General form of registration statement for all companies including face-amount certificate companies

NATURE OF BUSINESS, ORGANIZATION AND GOING CONCERN

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NATURE OF BUSINESS, ORGANIZATION AND GOING CONCERN
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Nature Of Business Organization and Going Concern Disclosure [Text Block]

1. NATURE OF BUSINESS, ORGANIZATION AND GOING CONCERN

 

Novelos Therapeutics, Inc. (“Novelos” or the “Company”) is a pharmaceutical company developing novel drugs for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer. On April 8, 2011, Novelos completed a business combination with Cellectar, Inc. (“Cellectar”), a privately held Wisconsin corporation that designed and developed products to detect, treat and monitor a wide variety of human cancers, and Cell Acquisition Corp. (the “Merger Subsidiary”), a Wisconsin corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of Novelos. Pursuant to the transaction Cellectar was merged into the Merger Subsidiary (the “Acquisition”, see Note 4). References in these financial statements and notes to “Cellectar” relate to the activities and financial information of Cellectar prior to the Acquisition, references to “Novelos” relate to the activities and financial information of Novelos prior to the Acquisition and references to “the Company” or “we” or “us” or “our” relate to the activities and obligations of the combined Company following the Acquisition.

 

Immediately prior to the Acquisition, Novelos completed a 1-for-153 reverse split of its common stock.  Novelos then issued to the shareholders of Cellectar at that date 17,001,596 shares of its common stock as consideration for the Acquisition, representing a ratio of 0.8435 shares of Novelos common stock in exchange for one share of Cellectar common stock (the “Exchange Ratio”) as set forth in the Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) dated April 8, 2011.  The shares issued to Cellectar shareholders in the Acquisition constituted approximately 85% of Novelos’ outstanding common stock after giving effect to the Acquisition.  Upon the closing of the Acquisition, the Company completed the private placement of 6,846,537 shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase an additional 6,846,537 shares of its common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $5,135,000.

 

Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States require that a company whose security holders retain the majority voting interest in the combined business be treated as the acquirer for financial reporting purposes.  Accordingly, the Acquisition was accounted for as a reverse acquisition whereby Cellectar, Inc. was treated as the acquirer for accounting and financial reporting purposes. The financial statements presented herein as of and for the twelve months ended December 31, 2010 represent the historical financial information of Cellectar, except for the capital structure which represents the historical amounts of Cellectar, retroactively adjusted to reflect the legal capital structure of Novelos by applying the Exchange Ratio. On April, 8, 2011, Cellectar was merged into the Merger Subsidiary a wholly owned subsidiary of Novelos; as such, the financial statements presented herein as of and for the twelve months ended December 31, 2011 include the historical results of Cellectar from January 1, 2011 through April 8, 2011, except for the capital structure which represents the historical amounts of Cellectar, retroactively adjusted to reflect the legal capital structure of Novelos by applying the Exchange Ratio, and include the consolidated results of the combined company from April 9, 2011 through December 31, 2011 and the financial statements presented herein as of and for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 include the historical results of Cellectar from January 1, 2011 through April 8, 2011, except for the capital structure which represents the historical amounts of Cellectar, retroactively adjusted to reflect the legal capital structure of Novelos by applying the Exchange Ratio, and include the consolidated results of the combined company from April 9, 2011 through September 30, 2011. The financial statements as of and for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 include the consolidated results of the combined company for that period. All per-share amounts and outstanding shares, including all common stock equivalents, and stock options, have been retroactively restated in these financial statements and notes for all periods presented to reflect the capital structure of Novelos by applying the Exchange Ratio.  The cumulative capital activity from the date of inception (November 7, 2002) up to the closing of the Acquisition, as presented in the accompanying statement of stockholders’ equity, equals 17,001,596 shares of common stock, which represents the equity interests the legal parent (Novelos) issued to effect the Acquisition. The number of authorized shares of common stock disclosed on the balance sheet (150,000,000) represents the number of authorized shares of Novelos common stock following the Acquisition.  Additionally, on the accompanying balance sheet as of December 31, 2010 and statements of stockholders’ equity for the period from inception (November 7, 2002) to December 31, 2010 the aggregate par value of the issued common stock was reduced to reflect the $0.00001 par value of Novelos common stock associated with the shares of Cellectar common stock adjusted for the Exchange Ratio and the difference was reclassified to additional paid-in capital.

 

As a result of the Acquisition, the Company has implemented a revised business plan focused on the development of the Cellectar compounds.  Development of Novelos’ other compounds (NOV-002 and NOV-205) has been suspended.  The Company is conducting its operations from Cellectar’s headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin and the Company’s executive offices are in Newton, Massachusetts.

 

The Company is subject to a number of risks similar to those of other small pharmaceutical companies. Principal among these risks are dependence on key individuals, competition from substitute products and larger companies, the successful development and marketing of its products in a highly regulated environment and the need to obtain additional financing necessary to fund future operations.

 

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared on a basis that assumes that the Company will continue as a going concern and that contemplates the continuity of operations, realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business. The Company has incurred losses since inception in devoting substantially all of its efforts toward research and development and has an accumulated deficit of $31,480,426 at December 31, 2011 and an accumulated deficit of $38,120,352 as of September 30, 2012. During the year ended December 31, 2011 and the nine months ended September 20, 2012, the Company generated a net loss of $7,435,422 and $6,639,926, respectively and the Company expects that it will continue to generate operating losses for the foreseeable future.  The Company believes that its cash on hand at September 30, 2012, combined with the cash proceeds received from warrant exercises in October 2012 (see Note 19), is adequate to fund operations at budgeted levels through May 2013.  On November 2, 2012, the Company completed a private placement of its common stock and warrants for total proceeds of $2,000,000. The proceeds from the private placement are designated for use towards the construction of a clinical-stage manufacturing facility for I-124-CLR1404 (LIGHT) at the Company’s Madison, WI location. The Company estimates that the project will cost a total of approximately $3,000,000, will take approximately one year to complete and will commence in late 2012, although the Company has not yet entered into contractual commitments with vendors. The Company may seek to obtain the additional capital required to complete the project from additional sales of common stock, proceeds from warrant exercise, and/or from equipment financing. The Company’s ability to execute its operating plan beyond May 2013 depends on its ability to obtain additional funding via the sale of equity and/or debt securities, a strategic transaction or otherwise.  The Company plans to continue to actively pursue financing alternatives, but there can be no assurance that it will obtain the necessary funding.  The accompanying financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

 

The accompanying unaudited consolidated balance sheet as of September 30, 2012, the consolidated statements of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, and the consolidated statements of cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011 and the related interim information contained within the notes to the consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and the notes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the unaudited interim consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments, consisting of normal and recurring adjustments, necessary for the fair presentation of the Company’s consolidated financial position at September 30, 2012 and consolidated results of its operations and its cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011. The results for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 are not necessarily indicative of future results.