Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding (TNXP) S-8Registration of securities for employees

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 6, 2024

Registration No. 333-      

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

TONIX PHARMACEUTICALS HOLDING CORP.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holdings Corp. Amended and Restated 2020 Stock Incentive Plan and

(Full title of the plans)

 Seth Lederman

Chief Executive Officer

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp.

26 Main Street, Suite 101

Chatham, New Jersey 07928

(862) 904-8182

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

  Please send copies of all communications to:

Michael J. Lerner, Esq.

Steven M. Skolnick, Esq.

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

1251 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

(973) 597-2500

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one): 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐ 

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Pursuant to General Instruction E to Form S-8 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this Registration Statement is filed by Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holdings Corp. (the “Company”) for the purpose of registering additional shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”) under the Company’s Amended and Restated 2020 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2020 Plan”). The number of shares of Common Stock available for issuance under the 2020 Plan is subject to an automatic annual increase on January 1 of each year beginning in 2021 and ending on (and including) January 1, 2030, in an amount equal to the difference between (x) twenty percent (20%) of the total number of shares of Common Stock outstanding on December 31st of the preceding calendar year, and (y) the total number of shares of common stock reserved under the 2020 Plan on December 31st of such preceding calendar year (including shares subject to outstanding awards, issued pursuant to awards or available for future awards), or a lesser number of shares of Common Stock determined by the board of directors of the Company (the “Evergreen Provision”). This Registration Statement registers an aggregate of additional 289,862 shares of Common Stock available for issuance under the 2020 Plan as a result of the Evergreen Provision.

The additional shares of Common Stock issuable under the 2020 Plan pursuant to the Evergreen Provision registered pursuant to this Registration Statement are of the same class of securities as the 76,479 shares of Common Stock registered for issuance under the 2020 Plan pursuant to currently effective Registration Statements on Form S-8 (Registration Nos. 333-239152, 333-257437, 333-265705 and 333-272746) filed on June 12, 2020, June 25, 2021, June 17, 2022, and June 16, 2023, respectively. The information contained in the Company’s Registration Statements on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-239152, 333-257437, 333-265705 and 333-272746) is hereby incorporated by reference pursuant to General Instruction E.

PART II

Information Required in the Registration Statement

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.

The following documents filed by the Company with the Commission pursuant to the Securities Act and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are incorporated herein by reference:

All documents filed by the Company pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14, or 15(d) of the Exchange Act subsequent to the filing of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment, which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing such documents, except as to specific sections of such documents as set forth therein. Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained in any subsequently filed document, which also is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein, modifies or supersedes such statement.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

Nevada Revised Statutes (“NRS”) 78.7502(1) provides that a corporation may indemnify, pursuant to the provisions of that statute, any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of the corporation), by reason of the fact that the person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against expenses, including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by the person in connection with the action, suit or proceeding if the person (i) is not liable pursuant to NRS 78.138 or (ii) acted in good faith and in a manner which he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe the conduct was unlawful. NRS 78.7502(2) further provides that a corporation may indemnify, pursuant to the provisions of that statute, any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact that the person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise against expenses, including amounts paid in settlement and attorneys’ fees actually and reasonably incurred by the person in connection with the defense or settlement of the action or suit if the person (a) is not liable pursuant to NRS 78.138 or (ii) acted in good faith and in a manner which he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation. To the extent that a director, officer, employee or agent of a corporation has been successful on the merits or otherwise in defense of any such action, suit or proceeding, or in defense of any claim, issue or matter therein, the corporation shall indemnify him or her against expenses, including attorneys’ fees, actually and reasonably incurred by him or her in connection with the defense. The termination of any action, suit or proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, conviction or upon a plea of nolo contendere or its equivalent, does not, of itself, create a presumption that the person is liable pursuant to NRS 78.138 or did not act in good faith and in a manner which he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, or that, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, he or she had reasonable cause to believe that the conduct was unlawful. Indemnification pursuant to NRS 78.7502 may not be made for any claim, issue or matter as to which such a person has been adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction, after exhaustion of all appeals therefrom, to be liable to the corporation or for amounts paid in settlement to the corporation, unless and only to the extent that the court in which the action or suit was brought or other court of competent jurisdiction determines upon application that in view of all the circumstances of the case, the person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses as the court deems proper.

NRS 78.7502(3) provides that any discretionary indemnification pursuant to the provisions of NRS 78.7502 (unless ordered by a court or advanced pursuant to NRS 78.751(2)), may be made by the corporation only as authorized in the specific case upon a determination that indemnification of the director, officer, employee or agent is proper in the circumstances. The determination must be made (i) by the stockholders; (ii) by the board of directors by majority vote of a quorum consisting of directors who were not parties to the action, suit or proceeding; (iii) if a majority vote of a quorum consisting of directors who were not parties to the action, suit or proceeding so orders, by independent legal counsel in a written opinion; or (iv) if a quorum consisting of directors who were not parties to the action, suit or proceeding cannot be obtained, by independent legal counsel in a written opinion. NRS 78.751(2) provides that unless otherwise restricted by the corporation’s articles of incorporation or bylaws, or an agreement made by the corporation, the corporation may pay the expenses of officers and directors incurred in defending a civil or criminal action, suit or proceeding as they are incurred and in advance of the final disposition of the action, suit or proceeding, upon receipt of an undertaking by or on behalf of the director or officer to repay the amount if it is ultimately determined by a court of competent jurisdiction that the director or officer is not entitled to be indemnified by the corporation.

Our articles of incorporation provide that our directors or officers shall not be personally liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages for breach of such director’s or officer’s fiduciary duty, except for liability (i) for any breach of the duty of loyalty to our company or our stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, or (iii) for any transaction from which the officer or director derived any improper personal benefit. Our articles of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws provide for the indemnification of any of our directors and officers who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director or officer of the our company, against expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, subject to certain express limitations and conditions. We believe that these provisions in our articles of incorporation bylaws, as amended, are necessary to attract and retain qualified persons as directors and officers.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

See also the undertakings set out in response to Item 9 of this Registration Statement.

Item 8. Exhibits.

For a list of exhibits, see the Exhibit Index in this Registration Statement, which is incorporated into this Item by reference.

Item 9. Undertakings.

Provided, however, that Paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) of this section shall not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the registrant pursuant to section 13 or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m or 78o(d)) that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement.

(b)       The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to section 13(a) or section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(c)       Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer, or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer, or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

EXHIBIT INDEX

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the city of New York, State of New York on December 6, 2024. 

POWER OF ATTORNEY AND SIGNATURES

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that the undersigned officers and directors of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp., a Nevada corporation, do hereby constitute and appoint each of Seth Lederman and Bradley Saenger as his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, with full power of substitution and re-substitution, for him and in his name, place, and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this registration statement (including post-effective amendments to this Registration Statement on Form S-8), and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorney-in-fact and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorney-in-fact and agent, or his substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons on behalf of the registrant in the capacities and on the dates indicated.