513 0 Kommentare 22nd Century Group Files 2017 Annual Report and Announces Conference Call to Provide Business Update

22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE American: XXII), a plant biotechnology company that is focused on tobacco harm reduction and hemp research, announced today that the Company filed its 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company will provide a business update for investors on a conference call to be held Thursday, March 8th, at 4:00 PM (EST).

Henry Sicignano, III, President and Chief Executive Officer of 22nd Century Group, together with John T. Brodfuehrer, Chief Financial Officer, will conduct the call. Interested parties are invited to participate in the call by dialing: (800) 289-0517 and using Conference ID 8956616.

The conference call will consist of an overview of recent business highlights and a summary of the financials presented in the Company's 2017 Annual Report. Immediately thereafter, there will be a question and answer segment open to callers.

Recent Business Highlights

On October 6, 2017, we announced that Dr. Dorothy Hatsukami revealed preliminary findings of a 1,250-patient, 20-week study that employed our SPECTRUM research cigarettes to compare smokers who were assigned to: (i) an immediate reduction to Very Low Nicotine cigarettes; (ii) gradual reduction in reduced nicotine content cigarettes; or (iii) normal nicotine content cigarettes. This study was designed to determine which approach produces the most optimal outcomes for smokers. The details of this phase III study are under peer review prior to publication, but on October 5, 2017, at a conference at the University of Vermont, Dr. Hatsukami publicly stated that “an immediate approach [to nicotine reduction] is most likely to lead to less harm.” Dr. Hatsukami also publicly stated that the study data indicates compensatory smoking is less likely to occur with an immediate reduction in nicotine, and that the there was a “greater likelihood of more rapid smoking cessation” with the immediate approach to nicotine reduction.
On October 9, 2017, we announced that we entered into an agreement with institutional investors to receive approximately $54 million in gross proceeds in a registered direct offering through the sale of 20.57 million shares of common stock at a price of $2.625 per share. This no-warrant financing was the largest capital raise in our history and increased our cash balance to more than $60 million.
On October 19, 2017, we announced that the University of Virginia (“UVA”) completed its first successful harvest of the Company’s hemp plants and identified several promising hemp varieties that could form the foundation for commercial hemp production throughout the legacy tobacco belt region of the United States. The 22nd Century-UVA hemp field trials used multiple oil and fiber varieties of hemp. Our hemp harvest with UVA identified proprietary varieties of hemp that have excellent agronomic properties for growth in Virginia. 22nd Century and UVA will use the most promising varieties for expanded hemp plantings in 2018. 22nd Century is also working with UVA on the development of high-value medicinal cannabinoid varieties of hemp and specialized cannabinoid extraction processes for use in human therapeutics.
On November 2, 2017, we announced the hiring of James E. Swauger, Ph.D., as our Senior Vice President of Science and Regulatory Affairs. Dr. Swauger was previously the leader of the scientific and regulatory functions at Reynolds American Inc. (“Reynolds”). Dr. Swauger’s career with Reynolds spanned 23 years and included management positions in science and regulatory affairs. From 2008 through 2016, while serving as the Vice President of Regulatory Oversight, Dr. Swauger managed the creation, submission and oversight of numerous scientific applications and regulatory filings with the FDA and other federal, state, and local regulatory agencies. Dr. Swauger received his Ph.D. Degree in Biochemical Toxicology from Johns Hopkins University in 1990 and his Bachelor of Science Degree in Toxicology (Magna cum laude) from Northeastern University in 1985. Dr. Swauger’s primary responsibilities are to lead and oversee our scientific and regulatory affairs, plant biotechnology, research and development, and external scientific activities, including re-submitting to the FDA our Modified Risk Tobacco Product application for BRAND A Very Low Nicotine cigarettes.
On November 30, 2017, we announced that we shipped 2.4 million SPECTRUM® research cigarettes for National Institute on Drug Abuse (“NIDA”), which is part of National Institutes of Health (“NIH”). As a subcontractor under federal government contracts, 22nd Century has supplied proprietary SPECTRUM® research cigarettes for NIDA since 2011. The SPECTRUM® product line consists of a series of 24 cigarette styles (11 regular and 13 menthol versions) that have 8 different levels of nicotine – from very low to high.
On December 4, 2017, we announced the hiring of Juan Sanchez Tamburrino, Ph.D., as our Vice President of Research and Development. Dr. Tamburrino was previously the head of the Plant Biotechnology Division of British American Tobacco (NYSE: BTI). Dr. Tamburrino earned his Ph.D. Degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Cornell University, a partnership program with the Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Institute. After completing six years of post-doctoral research in plant biology at the Rockefeller University in New York, Dr. Tamburrino served as an Associate Professor at Universidad Tarapacá in Chile before becoming the Research Manager at Pioneer Hi-Bred International (a DuPont company now known as DuPont Pioneer). Dr. Tamburrino will be an integral part of our scientific and regulatory team working on our resubmission to the FDA of our Modified Risk Tobacco Product application for BRAND A Very Low Nicotine cigarettes, and our continuing research and development of improved Very Low Nicotine tobacco plants.