Minerva Neurosciences Inc
For the period ended Sep 30, 2024. Filed Nov 5, 2024.
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Sep 30, 2024 · Filed Nov 5, 2024
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Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
As of September 30, 2024 and for the Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2024 and 2023
NOTE 1 — NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND LIQUIDITY
Nature of Operations
Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. (“Minerva” or the “Company”) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of proprietary product candidates to treat patients suffering from central nervous system diseases. The Company’s lead product candidate is roluperidone, a compound the Company is developing for the treatment of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. The Company previously submitted a New Drug Application (“NDA”) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for roluperidone for the treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia in August 2022. On February 26, 2024, the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter (“CRL”) regarding the NDA for roluperidone. Since receiving the CRL, the Company has continued to have interactions with the FDA with the goal of addressing the questions raised in the CRL.
The Company also has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize MIN-301, a compound for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. In addition, Minerva previously co-developed seltorexant with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (“Janssen”) for the treatment of insomnia disorder and adjunctive treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (“MDD”). During 2020, Minerva exercised its right to opt out of the joint development agreement with Janssen for the future development of seltorexant. As a result, the Company was entitled to collect royalties in the mid-single digits on potential future worldwide sales of seltorexant in certain indications, with no further financial obligations to Janssen. In January 2021, the Company sold its rights to these potential royalties to Royalty Pharma plc (“Royalty Pharma”) for a $60 million up front payment and up to an additional $95 million in potential future milestone payments.
Liquidity
The accompanying interim condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared as though the Company will continue as a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The Company has limited capital resources and has incurred recurring operating losses and negative cash flows from operations since inception. As of September 30, 2024, the Company had an accumulated deficit of approximately $391.1 million and net cash used in operating activities was approximately$14.4 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2024. Management expects to continue to incur operating losses and negative cash flows from operations in the future. The Company has financed its operations to date from proceeds from the sale of common stock, warrants, loans, convertible promissory notes, collaboration agreements and royalty sales.
As of September 30, 2024, the Company had cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash of$26.6 million, which it believes will be sufficient to meet the Company’s operating commitments for the next 12 months from the date its financial statements are issued. The process of drug development can be costly and the timing and outcomes of clinical trials is uncertain. The assumptions upon which the Company has based its estimates are routinely evaluated and may be subject to change. The actual amount of the Company’s expenditures will vary depending upon many factors, including, but not limited to, the design, timing and duration of future clinical trials, the progress of the Company’s research and development programs, the infrastructure to support a commercial enterprise, and the level of financial resources available. The Company can adjust its operating plan spending levels based on the timing of future clinical trials, which are predicated upon adequate funding to complete the trials. The Company routinely evaluates the status of its clinical development programs as well as potential strategic options.
The Company will need to raise additional capital to continue to fund operations and fully fund any potential later stage clinical development programs. The Company believes that it will be able to obtain additional working capital through equity financings or other arrangements to fund future operations; however, there can be no assurance that such additional financing, if available, can be obtained on terms acceptable to the Company. If the Company is unable to obtain such additional financing, future operations would need to be scaled back or discontinued.
Further, if the Company does not satisfy The Nasdaq Capital Market continued listing requirements, its common stock may be subject to delisting, which could impact the Company’s ability to complete additional equity financings on terms acceptable to the Company. On April 10, 2024, the Company received a deficiency letter from The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) notifying the Company that for the last 31 consecutive business days, the market value of listed securities (“MVLS requirement”) for its common stock had been below the minimum MVLS requirement of $35 million pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(b)(2) (the “Rule”). In accordance with the listing rules of Nasdaq, the Company was provided with a grace period of 180 calendar days, or until October 7, 2024, to regain compliance.
On October 8, 2024, the Company received a second written notice from Nasdaq indicating that, based upon the Company’s continued non-compliance with the Rule, the staff of Nasdaq had determined to delist the Company’s securities from The Nasdaq Capital Market unless the Company timely requests a hearing before a Nasdaq Hearings Panel (the “Panel”). As a result, the Company has timely requested a hearing before the Panel, which had the effect of staying the delisting action pending the completion of the hearing and the expiration of any additional extension period granted by the Panel following the hearing. Under the Nasdaq Listing Rules, the Panel has the discretion to grant a further extension not to exceed April 5, 2025. Notwithstanding, there can be no assurance that the Panel will grant the Company a further extension or that the Company will ultimately regain compliance with all applicable requirements for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. During the pendency of the requested hearing before the Panel, the Company’s common stock will remain listed and trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market.
