NEW YORK, Aug. 15 - The 90-day Nasdaq delisting countdown started yesterday for Cytogen, a move that could put additional pressure on the company to divest itself of proteomics subsidiary AxCell Biosciences.
After 30 consecutive trading days of rock-bottom stock prices, Cytogen received official notice from the exchange yesterday that it must find a way to boost its performance or risk being delisted.
By Nasdaq rules, if a company's stock closes below the $1 minimum for more than 30 consecutive trading days it is given 90 days to shape up or face getting booted off the exchange. If the company manages to bring its share price above that low water mark during that period for at least 10 consecutive trading days it's off the hook.
Cytogen shares last traded over $1 on July 11, and the stock has not closed above $1 since July 1. The company has until Nov. 12 to comply with Nasdaq requirements.
At the end of May, Cytogen said it was "reviewing strategic alternatives" for AxCell, which consumes a healthy portion of the company's roughly $11 million annual R&D budget.
Cytogen, based in Princeton, NJ, develops oncology drugs and prostate cancer treatments. AxCell markets a signal transduction pathway database for clinical research and functional proteomics.