Nature of Business |
9 Months Ended | ||||||||||
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Sep. 30, 2015 | |||||||||||
| Disclosure Of Company Information And History [Abstract] | |||||||||||
| Nature of Operations [Text Block] |
NOTE A – Nature of Business
Matinas BioPharma Holdings Inc. (“Holdings”) is a Delaware corporation formed in 2013. Holdings is the parent company of Matinas BioPharma, Inc. (“BioPharma”), and Aquarius Biotechnologies, Inc., its operating subsidiaries (“Aquarius”, and together with “Holdings” and “BioPharma”, “the Company” or “we” or “our” or “us”). The Company is a development stage biopharmaceutical company with a focus on identifying and developing novel pharmaceutical products. On July 11, 2013, and contemporaneously with the initial closing of a private placement in July and August 2013 described below, BioPharma entered into a merger agreement whereby it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Holdings (the “Merger”) to effect its recapitalization plan. In connection with the Merger, the stockholders of BioPharma became the stockholders of the Holdings and received an aggregate of 9,000,000 shares of Holdings common stock and warrants to purchase 1,000,000 shares of Holdings common stock. For financial reporting purposes the accounting acquirer is BioPharma and accordingly, the historical financial statements of BioPharma are the continuing financial statements of the combined entity. In July and August of 2013, the Company completed a private placement of common stock (the “2013 Private Placement”), under which the Company sold an aggregate of 15,000,000 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase an aggregate of 7,500,000 shares of common stock . On February 12, 2014, the Company’s S-1 covering the resale of certain shares of our common stock was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). On January 29, 2015, we completed the acquisition of Aquarius, a New Jersey-based, early-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development of differentiated and orally delivered therapeutics based on a proprietary, lipid-based, drug delivery platform called “cochleate delivery technology.” Following the Aquarius Merger, we are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying and developing safe and effective broad spectrum antifungal and anti-bacterial therapeutics for the treatment of serious and life-threatening infections, using our innovative lipid-crystal nano-encapsulation drug delivery platform. See Note D for additional information on this transaction. On April 10, 2015, we completed a private placement of common stock (“2015 Private Placement”), under which the Company sold an aggregate of 20,000,000 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 20,000,000 shares of common stock (see Note E for additional details).
Our proprietary cochleate lipid-crystal nano-particle delivery technology platform, licensed from Rutgers University on an exclusive worldwide basis, is designed specifically for the targeted and safe delivery of orally bioavailable pharmaceuticals directly to the site of infection or inflammation. This license comprises a range of issued patents and patent applications, as well as the use of proprietary know-how with respect to the manufacturing and testing of products using this technology. Our lead product candidate using the cochleate delivery technology is MAT2203, an oral formulation of the broad spectrum intravenous(IV)-delivered anti-fungal agent amphotericin B. MAT2203 is under development for serious fungal infections and a single-escalating-dose Phase 1 study with MAT2203 has been completed. The Company is developing MAT2203 in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, of the National Institutes of Health, or NIH. We are developing a pipeline of targeted delivery formulations by applying our cochleate oral delivery technology to a potentially broad array of proven medications, including MAT2501. MAT2501 is an oral cochleate formulation of the broad spectrum intravenous (IV)-delivered aminoglycoside antibiotic called amikacin, which is most often used for treating severe, hospital-acquired infections, including Gram-negative bacterial infections. MAT2501 is currently in the formal toxicology testing stage. We are also developing novel prescription-only pharmaceutical products with lipids as the active pharmaceutical ingredient. MAT9001 is under development for an initial indication for the treatment of highly elevated triglycerides, or severe hypertriglyceridemia. We submitted an IND to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for MAT9001 in October 2014 and a comparative PK/PD study with 42 enrolled patients was completed in June 2015. The study showed that MAT9001 demonstrated superiority versus Vascepa© (icosapent ethyl) in reducing lipids, triglycerides, apolipoproteins and PCSK9 levels. We are seeking development and partnership opportunities for our MAT9001 program. Finally, our MAT8800 discovery program is designed to develop product candidates comprising omega-3 fatty acids for the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a condition for which there are currently no approved pharmacologic treatments available. We are also evaluating strategic options for our MAT8800 program.
The Company’s operations are subject to a number of factors that can affect its operating results and financial condition. Such factors include, but are not limited to: the results of clinical testing and trial activities of the Company’s products, the Company’s ability to raise capital, any changes in the regulatory environment and FDA requirements for regulatory approval, the Company’s ability to obtain regulatory approval to market its products, competition from products manufactured and sold or being developed by other companies, the price of, and demand for, Company products, the Company’s ability to negotiate favorable licensing or other manufacturing and marketing agreements for its products, and other factors listed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 that the Company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |