common stock has from time to time been “thinly-traded,” meaning that the number of persons interested in purchasing our common stock at or near ask prices at any given time may be relatively small or non-existent. This situation is attributable to a number of factors, including the fact that we are a small company that is relatively unknown to stock analysts, stock brokers, institutional investors and others in the investment community that generate or influence sales volume, and that even if we came to the attention of such persons, they tend to be risk-averse and would be reluctant to follow an unproven company such as ours or purchase or recommend the purchase of our shares until such time as we become more seasoned and viable. As a consequence, there may be periods of several days or more when trading activity in our shares is minimal or non-existent, as compared to a seasoned issuer which has a large and steady volume of trading activity that will generally support continuous sales without an adverse effect on share price. We cannot give stockholders any assurance that a broader or more active public trading market for our common shares will develop or be sustained, or that current trading levels will be sustained.
We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future, and consequently, our stockholders’ ability to achieve a return on their investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our common stock.
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends to holders of our common stock in the foreseeable future. Consequently, our stockholders must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments. There is no guarantee that shares of our common stock will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which our stockholders have purchased their shares.
Upon our dissolution, our stockholders may not recoup all or any portion of their investment.
In the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding-up, whether voluntary or involuntary, the proceeds and/or our assets remaining after giving effect to such transaction, and the payment of all of our debts and liabilities will be distributed to the holders of common stock on a pro rata basis. There can be no assurance that we will have available assets to pay to the holders of common stock, or any amounts, upon such a liquidation, dissolution or winding-up. In this event, our stockholders could lose some or all of their investment.
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The issuance of our common stock pursuant to the terms of the asset purchase agreement with Hy Biopharma Inc. may cause dilution and the issuance of such shares of common stock, or the perception that such issuances may occur, could cause the price of our common stock to fall.
On April 1, 2014, we entered into an option agreement pursuant to which Hy Biopharma granted us an option to purchase certain assets, properties and rights (the “Hypericin Assets”) related to the development of Hy Biopharma’s synthetic hypericin product candidate for the treatment of CTCL, which we refer to as HyBryteTM, from Hy Biopharma. In exchange for the option, we paid $50,000 in cash and issued 18 shares of common stock in the aggregate to Hy Biopharma and its assignees. We subsequently exercised the option, and on September 3, 2014, we entered into an asset purchase agreement (the “Asset Purchase Agreement”) with Hy Biopharma, pursuant to which we purchased the Hypericin Assets. Pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement, we initially paid $275,000 in cash and issued 771 shares of common stock in the aggregate to Hy Biopharma and its assignees, and the licensors of the license agreement acquired from Hy Biopharma. Also, on September 3, 2014, we entered into a Registration Rights Agreement with Hy Biopharma, pursuant to which we may be required to file a registration statement with the SEC. In March 2020, we issued 8,151 shares of common stock at a value of $5,000,000 (based upon an effective per share price of $614.40 as a result of HyBryteTM demonstrating statistically significant treatment response in the Phase 3 clinical trial. We will be required to issue up to $5 million worth of our common stock (subject to a cap equal to 19.9% of our issued and outstanding common stock) in the aggregate, if HyBryteTM is approved for the treatment of CTCL by either the FDA or the EMA.
The number of shares that we may issue under the Asset Purchase Agreement will fluctuate based on the market price of our common stock. Depending on market liquidity at the time, the issuance of such shares may cause the trading price of our common stock to fall.
We may ultimately issue all, some or none of the additional shares of our common stock that may be issued pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement. We are required to register any shares issued pursuant to the purchase agreement for resale under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). After any such shares are registered, the holders will be able to sell all, some or none of those shares. Therefore, issuances by us under the purchase agreement could result in substantial dilution to the interests of other holders of our common stock. Additionally, the issuance of a substantial number of shares of our common stock pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement, or the anticipation of such issuances, could make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and at a price that we might otherwise wish to effect sales.
Our Board of Directors can, without stockholder approval, cause preferred stock to be issued on terms that adversely affect holders of our common stock.
Under our Certificate of Incorporation, our Board of Directors is authorized to issue up to 350,000 shares of preferred stock, of which none are issued and outstanding as of the date of this annual report. Also, our Board of Directors, without stockholder approval, may determine the price, rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions, including voting rights, of those shares. If our Board of Directors causes shares of preferred stock to be issued, the rights of the holders of our common stock would likely be subordinate to those of preferred holders and therefore could be adversely affected. Our Board of Directors’ ability to determine the terms of preferred stock and to cause its issuance, while providing desirable flexibility in connection with possible acquisitions and other corporate purposes, could have the effect of making it more difficult for a third party to acquire a majority of our outstanding common stock. Preferred shares issued by our Board of Directors could include voting rights or super voting rights, which could shift the ability to control our company to the holders of the preferred stock. Preferred stock could also have conversion rights into shares of our common stock at a discount to the market price of our common stock, which could negatively affect the market for our common stock. In addition, preferred stock would have preference in the event of liquidation of our company, which means that the holders of preferred stock would be entitled to receive the net assets of our company distributed in liquidation before the holders of our common stock receive any distribution of the liquidated assets.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 1C. Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Risk Management and Strategy
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Our technology and cybersecurity programs are crucial to maintaining secure operations, which enable us to deliver on our promise to maintain stakeholder trust.Our Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) is responsible for establishing, implementing and executing our cybersecurity program and strategy.Our CFO has over ten years of information technology, information technology audit, and cybersecurity experience, and is involved in following the latest developments in cybersecurity, including potential threats and innovative risk management techniques.
