Nasdaq to delist Via Pharmaceuticals
Via Pharmaceuticals, a developer of biotechnology compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic disease, received a written notice on Dec. 29, 2009, from the listing qualifications staff of the Nasdaq Stock Market, stating that trading of its common stock would be suspended prior to the open of business on Jan. 4, 2010. Nasdaq is initiating procedures to delist Via’s common stock.

The company had notified Nasdaq on Dec. 23, 2009, that it would be unable to comply with Nasdaq listing rule 5550(b), which requires a minimum stockholders' equity requirement of $2.5 million, and Nasdaq listing rule 5605, which requires that the company's board of directors be comprised of at least a majority of independent directors and that its audit committee be comprised of at least three independent directors.

Via said it does not intend to appeal the determination of Nasdaq with respect to the delisting of its common stock.

Following the delisting of its common stock, the San Francisco-based company hopes to be eligible for quotation on the OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB), a regulated quotation service that displays real-time quotes, last sale prices and volume information in over-the-counter securities. However, quotation on the OTCBB will depend on whether one or more market makers will apply and be cleared by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to quote the company's common stock on the OTCBB.

The company noted that “no assurance can be provided” that market makers currently making a market in its common stock will continue to make a market in its common stock or that the company's common stock will continue to be eligible for quotation on the OTCBB.

However, the company added it will make every effort to ensure its common stock will be eligible for quotation on the OTCBB on Jan. 4, 2010, but no assurance can be provided. If the company's common stock is not quoted on the OTCBB beginning on Jan. 4, 2010, the company believes that active market makers in its common stock will be eligible under a ‘piggyback qualification’ to trade its common stock on the Pink Sheets, a real-time quotation service maintained by Pink Sheets, beginning on Jan. 4, 2010. The transition to the over-the-counter markets does not affect the company's business operations and will not change its SEC reporting requirements.

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