Abeona Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Common Stock and Pre-Funded Warrants

On December 20, 2019 Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ABEO), a fully-integrated leader in gene and cell therapy, reported the pricing of its public offering of 26,982,945 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $2.50 per share and in lieu of common stock, pre-funded warrants to purchase 9,017,055 shares of its common stock at a purchase price of $2.4999 per pre-funded warrant, which equals the public offering price per share of the common stock less the $0.0001 per share exercise price of each pre-funded warrant (Press release, Abeona Therapeutics, DEC 20, 2019, View Source [SID1234552576]). The aggregate gross proceeds from the offering are expected to be $90 million, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses payable by Abeona. All of the shares of common stock and pre-funded warrants are being offered by Abeona. In addition, Abeona has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 5,400,000 shares of its common stock from Abeona at the public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. The offering is expected to close on December 24, 2019, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

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An existing holder of the Company’s common stock, Great Point Partners ("GPP"), has agreed to purchase approximately $31 million in the offering, including pre-funded warrants in lieu of common stock, subject to allocation by the underwriters and market and other conditions. The Company has granted GPP the right to nominate two directors, including a new Executive Chairman, to Abeona’s Board of Directors. GPP has indicated that it expects such director nominees would be industry professionals not affiliated with GPP. As a result, Steven H. Rouhandeh will step down as Executive Chairman and will retain a seat on the Board, while Mark J. Alvino and Richard Van Duyne will exit the Board. These changes will be effective upon the Board’s qualification and election of GPP’s nominees.

Jefferies LLC and SVB Leerink LLC are acting as book-running managers and underwriters for the offering.

Abeona intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund continued clinical development of pipeline products, as well as for working capital and corporate purposes.

The securities described above are being offered pursuant to a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-224867) that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on May 11, 2018 and amended on June 1, 2018, and that was declared effective by the SEC on June 7, 2018. The offering will be made only by means of the written prospectus and prospectus supplement that form a part of the registration statement. The preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus that form a part of the registration statement has been filed with the SEC and is available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus may also be obtained by contacting Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, via telephone at (877) 821-7388, or email at: [email protected]; or SVB Leerink LLC, Attention: Syndicate Department, One Federal Street, 37th Floor, Boston, MA 02110, by telephone at (800) 808-7525, ext. 6132, or by e-mail at [email protected].