Our cybersecurity program is a critical component of our enterprise risk management process overseen by our Board of Directors, and we have integrated cybersecurity-related risks into our overall enterprise risk management framework. Additionally, cybersecurity-related risks are included in the risk universe that the risk management function evaluates to assess top risks to the enterprise on an annual basis.
Our personnel responsible for cybersecurity proactively identifies, manages, and mitigates cyber risk in a variety of ways, including but not limited to:
a. cyber incident response, IT disaster recovery, and business continuity plans;
c. identity and access management controls.
A primary element of our cybersecurity program is the implementation of controls that are aligned with industry guidelines and applicable regulations to identify threats, deter attacks, and protect our information security assets. We do not engage third parties in connection with our cybersecurity program.
Cybersecurity Governance
Our Board of Directors oversees the management of our cybersecurity risk exposures and the steps management has taken to monitor and control such exposures. Annually, the Board of Directors receives an update from our CFO and other members of management on relevant topics, including cybersecurity program maturity progress, new capabilities implemented, and notable incidents or events should they occur.In accordance with our cybersecurity incident response plan, our Board of Directors is promptly informed of potentially material cybersecurity incidents, including with respect to our third-party service providers.
Although we have experienced cybersecurity incidents from time to time that have not had a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations, there can be no assurance that a cyber-attack, security breach, or other cybersecurity incident will not have a material adverse effect on us in the future. For a discussion regarding risks from cybersecurity threats that have or are reasonably likely to affect us, see our risk factors, including the risk factors titled “Our strategy includes an increasing dependence on technology in our operations. If any of our key technology fails, our business could be adversely affected.” and “A cybersecurity incident could negatively impact our business and our relationships with employees, service providers, patients, clinical study sites and government agencies.” in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 2. Properties
We currently lease approximately 6,200 square feet of office space at 29 Emmons Drive, Suite B-10 in Princeton, New Jersey. Pursuant to an amendment in May 2025, the lease has been extended through October 2028. This office space currently serves as our corporate headquarters, and both of our business segments (Specialized BioTherapeutics and Public Health Solutions), operate from this space. The current monthly rent is $11,625 through October 2026 and increases to $11,883 in November 2026 and to $12,142 in November 2027 where it remains until expiration. Our office space is sufficient for our current needs. We may add new space or expand existing space as we add employees, and we believe that suitable additional or substitute space will be available as needed to accommodate any such expansion of our operations.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
From time to time, we are a party to claims and legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. Our management evaluates our exposure to these claims and proceedings individually and in the aggregate and allocates additional monies for potential losses on such litigation if it is possible to estimate the amount of loss and if the amount of the loss is probable.
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PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “SNGX.” The following table sets forth the high and low sales prices per share of our common stock for the periods indicated, as reported by The Nasdaq Capital Market.
Price Range
Period High Low
Year Ended December 31, 2024:
Fourth Quarter $ 4.87 $ 2.65
Year Ended December 31, 2025:
First Quarter $ 3.68 $ 2.03
Second Quarter $ 2.28 $ 1.26
Third Quarter $ 6.23 $ 1.09
Fourth Quarter $ 1.97 $ 1.13
Our stock is listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “SNGX.” The Nasdaq Capital Market prices set forth above represent inter-dealer quotations, without adjustment for retail mark-up, mark-down or commission, and may not represent the prices of actual transactions. On March 24, 2026, the last reported price of our common stock quoted on The Nasdaq Capital Market was $1.17 per share.
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities
Other than as previously reported, we did not issue any unregistered shares during the year ended December 31, 2025.
Transfer Agent
Shares of our common stock are issued in registered form. Equiniti Trust Company, LLC, 6201 15th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11219 (Telephone: (718) 921-8200; Facsimile: (718) 765-8719) is the registrar and transfer agent for shares of our common stock.
Holders of Common Stock
As of March 24, 2026, there were 188 holders of record of our common stock. As of such date, 10,306,079 shares of our common stock were issued and outstanding.
