Worcester biopharma faces delisting from Nasdaq
Photo | Grant Welker
Manny Litchman, CEO of Mustang Bio, speaks at an event marking the opening of the company's Worcester space in 2018.
Mustang Bio, a Worcester-based biopharmaceutical company, is facing delisting from the Nasdaq Capital Market following its inability to comply with the exchange’s stockholders’ equity requirement.
The company received an extension on May 16, with Nasdaq giving Mustang Bio until Sept. 9 to regain compliance with the rule, which requires the company to maintain at least $2.5 million in stockholders’ equity to remain listed.
Mustang Bio has now been notified that Nasdaq is moving forward with delisting the company, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued Sept. 10.
The company said in the filing it plans on requesting a hearing with Nasdaq to potentially negotiate another extension, a move which it says will prevent Nasdaq from moving forward with the delisting until after the hearing.
Mustang Bio did not immediately respond to a WBJ request for comment.
Since hitting an all-time high of $200.25 per share shortly after Mustang Bio first began trading on the Nasdaq in August 2017, the company’s share price has mostly declined, now sitting at $0.26 per share as of Wednesday.
The company had agreed to sell its Worcester manufacturing facility as part of a $11 million deal in May 2023 to uBriGene Biosciences, a company based in China. However, the company later reversed the transaction after signing an agreement with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an inter-agency federal committee tasked with reviewing the national security implications of foreign investments in the U.S. economy, according to a June 2024 SEC filing.
In April 2024, Mustang Bio laid off 81% of its staff. With the company reporting 80 total employees as of January, this move appeared to leave the firm with just a handful of employees.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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