One day after announcing plans to lay off another 28% of its workforce, New Haven-based biopharmaceutical company BioXcel Therapeutics Inc. told federal regulators that its stock may be delisted from The Nasdaq Stock Market.
According to a Sept. 20 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, BioXcel received a letter from Nasdaq on Sept. 16 that notified the company that for the past 30 consecutive days the bid price for its common stock had closed below the $1-per-share minimum required for continued listing.
In addition, BioXcel said it received a second letter from Nasdaq on Sept. 20 that notified the company that the minimum market value of its listed securities over the past 30 consecutive days had fallen below the minimum of $35 million required for continued listing.
BioXcel’s stock trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol BTAI. As of Sept. 23, the stock was trading around 58 cents per share, well below its 52-week high of $5.62. Over the past 30 days, the stock price peaked at 71 cents per share on Aug. 26 and traded as low as 54 cents per share on Sept. 10.
Its market cap as of Sept. 23 was $23.49 million.
Under Nasdaq’s rules, BioXcel has 180 days to try to regain compliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement, which means the stock price must be at least $1 per share for 10 consecutive business days by March 17.
Similarly, the company has 180 days to try to regain compliance with the minimum market value of its listed securities by meeting or exceeding the minimum $35 million value for at least 10 consecutive business days by March 19.
BioXcel said it intends to monitor the price of its stock and “consider available options” if it does not trade “at a level likely to result in the company regaining compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum bid price rule” by the compliance date.
It also said it is evaluating “various alternative courses of action” to help boost its market value, but added that “there can be no assurance that the company will be successful in regaining compliance with the Nasdaq continued listing requirements or maintaining its listing of its common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market.”
BioXcel noted that if it does not regain compliance within the grace period, it may be eligible for a second 180-day compliance period.
“To qualify, BioXcel would be required to meet the continued listing requirement for market value of publicly held shares and all other initial listing standards for The Nasdaq Capital Market, with the exception of the bid price requirement, and would need to provide written notice of its intention to cure the deficiency during the second compliance period, for example, by effecting a reverse stock split, if necessary,” the company said.
The issue with listing its stock on the Nasdaq was reported just a day after BioXcel announced on Sept. 19 that its board of directors had approved a plan to reduce its workforce by 15 employees, “or approximately 28% of the company’s headcount.”
