Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital
We have incurred losses in certain years since inception, including in 2024, and we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve profitability.
We expect to continue to incur expenditures, as we operate our business. We expect to incur losses for the foreseeable future. We cannot accurately predict the timing or amount of our increased expenses, or when and if we may be able to achieve profitability. Our net loss for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 was $162.9 million and $146.4 million, respectively. Our accumulated earnings at December 31, 2024 and 2023 was $116.9 million and $279.8 million.
Our success depends on our ability to develop and monetize a therapeutic, either on our own or where we have significant participation. If or until either of those events occur, we do not anticipate being able to generate sufficient revenue to achieve profitability.
Developing a therapeutic on our own will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities for which we are only in the preliminary stages, including developing product candidates, obtaining regulatory approval, manufacturing, and commercializing approved products. We may never succeed in these activities and generate revenue from product sales from our internal pipeline that is significant enough to achieve profitability.
Even if we achieve profitability, it may not be sustained. Our failure to become or remain profitable would depress our market value and impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, develop other product candidates, or continue our operations. A decline in the value of our company could also cause our stockholders to lose all or part of their investment.
Our revenue has fluctuated from period to period, and our revenue for any historical period may not be indicative of results that may be expected for any future period.
During the years ended December 31, 2020, 2021 and 2022 we generated revenue related to royalty payments upon net sales of antibodies that we discovered. In 2021 and 2022, these royalty payments related to our partnership with Lilly upon sales of bamlanivimab and bebtelovimab, antibodies designed to treat and prevent COVID-19. Since November 2022, when the FDA announced that bamlanivimab and bebtelovimab, respectively were no longer authorized for emergency use and, as a result, we have not, and we do not expect to, generate revenue from royalties associated with Lilly's sales of our COVID-19 antibodies going forward.
We have, and continue to receive, other forms of revenue from our partnership contracts and are eligible to receive future milestones and royalties related to potential future success of antibodies that we have discovered under past and existing agreements. We are unable to predict whether and the extent to which the minimum annual payments under our partnership agreements will be exceeded, or the timing of the achievement of any milestones under these agreements, if they are achieved at all. In some cases, the timing and likelihood of payments to us under these agreements is dependent on our partners’ successful utilization of the antibodies discovered using our discovery and development capabilities, which is outside of our control. Because of these factors, our revenue could vary materially from period to period.
Our quarterly and annual operating results have fluctuated significantly in the past and may fluctuate significantly in the future, making it difficult to predict our future operating results and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations.
Our quarterly and annual operating results have fluctuated in the past and may fluctuate in the future, making it difficult to predict our future operating results. These fluctuations may occur due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including, but not limited to:
•interest income from our cash management strategy, which is subject to variability due to cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balances and market interest yields available to the Company;
•the timing and cost of, and level of investment in, research, development and commercialization activities relating to our discovery and development capabilities and initiation and advancement of internal programs, which may change from time to time;
•the cost of maintaining and running our GMP facility, activities which are new to us;
•our ability to generate viable development candidates;
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•the relative reliability and robustness of our discovery and development capabilities, including our data generation and computational tools;
•the introduction of new technologies, platform features or software, by us or others in our industry;
•costs that we may incur to acquire, develop or commercialize additional technologies;
•costs and fees occurring in litigation that we may be involved in;
•the degree of competition in our industry and any change in the competitive landscape of our industry, including consolidation among our competitors or future partners;
•natural disasters, pandemics, outbreaks of disease or public health crises;
•the timing and nature of any future acquisitions or strategic partnerships;
•future accounting pronouncements or changes in our accounting policies; and
•general social, political and economic conditions and other factors, including inflationary pressures and factors unrelated to our operating performance or the operating performance of our competitors.
The effect of one of the factors discussed above, or the cumulative effects of a combination of factors discussed above, could result in large fluctuations and unpredictability in our quarterly and annual operating results. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Investors should not rely on our past results to indicate our future performance.
We may need to raise additional capital to fund our existing operations, improve our discovery and development capabilities, advance internal programs, or expand our operations. If we are unable to raise additional capital on terms acceptable to us or at all or generate cash flows necessary to maintain or expand our operations, we may not be able to compete successfully, which would harm our business, operations, and financial condition.
Based on our current business plan, we believe our available liquidity from existing cash and cash equivalents, marketable securities, and anticipated cash flows from operations and government contributions, will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs and expenditure required for later stage development of our internal pipeline. Although it is difficult to predict our funding requirements, we do not anticipate the need for additional external funding over at least the next thirty-six (36) months following the date of this report. If our available cash resources together with our anticipated cash flow from operations are insufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements including because of the realization of other risks described in this annual report, we may be required to raise additional capital prior to such time through issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, entrance into a credit facility or another form of third-party funding or seek other debt financing, including real estate and asset backed financing on the significant investments we have funded towards our corporate headquarters and GMP facility which are currently under construction. Such additional financing may not be available on terms acceptable to us or at all.
We may consider raising additional capital in the future to expand our business, to pursue strategic investments, to take advantage of financing opportunities or for other reasons. For example, this may include reasons such as to:
•fund development and marketing efforts of our current and future internal and partner programs;
•expand our discovery and development capabilities;
•acquire, license or invest in technologies;
•acquire or invest in complementary businesses or assets; and
•finance capital expenditures and general and administrative expenses.