NOTE 2 — SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of presentation
The interim condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for interim reporting and the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in accordance with Regulation S-X, Rule 8-03. Under those rules, certain notes and financial information that are normally required for annual financial statements can be condensed or omitted. In the opinion of the Company’s management, the accompanying financial statements contain all adjustments (consisting of items of a normal and recurring nature) necessary to present fairly the financial position as of September 30, 2024, the results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023 and cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023. The results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year. The consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2023 was derived from the audited annual financial statements. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and notes thereto should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023 included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 22, 2024.
Consolidation
The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the results of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Mind-NRG Sarl and Minerva Neurosciences Securities Corporation. Intercompany transactions have been eliminated.
Significant risks and uncertainties
The Company’s operations are subject to a number of factors that can affect its operating results and financial condition. Such factors include, but are not limited to: the results of clinical testing and trial activities of the Company’s products, the Company’s ability to obtain regulatory approval to market its products, competition from products manufactured and sold or being developed by other companies, the price of, and demand for, Company products, the Company’s ability to negotiate favorable licensing or other manufacturing and marketing agreements for its products, and the Company’s ability to raise capital.
The Company currently has no commercially approved products and there can be no assurance that the Company’s research and development will be successfully commercialized. Developing and commercializing a product requires significant time and capital and is subject to regulatory review and approval as well as competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The Company operates in an environment of rapid change and is dependent upon the continued services of its employees and consultants and obtaining and protecting intellectual property.
Use of estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash equivalents include short-term, highly-liquid instruments, consisting of money market accounts and short-term investments with maturities from the date of purchase of 90 days or less. The majority of cash and cash equivalents are maintained with major financial institutions in North America. Deposits with these financial institutions may exceed the amount of insurance provided on such deposits. These deposits may be redeemed upon demand which reduces counterparty performance risk.
Restricted cash
Cash accounts with any type of restriction are classified as restricted. The Company maintained restricted cash balances as collateral for corporate credit cards in the amount of $0.1 million at each of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023.
Recent accounting pronouncements
From time to time, new accounting pronouncements are issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and are adopted by the Company as of the specified effective date. The Company believes that the impact of recently issued, but not yet adopted, accounting pronouncements will not have a material impact on the condensed consolidated financial statements or do not apply to the Company.
NOTE 3 — ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER LIABILITIES
Accrued expenses and other liabilities consist of the following:
| September 30, 2024 | December 31, 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Research and development costs and other accrued expenses | $2,333,232 | $777,680 |
| Accrued bonus | 966,723 | 590,769 |
| Professional fees | 441,536 | 166,648 |
| Accrued severance | 111,539 | — |
| Vacation pay | 76,818 | — |
| Accrued expenses and other current liabilities | $3,929,848 | $1,535,097 |
NOTE 4 —NET INCOME (LOSS) PER SHARE OF COMMON STOCK
Basic income (loss) per share is calculated by dividing the net income (loss) by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding. Diluted income (loss) per share is computed by dividing the net income (loss) by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding, plus potential outstanding common stock for the period. Potential outstanding common stock includes stock options, but only to the extent that their inclusion is dilutive. Performance-based restricted stock units are excluded from the calculation of dilutive potential common shares until the performance conditions have been achieved on the basis of the assumption that the end of the reporting period was the end of the contingency period, if such shares issuable are dilutive.
In June 2023, in connection with the Private Placement (as defined and described in Note 6, Stockholders’ Deficit), the Company issued and sold pre-funded warrants exercisable for an aggregate of 575,575 shares of common stock. The purchase price of the pre-funded warrants was $9.99 per share, which was paid to the Company upon issuance of the pre-funded warrants. The exercise price of the pre-funded warrants is $0.01 per share. The pre-funded warrants are exercisable by the holders at any time and do not expire. As the remaining shares underlying the pre-funded warrants are issuable for nominal consideration of $0.01 per share,575,575 shares of common stock underlying the unexercised pre-funded warrants were considered outstanding for purposes of the calculation of income (loss) per share as of September 30, 2024.
