Exhibit 99.1
NuCana Announces Receipt of NASDAQ Notice
Edinburgh, United Kingdom, January 6, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – NuCana plc (NASDAQ: NCNA) announced that it received written notification (the “Notification Letter”) from The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) dated January 3, 2023, indicating that, based upon a closing bid price of less than $1.00 per share for the Company’s American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) for the prior 30 consecutive business day period, the Company no longer satisfies Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(a)(1).
The Notification Letter has no immediate effect on the listing of the ADSs, and they will continue to trade on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “NCNA”.
Pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), the applicable grace period to regain compliance is 180 days, or until July 3, 2023. The Company intends to monitor the closing bid price of its ADSs during this grace period and will consider its options in order to regain compliance with The Nasdaq Global Select Market minimum bid price requirement. The Company can cure this deficiency if the closing bid price of its common stock is $1.00 per share or higher for at least ten consecutive business days during the grace period. In the event the Company does not regain compliance within the 180-day grace period, and it meets all other listing standards and requirements, the Company may be eligible for an additional 180-day grace period.
The Company intends to regain compliance within the applicable compliance period and is currently evaluating its options to do so. During this time, the Company’s ADSs will continue to be listed and trade on The Nasdaq Global Select Market. If the Company is unable to regain compliance prior to July 3, 2023, it may seek to transfer its listing to The Nasdaq Capital Market, provided that it meets the continued listing requirements for such market, other than the bid price requirement, at which time the Company may be provided with an additional period during which it would seek to regain compliance with the bid price requirement. The Company’s business and operations are not affected by the receipt of the Notification Letter.
About NuCana
NuCana is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on significantly improving treatment outcomes for patients with cancer by applying our ProTide technology to transform some of the most widely prescribed chemotherapy agents, nucleoside analogs, into more effective and safer medicines. While these conventional agents remain part of the standard of care for the treatment of many solid and hematological tumors, they have significant shortcomings that limit their efficacy and they are often poorly tolerated. Utilizing our proprietary technology, we are developing new medicines, ProTides, designed to overcome the key limitations of nucleoside analogs and generate much higher concentrations of anti-cancer metabolites in cancer cells. NuCana’s pipeline includes NUC-3373 and NUC-7738. NUC-3373 is a new chemical entity derived from the nucleoside analog 5-fluorouracil, a widely used chemotherapy agent. NUC-3373, in combination with other agents, is in a Phase 1b/2 study in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. NuCana has also initiated a randomized Phase 2 study of NUC-3373, in combination with other agents, for the second-line treatment of patients with advanced colorectal cancer. In addition, NuCana has initiated a Phase 1b/2 modular study of NUC-3373 in combination with other agents, including the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab, in patients with advanced solid tumors to identify additional indications for development. NUC-7738 is a transformation of 3’-deoxyadenosine, a novel anti-cancer nucleoside analog. NUC-7738 is in the Phase 2 part of a Phase 1/2 study in patients with advanced solid tumors which is evaluating NUC-7738 as a monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab.
