Cell Therapeutics stock resumes trading after week-long halt

After a week-long suspension, shares of Cell Therapeutics resumed trading Wednesday on Nasdaq and the Borsa Italiana in Milan.

Trading was halted by the Milan exchange Feb. 10 as Italian securities regulators pressed the cash-strapped Seattle biotechnology company for detailed financial information not contained in its U.S. securities filings. Nasdaq stopped U.S. trading in reaction to the Italian move.

Cell Therapeutics said late Tuesday that the Borsa Italiana had confirmed it was lifting the trading halt after the company submitted additional information on its business operations and financial condition.

The company's stock is traded in Italy because it has a large number of stockholders there following its 2003 acquisition of Novuspharma, a Milan-based biotech company. It is now trying to sell its Italian operations.

Before the trading halt, Cell Therapeutics shares last traded at 8 cents, with a 52-week range of $16.70 to 5 cents. The stock closed today at 6.9 cents, down 1.5 cents, or 18 percent, on Nasdaq.

The 16-year-old company has an accumulated deficit of more than $1 billion and in recent months has issued vast quantities of new stock as it restructures its debt.