Dividends
We have never declared nor paid any cash dividends, and currently intend to retain all our cash and any earnings for use in our business and, therefore, do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay cash dividends will be at the discretion of the Board of Directors and will be dependent upon our consolidated financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements and such other factors as the Board of Directors deems relevant.
Item 6. Selected Financial Data
Not applicable.
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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Our Business Overview
We are a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need. We maintain two active business segments: Specialized BioTherapeutics and Public Health Solutions.
Our Specialized BioTherapeutics business segment is developing and moving toward potential commercialization of HyBryteTM (a proposed proprietary name of SGX301 or synthetic hypericin sodium), a novel photodynamic therapy, utilizing topical synthetic hypericin activated with safe visible light for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (“CTCL”). With successful completion of the first Phase 3 FLASH (Fluorescent Light Activated Synthetic Hypericin) study and agreement from the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) on the key design components of a confirmatory Phase 3 placebo-controlled study evaluating the safety and efficacy of HyBryteTM in the treatment of CTCL patients with early-stage disease, we began patient enrollment during December 2024 for the second Phase 3 study called “FLASH2” (Fluorescent Light Activated Synthetic Hypericin 2). We anticipate top-line results in the second half of 2026. Upon successful completion of the Phase 3 FLASH2 study, regulatory approval will be sought to support potential commercialization worldwide.
Development programs in this business segment also include expansion of synthetic hypericin into psoriasis (SGX302), and our first-in-class Innate Defense Regulator technology, dusquetide, for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, including oral mucositis in head and neck cancer (SGX942) and aphthous ulcers in Behçet’s Disease (“BD”) (SGX945).
Our Public Health Solutions business segment includes development programs for (i) RiVax®, a ricin toxin vaccine candidate, (ii) SGX943, a therapeutic candidate for antibiotic resistant and emerging infectious disease, and (iii) various vaccine programs, including a program targeting filoviruses (such as Marburg virus (“MARV”) and Ebola virus (“EBOV”)) and CiVaxTM, a vaccine candidate for the prevention of COVID-19 (caused by SARS-CoV-2). The development of our vaccine programs incorporates the use of our proprietary heat stabilization platform technology, known as ThermoVax®. To date, this business segment has been supported with government grant and contract funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
Our business strategy can be outlined as follows:
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Corporate Information
We were incorporated in Delaware in 1987 under the name Biological Therapeutics, Inc. In 1987, we merged with Biological Therapeutics, Inc., a North Dakota corporation, pursuant to which we changed our name to “Immunotherapeutics, Inc.” We changed our name to “Endorex Corp.” in 1996, to “Endorex Corporation” in 1998, to “DOR BioPharma, Inc.” in 2001, and finally to “Soligenix, Inc.” in 2009. Our principal executive offices are located at 29 Emmons Drive, Suite B-10, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 and our telephone number is (609) 538-8200.
Our Product Candidates in Development
The following tables summarize our product candidates under development:
Specialized BioTherapeutics Product Candidates
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objective of demonstrating safety and biological efficacy
Public Health Solutions†
Soligenix Product Candidate Indication Stage of Development
SGX943 Therapeutic against Emerging Infectious Diseases Pre-clinical
Critical Accounting Policies
Our management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. The preparation of our financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, costs and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in the notes to our financial statements appearing at the end of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we believe that the following accounting policies are those most critical to the assumptions and estimates used in the preparation of our financial statements.
Research and Development Costs
As part of the process of preparing our financial statements, we are required to estimate our accrued research and development expenses. This process involves reviewing open contract and purchase orders, communicating with our personnel to identify services that have been performed on our behalf and estimating the level of service performed and the
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associated costs incurred for the services when we have not yet been invoiced or otherwise notified of the actual costs. The majority of our service providers invoice us in arrears for services performed, on a pre-determined schedule or when contractual milestones are met; however, some require advance payments. We make estimates of our accrued expenses as of each balance sheet date in our financial statements based on facts and circumstances known to us at that time. Examples of estimated accrued research and development expenses include fees paid to:
We base our expenses related to preclinical studies and clinical trials on our estimates of the services received and efforts expended pursuant to quotes and contracts with multiple CROs that conduct and manage preclinical studies and clinical trials on our behalf. The financial terms of these agreements are subject to negotiation, vary from contract to contract and may result in uneven payment flows. There may be instances in which payments made to our vendors will exceed the level of services provided and result in a prepayment of the expense. Payments under some of these contracts depend on factors such as the successful enrollment of patients and the completion of clinical trial milestones. In accruing fees, we estimate the time period over which services will be performed, enrollment of patients, number of sites active and the level of effort to be expended in each period. If the actual timing of the performance of services or the level of effort varies from our estimate, we adjust the accrual or amount of prepaid expense accordingly. Although we do not expect our estimates to be materially different from amounts actually incurred, our understanding of the status and timing of services performed relative to the actual status and timing of services performed may vary and may result in us reporting amounts that are too high or too low in any particular period. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we made adjustments to estimated accrued clinical trial expenses for completed trials of approximately $1.4 million. These adjustments resulted in decreases to research and development expenses in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations during the year ended December 31, 2024.
