Attached files

file filename
EX-5.1 - EX-5.1 - Seres Therapeutics, Inc.d888884dex51.htm
EX-1.1 - EX-1.1 - Seres Therapeutics, Inc.d888884dex11.htm

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM 8-K

 

 

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of report (Date of earliest event reported): March 18, 2020

 

 

SERES THERAPEUTICS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Delaware   001-37465   27-4326290

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(Commission

File Number)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

200 Sidney Street

Cambridge, MA 02139

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

(617) 945-9626

(Registrant’s telephone number, include area code)

N/A

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)

 

 

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 

Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 

Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 

Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 

Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act

 

Title of each class

 

Trading

Symbol(s)

 

Name of each exchange

on which registered

Common stock, par value $0.001 per share   MCRB   The Nasdaq Global Select Market

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company  ☒

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☒

 

 

 


Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement

On March 18, 2020, Seres Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”, “we” and “our”) entered into a Sales Agreement (the “Sales Agreement”) with Cowen and Company, LLC (“Cowen”) to sell shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”), with aggregate gross sales proceeds of up to $25,000,000, from time to time, through an “at the market” equity offering program under which Cowen will act as sales agent.

Under the Sales Agreement, the Company will set the parameters for the sale of shares, including the number of shares to be issued, the time period during which sales are requested to be made, limitations on the number of shares that may be sold in any one trading day and any minimum price below which sales may not be made. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Sales Agreement, Cowen may sell the shares by methods deemed to be an “at the market offering” as defined in Rule 415 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), including sales made through The Nasdaq Global Select Market, on any other existing trading market for the Common Stock or to or through a market maker. The Company will pay Cowen a commission equal to up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds of any Common Stock sold through Cowen under the Sales Agreement, and also has provided Cowen with customary indemnification rights. The Sales Agreement may be terminated by the Company upon ten days’ prior notice to Cowen or by Cowen upon ten days’ prior notice to the Company, or at any time under certain circumstances, including but not limited to the occurrence of a material adverse change in the Company.

Any sales of shares under the Sales Agreement will be made pursuant to the Company’s shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-237033) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on March 9, 2020, which became effective on March 18, 2020. The Company filed a prospectus supplement with the Commission on March 18, 2020 in connection with the offer and sale of the shares pursuant to the Sales Agreement.

The foregoing description of the material terms of the Sales Agreement is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full agreement, a copy of which is filed as Exhibit 1.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K and is incorporated herein by reference.

Latham & Watkins LLP, counsel to the Company, has issued an opinion to the Company, dated March 18, 2020, regarding the validity of the shares of Common Stock to be issued and sold pursuant to the Sales Agreement. A copy of the opinion is filed as Exhibit 5.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K.

This Current Report on Form 8-K shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy the securities discussed herein, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

Item 8.01 Other Events.

The Company is updating its Risk Factors to add the following:

The outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, could adversely impact our business, including our preclinical studies and clinical trials.

In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, surfaced in Wuhan, China. Since then, COVID-19 has spread to multiple countries, including the United States. In response to the spread of COVID-19, we have closed our executive offices with our administrative employees continuing their work outside of our offices, restricted on-site staff to only those required to execute their job responsibilities and limited the number of staff in any given research and development laboratory. As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, we may experience disruptions that could severely impact our business, preclinical studies and clinical trials, including:

 

   

delays or difficulties in enrolling patients in our clinical trials;

 

   

delays or difficulties in clinical site initiation, including difficulties in recruiting clinical site investigators and clinical site staff;

 

   

diversion of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials, including the diversion of hospitals serving as our clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of our clinical trials;

 

   

interruption of key clinical trial activities, such as clinical trial site data monitoring, due to limitations on travel imposed or recommended by federal or state governments, employers and others or interruption of clinical trial subject visits and study procedures (such as endoscopies that are deemed non-essential), which may impact the integrity of subject data and clinical study endpoints;

 

   

interruption or delays in the operations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which may impact approval timelines;

 

   

interruption of, or delays in receiving, supplies of our product candidates from our contract manufacturing organizations due to staffing shortages, production slowdowns or stoppages and disruptions in delivery systems; and

 

   

limitations on employee resources that would otherwise be focused on the conduct of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, including because of sickness of employees or their families or the desire of employees to avoid contact with large groups of people.

In addition, the trading prices for our common stock and other biopharmaceutical companies have been highly volatile as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic. As a result, we may face difficulties raising capital through sales of our common stock or such sales may be on unfavorable terms. The COVID-19 outbreak continues to rapidly evolve. The extent to which the outbreak may impact our business, preclinical studies and clinical trials will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, such as the ultimate geographic spread of the disease, the duration of the outbreak, travel restrictions and social distancing in the United States and other countries, business closures or business disruptions and the effectiveness of actions taken in the United States and other countries to contain and treat the disease.

Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d) Exhibits.

 

Exhibit
No.
  

Exhibit Description

1.1    Sales Agreement, dated as of March 18, 2020, between Seres Therapeutics, Inc. and Cowen and Company, LLC.
5.1    Opinion of Latham & Watkins, LLP.
23.1    Consent of Latham & Watkins, LLP (included in Exhibit 5.1).


SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

 

    SERES THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Date: March 18, 2020     By:  

/s/ Thomas J. DesRosier

    Name:   Thomas J. DesRosier
    Title:   Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer