NightHawk Biosciences Provides 2022 Year End Business Update

DURHAM, N.C., March 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NightHawk Biosciences (NYSE American: NHWK), a fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on developing first-in-class therapies to modulate the immune system, today provided strategic, financial, and operational updates for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Jeff Wolf, Chief Executive Officer of NightHawk, commented, “We are making progress on our transition towards biodefense and biomanufacturing through our Elusys and Scorpion subsidiaries as we wind down our HS-110 and PTX-35 oncology programs. Pursuant to this, we are investing in our biomanufacturing technologies and capabilities, including our San Antonio and Manhattan, Kansas biologics manufacturing facilities, which we believe will position us well in the future. The manufacturing capabilities associated with these facilities are designed to streamline the development and delivery of life-saving medical countermeasures, while enabling us to offer excess capacity to third parties on a fee-for-service model.”

2022 Financial Results

• For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recognized revenue of $6.4 million, which included $6.0 million of product sales revenue, $0.1 million of contract revenue, and $0.3 million of CPRIT grant revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recognized revenue of $2.1 million for qualified expenditures under the CPRIT grant. The increase in product sales revenue was due to the sale of ANTHIM (obiltoxaximab) to the Canadian government. The decrease in grant revenue was due to the fact that the Company recognized all $15.2 million of CPRIT grant revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company had a grants receivable balance of $1.5 million for CPRIT proceeds not yet received, but for which the costs had been incurred or the conditions of the award had been met.
• For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recognized $6.4 million of cost of sales. No product sales were recognized for the year ended December 31, 2021, and thus no cost of sales was recorded. The increase was due to the cost of sales related to the ANTHIM (obiltoxaximab) sale to the Canadian government. Cost of sales includes $5.9 million of inventory, $0.3 million of pre-acquisition backlog, and $0.2 million of shipping and fulfillment expenses.
• Selling, general and administrative (“SGA”) expenses for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 were $21.1 million and $16.8 million, respectively. The increase of $4.3 million was primarily due to an increase in consulting and other professional expenses to manage the business of $3.2 million, an increase in facilities expense of $1.2 million primarily due to the opening of the Company’s San Antonio facility, an increase in personnel expense of $0.8 million due to an increase in headcount, an increase in rent expense of $0.5 million, an increase in insurance expense of $0.3 million, an increase in depreciation of $0.3 million, an increase in marketing expenses of $0.2 million, an increase in software expense of $0.2 million offset by a decrease in stock-based compensation of $2.4 million.
• Research and development expenses increased to $23.5 million from $16.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. HS-110 R&D expense decreased by $1.2 million, HS-130 expense decreased by $0.2 million, and PTX-35 expense decreased by $0.3 million, all due to a decrease in site and investigator fees as a result of the closing of the clinical trials. ANTHIM (obiltoxaximab) expenses increased due to the Company’s acquisition of Elusys in April 2022. Other program expenses decreased by $0.7 million, including preclinical costs associated with the RapidVax program, T-cell costimulatory programs, and laboratory supplies. Unallocated research expenses increased by $8.2 million primarily from license fees, sponsored research agreements for preclinical research, as well as increased clinical and CMC consulting expenses and Skunkworx lab and personnel costs.
• Net loss attributable to NightHawk Biosciences was approximately $43.4 million, or ($1.70) per basic and diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to approximately $35.1 million, or ($1.41) per basic and diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2021.
• As of December 31, 2022, the Company had approximately $44.3 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments.

Pursuant to the disclosure requirements of the NYSE American Company Guidelines Sections 401(h) and 610(b), NightHawk reports that its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, included in the 2022 Form 10-K, contain an audit opinion from its independent registered public accounting firm that includes an explanatory paragraph related to the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern due to the fact that the Company has suffered recurring losses from operations and has not generated significant revenue or positive cash flows from operations.