Essa Pharma ($75M market-cap) previously focused on developing novel therapies for treatment of prostate cancer. On 10/31, they announced that they are terminating all of their clinical programs after disappointing early results from their Phase 2 trials, and initiating a strategic review to maximize shareholder value.

They also shared these numbers in the 8-K:

Liquidity and Outstanding Share Capital

As of September 30, 2024, the Company had available cash reserves and short-term investments of $126.8 million and net working capital of $124.3 million (unaudited figures). The Company has no long-term debt facilities.

As of September 30, 2024, the Company had 44,388,551 common shares issued and outstanding, and there were 2,920,000 common shares issuable upon the exercise of prefunded warrants at an exercise price of $0.0001.

Broken biotechs have been a recurring theme for me this year, and this one is another relatively straightforward addition. It appears to be poised for a reverse-merger or a liquidation. If they go the reverse-merger route, an important thing to look out for is the PIPE amount. There has been a strong correlation between the stock performance and the PIPE size in several biotechs this year (ELYM, ABIO etc.). 

The company hasn’t formally announced a RIF, but it’s fair to expect one soon. The cash burn has been minimum in the past few quarters, here’s my rough liquidation estimate:

Note that I was able to pick up some shares on Monday, the price has run up by a little bit since then.

Disclosure: I own shares of EPIX