In retrospect, it all went wrong for Bioasis Technologies when the merger with Midatech Pharma fell through in January. Now, the biotech is suspending operations and counting down the last days before its creditors call in over $4 million in loans.
You can’t blame Bioasis for a lack of effort. The company said in a June 20 press release that it has spent the year seeking “numerous strategic alternatives,” ranging from another merger attempt to selling off assets. But despite contacting multiple potential partners, “several of whom entered into non-disclosure agreements with the company and engaged in active discussions … regarding potential transactions,” it’s produced just one deal—and not one big enough to save the business.
Bioasis sold an exclusive worldwide license for assets from its EGF therapy platform back to the vendors it acquired the platform from a year ago. That means Bioasis could be in line for milestone payments, along with a 5% royalties on sales of any resulting products.
But, as Bioasis admits, even that deal is not expected to generate any cash for the company in the near term.
Meanwhile, the hopes of ever seeing the $138 million in milestone payments that Chiesi Farmaceutici agreed to in 2020 when it licensed Bioasis’ xB3 TM platform for delivering therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier have also died. The Italian pharma told the biotech that it is terminating the lysosomal storage disorder partnership, Bioasis said.
In a postmarket release Tuesday, Bioasis said the present economic climate and market circumstances pose significant difficulties for emerging small-cap biopharmaceutical companies.
With its debts coming due next week and unable to find the money even to pay its auditors to keep the business in accordance with stock listing rules, it seems Bioasis has run out of road. Or, as the biotech puts it bluntly: “The company does not currently have any actionable alternatives, is almost out of cash and is no longer in a position to continue funding its operations.”
Given the numerous challenges and lack of options to move forward, the company’s board decided to suspend its functions.
Bioasis joins a growing list of biotechs that have run out of gas in 2023, including Sorrento Therapeutics and Athenex, which both filed for bankruptcy, as well as Vedere Bio II, Vyant Bio and Oncorus, which initiated their own wind-down operations.