Panbela Announces Transfer to OTCQB Market

MINNEAPOLIS, April 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Panbela Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB: PBLA), (“Panbela”), a clinical stage company developing disruptive therapeutics for the treatment of patients with urgent unmet medical needs, today announced that its common stock has been approved for quotation on the OTCQB market. Panbela’s common stock will be eligible for quotation on the OTCQB starting on April 17, 2024, under the symbol “PBLA.”

OTCQB is a venture market operated by the OTC Markets Group Inc. To be eligible for quotation on the OTCQB, companies must be current in their reporting and undergo an annual verification and management certification process. OTCQB is recognized by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) as an established public market and provides current public information to investors who need to analyze, value, and trade securities.

Panbela’s board of directors also has approved the delisting of its common stock from The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”). On April 16, 2024, Panbela notified Nasdaq of its determination to file with the SEC a Form 25 relating to the delisting of its common stock. Panbela intends to file its own Form 25 in advance of Nasdaq’s expected filing of a Form 25, primarily to expedite the transition of its common stock to the OTCQB. The Form 25 will also serve to deregister Panbela’s common stock under Section 12(b) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). As previously disclosed, on March 5, 2024, a Nasdaq hearings panel notified Panbela that it had determined to delist its common stock and trading of Panbela’s common stock on Nasdaq was suspended on March 7, 2024. The panel reached its decision because our company did not satisfy the minimum $2.5 million stockholders’ equity requirement in Listing Rule 5550(b)(1) and was unable to comply with any of the alternative requirements in Listing Rule 5550(b).

Neither the filing of the Form 25 nor the official delisting of Panbela’s common shares from Nasdaq is expected to impact the eligibility of our common shares for quotation on the OTCQB.

About Panbela’s Pipeline
The pipeline consists of assets currently in clinical trials with an initial focus on familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), first-line metastatic pancreatic cancer, neoadjuvant pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer prevention and ovarian cancer. The combined development programs have a steady cadence of anticipated catalysts with programs ranging from pre-clinical to registration studies.