Use of Estimates and Assumptions
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. requires management to make estimates and assumptions such as the fair value of stock options and to accrue for clinical trials in process that affect the reported amounts in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In December 2023, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures. This update enhances the transparency and decision-usefulness of income tax disclosures, providing investors with additional information to better assess how an entity’s operations and related tax risks and tax planning and operational opportunities affect its tax rate and prospects for future cash flows.
The standard requires public entities to disclose additional disaggregation of information in the effective tax rate reconciliation, including specified categories. Additionally, entities must provide separate disclosure of significant reconciling items and expanded disclosure of income taxes paid by jurisdiction.
ASU 2023-09 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. We have adopted ASU 2023-09 for the year ended December 31, 2025, and have updated our income tax disclosures accordingly. The adoption of this standard did not impact the recognition or measurement of our financial statements but resulted in enhanced income tax related disclosures in the notes to the consolidated financial statements.
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Material Changes in Results of Operations
Year Ended December 31, 2025 Compared to 2024
For the year ended December 31, 2025, we had a net loss of $11,080,380 as compared to a net loss of $8,266,576 for the prior year, representing increased net loss of $2,813,804 or 34%. The increase in net loss is primarily attributed to increases in research and development costs associated with the Phase 2a study in BD, the ongoing second confirmatory Phase 3 CTCL study and a decrease in other income relating to tax credits and the change in the fair value of debt.
For the year ended December 31, 2025, we had no revenues as compared to revenues of $119,371 for the prior year, representing a decrease of $119,371 or 100%. The decrease in revenues was primarily a result of the conclusion of the zero-margin grant for the HyBryteTM investigator initiated study.
For the year ended December 31, 2025, we had no costs related to contract and grant revenues as compared to costs of $119,371 for the prior year, representing a decrease of $119,371 or 100%. The decrease in costs was primarily a result of the conclusion of the zero-margin grant for the HyBryteTM investigator initiated study.
Research and development expenses increased by $2,262,224 or 43% to $7,485,813 for year ended December 31, 2025 as compared to $5,223,589 for the prior year. The increase in research and development spending for the year ended December 31, 2025 was primarily related to costs associated with the Phase 2a study in BD and the ongoing second confirmatory Phase 3 CTCL study.
General and administrative expenses increased by $143,755 or 3%, to $4,359,663 for the year ended December 31, 2025, as compared to $4,215,908 for the prior year. This increase is primarily attributable to increases in various franchise taxes and stock related expenses offset by a decrease in professional fees.
In April 2023, we entered into an amendment (the “2023 Amendment”) to the convertible debt financing agreement with Pontifax Medison Finance (“Pontifax”) (see Note 5 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements – Debt). The 2023 Amendment called for the immediate payment of $5 million of the outstanding principal balance and any accrued interest, waived any prepayment charge in connection with the repayment of this amount and resulted in an outstanding principal balance of $3 million. The 2023 Amendment adjusted certain payment provisions, and provided for an adjustment to the conversion price provisions with respect to the remaining principal amount to (i) 90% of the closing price of our common stock on the day before the delivery of a conversion notice with respect to the first 36,790 shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion and to (ii) $27.20 with respect to all shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion thereafter.
The 2023 Amendment resulted in the extinguishment of the original convertible debt for accounting purposes. We elected to account for the amended convertible debt using the fair value option. As a result, we recognized $260,933 of other income from the change in the fair value of the convertible debt in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations during the year ended December 31, 2024. The fair value of the convertible debt was estimated using the Monte Carlo valuation method.
During the year ended December 31, 2024, Pontifax delivered to us notices of conversion electing to convert a portion of the then outstanding principal balance into shares of our common stock. Accordingly, we issued 36,790 shares of our common stock resulting in a reduction of the outstanding principal balance totaling $254,256.
In October 2024, we entered into an amendment (the “2024 Amendment”) to the Loan Agreement, as amended. The 2024 Amendment reduced the conversion price with respect to the remaining principal amount outstanding to (i) $3.81 for the first 501,648 shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion and (ii) $4.23 with respect to all shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion thereafter. The remaining terms of the agreement remained in effect with minimal, non-material modifications to those terms. Pursuant to applicable accounting standards, after the 2024 Amendment, we elected not to account for the amended convertible debt under the fair value option. Accordingly, there was no further recognition for the impact of changes in fair value in our financial statements.
In February 2025, we fully repaid all outstanding obligations and terminated the Loan Agreement. As a result, all related liens and security interests securing our obligations were released. We did not incur any prepayment penalties for the early repayment.
