Company: OCEA
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001641172-25-003155
Chunk: 763

Company: Ocean Biomedical, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 5
Chunk 763
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 by the applicable rules and regulations of Nasdaq, are William Owens,
Michael Peterson and Amy Griffith. Martin Angle passed away in September 2024.

Under
applicable Nasdaq rules, a director will only qualify as an “independent director” if, in the opinion of the listed company’s
board of directors, that person does not have a relationship that would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying
out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that all members of the Board, except Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria,
Elizabeth Ng, Dr. Jake Kurtis, Dr. Jack Elias, and Suren Ajjarapu are independent directors, including for purposes of the rules of Nasdaq
and the SEC. In making such independence determination, our board of directors considered the relationships that each non-employee director
has with us and all other facts and circumstances that our board of directors deemed relevant in determining his or her independence,
including the beneficial ownership of our capital stock by each non-employee director. In considering the independence of the directors
listed above, our board of directors considered the association of our directors with the holders of more than 5% of our common stock.
Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria and Elizabeth Ng are not independent directors under the applicable rules because they are employed as our Chairman
and former Chief Executive Officer, respectively. Suren Ajjarapu is not an independent director under the applicable rules due to his
prior role as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aesther. Dr. Jonathan Kurtis and Dr. Jack Elias are not independent directors under
the applicable rules because of their consulting arrangements and their ownership of Elkhart, Inc.

ITEM
14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES.

Information
about principal accountant fees and services is presented under the same captions in our definitive Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting
of Shareowners to be held in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 and is incorporated herein by reference.

168

PART
IV

ITEM
15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES.

    (a)
    The
    following documents are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K:

    (1)
    Consolidated
    Financial Statements

    Page
  
    Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firms
    F-2

    Consolidated
    Financial Statements:

    Consolidated Balance Sheets
    F-4