PALO ALTO, Calif., April 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Scilex Holding Company (Nasdaq: SCLX, “Scilex”), a subsidiary of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC Market: SRNEQ) (“Sorrento”), announced today that the Company’s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”) that was scheduled to be held at 9:00 a.m. (Pacific Time) on Monday, April 17, 2023, has been postponed to Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. (Pacific Time).

Scilex is postponing the Annual Meeting due to the previously announced substantial underreporting of more than 44 million shares of its common stock by brokers, banks and other nominees (collectively, “brokerage firms”) to Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., an independent third party that collects and tabulates stockholder votes for the upcoming Annual Meeting, and to allow multiple brokerage firms additional time to complete the reporting per the previously announced orders of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in connection with Sorrento’s chapter 11 case compelling specified brokerage firms to produce non-privileged written responses to Sorrento. The information compelled by the court orders relates to the record and beneficial ownership of Scilex common stock received by Sorrento’s stockholders in connection with Sorrento’s previously announced dividend of 76,000,000 shares of Scilex common stock held by Sorrento. The orders were executed in connection with Sorrento’s chapter 11 case, which was filed on February 13, 2023. Scilex anticipates that if the brokerage firms comply with the court’s orders, a substantial number of the underreported shares will be able to participate in the Annual Meeting.

About Scilex Holding Company

Scilex Holding Company is an innovative revenue-generating company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing non-opioid pain management products for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. Scilex is uncompromising in its focus to become the global pain management leader committed to social, environmental, economic, and ethical principles to responsibly develop pharmaceutical products to maximize quality of life. Results from the Phase III Pivotal Trial C.L.E.A.R. Program for SEMDEXA™, its novel, non-opioid product for the treatment of lumbosacral radicular pain (sciatica), were announced in March 2022. Scilex intends to submit a request to the FDA for a type D meeting for purposes of pre-NDA discussion with the FDA. Scilex targets indications with high unmet needs and large market opportunities with non-opioid therapies for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe pain. Scilex launched its first commercial product ZTlido^® in October 2018, in-licensed a commercial product Gloperba^® in June 2022, and its third FDA-approved product Elyxyb™ in February 2023. It is also developing its late-stage pipeline, which includes a pivotal Phase 3 candidate, and one Phase 2 and one Phase 1 candidate. Its commercial product, ZTlido^® (lidocaine topical system) 1.8%, or ZTlido^®, is a prescription lidocaine topical product approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the relief of pain associated with post-herpetic neuralgia, which is a form of post-shingles nerve pain. Scilex in-licensed the exclusive right to commercialize Gloperba^® (colchicine USP) oral solution, an FDA-approved prophylactic treatment for painful gout flares in adults, in the U.S. Scilex in-licensed the exclusive rights to commercialize Elyxyb™ (celecoxib oral solution) in the U.S. and Canada, the only FDA-approved ready-to-use oral solution for the acute treatment of migraine, with or without aura, in adults. Scilex is planning to commercialize Gloperba^® and Elyxyb™ in 2023 and is well-positioned to market and distribute the product. Scilex’s three product candidates are SP-102 (injectable dexamethasone sodium phosphate viscous gel product containing 10 mg dexamethasone), or SEMDEXA™, a Phase 3, novel, viscous gel formulation of a widely used corticosteroid for epidural injections to treat lumbosacral radicular pain, or sciatica, with FDA Fast Track status; SP-103 (lidocaine topical system) 5.4%, a Phase 2 study, triple-strength formulation of ZTlido^®, for the treatment of acute low back pain, with FDA Fast Track status; and SP-104, 4.5 mg Delayed Burst Release Low Dose Naltrexone Hydrochloride (DBR-LDN) Capsule, for the treatment of chronic pain, fibromyalgia that has completed multiple Phase 1 trial programs and is expected to initiate Phase 2 trials in 2023. For further information regarding the SP-102 Phase 3 efficacy trial, see NCT identifier NCT03372161 – Corticosteroid Lumbar Epidural Analgesia for Radiculopathy – Full Text View – ClinicalTrials.gov.