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Total other income for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $258,481 as compared to $763,807 for the prior year, reflecting a decrease of $505,326 or 66%. The decrease in total other income was primarily associated with decreases in tax credits and the change in the fair value of debt.
The State of New Jersey’s Technology Business Tax Certificate Program allows certain high technology and biotechnology companies to sell unused NOL carryforwards to other New Jersey-based corporate taxpayers. We sold our 2024 and 2023 New Jersey NOL carryforwards resulting in the recognition of income tax benefits, net of transaction costs of $506,615 and $409,114 during the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Both amounts were recorded as receivables and are included in prepaid expenses and other current assets on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. We have not yet sold our 2025 New Jersey NOL carryforwards but may do so in the future. However, there can be no assurance as to the continuation or magnitude of this program in future years.
Business Segments
We maintain two active business segments for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024: Specialized BioTherapeutics and Public Health Solutions.
The Specialized BioTherapeutics business segment had no revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025 as compared to $119,371 for the year ended December 31, 2024, representing a decrease of $119,371 or 100%. The decrease was due to the conclusion of the zero-margin grant for the HyBryteTM investigator initiated study.
The Public Health Solutions business segment had no revenues for the years ended years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
Loss from operations for the Public Health Solutions business segment for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $88,769 as compared to loss from operations of $254,576 for the year ended December 31, 2024, representing a decrease in loss of $165,807 or 65%. This decrease in loss is attributable to a reduction in resources allocated to this business segment.
Loss from operations for the Specialized BioTherapeutics business segment for the year ended December 31, 2025 was $6,981,971 as compared to $4,365,034 for the year ended December 31, 2024, representing an increase in loss of $2,616,937 or 60%. This increase in loss is primarily related to costs associated with the Phase 2 study in BD and the ongoing second confirmatory Phase 3 CTCL study.
Financial Condition and Liquidity
Cash and Working Capital
As of December 31, 2025, we had cash and cash equivalents of $7,936,153 as compared to $7,819,514 as of December 31, 2024, representing an increase of $116,639 or 1%. As of December 31, 2025, we had working capital of $5,149,732, representing an increase of $1,169,514 as compared to working capital of $3,980,218 for the prior year. The increase in cash and cash equivalents was primarily related to net proceeds received from financing activities offset by cash used in operating activities and repayment of convertible debt. The increase in working capital is primarily the result of net proceeds received from financing activities partially offset by the repayment of convertible debt and cash used in operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2025.
Based on our operating budget, current rate of cash outflows, and cash on hand, we believe we have sufficient resources available to support our development activities, business operations and meet our obligations as they become due into the fourth quarter of 2026. However, as of the date of filing this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we do not have sufficient cash and cash equivalents to support our operations for at least 12 months following the issuance of our financial statements on March 31, 2026. As a result, these conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern through 12 months after the issuance date of the financial statements
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To mitigate the conditions that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, our plans include securing:
● additional proceeds from government contract and grant programs; and
In January 2026, we entered into the Rodman Sales Agreement (See Note 12 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements – Subsequent Events). The Rodman Sales Agreement provides for the offer and sale of shares of common stock having aggregate potential gross proceeds of up to approximately $3.5 million. We have up to approximately $3.2 million of potential gross proceeds capacity remaining from the Rodman Sales Agreement as of March 24, 2026 under the prospectus supplement dated January 23, 2026.
While the Rodman Sales Agreement is in place, none of the other funding alternatives are currently committed. There is no assurance that we will be successful in securing sufficient financing on acceptable terms, if at all, to continue operations, enter into strategic transactions that provide the necessary capital, or implement other strategies to mitigate the substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If these alternatives are unavailable or not secured on satisfactory terms, we will not have sufficient cash resources or liquidity to fund our operations for at least 12 months after the financial statements are issued. Failure to obtain adequate capital when needed may force us to delay, reduce, or eliminate business development efforts, negatively impacting our ability to achieve our objectives, remain competitive, and maintain our financial condition and operating results.
Additionally, macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties may further restrict access to capital, exacerbating liquidity challenges. Furthermore, concerns regarding our ability to continue as a going concern could negatively impact relationships with business partners, vendors, and other stakeholders.
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business, and do not include any adjustments relating to recoverability and classification of recorded asset amounts or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern.
Our plans with respect to our liquidity management include, but are not limited to, the following:
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Expenditures
Under our budget and based upon our existing product development agreements and license agreements pursuant to letters of intent and option agreements, we expect our total research and development expenditures for the year ending December 31, 2026 to be approximately $3.3 million before any contract or grant reimbursements, of which approximately all relates to the Specialized BioTherapeutics business segment. We do not anticipate any grant reimbursements for the same period to offset research and development expenses in the Specialized BioTherapeutics business segment.
