Non-Dilutive Funding Strengthens Balance Sheet, Extends Cash Runway Beyond 2024
Sale of an Additional $5.0 Million of State NOLs Expected in Future Years
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J., May 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ: CLSN), a clinical-stage company focused on DNA-based immunotherapy and next-generation vaccines, today announced it has received $1.85 million in net cash proceeds from the sale of approximately $2.0 million of its unused New Jersey net operating losses (NOLs). The NOL sales cover the tax years 2018 and 2019 and are administered through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA) Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer (NOL) program.
This non-dilutive funding, along with more than $58 million in gross proceeds from equity offerings completed earlier this year, has significantly strengthened the Company’s balance sheet. An additional $5.0 million of unused New Jersey NOLs available to the Company are planned to be sold and will further increase Celsion’s cash position. Based on current budget projections, Celsion notes that this cash balance would be sufficient cash to fund its operations and clinical development programs beyond 2024.
This competitive program, administered by the NJEDA, enables approved companies to sell their unused New Jersey NOLs and R&D tax credits to unaffiliated, profit-generating corporate taxpayers in the state of New Jersey, up to a recently increased maximum lifetime benefit of $20 million per company. The economic development program allows technology and biotechnology companies with NOLs to turn their tax losses and credits into cash proceeds to fund more research and development (R&D), expand its workforce and/or cover other allowable expenditures.
“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 $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. 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.”
“Over the past year, 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 our unused New Jersey NOLs, an innovative and non-dilutive source of capital for the company,” said Jeffrey W. Church, Celsion Corporation’s executive vice president and CFO. “With the support of our stockholders, as well as the state of New Jersey, we look forward to a promising 2021.”
For more details on this NOL program, please visit www.njeda.com.
About Celsion Corporation
Celsion is a fully integrated oncology company focused on developing a portfolio of innovative cancer treatments, including directed chemotherapies, immunotherapies and RNA- or DNA-based therapies. The Company's lead program is ThermoDox®, a proprietary heat-activated liposomal encapsulation of doxorubicin, currently in Phase III development for the treatment of primary liver cancer. The pipeline also includes GEN-1, a DNA-based immunotherapy for the localized treatment of ovarian cancer. Celsion has two platform technologies for the development of novel nucleic acid-based immunotherapies and other anti-cancer DNA or RNA therapies. For more information on Celsion, please visit www.celsion.com.
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
Or
LHA Investor Relations
Kim Sutton Golodetz
212-838-3777
kgolodetz@lhai.com
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