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Organization and Description of Business
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Organization and Description of Business

Note 1. Organization and Description of Business

 

Organization and Description of Business

 

Spherix Incorporated (the “Company”) is technology development company committed to the fostering of innovative ideas. The Company was incorporated in 1967 in the State of Delaware as a scientific research company, and for much of its history pursued drug development including through Phase III clinical studies which were discontinued.

 

The Company was formerly focused on commercializing and monetizing patents by acquiring IP from patent holders in order to maximize the value of the patent holdings by conducting and managing a licensing campaign, or through the settlement and litigation of patents.

 

Since March 2016, the Company has received limited funds from its intellectual property monetization. In addition to its patent monetization efforts, since the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company has been transitioning to focus its efforts as a technology and biotechnology development company. These efforts have focused on biotechnology research and blockchain technology research. The Company’s biotechnology research development includes investments in: (i) Hoth Therapeutics Inc. (“Hoth”), a development stage biopharmaceutical company focused on unique targeted therapeutics for patients suffering from indications such as atopic dermatitis, also known as eczema, (ii) DatChat, Inc. (“DatChat”), a privately held personal privacy platform focused on encrypted communication, internet security and digital rights management, and (iii) the acquisition of assets of CBM BioPharma, Inc. (“CBM”), a pharmaceutical company focusing on the development of cancer treatments.

 

As a result of the Company’s biotechnology research development and associated investments and acquisitions, our business portfolio now focuses on the treatment of three different cancers, including pancreatic cancer, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Our AML and ALL compounds, developed at the Wake Forest University, are next generation targeted therapeutics designed to overcome multiple resistance mechanisms observed with the current standard of care. DHA-dFdC, our pancreatic drug developed at the University of Texas at Austin, is a new compound poised to become the next generation of chemotherapy treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer. DHA-dFdC overcomes tumor cell resistance to current chemotherapeutic drugs and is well tolerated in preclinical toxicity tests. Preclinical studies have also indicated that DHA-dFdC inhibits pancreatic cancer cell growth (up to 100,000-fold more potent that gemcitabine, a current standard therapy), has documented efficacy against pancreatic tumors in a clinically relevant transgenic mouse model and has demonstrated activities against other cancers, including leukemia, lung and melanoma. In addition, we are constantly seeking to grow our pipe to treat unmet medical needs in oncology.

 

Reverse Stock Split

 

On May 10, 2019, the Company effected a reverse stock split of its outstanding shares of common stock at a ratio of one-for-4.25 (the “Reverse Stock Split”). The Reverse Stock Split, which was approved by the Company’s Board of Directors under authority granted by the Company’s stockholders at the Company’s 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on April 15, 2019, was consummated pursuant to a Certificate of Amendment filed with the Secretary of State of Delaware on May 9, 2019 (the “Certificate of Amendment”). The Reverse Stock Split was effective on May 10, 2019 (the “Effective Date”).  Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this report to shares of the Company’s common stock, including prices per share of its common stock, reflect the Reverse Stock Split.  Fractional shares were not issued, and the final number of shares were rounded up to the next whole share.

 

CBM Asset Acquisition

 

On October 10, 2018, the Company entered into that certain Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of October 10, 2018, by and among the Company, Spherix Delaware Merger Sub Inc., a Delaware corporation, Scott Wilfong, as the CBM stockholder representative, and CBM, a Delaware corporation and a pharmaceutical company focused on the development of cancer treatments, pursuant to which all shares of capital stock of CBM were be converted into the right to receive an aggregate of 15,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, with CBM continuing as the surviving corporation in the merger.

  

On May 15, 2019, the Company restructured the terms of the CBM merger and chose to proceed with purchasing substantially all of the assets, properties and rights (the “Acquisition”) of CBM. On December 5, 2019, the Company completed the Acquisition of CBM, pursuant to that certain Asset Purchase Agreement, dated as of May 15, 2019, by and between the Company and CBM, as amended by that certain Amendment No. 1 to Asset Purchase Agreement, dated as of May 30, 2019, and Amendment No. 2 to Asset Purchase Agreement, dated as of December 5, 2019 (collectively, the “CBM Purchase Agreement”). As consideration for the Acquisition, the Company agreed to pay to CBM consideration consisting of (i) $1,000,000 in cash (the “Cash Consideration”) and (ii) an aggregate of 1,939,058 shares (the “Stock Consideration”) of the Company’s common stock valued at a price per share of $3.61. The Cash Consideration will become payable to CBM upon the consummation by the Company of the first sale of the Company’s common stock or any other equity or equity-linked financing of the Company to investors in or more transactions, after the date of the CBM Purchase Agreement, for which the Company receives aggregate gross proceeds of greater than $2,000,000 (a “Qualified Financing”). Upon the consummation of the Qualified Financing, the Company shall retain the first $2,000,000 of the gross proceeds from the Qualified Financing and CBM shall receive 100% of the gross proceeds of such Qualified Financing received by the Company in excess of $2,000,000 as well as the gross proceeds of any subsequent equity financings by the Company until the Cash Consideration amount is satisfied in full. Additionally, at closing, 7% or 135,734 shares of common stock of the Stock Consideration was deposited with VStock (the “Escrow Shares”), the Company’s transfer agent, to be held in escrow for six months post-closing to satisfy certain indemnification obligations pursuant to the terms and conditions of the CBM Purchase Agreement, and 93% or 1,803,324 shares of the Stock Consideration was issued and delivered to CBM.

 

On December 5, 2019, the Company recorded the issuance of Stock Consideration at fair value, based upon the closing stock price per share of $1.11 as of December 5, 2019. The issuance of Escrow Shares is considered probable as of December 31, 2019. The Cash Consideration was not considered probable as of December 31, 2019 as such consideration is payable on a Qualified Financing. Because acquisition of CBM’s intellectual property had not received regulatory approval, the $2.5 million purchase price paid for CBM was immediately expensed in the Company’s statement of operations as research and development – intellectual property acquired.