The table below details our costs for research and development by program and amounts reimbursed for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024:
Research & Development Expenses
Reimbursed under Government Contracts and Grants
HyBryteTM (investigator-initiated study) — 119,371
Contractual Obligations
Licenses and Royalties
We have licensing fee commitments of approximately $230,000 as of December 31, 2025 over the next five years for several licensing agreements with partners and universities. Additionally, we are party to other agreements which include cash milestone payments, royalties and other fees payable, which are all contingent upon clinical or commercialization success. There can be no assurance that clinical or commercialization success will occur.
In September 2014, we entered into an asset purchase agreement with Hy Biopharma pursuant to which we acquired certain intangible assets, properties and rights of Hy Biopharma related to the development of Hy BioPharma’s synthetic hypericin product. As consideration for the assets acquired, we initially paid $275,000 in cash and issued 771 shares of common stock with a fair value based upon our stock price on the date of grant of $3.75 million. These amounts were charged to research and development expense during the third quarter of 2014 as the assets will be used in our research and development activities and do not have alternative future use.
In March 2020, we filed a prospectus supplement covering the offer and sale of up to 8,151 shares of our common stock, which were issued to Hy Biopharma as payment for achieving a milestone: we determine the Phase 3 clinical trial of HyBryteTM to be successful in the treatment of CTCL. The number of shares of our common stock issued to Hy Biopharma was calculated using an effective price of $614.40 per share, based upon a formula set forth in the purchase agreement.
Pursuant to an agreement with Hy Biopharma, we are obligated to pay Hy Biopharma a success-oriented milestone of $5 million in the event FDA approval is attained. Such payment will be payable in our restricted securities provided such number of shares does not exceed 19.9% ownership of our outstanding stock. As of December 31, 2025, no other milestone or royalty payments have been paid or accrued.
Leases
We currently lease approximately 6,200 square feet of office space at 29 Emmons Drive, Suite B-10 in Princeton, New Jersey. This office space currently serves as our corporate headquarters, and both of our business segments (Specialized
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BioTherapeutics and Public Health Solutions), operate from this space. Pursuant to an amendment in May 2025, the lease has been extended through October 2028. The current monthly rent is $11,625 through October 2026 and increases to $11,883 in November 2026 and to $12,142 in November 2027 where it remains until expiration.
Employment Agreements
In May 2025, we entered into an amendment to Dr. Schaber’s employment agreement to increase the number of shares of common stock, from 2,084 to 200,000, issuable to Dr. Schaber immediately prior to the completion of a transaction, or series or a combination of related transactions, negotiated by our Board of Directors whereby, directly or indirectly, a majority of our capital stock or a majority of our assets are transferred from us and/or our stockholders to a third party.
Debt Financing
In December 2020, we entered into a $20 million convertible debt financing agreement with Pontifax (the “Loan Agreement”). Under the terms of the Loan Agreement, we had access to up to $20 million in convertible debt financing which accrued interest at a rate of 8.47% on borrowed amounts and an interest rate of 1% on amounts available but not borrowed as an unused line of credit fee. Payments of interest only were due for the first two years and thereafter, the outstanding principal was to be repaid in quarterly installments, as defined.
Upon the closing of this transaction, we borrowed an initial amount of $10 million and made no further borrowings through the term of the agreement.
In April 2023, we entered into an amendment to the Loan Agreement (the “2023 Amendment”). The 2023 Amendment called for the immediate payment of $5 million of the outstanding principal balance and any accrued interest, waived any prepayment charge in connection with the repayment of this amount and resulted in an outstanding principal balance of $3 million. The 2023 Amendment adjusted certain payment provisions, and provided for an adjustment to the conversion price provisions with respect to the remaining principal amount to (i) 90% of the closing price of our common stock on the day before the delivery of a conversion notice with respect to the first 36,790 shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion and to (ii) $27.20 with respect to all shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion thereafter.
The 2023 Amendment resulted in the extinguishment of the original convertible debt for accounting purposes. We elected to account for the amended convertible debt using the fair value option. As a result, we recognized $260,933 of other income from the change in the fair value of the convertible debt in our accompanying consolidated statements of operations during the year ended December 31, 2024. The fair value of the convertible debt was estimated using the Monte Carlo valuation method.
During the first half of 2024, Pontifax delivered to us notices of conversion electing to convert a portion of the then outstanding principal balance into shares of our common stock. Accordingly, we issued 36,790 shares of our common stock resulting in a reduction of the outstanding principal balance totaling $254,256.
In October 2024, we entered into an amendment (the “2024 Amendment”) to the Loan Agreement, as amended. The 2024 Amendment reduced the conversion price with respect to the remaining principal amount outstanding to (i) $3.81 for the first 501,648 shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion and (ii) $4.23 with respect to all shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion thereafter. The remaining terms of the agreement remained in effect with minimal, non-material modifications to those terms. Pursuant to applicable accounting standards, after the 2024 Amendment, we elected not to account for the amended convertible debt under the fair value option. Accordingly, there was no further recognition for the impact of changes in fair value in our financial statements.
In February 2025, we fully repaid all outstanding obligations and terminated the Loan Agreement. As a result, all related liens and security interests securing our obligations were released. We did not incur any prepayment penalties for the early repayment.
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Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
The information required by this Item 8 can be found beginning on page F-1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls and procedures are our controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can only provide reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the possible controls and procedures.
Our management has evaluated, with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based upon that evaluation, our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, has concluded that, as of the end of the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our principal executive and principal financial officers and effected by our Board of Directors, management and other personnel to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and includes those policies and procedures that:
Because of inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risks that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”) in Internal Control-Integrated Framework, 2013.
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Based on our assessment, management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2025, our internal control over financial reporting is effective.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the evaluation of such internal control that occurred during our last fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Item 9B. Other Information
Not applicable.
Item 9C Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions That Prevent Inspections
Not applicable.
PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
The table below contains information regarding the current members of the Board of Directors and executive officers. The ages of individuals are provided as of March 24, 2026.
Name Age Position
Gregg A. Lapointe, CPA, MBA 67 Director
Diane L Parks, MBA 73 Director
Robert J. Rubin, MD 80 Director
Jerome B. Zeldis, MD, PhD 75 Director
Oreola Donini, PhD 54 Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President
Richard Straube, MD 74 Consulting Chief Medical Officer
Christopher J. Schaber, PhD has over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Dr. Schaber has been our President and Chief Executive Officer and a director since August 2006. He was appointed Chairman of the Board in October 2009. He also has served on the board of directors of the Biotechnology Council of New Jersey (“BioNJ”) since January 2009 and has been a member of the corporate council of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (“NORD”) since October 2009. He also serves on the scientific advisory board for private start-up medical device company, Simphotek, Inc. Prior to joining Soligenix, Dr. Schaber served from 1998 to 2006 as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Discovery Laboratories, Inc., where he was responsible for overall pipeline development and key areas of commercial operations, including regulatory affairs, quality control and assurance, manufacturing and distribution, pre-clinical and clinical research, and medical affairs, as well as coordination of commercial launch preparation activities. From 1996 to 1998, Dr. Schaber was a co-founder of Acute Therapeutics, Inc., and served as its Vice President of Regulatory Compliance and Drug Development. From 1994 to 1996, Dr. Schaber was employed by Ohmeda PPD, Inc., as Worldwide Director of Regulatory Affairs and Operations. From 1989 to 1994, Dr. Schaber held a variety of regulatory, development and operations positions with The Liposome Company, Inc., and Elkins-Sinn Inc., a division of Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories. Dr. Schaber received his BA degree from Western Maryland College, his MS degree in Pharmaceutics from Temple University School of Pharmacy and his PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Union Graduate School. During his career, Dr. Schaber has played a significant role in raising in excess of $350 million through both public offerings and private placements, as well as approximately $100 million in non-dilutive funding awards from state and federal governmental agencies. Dr. Schaber was selected to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his extensive experience in drug development and pharmaceutical operations, including his experience as a senior executive officer with our company and Discovery Laboratories, Inc., and as a member of the board of directors of BioNJ and Simphotek; because of his proven ability to raise funds and provide access to capital; and because of his advanced degrees in science and business.
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Gregg A. Lapointe, CPA, MBA has been a director since March 2009. Mr. Lapointe is currently CEO of Cerium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and serves on the board of directors of Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Lapointe has previously served on the board of directors of Astria Therapeutics, Inc., ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Ltd., Raptor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the Pharmaceuticals Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the board of trustees of the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences. He previously served in varying roles for Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (now known as Leadiant Biosciences, Inc.), a private biopharmaceutical company, from September 2001 through February 2012, including Chief Operating Officer from November 2003 to April 2008 and Chief Executive Officer from April 2008 to February 2012. From May, 1996 to August 2001, he served as Vice President of Operations and Vice President, Controller of AstenJohnson, Inc. (formerly JWI Inc.). Prior to that, Mr. Lapointe spent several years in the Canadian medical products industry in both distribution and manufacturing. Mr. Lapointe began his career at Price Waterhouse. Mr. Lapointe received his B.A. degree in Commerce from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, a graduate diploma in Accountancy from McGill University and his M.B.A. degree from Duke University. He is a C.P.A. in the state of Illinois. Mr. Lapointe was selected to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his significant experience in the areas of global strategic planning and implementation, business development, corporate finance, and acquisitions, and his experience as an executive officer and board member in the pharmaceutical and medical products industries.
