Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Background and Organization

v3.22.0.1
Background and Organization
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Background and Organization  
Background and Organization

1.   Background and Organization

Virios Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on December 16, 2020 through a corporate conversion (the “Corporate Conversion”) just prior to the Company’s initial public offering (“IPO”). The Company was originally formed on February 28, 2012 as a limited liability company (“LLC”) under the laws of the State of Alabama as Innovative Med Concepts, LLC. On July 23, 2020, the Company changed its name from Innovative Med Concepts, LLC to Virios Therapeutics, LLC.

The Company is a pre-revenue, development-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing novel antiviral therapies to treat diseases associated with a viral triggered abnormal immune response. The Company is developing its initial product, IMC-1, for people who are suffering from fibromyalgia (“FM”). Research has shown that the herpes virus could be a root cause of FM. IMC-1 is a novel, proprietary, fixed dose combination of famciclovir and celecoxib, both of which are drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for other indications. IMC-1 combines these two specific mechanisms of action purposely designed to inhibit herpes virus activation and replication, thereby keeping the herpes virus in a latent or dormant state. The famciclovir component of IMC-1 inhibits viral DNA replication, thus inhibiting upregulation of the herpes virus. The celecoxib component of IMC-1 inhibits cyclooxegenase-2 (“COX-2”) enzymes used by the herpes virus to amplify or accelerate its own replication. IMC-1’s synergistic antiviral mechanism represents a first-in-class medicine designed specifically to inhibit both herpes virus activation and subsequent replication, with the goal of keeping tissue resident herpes virus in a latent state.

Corporate Conversion

On December 16, 2020, immediately prior to the effectiveness of the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1, the Company converted into a Delaware corporation pursuant to a statutory conversion, and changed its name from Virios Therapeutics, LLC to Virios Therapeutics, Inc. As a result of the Corporate Conversion, all of the membership interests held by the existing members of Virios Therapeutics, LLC converted into shares of common stock of Virios Therapeutics, Inc. The purpose of the Corporate Conversion was to reorganize the corporate structure so that the entity offering common stock to the public was a corporation rather than a limited liability company.

Initial Public Offering

On December 16, 2020, the Company announced the pricing of its IPO of 3,000,000 shares of its common stock at an initial offering price of $10.00 per share. In addition, the Company granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 450,000 shares of common stock at the public offering price. The Company’s common stock commenced trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market on December 17, 2020 under the ticker symbol “VIRI”. The IPO closed on December 21, 2020 at which time the underwriters exercised their option to purchase 450,000 additional shares of the Company’s common stock bringing the total number of shares of common stock sold by the Company to 3,450,000 shares. The gross proceeds from the IPO, including proceeds from the exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, were $34.5 million. The net proceeds of the IPO were approximately $31.1 million after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses payable by the Company, including offering costs accrued and unpaid as of December 31, 2020. In conjunction with the IPO, the Company granted the underwriters 172,500 warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $12.50 per share, which is 125% of the initial public offering price.

Material Uncertainty

Since its founding, the Company has been engaged in organizational activities, including raising capital, and research and development activities. The Company has not generated any revenues to date. As such,

the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with any development-stage biotechnology company that has substantial expenditures for research and development. Since inception, the Company has incurred losses and negative cash flows from operating activities. The Company does not expect to generate positive cash flows from operating activities in the near future.

For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company incurred net losses of $15,960,268 and $10,346,395, respectively, and had net cash flows used in operating activities of $15,689,578 and $3,895,195, respectively. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had an accumulated deficit of approximately $43.9 million and is expected to incur losses in the future as it continues its development activities. Since its inception, the Company has funded its losses primarily through issuance of members’ interests, convertible debt instruments and issuance of equity securities.

As of the date these financial statements are issued, based on reasonable estimates, current cash is sufficient to fund foreseeable operating expenses and obligations for at least 12 months. The Company will need to raise additional capital within the next 13 to 18 months to complete clinical development of and to commercially develop its product candidates. There is no assurance that such financing will be available when needed or on acceptable terms. The financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect this uncertainty.