SEC Form S-8 filed by Moleculin Biotech Inc.

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 25, 2024

Registration No. 333-

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Moleculin Biotech, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Moleculin Biotech, Inc. 2024 Stock Plan

(Full title of the plans)

Walter V. Klemp, Chief Executive Officer

5300 Memorial Drive, Suite 950

Houston, Texas 77007

(Name and address of agent for service)

Copies to:

Cavas S. Pavri, Esq.

ArentFox Schiff LLP

1717 K Street, NW

Washington, DC 20006

(202) 724-6847

Facsimile: (202) 778-6460

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 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 to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  ☐

PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS

Item 1.  Plan Information.

The Registrant shall deliver or cause to be delivered documents containing the information specified by Part I of this Registration Statement to participants in the Moleculin Biotech, Inc. 2024 Stock Plan (the “2024 Plan”) to which this Registration Statement relates, as specified in Rule 428(b)(1) promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The Registrant is not filing such documents with the Commission, but these documents (along with the documents incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement pursuant to Item 3 of Part II hereof) constitute a prospectus that meets the requirements of Section 10(a) of the Securities Act.

Item 2.  Registrant Information and Employee Plan Annual Information.

The written statement required by Item 2 is included in documents sent or given to participants in the 2024 Plans covered by this Registration Statement pursuant to Rule 428(b)(1) of the Securities Act.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

The Commission allows us to “incorporate by reference” certain information we have filed with the Commission into this Registration Statement, which means that we are disclosing important information to you by referring you to other information we have filed with the Commission. The information we incorporate by reference is considered part of this Registration Statement. We specifically are incorporating by reference the following documents filed with the Commission (excluding those portions of any Current Report on Form 8-K that are furnished and not deemed “filed” pursuant to the General Instructions of Form 8-K): 

Additionally, all documents subsequently filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act (other than any such documents or portions thereof that are furnished under Item 2.02 or Item 7.01 of a Current Report on Form 8-K, unless otherwise indicated therein, including any exhibits included with such Items), prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated herein by reference and to be a part of this Registration Statement from the date of filing of such documents. 

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”) and Amended and Restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”) of Moleculin Biotech, Inc. ("MBI") authorize it to indemnify directors, officers, employees and agents of MBI against expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement, actually and reasonably incurred in connection with any action, suit or proceeding, if the party to be indemnified acted in good faith and in a manner that he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of MBI, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, such party had no reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful. The Certificate of Incorporation and the Bylaws of MBI also authorize it to indemnify directors, officers, employees and agents of MBI who are or were a party to or threatened to be a party to, any threatened, pending, or completed action or suit by or in the right of MBI to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact the he or she was a director, officer, employee or agent of MBI or of another entity at the request of MBI, against expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by him or her in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit if he or she acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of MBI.

MBI has entered into indemnity agreements with its directors and officers and may in the future enter into such agreements with other employees or agents. These agreements, together with the Bylaws and Certificate of Incorporation, may require MBI, among other things, to indemnify employees or agents against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors (other than liabilities resulting from willful misconduct of a culpable nature), to advance expenses to them as they are incurred, provided that they undertake to repay the amount advanced if it is ultimately determined by a court that they are not entitled to indemnification, and to obtain and maintain directors’ and officers’ insurance if available on reasonable terms.

MBI’s Certificate of Incorporation provides that directors shall have no personal liability to MBI or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except (i) for any breach of a director’s duty of loyalty to MBI or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) under section 174 of the General Corporation Law of Delaware as it may from time to time be amended or any successor provision thereto, or (iv) for any transaction from which a director derived an improper personal benefit.

MBI currently has directors’ and officers’ liability insurance. Delaware General Corporation Law, Section 145, and the Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws of MBI provide for the indemnification of officers, directors and other corporate agents in terms sufficiently broad to indemnify such persons, under certain circumstances, for liabilities (including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, MBI has been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.

Not applicable.

The following exhibits are filed as a part of or incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement:

(a)        The Registrant hereby undertakes:

(1)        To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

(i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act.

(ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement.

(iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement.

Provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) herein do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement.

(2)        That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3)        To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

(b)        The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(c)        Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the city of Houston, Texas, on October 25, 2024.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Walter V. Klemp and Jonathan P. Foster, or any one of them, his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, with full power of substitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place, and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement, and to file the same with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Commission, granting unto such attorney-in-fact and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and ratifying and confirming all that such attorney-in-fact and agent or his or her substitute or substitutes may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this registration statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated: