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Equillium, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ), a micro-cap biopharmaceutical company with a market capitalization of $13.75 million, announced on Wednesday the approval of an amendment to its 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, increasing the authorized shares for issuance by 1,781,000. The company’s stock, which has declined nearly 49% year-to-date, currently trades at $0.40 per share. The decision came during the company’s Annual Meeting held on Tuesday, May 21, 2025, following the Board of Directors’ prior approval on March 26, 2025.
At the Annual Meeting, with 77.6% of outstanding shares represented, stockholders ratified the appointment of KPMG LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025. Additionally, the stockholders approved a reverse stock split at a ratio between 1-for-2 and 1-for-20, at the Board’s discretion.
The stockholders elected three Class I directors to serve until the 2028 Annual Meeting. The elected directors are Stephen Connelly, Ph.D., Bala S. Manian, Ph.D., and Barbara Troupin, M.D. According to InvestingPro data, while the company maintains a healthy current ratio of 2.7 and holds more cash than debt, it faces challenges with rapid cash burn and negative earnings expectations for the current year. The voting results for the election of directors were as follows: Dr. Connelly received 20,043,585 votes for and 787,440 withheld; Dr. Manian had 19,222,114 votes for and 1,608,911 withheld; Dr. Troupin secured 19,832,391 votes for and 998,634 withheld, with all three experiencing 6,877,244 broker non-votes.
The amendment to the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, which included the share increase, was approved with 17,935,157 votes for, 2,300,322 against, and 595,546 abstentions. The reverse stock split received 25,643,102 votes for, 1,473,553 against, and 591,614 abstentions, with zero broker non-votes.
This information is based on a press release statement and the full details of the 2018 Amended Plan are available in the 2025 Proxy Statement and filed as Exhibit 10.1 in the SEC filing. For comprehensive analysis of Equillium’s financial health and 12 additional exclusive insights, visit InvestingPro.
In other recent news, Equillium Inc announced mixed results from its Phase 3 EQUATOR study for itolizumab, a drug candidate for treating acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD). The study did not achieve the primary endpoint of a complete response at Day 29, nor did it meet key secondary endpoints. However, the drug showed statistically significant benefits in longer-term outcomes, such as a median duration of complete response of 336 days compared to 72 days for the placebo, and a median failure-free survival of 154 days versus 70 days. Despite these promising longer-term results, the initial failure to meet early-stage endpoints has led to skepticism about the drug’s regulatory path forward.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declined to grant Breakthrough Therapy designation or support an Accelerated Approval pathway for itolizumab, emphasizing the importance of Day 29 outcomes but remaining open to other endpoints supported by independent data. Equillium’s CEO, Bruce Steel, expressed disappointment with the FDA’s focus on early outcomes but remains optimistic about the drug’s potential benefits. In response, Equillium plans to expedite the closure of the EQUATOR study and is considering strategic options for future clinical development.
Analyst Thomas Smith from Leerink downgraded Equillium’s stock rating to Market Perform from Outperform, citing significant uncertainty in the drug’s path forward and the company’s financial outlook. Equillium reported cash and cash equivalents of $14.5 million as of March 31, 2025, projected to fund operations into the third quarter of 2025, though these projections are based on assumptions that may not be accurate. The company continues to explore strategic opportunities for its pipeline of immuno-inflammatory disease candidates.
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