PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Soligenix, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNGX) (Soligenix or the Company), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need, announced today that its Board of Directors declared a dividend of one one-thousandth of a share of newly designated Series D Preferred Stock, par value $0.001 per share, for each outstanding share of the Company's common stock held of record as of 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 3, 2023. The shares of Series D Preferred Stock will be distributed to such recipients at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 4, 2023. The outstanding shares of Series D Preferred Stock will vote together with the outstanding shares of the Company's common stock, as a single class, exclusively with respect to a reverse stock split, as well as any proposal to adjourn any meeting of stockholders called for the purpose of voting on the reverse stock split, and will not be entitled to vote on any other matter, except to the extent required under the Delaware General Corporation Law. Subject to certain limitations, each outstanding share of Series D Preferred Stock will have 1,000,000 votes per share (or 1,000 votes per one one-thousandth of a share of Series D Preferred Stock).

"The current market conditions have been extremely difficult for many companies both large and small, and Soligenix is no exception," stated Christopher J. Schaber, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Soligenix.  "After receiving the Nasdaq deficiency letter stating that the Company no longer met the required $1.00 minimum bid price, we were hopeful that our important 2022 milestones such as the submission of the HyBryte™ new drug application (NDA), had the potential to put the Company back in compliance with Nasdaq requirements.  Unfortunately, while achieving these major milestones, our stock price did not respond as we had hoped in these difficult global market conditions.  Therefore, we are now faced with having to consider a reverse stock split in order to maintain our Nasdaq listing, which is very important for the Company's future success as we move toward potential NDA approval and U.S. launch, and continue partnership discussions.  It should also make our stock more attractive to larger institutional investors."

All shares of Series D Preferred Stock that are not present in person or by proxy at the meeting of stockholders held to vote on the reverse stock split as of immediately prior to the opening of the polls at such meeting will automatically be redeemed by the Company. Any outstanding shares of Series D Preferred Stock that have not been so redeemed will be redeemed if such redemption is ordered by the Company's Board of Directors or automatically upon the approval by the Company's stockholders of an amendment to the Company's certificate of incorporation effecting the reverse stock split at such meeting.

The Series D Preferred Stock will be uncertificated, and no shares of Series D Preferred Stock will be transferable by any holder thereof except in connection with a transfer by such holder of any shares of the Company's common stock held by such holder. In that case, a number of one one-thousandths of a share of Series D Preferred Stock equal to the number of shares of the Company's common stock to be transferred by such holder would be transferred to the transferee of such shares of common stock.

Further details regarding the Series D Preferred Stock will be contained in a report on Form 8-K to be filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Soligenix is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat rare diseases where there is an unmet medical need. Our Specialized BioTherapeutics business segment is developing and moving toward potential commercialization of HyBryte™ (SGX301 or synthetic hypericin) as a novel photodynamic therapy utilizing safe visible light for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). With a successful Phase 3 study completed, regulatory approval is being sought and commercialization activities for this product candidate are being advanced initially in the U.S. Development programs in this business segment also include expansion of synthetic hypericin (SGX302) into psoriasis, our first-in-class innate defense regulator (IDR) technology, dusquetide (SGX942) for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, including oral mucositis in head and neck cancer, and proprietary formulations of oral beclomethasone 17,21-dipropionate (BDP) for the prevention/treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders characterized by severe inflammation including pediatric Crohn's disease (SGX203).

Our Public Health Solutions business segment includes active development programs for RiVax^®, our ricin toxin vaccine candidate, and SGX943, our therapeutic candidate for antibiotic resistant and emerging infectious disease, and our vaccine programs targeting filoviruses (such as Marburg and Ebola) and CiVax™, our vaccine candidate for the prevention of COVID-19 (caused by SARS-CoV-2). The development of our vaccine programs incorporates the use of our proprietary heat stabilization platform technology, known as ThermoVax^®. To date, this business segment has been supported with government grant and contract funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

For further information regarding Soligenix, Inc., please visit the Company's website at https://www.soligenix.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter at @Soligenix_Inc.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect Soligenix, Inc.'s current expectations about its future results, performance, prospects and opportunities, including but not limited to, potential market sizes, patient populations and clinical trial enrollment. Statements that are not historical facts, such as "anticipates," "estimates," "believes," "hopes," "intends," "plans," "expects," "goal," "may," "suggest," "will," "potential," or similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results in future periods to differ materially from what is expressed in, or implied by, these statements, such as experienced with the COVID-19 outbreak. Soligenix cannot assure you that it will be able to successfully develop, achieve regulatory approval for or commercialize products based on its technologies, particularly in light of the significant uncertainty inherent in developing therapeutics and vaccines against bioterror threats, conducting preclinical and clinical trials of therapeutics and vaccines, obtaining regulatory approvals and manufacturing therapeutics and vaccines, that product development and commercialization efforts will not be reduced or discontinued due to difficulties or delays in clinical trials or due to lack of progress or positive results from research and development efforts, that it will be able to successfully obtain any further funding to support product development and commercialization efforts, including grants and awards, maintain its existing grants which are subject to performance requirements, enter into any biodefense procurement contracts with the U.S. Government or other countries, that it will be able to compete with larger and better financed competitors in the biotechnology industry, that changes in health care practice, third party reimbursement limitations and Federal and/or state health care reform initiatives will not negatively affect its business, or that the U.S. Congress may not pass any legislation that would provide additional funding for the Project BioShield program. In addition, there can be no assurance as to the timing or success of any of its clinical/preclinical trials. Despite the statistically significant result achieved in the HyBryte™ (SGX301) Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, there can be no assurance that a marketing authorization from the FDA or EMA will be successful. Notwithstanding the result in the HyBryte™ (SGX301) Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and the Phase 1/2 proof-of-concept clinical trial of SGX302 for the treatment of psoriasis, there can be no assurance as to the timing or success of the clinical trials of SGX302 for the treatment of psoriasis. Further, there can be no assurance that RiVax® will qualify for a biodefense Priority Review Voucher (PRV) or that the prior sales of PRVs will be indicative of any potential sales price for a PRV for RiVax®. Also, no assurance can be provided that the Company will receive or continue to receive non-dilutive government funding from grants and contracts that have been or may be awarded or for which the Company will apply in the future. These and other risk factors are described from time to time in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Soligenix's reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K. Unless required by law, Soligenix assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.