Continuing an emerging trend, a fourth US biomedical company is being dual-listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE): Celsion has a $44 million market cap on Nasdaq after its share fell 18.5% this year.
Based in New Jersey, Celsion deals in immunotherapy - drugs that utilize the patient's immune system to fight diseases, and in this case, types of cancer. The product in Celsion's pipeline that has made the most progress is for treatment of liver cancer, and is entering the most advanced Phase III clinical trials. In addition to this product, Celsion has several others at an advanced stage of development.
Three years ago, the company's Phase III clinical trial of a drug for treatment of liver cancer failed, and the company's share plummeted from $36 to less than $7, an 81% drop, on the following day. It has since fallen even further and is currently stagnating at $1.90.
Celsion's chairman, president, and CEO since 2007 has been Dr. Michael Tardugno, a former senior executive at Mylan N.V. (Nasdaq: MYL; TASE: MYL), which also became dual-listed on the TASE a few days ago. Celsion's revenue in the first three quarters of 2015, a result of its licensing agreements, totaled $375,000, about the same as in the corresponding period last year. The company lost $16.9 million, compared with $19 million last year, leaving it with $7.6 million in cash.
Angry investors
In joining the TASE, Celsion is following in the footsteps of BioTime Inc. (NYSE: BTX; TASE: BTX), Navidea Biopharmacuticals Inc. (NYSE: NAVB; TASE: NAVB), and MannKind Corporation (Nasdaq: MNKD; TASE: MNKD) - three life companies with no business in Israel and little or no connection to the country. Celsion is significantly smaller than all three of these companies.
Companies dual-listed on the TASE are still subject to US regulation, but can raise capital - or at least benefit from a higher value - as a result of being traded on the TASE. Their addition is a bit of a shot in the arm for the languishing local stock exchange, but this trend is also arousing anger and concern among the local biomedical companies, and among investors following the indices through investments in exchange traded funds. (ETFs).
The immediate addition of the foreign companies to the relevant indices (especially the biomedical index, but not only that one) is forcing the exchange traded funds to buy the shares in proportion to their weight on the index, and sell the other shares, whose weight on the index has been diluted. Meanwhile, in order to calm the troubled waters, the TASE recently made it clear that Israel shares would in any case not be taken off the indices entered by the foreign companies, even though their weight on those indices has decreased.
In contrast to its three US predecessors joining the TASE, Celsion employed a different set of advisors for its registration in Israel. The company's law firm is Goldman Seligman & Co. Celsion's document for registering on the TASE indicates that its registered capital consists of ordinary and preferred shares, although as of now, there are no preferred shares in its issued and paid-in capital. When becoming listed on the TASE, Mylan undertook to eliminate its preferred shares.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 10, 2015
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