Disclaimer: I’m “long” on NXEN. I’ve owned shares for a while and have added as recent as last week (10/29/2018). As always, I haven’t been compensated in any way, shape, or form by anybody to write blogs or Tweet about companies — EVER. I do my own Due Diligence so I can decide what I want to do with my own money. I then share that Due Diligence on this website so that my readers can decide for themselves. I’m not an investment professional.
On October 26th, 2018, Nexien BioPharma acquired CRx Bio Holdings LLC for 11,000,000 (mostly) restricted shares — 1,100,000 of which are NOT restricted while the other 9,900,000 shares are vested in thirds each year starting on October 26th, 2019. The shares were issued to the six members of CRx Bio Holdings who joined Nexien in various management / advisory roles. In addition to that, the CRx guys all agreed to ZERO cash compensation until $NXEN has raised at least $5 million in equity financing.
This was very exciting to investors like myself because I was already impressed with the management line-up:
- Alain Bankier – Serial entrepreneur, angel investor, Director of Ebbu (acquired by $CGC / Canopy Growth in October), and spoke at various Cannabis conferences
- Kevin McGovern – Founder of SoBe Beverages – which sold to Pepsi for $370M
- Robert Goldfarb – General Counsel at Andrx Pharmaceuticals (until their $1.9 Billion acquisition) and General Counsel for Accu-Break Pharmaceuticals, etc.
- Lindy Snider – Founder of Lindi Skin, daughter of Billionaire Ed Snider
The acquisition of CRx gave Nexien the gift of the following directors, advisors, and the new CEO:
- Alex Wasyl / Chief Executive Officer
- Managing Director (for nearly 10 years) of ‘Elevated Life Sciences‘, a full service product development, brand management, supply chain management and third-party quality control oversight and related services across the biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and phyto-therapeutics as well as other industry sectors. Alex has developed an in-depth knowledge of the development of cannabinoid formulations and therapeutics.
- Co-Founder of ‘FXN Brands’, a brand management and holding company for health-conscious and trend-aligned CPG lifestyle brands that utilize innovative formulation technology and cutting edge natural ingredient technology.
- Co-Founder and CEO of CRx Bio, which is described as: “Patented, novel, non-psychoactive therapeutics for targeted rescue and chronic treatment of convulsive disorders, including epilepsy and refractory epilepsy. Alternative therapeutic areas include pain, and targeted neurological encephalopathies. Human and Veterinary Applications.”
- Joseph F. Aceto, Ph.D. / In-House Counsel for Intellectual Property
- Lawyer with a focus on intellectual property law, including licensing agreements, due diligence review, trademark applications and related matters. He has worked extensively with biotech companies, pharmaceutical companies and non-profit research institutions. He is registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). [Source]
- He has authored numerous publications on pharmacology, molecular/cell biology, and cardiovascular sciences.
- Robert McKean, Ph.D. / Scientific Advisory Board
- Former Vice President & Senior Director of Teva Pharmaceuticals (mentioned in this 2013 ‘Pharma Landscape 2020’ article as being with Teva)
- Former Director of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer from 1990 – 2000. Mr. McKean was a co-author of this publishing in Oxford Academic Journal of Chromatographic Science. The merger of Rhone-Poulenc and Hoechst AG lead to the forming of Aventis. As of 2015, the pharma operations of Rhone-Poulenc is part of Sanofi — the third largest pharma company in the world.
- Jeremy Reeh / Vice President of Transitional Research
- Johnson & Johnson – Spent more than 3.5 years as Global Pharma Strategic Sourcing Manager
- Novartis – 5 months as Outsourcing and Contracts Manager
- Bristol-Myers Squibb – 7 months as Assosciated Outsourcing Manager
- Pfizer – 7 months as Outsourcing Lead
- Michael Fenn, Ph.D. / Scientific Advisory Board
- Assistant Professor at the Florida Institute of Technology
- Advisory Board for BioFuse Medical in Florida – their core platform technology is BioFusion, which has FDA clearance.
- Director of the Center for Medical Materials and Biophotonics at Florida Tech
- Frank Manganella / VP of Corporate Development
- Background in corporate finance & markets (with Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns) dating back to the early 1980s — all verified by FINRA.
That’s a pretty damn impressive line-up, right?
I know the Canadian cross-list (CSE) could be right around the corner, given the fact that they filed around August 22nd and The CSE told me via e-mail that a typical application approval takes approximately 8 weeks. Obviously this is “speculation” based on the facts presented. Beyond that, I wouldn’t be overly surprised if $NXEN worked at uplisting to NYSE or Nasdaq given their strategy and execution as well as their impressive management.
We still know the Float is very small here. Last week, I confirmed with Standard Registrar that the float was around 3,000,000 — but likely to keep growing as the initial private placement investors transfer their shares to a broker. If you look at the S-1 filed in June 2018, you’ll see most of the biggest shareholders are the insiders — the people that aren’t likely to sell anytime soon and may not even be worried about transferring shares to their brokerage accounts. In other words, I don’t expect the Float to surpass 10 million in the immediate future. Again, that’s just my opinion and there’s no way I could know for sure until it actually happens. I intend on e-mailing Standard Registrar every week or so to verify. 🙂
I’m excited about the future here and will continue to hold for BIG news. In the event this stock runs to a $500+ million market cap before major milestones — yes, I may consider selling some shares to ‘take profit’. But you can bet I’ll continue watching for a chance to buy in again for less and keep some of the proceeds for life’s expenses.
Do I feel $NXEN can run to or beyond a $500 million market cap in the coming months? Sure. Looking back to early 2017, we saw medical cannabis companies like OWCP, CNBX, and AXIM do it. Most recently, we saw RCGP run to a market cap of $1.6 BILLION because of a small float and news a successful guy by the name of Ray Grimm Jr. being the owner of this rumored new CBD business — despite them not having current SEC filings yet. So, the OTC runs don’t necessarily make sense — and that’s why I’ll consider “taking profit” on a massive, unrealistic run. I’ll determine that when the time comes — just for full disclosure and honesty to my readers/followers.
Best of luck, everyone.