SEC Form 10-Q filed by Tenax Therapeutics Inc.

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

FOR THE QUARTERLY PERIOD ENDED September 30, 2024

OR

FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM              TO              

Commission File Number 001-34600

101 Glen Lennox Drive, Suite 300, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27517

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

(919) 855-2100

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐     No ☒

As of October 31, 2024, the registrant had outstanding 3,408,906 shares of Common Stock.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION

ITEM 1. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

TENAX THERAPEUTICS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

TENAX THERAPEUTICS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(Unaudited)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

TENAX THERAPEUTICS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(Unaudited)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

TENAX THERAPEUTICS, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

TENAX THERAPEUTICS, INC.

NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(Unaudited)

ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and with the audited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included as part of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. All references in this Quarterly Report to “Tenax Therapeutics,” “we,” “our” and “us” means Tenax Therapeutics, Inc.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, which are subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections. Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to them. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as “might,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “projects,” “predicts,” “potential” and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current view with respect to future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to various factors that could cause actual results and the timing of events to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. Furthermore, such forward-looking statements speak only as of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.

Overview

The Company was originally formed as a New Jersey corporation in 1967 under the name Rudmer, David & Associates, Inc., and subsequently changed its name to Synthetic Blood International, Inc. Effective June 30, 2008, we changed the domiciliary state of the corporation to Delaware and changed the Company name to Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc. On September 19, 2014, the Company changed its name to Tenax Therapeutics, Inc.

In November 2013, we acquired a license with Orion Corporation (“Orion”) granting our wholly-owned subsidiary an exclusive, sublicensable right to develop and commercialize pharmaceutical products containing levosimendan, 2.5 mg/ml concentrate for solution for infusion / 5ml vial in the United States and Canada. In October 2020 and January 2022, we entered into an amendment to the license agreement between the Company and Orion to include in the scope of the license two new oral product formulations containing levosimendan, in capsule and solid dosage form (TNX-103) and a subcutaneously administered dosage form (TNX-102), subject to specified limitations. In February 2024, we entered into an additional amendment to the license, providing global rights to oral and subcutaneous formulations of levosimendan used in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (“PH-HFpEF”), revising the royalty structure, lowering the royalty rates, modifying milestones associated with certain regulatory and commercial achievements, and excluding from our right of first refusal the right to commercialize new applications of levosimendan for neurological diseases and disorders developed by Orion. 

In January 2021, we acquired 100% of the equity of PHPrecisionMed Inc., a Delaware corporation (“PHPM”), with PHPM surviving as our wholly-owned subsidiary. As a result of the merger, we have rights to commercialize pharmaceutical products containing imatinib for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (“PAH”).

In August 2024, we closed a private placement financing (the “August 2024 Offering”) in which we sold to multiple accredited investors, including certain members of the Company’s Board of Directors, an aggregate of 1,450,661 shares of the Company’s common stock, and pre-funded warrants (“Pre-Funded Warrants”) to purchase an aggregate of 31,882,671 shares of the Company’s  common stock, along with accompanying warrants (“Warrants”) to purchase an aggregate of 16,666,666 shares of the Company’s common stock (or, in lieu thereof, additional Pre-Funded Warrants) for gross process of approximately $99.7 million, before deducting placement agent fees and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company. We intend to use the net proceeds from the August 2024 Offering to complete our ongoing Phase 3 LEVEL trial, to initiate all sites and advance enrollment in a second planned Phase 3 trial of oral levosimendan, and for working capital, capital expenditures, and other general corporate purposes. The approximately $99.7 million in gross proceeds from the August 2024 Offering, combined with the Company’s current cash and cash equivalents, are expected to fund the Company’s operations through the end of 2027.

Business Strategy

Having raised capital expected to fund the Company through the end of 2027, the Company plans to accelerate its Phase 3 program. Site selection and initiation processes, and enrollment of participants, are ongoing in the Phase 3 LEVEL study, the Company having received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) input into this oral levosimendan protocol and clinical development program in the third quarter of 2023. The Company began initiating LEVEL sites in the fourth quarter of 2023 and continues to enroll patients. The Company also plans an open label extension phase following the completion of the randomized phase. The Company will complete efficacy and safety analyses of levosimendan versus placebo at the end of the randomized treatment phase, but many patients will continue, beyond the completion of these statistical analyses, to be treated under the protocol on open label levosimendan, allowing for additional weeks of safety observation that will contribute to the overall body of safety data on oral levosimendan. With the net proceeds of the August 2024 Offering, the Company also expects to fund the initiation of a second Phase 3 study planned for 2025.

The Company has two U.S. Patents, issued in March and July 2023, covering the use of IV and oral levosimendan in patients with PH-HFpEF. An additional new patent was issued in early 2024 which provides protection covering all therapeutic doses of all three formulations of the product in patients with PH-HFpEF.  Given our prioritization of the Phase 3 testing of levosimendan, we have suspended plans to launch an imatinib Phase 3 trial.

The key elements of our business strategy are outlined below.

Efficiently conduct clinical development to establish clinical proof of principle in new indications, refine dosage levels and dosing strategies, conduct other required clinical and nonclinical testing as FDA and other regulators may require, and continue Phase 3 testing of oral levosimendan, as our prioritized product candidate.

Levosimendan and imatinib have been approved and prescribed in countries around the world for more than 20 years, but we believe their mechanisms of action have not been fully exploited, despite promising evidence they may significantly improve the lives of patients with pulmonary hypertension. We are conducting clinical development with the intent to establish proof of beneficial activity in cardiopulmonary diseases in which these therapeutics would be expected to have benefit for patients with diseases for which either no pharmaceutical therapies are approved at all, or in the case of pulmonary arterial hypertension (“PAH”), where numerous, expensive therapies generally offer a modest reduction of symptoms. Our focus is primarily on designing and executing formulation improvements, protecting these innovations with patents and other forms of exclusivity, and employing innovative clinical trial science to establish a robust foundation for subsequent development, product approval, and commercialization. We intend to submit marketing authorization applications following two Phase 3 trials of levosimendan and, when appropriate, a single Phase 3 trial of imatinib. Our trials are designed to incorporate and reflect advanced clinical trial design science and the regulatory and advisory experience of our team. We intend to continue partnering with innovative companies, renowned biostatisticians and trialists, medical leaders, formulation and regulatory experts, and premier clinical testing organizations to help expedite development, and continue expanding into complementary areas when opportunities arise through our development, research, and discoveries. We also intend to continue outsourcing to CROs, and seeking and acting upon the advice of preeminent scientists focused on cardiovascular and pulmonary drug development, when designing and executing our research.

Efficiently explore new high-potential therapeutic applications, in particular where expedited regulatory pathways are available, leveraging third-party research collaborations and our results from related areas.

Levosimendan has shown promise in multiple disease areas in the more than two decades following its approval. Our own Phase 2 study and open-label extension has demonstrated that levosimendan’s property of relaxing the venous circulation, a formerly under-appreciated mechanism of action of levosimendan, brings durable improvements in exercise capacity and quality of life, as well as other clinical assessments, in patients with PH-HFpEF. The FDA has not approved a therapy for this disease. We are committed to exploring potential clinical indications where our therapies may achieve best-in-class profile, and where we can address significant unmet medical needs.

We believe these factors will support approval by the FDA of this product candidate based on positive Phase 3 data. Through our agreement with our licensor, Orion, the originator of levosimendan for acute decompensated heart failure, we have access to a library of ongoing and completed trials and research projects, including certain documentation, which we believe, in combination with positive Phase 3 data we hope to generate in at least one indication, will support FDA approval of levosimendan. Likewise, the regulatory pathway for approval of imatinib for the treatment of PAH, as formulated by us at the dose shown to be effective in a prior Phase 3 trial conducted by Novartis, allows us to build on the dossier of research results already reviewed by the FDA. In order to achieve our objective of developing these medicines for new groups of patients, we have established collaborative research relationships with investigators from leading research and clinical institutions, and our strategic partners. These collaborative relationships have enabled us to explore where our product candidates may have therapeutic relevance, gain the advice and support of key opinion leaders in medicine and clinical trial science, and invest in development efforts to exploit opportunities to advance beyond current clinical care.

Continue to expand our intellectual property portfolio.

Our intellectual property and the confidentiality of all our Company information is important to our business and we are taking significant steps to help protect its value. Our research and development efforts, both through internal activities and through collaborative research activities with others, aim to develop new intellectual property and enable us to file patent applications that cover new uses of our existing technologies, alone or in combination with existing therapies, as well as other product candidates. 

Notice of Allowance and Patents

On February 1, 2023, the Company announced it was granted a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) for its patent application with claims covering the use of IV levosimendan (TNX-101) in the treatment of PH-HFpEF. This patent (U.S. Patent No. 11,607,412) was issued on March 21, 2023. On July 19, 2023, the Company announced USPTO issuance of another patent, this one including claims covering the use of oral levosimendan (TNX-103) in patients with PH-HFpEF. This issued patent (U.S. Patent No. 11,701,355) provides exclusivity through December 2040. On February 6, 2024, the Company announced it was granted a Notice of Allowance from the USPTO for its patent application broadening IP protection for oral, I.V., and subcutaneous use of levosimendan and its active metabolites in PH-HFpEF, at all therapeutic doses and in combination with various cardiovascular drugs. At present, the Company has other patent applications pending, with additional decisions expected in the future.  Patents pending in Europe may lead to intellectual property protections on the use of levosimendan in patients with PH-HFpEF in 2024.

Enter into licensing or product co-development arrangements.

In addition to our internal development efforts, an important part of our product development strategy is to work with collaborators and partners to accelerate product development, maintain our low development and business operations costs, and broaden our commercialization capabilities globally. We believe this strategy will help us develop a portfolio of high-quality product development opportunities, enhance our clinical development and commercialization capabilities, and increase our ability to generate value from our proprietary technologies.

We also continue to position ourselves to execute upon licensing and other partnering opportunities. To do so, we need to continue to maintain our strategic direction, manage and deploy our available cash efficiently, and strengthen our collaborative research development and partner relationships.

