Nextage Therapeutics, an Israeli biotech company developing technologies to deliver drugs directly to the brain, announced Sunday it cannot publish its second-quarter 2025 earnings report on time because it does not have enough money to pay its auditor.
In a highly unusual disclosure to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the company said: “Due to the company’s financial condition and its inability to fully pay the company’s independent auditor and other service providers for preparing and reviewing the financial statements, as well as the directors’ report for June 30, 2025, the company will not meet the required deadlines.”
Nextage said it is working to raise 2 million shekels (about $540,000) from private investors. Its largest shareholders, Avi Semel and Yaron Illuz, who together hold 35% of the company, declined to comment. The company expects the funding round to close soon and said it will update investors on a new timeline for publishing results.
Shares of Nextage have fallen 11.65% since the start of August, leaving the company with a market value of 77.3 million shekels ($21 million).
The company, led by Dr. Orna Drizin and her son Avraham Drizin, has undergone multiple shifts in direction. Founded about 17 years ago with a vision of turning breakthrough ideas into medical products, Nextage merged last year with its publicly traded subsidiary, which focused on cannabis-based psychoactive products, including psychedelics. The merger valued the company at 78 million shekels.
Investor hopes pushed the stock up more than 100% in the first month after the merger, but momentum has since faded.
The company is now focused on developing a platform for drug delivery to the brain—a system described as a “GPS for the brain” aimed at treating Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and certain cancers. Early animal trials showed promising results in mice, but the company remains far from clinical approval. Currently, no approved clinical technology allows safe and effective drug passage through the blood-brain barrier, a key biological defense system.
Nextage’s struggles come amid a steep downturn in Israel’s once-hot biomedical sector. The industry index has dropped 65% from its 2021 peak, when dozens of “dream” companies went public, particularly in drug development and cannabis. Firms including Compugen, Oramed, InterCure and Pluristem have each lost more than 80% to 90% of their peak valuations.