Organization and Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Text Block]

1. Organization and Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation

Description of Business

Synthetic Biologics, Inc. (the “Company” or “Synthetic Biologics”) is a clinical-stage company focused on developing therapeutics designed to preserve the microbiome to protect and restore the health of patients. The Company’s lead candidates are: (1) SYN-004 (ribaxamase) which is designed to degrade certain commonly used intravenous (IV) beta-lactam antibiotics within the gastrointestinal (GI) tract to prevent microbiome damage, Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), overgrowth of pathogenic organisms, the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and acute graft-versus-host-disease (aGVHD) in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients, and (2) SYN-010 which is intended to reduce the impact of methane-producing organisms in the gut microbiome to treat an underlying cause of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C). The Company’s preclinical pursuits include SYN-020, an oral formulation of the enzyme intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) to treat both local GI and systemic diseases to develop preclinical stage monoclonal antibody therapies for the prevention and treatment of pertussis.

Basis of Presentation and Corporate Structure

As of December 31, 2018, the Company had eight subsidiaries, Pipex Therapeutics, Inc. (“Pipex Therapeutics”), Effective Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“EPI”), Solovax, Inc. (“Solovax”), CD4 Biosciences, Inc. (“CD4”), Epitope Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Epitope”), Healthmine, Inc. (“Healthmine”), Putney Drug Corp. (“Putney”) and Synthetic Biomics, Inc. (“SYN Biomics”). Pipex Therapeutics, EPI, Healthmine and Putney are wholly owned, and Solovax, CD4, Epitope and SYN Biomics are majority-owned.

For financial reporting purposes, the outstanding common stock of the Company is that of Synthetic Biologics, Inc. All statements of operations, (deficit) equity and cash flows for each of the entities are presented as consolidated. All subsidiaries were formed under the laws of the State of Delaware on January 8, 2001, except for EPI, which was incorporated in Delaware in December 12, 2000, Epitope which was incorporated in Delaware in January of 2002, Putney which was incorporated in Delaware in November of 2006, Healthmine which was incorporated in Delaware in December of 2007 and SYN Biomics which was incorporated in Nevada in December of 2013.

Liquidity

As of December 31, 2018, the Company has a significant accumulated deficit and with the exception of the three months ended September 30, 2010 and December 31, 2017, the Company has experienced significant losses and incurred negative cash flows since inception. The Company expects to continue incurring losses for the foreseeable future, with the recognition of revenue being contingent on successful phase 3 clinical trials and requisite approvals by the FDA. Historically, the Company has financed its operations primarily through public and private sales of its common stock and a private placement of its preferred stock, and it expects to continue to seek to obtain required capital in a similar manner. The Company has spent, and expects to continue to spend, a substantial amount of funds in connection with implementing its business strategy, including, planned product development efforts, clinical trials and research and discovery efforts.

Cash and cash equivalents totaled approximately $26.0 million as of February 2019, which includes the net proceeds of approximately $16.7 million from the sale of securities in October 2018 (the Offering) and net proceeds of approximately $12.2 million from sales of its Common Stock in “at-the-market” (ATM) equity offerings during 2018. With the cash available at February 2019, the Company believes these resources will be sufficient to fund its operations through at least the end of the first quarter of 2020. Management believes its plan, which includes the further development of SYN-020 and additional testing of SYN-004 (ribaxamase) and SYN-010, will allow the Company to meet its financial obligations, further advance key products, and maintain the Company’s planned operations for at least one year from the issuance date of these consolidated financial statements, while not sacrificing the strategic direction of the Company. The Company’s plan also considers the restructuring events of December 2018, described further in note 8. If necessary, the Company may attempt to utilize the ATM or seek to raise additional capital on the open market, neither of which is guaranteed. Use of the ATM is limited by certain restrictions and management’s plan does not rely on additional capital from either of these sources. If the Company is not able to obtain additional capital (which is not assured at this time), our long term business plan may not be accomplished and we may be forced to cease certain development activities. More specifically, the completion of a Phase 3 clinical trial will require significant financing or a significant partnership.

Reverse Stock Split

On August 10, 2018, we effected a one for thirty five reverse stock split (the “Reverse Stock Split”) of our authorized, issued and outstanding common stock. Unless otherwise noted, all references to share amounts in these financial statements, reflect the Reverse Stock Split.

Every thirty five shares of issued and outstanding Common Stock were automatically combined into one issued and outstanding share of Common Stock, without any change in the par value per share of Common Stock. All share and per share amounts in the financial statements have been retroactively adjusted for all periods presented to give effect to the reverse split, including reclassifying an amount equal to the reduction in par value to additional paid-in capital.

The Reverse Split affected all issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock, as well as Common Stock underlying stock options, warrants and convertible instruments outstanding immediately prior to the effectiveness of the Reverse Split. The Reverse Split reduced the total number of shares of Common Stock outstanding from approximately 128.5 million to approximately 3.7 million.