The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted income (loss) per share for common stockholders:
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | |
| Net income (loss) | $22,513,205 | $(7,820,446) | $5,710,913 | $(20,982,894) |
| Weighted average shares of common stock outstanding - basic | 7,568,981 | 7,568,981 | 7,568,981 | 6,148,276 |
| Dilutive effect | — | — | 9,286 | — |
| Weighted average shares of common stock outstanding - diluted | 7,568,981 | 7,568,981 | 7,578,267 | 6,148,276 |
| Net income (loss) per ordinary share: | ||||
| Basic | $2.97 | $(1.03) | $0.75 | $(3.41) |
| Diluted | $2.97 | $(1.03) | $0.75 | $(3.41) |
The following securities outstanding at September 30, 2024 and 2023 have been excluded from the calculation of weighted average shares outstanding as their effect on the calculation of income (loss) per share is antidilutive:
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | |
| Common stock options | 1,060,109 | 735,929 | 1,010,377 | 735,929 |
| Performance-based restricted stock units | 228,209 | 228,209 | 228,209 | 228,209 |
| Common stock warrants | 5,099 | 5,099 | 5,099 | 5,099 |
NOTE 5 — SALE OF FUTURE ROYALTIES
The Company had previously co-developed seltorexant with Janssen for the treatment of insomnia disorder and adjunctive treatment of MDD. During 2020, the Company exercised its right to opt out of the co-development and license agreement (the “Janssen Agreement”) with Janssen for the future development of seltorexant and, as a result, the Company was entitled to collect royalties in the mid-single digits on potential future sales of seltorexant worldwide in certain indications, with no further financial obligations to Janssen.
On January 19, 2021, the Company entered into an agreement with Royalty Pharma under which Royalty Pharma acquired the Company’s royalty interest in seltorexant for an upfront payment of $60 million and up to an additional $95 million in potential milestone payments. These milestone payments are contingent upon the achievement of certain clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones for seltorexant by Janssen or any other party in the event that Janssen sells seltorexant. Under the terms of the agreement, Royalty Pharma has recourse against the Company relating to payments due from Janssen and therefore, the Company is deemed to have significant continuing involvement. The Company has applied the debt recognition guidance under ASC 470, Debt, and recorded the upfront payment of $60 million on the balance sheet as a liability related to the sale of future royalties (the “Royalty Obligation”) and will record any amortized interest expense and future milestone payments received from Royalty Pharma as well. No amounts received, including the initial upfront payment, amortized interest expense or potential milestone payments, are repayable to Royalty Pharma if Janssen discontinues the clinical development of seltorexant or ceases to pursue its commercialization at a future date for any reason. In accordance with ASC 470, the Company will account for any royalties received in the future as non-cash royalty revenue.
As royalties are remitted from Janssen to Royalty Pharma, the balance of the Royalty Obligation will be effectively repaid over the expected life of the Janssen Agreement. The $60 million payment received from Royalty Pharma and any potential future milestone payments from Royalty Pharma are recorded as part of the Royalty Obligation. The difference between the total expected royalties receivable from Janssen and the upfront and milestone payments potentially receivable from Royalty Pharma is being amortized as non-cash interest expense over the estimated remaining life of the Janssen Agreement. To determine the amount of non-cash interest to be amortized, the Company is required to make assumptions for the total amount of future royalty payments to be received from Janssen. At execution, the Company’s estimate of this total non-cash interest expense resulted in an effective annual interest rate of approximately 10.5%.
The Company regularly evaluates the assumptions supporting future royalty estimates and, during the third quarter of 2024, noted that Janssen announced on clinicaltrials.gov a further Phase 3 study with seltorexant (42847922MDD3003) that has an estimated study completion date of November 30, 2027, which is significantly different from the assumption the Company used in its original estimates. As a result, the Company has made a significant revision to its estimates for the timing and amount of future royalty payments to be earned over the life of the Janssen Agreement and noted that the estimate of undiscounted royalty payments is now less than the original carrying value of the upfront payment received. Therefore, under the retrospective interest model, as of September 30, 2024 the Company adjusted the Royalty Obligation to the initial upfront payment received of $60 million and recognized $26.6 million as a component of Other Income, representing the amount of amortized non-cash interest expense through June 30, 2024. In addition, the Company does not expect to recognize non-cash interest expense in the future related to the Royalty Obligation, as the effective annual interest rate is negative.
