SEC Company Response from Theriva Biologics, Inc. (TOVX) (CIK 0000894158) (TOVX) — Jan 5, 2007
Theriva Biologics, Inc. (TOVX) (CIK 0000894158)
Date: Jan. 5, 2007 · CIK: 0000894158 · Accession: 0000890163-07-000008
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 333-139354
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CORRESP
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filename1.htm
Unassociated Document
Lehman
& Eilen LLP
Mission
Bay Office Plaza, Suite 300
20283
State Road 7
Boca
Raton, FL 33498
T:
561-483-2796
F:
561-237-0803
January
5, 2007
VIA
EDGAR AND
OVERNIGHT
MAIL
United
States Securities
and
Exchange Commission
100
F
Street, NE
Mail
Stop
4561
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Attention:
Sonia Barros
Re:
Pipex
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
File
No. 333-139354
Dear
Ms.
Barros:
Thank
you
for your December 22, 2006 letter regarding Pipex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the
“Company”). We hereby submit a letter responding to the limited comment. For
your convenience, we have set forth below the comment in its entirety followed
by our response thereto.
1.
We
note that the securities you are registering on your Form SB-2
are being
made on a shelf basis under Rule 415. Given the nature and size
of the
transaction being registered, please advise the staff of the company’s
basis for determining that the transaction is appropriately characterized
as a transaction that is eligible to be made on a shelf basis under
Rule
415(a)(1)(i).
Response:
We understand the recent concern of the staff regarding the amount of shares
being registered in small-cap transactions but believe for the reasons set
forth
below that the staff’s concerns are not implicated by this offering.
We
understand the difference between a primary offering and a secondary offering
and that Rule 415(a)(1)(i) may not be utilized in the case of a primary offering
because Rule 415(a)(1)(i) by its specific terms is limited to secondary
offerings. However, this is not an instance in which the selling shareholders
consist of one large investor - whether or not a large hedge fund - that
has
such a large position in the
United
States Securities
and
Exchange Commission
January
5, 2007
Page
2
issuer
that it effectively has a controlling interest in the issuer and may be
perceived as an affiliate of the issuer or even the issuer’s alter ego. Instead,
in this registration there are a large number of investors with no single
large
stakeholder. Indeed, there are 53 separate unrelated selling shareholders
in the
Company’s registration statement, each having made a separate investment
decision over a period of six months after having independently conducted
due
diligence of the Company’s pharmaceutical products and intellectual property by
hiring third party counsel and scientific experts. And no selling shareholder
here holds a large stake in the Company: one selling shareholder holds
approximately 11% of the Company’s outstanding common stock (8% on a fully
diluted basis) while all the other selling shareholders hold less than 5%
of the
Company’s outstanding common stock, with the majority of the shareholders each
holding less than 1% of the outstanding common stock (these percentages have
been further diluted by the recent issuance by the Company of 2,990,442 common
shares in connection with the Company’s merger with Effective Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., as previously disclosed in the Form SB-2 registration statement). Under
these circumstances, the offering is more properly characterized as a secondary
offering under Rule 415(a)(1)(i). Indeed, we believe it would be unreasonable
to
saddle any investor here with the constraints of a primary offering as they
seek
to sell their shares.
Moreover,
the transaction involved here was not a typical reverse merger into a public
blank check shell. The public company that the Company merged with - Sheffield
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. - had been an operating biopharmaceutical company since
1986 with approximately 3,500 shareholders and was listed on the American
Stock
Exchange until 2003 when it no longer met the continued listing requirements.
The shares of the Company’s outstanding common stock held by the original owners
of the public shell represent a negligible percentage of the outstanding
(.6%)
and are subject to a lock-up agreement until November 2007. And none of the
selling shareholders here are Company insiders or promoters. Indeed the
Company’s insiders, including its co-founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
and President, have invested approximately $4.7 million in the Company during
the years 2001 through 2006, are locked up until November 2007.
Furthermore,
the selling shareholders here invested a large amount of money relative to
the
amount of money that the Company had on hand prior to the investments. While
the
total amount invested by the 53 selling shareholders was approximately $13.9
million, the amount of money that the Company had on hand prior to the
investment was approximately $250,000 and $3 million in convertible notes
(these
notes were converted into shares of the Company’s common stock at the closing of
the offering, are not included in this registration statement and are subject
to
a lock-up agreement until November 2007).
United
States Securities
and
Exchange Commission
January
5, 2007
Page
3
Additionally,
we believe it is particularly appropriate in this instance to evaluate the
offering against the Company’s outstanding common stock on a fully diluted
basis. While no assurance can be given, since the Company’s common stock had
previously been listed on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), the Company
has
had communications with AMEX that make it clear that its common stock is
likely
to be listed on AMEX in the near future. However, one of the initial listing
requirements of AMEX is a certain registered market capitalization, which
this
registration statement would enable the Company to satisfy. As such, it is
reasonable to expect that the Company’s 5,118,590 outstanding stock options and
15,725,153 outstanding warrants will be exercised in the near future, thereby
decreasing the percentage of outstanding shares being registered in this
offering.
Finally,
we submit that strictly applying a flat mathematical formula to small cap
companies can work an injustice. Instead, we believe the math should only
be one
tool to help the staff in determining whether a latent primary offering is
present, and that it is more just to also consider the other factors that
we
have addressed in this letter.
Sincerely,
/s/
Hank
Gracin
Hank
Gracin
HG:ckg
cc:
Pipex
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.