Non-dilutive funding further strengthens balance sheet and
extends current operating runway through 2024
Additional $3.5 million of unused state NOLs expected to be sold in future years
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J., Feb. 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ: CLSN), a clinical-stage company focused on DNA-based immunotherapy and next-generation vaccines, today announced it has received $1.4 million in net cash proceeds from the sale of approximately $1.5 million of its unused New Jersey net operating losses (NOLs). The NOL sales cover the tax year 2020 and are administered through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA) Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer (NOL) program.
This non-dilutive funding adds to the over $55 million in gross proceeds from equity offerings completed in 2021, further strengthening the Company’s balance sheet. The Company plans to sell an additional $3.5 million of unused New Jersey NOLs available to the Company under the program over the next 3 years. Based on current budget projections, Celsion anticipates the current cash balance coupled with future sales of its unused NOLs to be sufficient to fund the Company’s operations and clinical development programs through 2024.
The Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer administered by the NJEDA enables qualified companies to sell up to $20 million of their unused New Jersey net operating losses and R&D tax credits to unaffiliated, profit-generating corporate taxpayers in the state of New Jersey. The economic development program is designed to allow technology and biotechnology companies with NOLs to turn their tax losses and credits into cash proceeds to fund more R&D, expand its workforce, and cover other allowable expenditures. Celsion is one of several biotechnology/technology companies to qualify in this competitive process to share in the funding this year.
“This innovative program offered by the NJEDA reinforces our belief in the State of New Jersey’s commitment to the biotechnology industry and to the development of new life-saving therapies. We plan to fully participate in this program in the future to sell the remaining $3.5 million in NOLs under the maximum lifetime benefit,” said Michael H. Tardugno, Celsion Corporation’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We are positioned to advance our development programs well beyond several important value inflection points, including final readout of progression-free survival (PFS) data, the primary endpoint for our ongoing Phase II OVATION 2 Study with GEN-1 in advanced ovarian cancer as well as non-human primate data for our vaccine initiative. We appreciate the support of the NJEDA in facilitating our commitment to developing life-saving drugs and applaud their efforts to foster continued investment and growth for businesses in New Jersey.”
Jeffrey W. Church, Celsion Corporation’s executive vice president and CFO added, “Celsion has sought investor-friendly ways to finance our clinical development programs and vaccine research initiative. Balancing the high cost of research and drug development with a focus on our shareholders is reflected in the sale of over $16.5 million of our unused New Jersey NOLs over the past four years, an innovative and non-dilutive source of capital for the company. With the support of our stockholders, as well as the state of New Jersey, we look forward to a promising 2022.”
For more details on this NOL program, please visit www.njeda.com.
About Celsion Corporation
Celsion is a fully integrated, clinical stage biotechnology company focused on advancing a portfolio of innovative cancer treatments, including immunotherapies and DNA-based therapies; and a platform for the development of nucleic acid vaccines currently focused on SARS-CoV2. The company’s product pipeline includes GEN-1, a DNA-based immunotherapy for the localized treatment of ovarian cancer. Celsion also has two platform technologies for the development of novel nucleic acid-based immunotherapies and other anti-cancer DNA or RNA therapies. Both are novel synthetic, non-viral vectors with demonstrated capability in nucleic acid cellular transfection. Celsion’s wholly owned subsidiary, Celsion GmbH, is managing ThermoDox®, a proprietary heat-activated liposomal encapsulation of doxorubicin, which is under investigator-sponsored development for several cancer indications. For more information on Celsion, visit www.celsion.com and www.celsiongmbh.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Celsion wishes to inform readers that forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, unforeseen changes in the course of research and development activities and in clinical trials; the uncertainties of and difficulties in analyzing interim clinical data; the significant expense, time, and risk of failure of conducting clinical trials; the need for Celsion to evaluate its future development plans; possible acquisitions or licenses of other technologies, assets or businesses; possible actions by customers, suppliers, competitors, regulatory authorities; and other risks detailed from time to time in Celsion's periodic reports and prospectuses filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Celsion assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events, new information or otherwise.
Celsion Investor Contact
Jeffrey W. Church
Executive Vice President and CFO
609-482-2455
jchurch@celsion.com
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