Background

Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. (“Xenetic” or the “Company”), incorporated in the state of Nevada and based in Framingham, Massachusetts, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing innovative immune-oncology technologies addressing hard to treat cancers. The Company’s proprietary Deoxyribonuclease (“DNase”) platform is designed to improve outcomes of existing treatments, including immunotherapies, by targeting neutrophil extracellular traps (“NETs”), which have been implicated in cancer progression and resistance to cancer treatments. Xenetic is currently focused on advancing its systemic DNase program into the clinic as an adjunctive therapy for pancreatic carcinoma and locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors. XCART^™ is the Company’s personalized Chimeric Antigen Receptor (“CAR”) T platform technology engineered to target patient specific tumor neoantigens with a demonstrated proof of mechanism in B-cell lymphomas. Additionally, Xenetic has partnered with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to develop its proprietary drug delivery platform, PolyXen^®, and receives royalty payments under an exclusive license arrangement in the field of blood coagulation disorders.

The Company, directly or indirectly, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Hesperix S.A. (“Hesperix”) and Xenetic Biosciences (U.K.) Limited (“Xenetic UK”), and the wholly-owned subsidiaries of Xenetic UK, Lipoxen Technologies Limited (“Lipoxen”), Xenetic Bioscience, Incorporated and SymbioTec, GmbH (“SymbioTec”), own various United States (“U.S.”) federal trademark registrations and applications along with unregistered trademarks and service marks, including but not limited to XCART, OncoHist™, PolyXen, ErepoXen™, and ImuXen™, which are used throughout this Annual Report. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Going Concern and Management’s Plan

Management evaluates whether there are conditions or events, considered in the aggregate that raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. The Company has incurred substantial losses since its inception and expects to continue to incur operating losses in the near-term. These factors raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. The Company believes that it has access to capital resources through possible public or private equity offerings, debt financings, corporate collaborations, related party funding, or other means to continue as a going concern. The Company believes that its existing resources will be adequate to fund the Company’s operations for a period of at least twelve months from the date of these financial statements. However, the Company anticipates it may need additional capital in the long-term to pursue its business initiatives. The terms, timing and extent of any future financing will depend upon several factors, including the achievement of progress in its product development programs, its ability to identify and enter into licensing or other strategic arrangements, its continued listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market (“Nasdaq”), and factors related to financial, economic, geo-political, industry and market conditions, many of which are beyond its control. The capital markets for the biotech industry can be highly volatile, which make the terms, timing and extent of any future financing uncertain. On June 3, 2022, the Company received a written notification (the “Notice”) from the Listing Qualifications Department of Nasdaq notifying the Company that the closing bid price for its common stock had been below $1.00 for 30 consecutive business days and that the Company therefore was not in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement for continued inclusion on the Nasdaq Capital Market under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) (the “Bid Price Requirement”). The Notice has no immediate effect on the listing of the Company’s common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Under the Nasdaq Listing Rules, the Company had a period of 180 calendar days from the date of the Notice to regain compliance with the Bid Price Requirement. Accordingly, the Company had until November 30, 2022 to regain compliance with the Bid Price Requirement and was eligible for an additional 180 calendar day compliance period if certain other criteria were met. On December 1, 2022, the Company received a letter from Nasdaq informing it that although the Company’s common stock had not regained compliance with the minimum $1.00 bid price per share requirement, Nasdaq had determined that the Company was eligible for an additional 180 calendar day period, or until May 29, 2023, to regain compliance. Nasdaq’s determination was based on the Company meeting the continued listing requirement for market value of publicly held shares and all other applicable requirements for initial listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market with the exception of the bid price requirement, and the Company’s written notice of its intention to cure the deficiency during the second compliance period by effecting a reverse stock split, if necessary.