NOTE 6 —STOCKHOLDERS’ DEFICIT
Private Placement of Common Stock and Warrants
On June 27, 2023, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Securities Purchase Agreement”) with certain institutional accredited investors (the “Investors”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue and sell to the Investors in a private placement (the “Private Placement”) (i) an aggregate of 1,425,000 shares (the “Shares”) of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $10.00 per Share, and (ii) in lieu of additional shares of common stock, pre-funded warrants to purchase an aggregate of 575,575 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $9.99 per pre-funded warrant. The price per pre-funded warrant represents the price of $10.00 per Share sold in the Private Placement, minus the $0.01 per share exercise price of each such pre-funded warrant. The pre-funded warrants are exercisable at any time after their original issuance and will not expire until exercised in full.
The pre-funded warrants issued in the Private Placement provide that a holder of the pre-funded warrants will not have the right to exercise any portion of its pre-funded warrants to the extent such holder, together with its affiliates, after giving effect to such exercise, would beneficially own in excess of the beneficial ownership limitation, as elected by such Investor, immediately after giving effect to such exercise (the “Beneficial Ownership Limitation”); provided, however, that each pre-funded warrant holder may increase or decrease the Beneficial Ownership Limitation by giving 61 days’ notice to the Company, but not to any percentage in excess of 19.99%.
On June 30, 2023, the Private Placement closed and the Company received aggregate gross proceeds from the Private Placement of $20.0 million. The Company incurred approximately $0.4 million in offering expenses during 2023, which were included as a component of additional paid-in capital, resulting in net proceeds of $19.6 million from the Private Placement.
Pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement, the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-273686), which was declared effective by the SEC on August 9, 2023, covering the resale of the Registrable Securities (as such term is defined in the Securities Purchase Agreement). The Company has agreed to use its commercially reasonable efforts to keep such registration statement effective until the earlier of (i) the third anniversary of the effective date of the initial registration statement covering the Registrable Securities; (ii) the date all Shares and all shares of common stock underlying the pre-funded warrants may be sold under Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, without being subject to any volume, manner of sale or publicly available information requirements; or (iii) immediately prior to the closing of a Change of Control (as such term is defined in the Securities Purchase Agreement).
Pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement, in connection with the Private Placement, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH (“BI”), an Investor in the Private Placement, has the right to designate an observer to attend, subject to certain exceptions, meetings of the Company’s board of directors and its committees, until the earlier of (i) the occurrence of a Change of Control and (ii) the date that it and its affiliates collectively hold less than 10% of the Company’s common stock (which shall be calculated by including in the amount of common stock held by such Investor and its affiliates any shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of any portion of the pre-funded warrant issued to such Investor and not yet exercised). BI designated a board observer on August 29, 2023.
At-the-Market Equity Offering Program
In September 2022, the Company entered into an Open Market Sale Agreement (the “Sales Agreement”) with Jefferies LLC (“Jefferies”) pursuant to which the Company may offer and sell, from time to time, through Jefferies shares of the Company’s common stock, by any method permitted by law deemed to be an “at-the-market” offering as defined in Rule 415 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. During thenine months ended September 30, 2024, no sharesof the Company’s common stock were issued or sold under the Sales Agreement. As of September 30, 2024, an aggregate of $22.6 million was eligible for sale pursuant to the Sales Agreement under the Company’s effective registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-267424).
Term Loan Warrants
In connection with the Company’s former Loan and Security Agreement with Oxford Finance LLC and Silicon Valley Bank (the “Lenders”), which provided for term loans to the Company in an aggregate principal amount of up to $15 million intwo tranches on January 15, 2016, the Company issued the Lenders warrants to purchase 5,099 shares of common stock at a per share exercise price of $44.13. The warrants were immediately exercisable upon issuance, and other than in connection with certain mergers or acquisitions, will expire on the ten-year anniversary of the date of issuance. The term loans were repaid in August 2018. All related warrants were outstanding and exercisable as of September 30, 2024.
NOTE 7 — STOCK AWARD PLAN AND STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION
In December 2013, the Company adopted the 2013 Equity Incentive Plan (as subsequently amended and restated, the “Plan”), which provides for the issuance of options, stock appreciation rights, stock awards and stock units.
