Debra BorchardtAtai Life Sciences (NASDAQ: ATAI) announced after the markets closed on Wednesday that it priced a registered underwritten offering to raise approximately $55 million. Shares rose 14% to close at $2.55 on Wednesday. In a statement, Atai said the offering consists of 26,190,477 common shares priced at $2.10 per share.
The psychedelic drug company said it plans to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, and to advance the clinical development of its product candidates and programs.
The offering is expected to close on Feb. 14. It also granted the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase an additional 3,928,571 common shares.
Executive moves
In January, Atai announced that Co-CEO Srinivas Rao was named the sole CEO. There were additional appointments with Kevin Craig, M.D., named as chief medical officer, Glenn Short advanced to to chief scientific officer, and Gerd Kochendoerfer appointed as chief operating officer.
“We have strengthened our leadership team at a pivotal time as we advance VLS-01 and EMP-01 into Phase 2 clinical trials,” Rao said. “As we continue to focus on executing our Phase 2 clinical trials, with VLS-01 now screening patients, we look forward to the Phase 2b data readout for Beckley Psytech’s BPL-003, anticipated midyear. This is a key milestone and an important step towards the potential of commercially scalable short-duration psychedelic therapies for people with treatment-resistant depression.”
To that end, the company recently announced positive topline results from the Beckley Psytech Phase 2a open-label study of BPL-003 in 12 patients with moderate to severe alcohol use disorder.
“The results showed that a single dose of BPL-003, in combination with relapse prevention cognitive behavioral therapy, induced meaningful and sustained reduction in alcohol use and heavy drinking days (HDDs) in patients with moderate to severe AUD out to 12 weeks,” the company said in a statement. “These findings add to the growing body of evidence supporting the potential of BPL-003 in treating serious mental health disorders.”
Balance sheet
Atai last reported earnings in November when Green Market Report wrote that the company reported a net loss of $26.3 million for the third quarter, down year-over-year from its net income of $43.3 million, but the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company also noted at the time that it was well-positioned to bring multiple mental health drugs to market in the not-too-distant future.
At the end of September, Atai had $197.5 million in total assets, including $29.9 million in cash. The company noted in an investor presentation that it had enough cash to reach the milestones laid out through 2025.
