Acasti Pharma Trades Higher Despite 'Material Uncertainty'

Shares of biopharmaceutical company Acasti Pharma Inc ACST were trading higher Wednesday after the biopharmaceutical company issued a fiscal 2019 year-end business update.

What Happened

Acasti, a biopharma innovator focused on the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia (HTG), said in a business update that fiscal 2019 was "eventful."

The company recorded milestones related to its Phase 3 clinical trials and achieved 100% patient randomization in the TRILOGY clinical trials.

Acasti's loss for fiscal 2019 expanded from $21.5 million in the prior year to $51.6 million due to higher R&D costs for the TRILOGY Phase 3 program and other financial expenses.

The company ended the year with $34.4 million in cash — $26.2 million more than than the prior year on the basis of net proceeds from public offerings in May and October.

Why It's Important

Despite ending the year with more cash on the balance sheet year-over-year, Acasti said it will need to raise additional capital in the future to complete the funding of its NDA preparations for a U.S. commercial launch.

If the company is not able to raise the necessary funds, it "may not be able to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business."

What's Next

Acasti said "there exists a material uncertainty about Acasti's ability to continue as a going concern" in the press release. 

The stock was higher by 24.76% at $1.31 at the time of publication Wednesday. 

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