Full Press Release Details
Akari Therapeutics, Plc Announces
Closing of $9.5 Million Private Placement
NEW YORK and LONDON, March
4, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akari Therapeutics, Plc (Nasdaq: AKTX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative
therapeutics to treat orphan autoimmune and inflammatory diseases where the complement and/or leukotriene systems are implicated,
today announced it had closed its previously announced private placement, issuing an aggregate of 5,620,296 American Depositary
Shares (the "ADSs") at $1.70 per ADS for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $9.5 million to certain accredited
and institutional investors, led by existing investors of the Company, including Dr. Ray Prudo, the Company's
Chairman. The offering initially closed on February 25, 2020 and a final closing was held on March 3, 2020. Additionally, for
each ADS purchased, the investors received an unregistered warrant to purchase one-half of an ADS. The warrants are immediately
exercisable and will expire five years from issuance at an exercise price of $2.20 per ADS.
Company, LLC, acted as the exclusive placement agent in connection with this offering.
shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy nor shall there be any sale of the ADSs or warrants in any state
or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities
laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
The ADS and warrants
described above are being offered in a private placement under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
"Act"), and Regulation D promulgated thereunder and, along with the ADSs issuable upon exercise of the warrants, have
not been registered under the Act, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration with the SEC or an
applicable exemption from such registration requirements.
Akari is a biopharmaceutical
company focused on developing inhibitors of acute and chronic inflammation, specifically for the treatment of rare and orphan
diseases, in particular those where the complement (C5) or leukotriene (LTB4) systems, or both complement and leukotrienes together,
play a primary role in disease progression. Akari's lead drug candidate, nomacopan (formerly known as Coversin), is a C5 complement
inhibitor that also independently and specifically inhibits leukotriene B4 (LTB4). Nomacopan is currently being clinically evaluated
in four indications: bullous pemphigoid (BP), atopic keratoconjunctivitis (AKC), thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), and paroxysmal
nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Akari believes that the dual action of nomacopan on both C5 and LTB4 may be beneficial in AKC
and BP. Akari is also developing other tick derived proteins, including longer acting versions.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. You should not place undue reliance upon the Company's forward looking statements. Except as required
by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward looking statements in order to reflect any event
or circumstance that may arise after the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views
about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information currently available to
us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as
reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that the plans, intentions,
expectations or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described
in the forward-looking statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are beyond our control. Such risks
and uncertainties for our company include, but are not limited to: needs for additional capital to fund our operations, our ability
to continue as a going concern; uncertainties of cash flows and inability to meet working capital needs; an inability or delay
in obtaining required regulatory approvals for nomacopan and any other product candidates, which may result in unexpected cost
expenditures; our ability to obtain orphan drug designation in additional indications; risks inherent in drug development in general;
uncertainties in obtaining successful clinical results for nomacopan and any other product candidates and unexpected costs that
may result therefrom; difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials; our ability to enter into collaborative, licensing,
and other commercial relationships and on terms commercially reasonable to us; failure to realize any value of nomacopan and any
other product candidates developed and being developed in light of inherent risks and difficulties involved in successfully bringing
product candidates to market; inability to develop new product candidates and support existing product candidates; the approval
by the FDA and EMA and any other similar foreign regulatory authorities of other competing or superior products brought to market;
risks resulting from unforeseen side effects; risk that the market for nomacopan may not be as large as expected; risks associated
with the departure of our former Chief Executive Officers and other executive officers; risks associated with the SEC investigation;
inability to obtain, maintain and enforce patents and other intellectual property rights or the unexpected costs associated with
such enforcement or litigation; inability to obtain and maintain commercial manufacturing arrangements with third party manufacturers
or establish commercial scale manufacturing capabilities; the inability to timely source adequate supply of our active pharmaceutical
ingredients from third party manufacturers on whom the company depends; unexpected cost increases and pricing pressures and risks
and other risk factors detailed in our public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recently
filed Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Except as otherwise noted, these forward-looking statements speak only as
of the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these statements to reflect events
or circumstances occurring after this press release. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking
statements contained in this press release.