Historically, we have financed our operations principally through equity and debt offerings, including private placements such as the August 2024 Offering and loans from our stockholders. Based on its current operating plan, the Company has determined that there is no longer substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. Given its resources on September 30, 2024, the Company believes it can continue its operations over at least the next 12 months.

Financial Overview – Three Months Ended September 30, 2024

Operating Expenses

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses were $1.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to $1.1 million for the same period in 2023. General and administrative expenses consist primarily of compensation for executive, finance, legal and administrative personnel, including stock-based compensation. Other general and administrative expenses include facility costs not otherwise included in research and development expenses, legal and accounting services, and other professional and consulting services. General and administrative expenses and percentage changes for the three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively, are as follows:

Personnel costs increased approximately $203,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. The change was primarily attributable to higher salaries and performance-based compensation expense.

Legal and professional fees increased approximately $269,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in the prior year. Professional fees consist of the costs incurred for accounting fees, capital market expenses, consulting fees and investor relations services, as well as fees paid to the members of our Board of Directors.

Legal fees increased approximately $36,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in the prior year. The change was primarily due to increased legal fees associated with general corporate matters, fundraising activities and IP costs compared to the same period in the prior year.

Professional fees increased approximately $233,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in the prior year. The change was primarily attributable to increased capital market expenses, consulting expenses and accounting expenses.

Other costs decreased approximately $16,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. Other costs include expenses incurred for franchise and other taxes, travel, supplies, insurance, depreciation, and other miscellaneous charges. The change was primarily attributable to decreases in insurance costs.

Facilities costs include costs paid for rent and utilities at our corporate headquarters in North Carolina. Facilities costs decreased by a de minimis amount of approximately $400 for the three months ended September 30, 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Research and Development Expenses 

Research and development expenses were approximately $3.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to $1.1 million for the same period in the prior year. Research and development expenses include, but are not limited to, (i) expenses incurred under agreements with contract research organizations and investigative sites, which conduct our clinical trials and a substantial portion of our pre-clinical studies; (ii) the cost of supplying clinical trial materials; (iii) payments to contract service organizations, as well as consultants; (iv) employee-related expenses, which include salaries and benefits; and (v) facilities, depreciation and other allocated expenses, which include direct and allocated expenses for rent and maintenance of facilities and equipment, depreciation of leasehold improvements, equipment, and other supplies. All research and development expenses are expensed as incurred. Research and development expenses and percentage changes for the three months ended September 30, 2024, and 2023, respectively, are as follows:

Clinical and preclinical development costs increased approximately $1.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in the prior year. Clinical and preclinical development costs for the three months ended September 30, 2024 consist of expenses associated with our Phase 2 HELP Open Label Extension Study and Phase 3 LEVEL trial for oral levosimendan, compared with costs for the three months ended September 30, 2023, associated with our Phase 2 HELP Open Label Extension Study for levosimendan.

Personnel costs increased approximately $202,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in the prior year, primarily attributable to higher salaries and additional performance-based compensation expense.

Other costs increased approximately $132,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in the prior year, primarily due to increased regulatory consulting costs.

Other Income and Expense

Other income and expenses include non-operating income and expense items not otherwise recorded in our consolidated statement of comprehensive loss. These items include but are not limited to interest income earned and fixed asset disposals. Interest expenses were approximately $6,000 and $5,000 for three months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023. Other income increased approximately $514,000 primarily related to higher interest income on increased cash deposits as a result of the August 2024 Offering.

Financial Overview – Nine Months Ended September 30, 2024

Operating Expenses

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses were $4.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, compared to $3.4 million for the same period in 2023. General and administrative expenses consist primarily of compensation for executive, finance, legal and administrative personnel, including stock-based compensation. Other general and administrative expenses include facility costs not otherwise included in research and development expenses, legal and accounting services, and other professional and consulting services. General and administrative expenses and percentage changes for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, and 2023, are as follows:

Personnel costs increased approximately $285,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. The change was primarily attributable to higher salaries and performance-based compensation plan expense.

Legal and professional fees increased approximately $433,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in the prior year. Professional fees consist of the costs incurred for accounting fees, capital market expenses, consulting fees and investor relations services, as well as fees paid to the members of our Board of Directors.

Legal fees increased approximately $77,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in the prior year. The change was primarily due to increased legal fees associated with general corporate matters, fundraising activities and IP costs compared to the same period in the prior year.

Professional fees increased approximately $356,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in the prior year. The change was primarily attributable to increased capital market expenses, consulting expenses, and accounting expenses.

Other costs increased approximately $18,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. Other costs include expenses incurred for franchise and other taxes, travel, supplies, insurance, depreciation, and other miscellaneous charges. The change was primarily attributable to increases in franchise tax fees offset by lower costs for insurance and general office supplies.

Facilities costs include costs paid for rent and utilities at our corporate headquarters in North Carolina. Facilities costs decreased approximately $16,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. The decrease is the result of the Company’s relocation to new shared office space resulting in lower rent and utility costs.