Arca Biopharma is down to its last $50 million. With its share price still languishing in the basement, the biotech is pushing ahead with a search for strategic alternatives including the sale of the business.
The Colorado-based company ended June with $46.4 million in the bank, a sum that, given its limited R&D activities, it expects to keep the lights on until at least the end of next year. Earlier in the quarter, Arca retained Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. to act as its financial adviser as it looks into the potential for an acquisition, merger or other transaction.
“We are in the process of evaluating options for creating stockholder value, including potential development of our assets, partnering and other strategic options,” Arca CEO Michael Bristow said in a statement to accompany its second-quarter earnings.
Arca began the search for strategic alternatives despite being a rare example of a biotech that has seen its share price rise in 2022. The problem? Even after the 1.3% rise, the share price stands at $2.33, giving Arca a market cap of $32.8 million.
The company’s problems date back to 2018, when its share price plummeted in the wake of the release of phase 2b data on its cardiovascular disease candidate Gencaro. Arca pushed ahead with development of Gencaro in the wake of the results, securing an agreement with the FDA about the requirements of a planned phase 3 study but not the money to fund the trial.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Arca’s focus shifted to recombinant nematode anticoagulant protein c2, also known as AB201. Arca saw the drug candidate as a potential treatment for people hospitalized with COVID-19, but the failure of a phase 2b clinical trial dented its prospects earlier this year.