Diane L. Parks, MBA has been a director since July 2019. From February 2016 until July 2018, she served as Head of U.S. Commercial and Senior Vice President of Marketing, Sales & Market Research at Kite Pharma, Inc., a privately-held biopharma company. From October 2014 to October 2015, Ms. Parks served as Vice President of Global Marketing at Pharmacyclics LLC, a privately-held biopharmaceutical company. Prior to Pharmacyclics LLC, Ms. Parks held senior leadership roles as Vice President of Sales for Amgen, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, representing oncology and nephrology products, and Senior Vice President of Specialty Biotherapeutics and Managed Care at Genentech, Inc., a biotechnology company that was acquired by Roche Holding AG in 2009. At Genentech, she led the launches of multiple products as well as commercial development of Lucentis® and Rituxan®. Ms. Parks has been member of the board of directors of Kura Oncology, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, since November 2019. Since June 2022, she has also been a member of Celularity, Inc. board of directors. From May 2019 to October 2024 Diane was a member of the board of directors of Calliditas Therapeutics AB, a biopharmaceutical company. From October 2019 to July 2023, Ms. Parks was a member of the board of directors for TriSalus Life Sciences, a biotech company. Ms. Parks holds a Bachelor of Science from Kansas State University and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from Georgia State University. She has been a commercial leader in the biotech and pharma industry for over 30 years.
Robert J. Rubin, MD has been a director since October 2009. Dr. Rubin was a clinical professor of medicine at Georgetown University from 1995 until 2012 when he was appointed a Distinguished Professor of Medicine. From 1987 to 2001, he was President of the Lewin Group (purchased by Quintiles Transnational Corp. in 1996), an international health policy and management consulting firm. From 1994 to 1996, Dr. Rubin served as Medical Director of ValueRx, a pharmaceutical benefits company. From 1992 to 1996, Dr. Rubin served as President of Lewin-VHI, a health care consulting company. From 1987 to 1992, he served as President of Lewin-ICF, a health care consulting company. From 1984 to 1987, Dr. Rubin served as a principal of ICF, Inc., a health care consulting company. From 1981 to 1984, Dr. Rubin served as the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services and as an Assistant Surgeon General in the U.S. Public Health Service. Dr. Rubin has served on the Board of BioTelemetry, Inc. (formerly known as CardioNet, Inc.) from 2007 to February 2021. He is currently on the Board of Cerium Pharmaceuticals where he is also the acting Chief Medical Officer since July 2022. He is a board certified nephrologist and internist. Dr. Rubin received an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Williams College and his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College. Dr. Rubin was selected to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his vast experience in the health care industry, including his experience as a nephrologist, internist, clinical professor of medicine and Assistant Surgeon General, and his business experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
Jerome B. Zeldis, MD, PhD has been a director since June 2011. In March 2023 Dr. Zeldis retired as Executive Vice President, Research and Development of Neximmune. He was the Chief Medical Officer and President of Clinical Research, Drug Safety and Regulatory of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. and Celularity, Inc. Previously, Dr. Zeldis was Chief Executive Officer of Celgene Global Health and Chief Medical Officer of Celgene Corporation, a publicly traded, fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. He was employed by Celgene from 1997 to 2016. From September 1994 to February 1997, Dr. Zeldis worked at Sandoz Research Institute and the Janssen Research Institute in both clinical research and medical development. He has been a board member of several biotechnology companies and is currently on the boards of Metastat, Inc., PTC Therapeutics Inc., BioSig Technologies, Inc., the Castleman's Disease Organization and Alliqua, Inc. He has previously served on the boards of the NJ Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation and PTC Therapeutics, Inc. Additionally, he
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has served as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School from July 1987 to September 1988, Associate Professor of Medicine at University of California, Davis from September 1988 to September 1994, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Cornell Medical School from January 1995 to December 2003 and Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School from July 1998 to June 2010. Dr. Zeldis received a BA and an MS from Brown University, and an MD, and a PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University. Dr. Zeldis trained in Internal Medicine at the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences and in Gastroenterology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Zeldis was selected to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his experience as an executive officer of a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company and in clinical research and medical development, and his experience in the health care industry, including his experience as an internist, gastroenterologist and professor of medicine.
Jonathan Guarino, CPA, CGMA has been with our company since September 2019 and currently serves as our Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Guarino has over 25 years of experience in financial leadership with development-stage and commercial companies. In his role, he oversees the Company’s finance function, capital markets activities, Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) reporting, investor and public communications, information technology, human resources, and corporate governance. From September 2016 to July 2019, Mr. Guarino served as Corporate Controller for Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), a New Jersey-based public biotechnology company, where he led SEC reporting and supported equity and debt financing transactions while strengthening financial infrastructure and internal controls. He previously served as Controller for Suite K Value Added Services LLC from August 2015 to September 2016 and as Senior Manager of Technical Accounting for Covance, Inc. from June 2014 to May 2015. Prior to these roles, he held accounting and finance positions of increasing responsibility at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, BlackRock, Inc., and Barnes & Noble, Inc. Mr. Guarino is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Montclair State University.