Stock Option Awards
Stock option activity for employees and non-employees for thenine months ended September 30, 2024 is as follows:
| SharesIssuablePursuant toStockOptions | Weighted-AverageExercise Price | Weighted-AverageRemainingContractualTerms(years) | TotalIntrinsicValue (inthousands) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outstanding January 1, 2024 | 1,157,229 | $11.36 | 8.5 | $745 |
| Granted | — | $— | ||
| Exercised | — | $— | ||
| Cancelled/Forfeited | (90,625) | $8.29 | ||
| Expired | (6,495) | $48.00 | ||
| Outstanding September 30, 2024 | 1,060,109 | $11.40 | 7.8 | $— |
| Exercisable September 30, 2024 | 477,643 | $18.31 | 6.8 | $— |
| Available for future grant | 459,486 | |||
The weighted average grant-date fair value of stock options outstanding on September 30, 2024 was $8.26 per share. Total unrecognized compensation costs related to non-vested stock options at September 30, 2024 were approximately $2.2 million and are expected to be recognized within future operating results over a weighted-average period of 2.6 years.
The expected term of the employee-related options was estimated using the “simplified” method as defined by the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 107, Share-Based Payment. The volatility assumption was determined by examining the historical volatility of the Company and volatilities for industry peer companies. The risk-free interest rate assumption is based on the U.S. Treasury instruments, the term of which was consistent with the expected term of the options. The dividend assumption is based on the Company’s history and expectation of dividend payouts. The Company has never paid dividends on its common stock and does not anticipate paying dividends on its common stock in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the Company has assumedno dividend yield for the purposes of estimating the fair value of the options.
The Company uses the Black-Scholes model to estimate the fair value of stock options granted. There were no stock options granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2024. For stock options granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company utilized the following assumptions:
| Nine Months Ended | |
|---|---|
| Expected term (years) | 5.50 |
| Risk free interest rate | 4.68% |
| Volatility | 119% |
| Dividend yield | 0% |
| Weighted average grant date fair value per share of common stock | $6.26 |
Performance-Based Restricted Stock Units
On August 6, 2021, options to purchase 953,980 shares of the Company’s common stock were exchanged for 476,640 PRSUs. Options surrendered in the one-time stock option exchange program (the “Exchange Program”) were cancelled and shares subject to the cancelled options again became available for issuance under the Plan. The Exchange Program was treated as a Type II modification (Probable-to improbable) under ASC 718.
The Company used the pre-modification stock options for determining the compensation cost related to the PRSUs as the vesting conditions remain uncertain for the outstanding PRSUs. All expense related to the non-vested pre-modification stock options was fully recognized as of December 31, 2023.
On April 28, 2023, the Compensation Committee of the Company’s board of directors certified the achievement of a performance condition occurring upon FDA acceptance of the NDA for roluperidone. As a result,50% of the shares of common stock underlying the Company’s PRSUs vested and the Company recognized approximately $0.2 million in non-cash compensation expense, representing 50% of the incremental cost of the PRSUs granted under the Exchange Program. The incremental cost was measured as the excess of the fair value of each new PRSU, measured as of the date the new PRSUs were granted, over the fair value of the stock options surrendered in exchange for the new PRSU, measured immediately prior to the cancellation. The remaining PRSUs vest upon roluperidone receiving FDA marketing approval, provided that such approval occurs within five years after the August 6, 2021 grant date. As of September 30, 2024,228,213 PRSUs have vested,20,218 have been cancelled, and 228,209 remain outstanding.
The following table presents stock-based compensation expense included in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations:
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Nine Months Ended September 30, | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | |
| Research and development | $84,776 | $185,075 | $361,270 | $667,558 |
| General and administrative | 222,932 | 186,868 | 714,605 | 689,759 |
| Total | $307,708 | $371,943 | $1,075,875 | $1,357,317 |
NOTE 8 — COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Legal Proceedings
From time to time, the Company may be subject to various legal proceedings and claims that arise in the ordinary course of the Company’s business activities. The Company is not aware of any claim or litigation, the outcome of which, if determined adversely to the Company, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.
Leases
On October 11, 2022, the Company entered into an office lease agreement with Regus to lease approximately 491 rentable square feet of office space located at 1500 District Avenue, Burlington, MA 01803. In January 2024, the Company renewed the month-to-month lease agreement commencing on February 1, 2024, with a monthly payment of $8,697. The Company has elected to not recognize the lease agreement on the balance sheet as the term of the agreement is 12 months or less.
The text of this filing, as the company filed it with the SEC, without its images or exhibits. This is not investment advice.