Aethlon Medical (NSDQ:AEMD) shares plummetted -44.8% at $1.10 per share today after it announced that it priced an underwritten public offering of common stock worth approximately $5 million.

San Diego-based Aethlon intends to use approximately $700,000 of the $5 million in gross proceeds for its planned clinical trials for the Hemopurifier over the next 12 months. Aethlon won an investigational device exemption from the FDA for an early feasibility study of its Hemopurifier device in patients with head and neck cancer in combination with the standard pembrolizumab (Keytruda) care.

The Hemopurifier is a single-use, disposable cartridge designed to target and filter out viruses or tumor-secreted exosomes. Blood flows through the cartridge into nearly 3,000 hollow fibers with pores 250nm in diameter. A pressure differential in the first third of the fiber is designed to push particles below 250 nanometers through the pores into a space between the fibers and the cartridge. After the particles are pushed between the fibers and cartridge, an affinity agent binds to a disease-specific structure associated with viruses.

Aethlon said the remaining $4.3 million raised from the offering will be used as working capital and for other general corporate purposes.

The offering includes more than 3.3 million shares of common stock and common warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 3.3 million shares at a public offering price of $1.50 per share. The warrants are slated to expire five years from the date of issuance. Aethlon expects the offering to close on or about Dec. 17.

Underwriters were granted a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 499,999 shares of common stock and/or common warrants for purchasing the same amount of shares at the public offering price. H.C. Wainwright & Co. is the sole book-running manager for the offering.