Our present and future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including:
•our ability to achieve revenue growth;
•the cost of expanding our operations, including our planned GMP activities;
•our rate of progress in selling access to our discovery and development capabilities, the initiation and advancement of internal programs and marketing activities associated therewith;
•our rate of progress in, and cost of research and development activities associated with, antibody discovery and development for our internal pipeline;
•the effect of competing technological and market developments;
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•costs and fees occurring in litigation that we may be involved in; and
•costs related to any business and operations expansion.
The various ways we could raise additional capital carry potential risks. If we raise funds by issuing equity securities, dilution to our shareholders would result. Any preferred equity securities issued also would likely provide for rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of holders of our common shares. If we raise funds by issuing debt securities, those debt securities would have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our common shares. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may also involve agreements that include covenants restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, selling or licensing our assets, making product acquisitions, making capital expenditures, or declaring dividends. For example, our agreement with the Strategic Innovation Fund, or SIF, requires that we obtain consent in the event that an individual or company (or two or more of them acting in concert) acquires the direct or indirect beneficial ownership of 20% or more of our voting securities. In the event consent is not obtained, the agreement may be terminated and we will be obligated to repay all or a portion of the contribution amounts from SIF.
If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, if we require it, our ability to continue to pursue our business objectives and to respond to business opportunities, challenges, or unforeseen circumstances could be significantly limited, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Unstable market and economic conditions may have serious adverse consequences on our business, financial condition, and share price.
From time to time, the global credit and financial markets have experienced extreme volatility and disruptions, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates and uncertainty about economic stability. There can be no assurance that future deterioration in credit and financial markets and confidence in economic conditions will not occur. Our general business strategy may be adversely affected by any such economic downturn, volatile business environment or continued unpredictable and unstable market conditions. The financial markets and the global economy may also be adversely affected by the current or anticipated impact of military conflict, including conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and elsewhere, and the related impact on our business and the markets generally. Sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries in response to such conflicts, may also adversely impact the financial markets and the global economy, and any economic countermeasures by the affected countries or others could exacerbate market and economic instability. Continued disruptions in the banking system, both in the U.S. or abroad, may impact our or our customers’ liquidity and, as a result, negatively impact our business and operating results. If the current equity and credit markets deteriorate, the value and liquidity of our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities may fluctuate substantially and it may make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult, more costly and more dilutive. Although we have not realized any significant losses on our cash, cash equivalents and our diversified portfolio of high credit quality marketable securities, future fluctuations in their value could result in significant losses and could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition. In addition, failure to secure any necessary financing in a timely manner and on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our growth strategy, financial performance and share price. There is also a risk that one or more of our current service providers, manufacturers and other partners may not survive an economic downturn, which could directly affect our ability to attain our operating goals on schedule and on budget.
Risks Related to our Business and the Development and Commercialization of Our Product Candidates
Our commercial success depends on the quality of our antibody discovery and development capabilities, technological capabilities, the advancement of internal programs, and their acceptance by new and existing partners in our industry.
We utilize our antibody discovery and development capabilities to identify antibodies for further development and potential commercialization by us and our partners. As a result, the quality and sophistication of our discovery and development capabilities is critical to our ability to conduct our research discovery activities and to deliver more promising molecules and to accelerate and lower the costs of discovery as compared to traditional methods for our partnerships. In particular, our business depends, among other things, on:
•our discovery and development capabilities to successfully identify therapeutic antibodies on the desired timeframes that can ultimately be used to prevent and treat diseases;
•our ability to successful employ our newly constructed GMP facility to advance our pipeline;
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•our ability to utilize our discovery and development capabilities to build a robust pipeline of potential development candidates;
•our ability to partner our internally developed pipeline;
•our ability to increase awareness of the capabilities of our technology and solutions;
•our partners’ and potential partners’ willingness to adopt new technologies;
•whether our discovery and development capabilities reliably provide advantages over legacy and other alternative technologies and is perceived by customers to be cost effective;
•the rate of adoption of our solutions by pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies of all sizes, government organizations and non-profit organizations and others;
•the relative reliability and robustness of our discovery and development capabilities;
•the timing and scope of any approval that may be required by regulatory bodies for therapeutics that are developed based on antibodies discovered by us;
•the impact of our investments in innovation and commercial growth;
•negative publicity regarding our or our competitors’ technologies resulting from defects or errors; and
•our ability to further validate our technology through research and accompanying publications.
There can be no assurance that we will successfully address any of these or other factors that may affect the ability of our discovery and development capabilities to create viable molecules that ultimately lead to commercially viable therapeutics. If we cannot create commercially viable therapeutics, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.
Failure to execute our business strategy could adversely impact our growth and profitability.
Our strategy focuses on the development of antibody-based drugs and improving the way these drugs are discovered and developed. Our strategy assumes a certain degree of growth in capital and capacity. Factors such as insufficient capital, inflation, supply chain interruptions, inadequate forecasting, increases in construction material costs, or labor shortages could interfere with the successful execution of our strategy and our ability to timely build infrastructure and processes to support our business. If we cannot successfully execute on our strategy, this could negatively impact our future results of operations and market capitalization. For additional discussion of our business strategy, please see the section entitled “Item 1. Business” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.
We allocate our resources to pursue a particular development candidate or indication and, as a result, may fail to capitalize on other development candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
We allocate our resources to certain research programs and development candidates. As a result, we may forgo or delay pursuit of opportunities with other development candidates or for our current development candidates in other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable and profitable market opportunities. Our spend on current and future research and development programs and development candidates for specific indications may not yield commercially viable therapeutics. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular development candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that candidate through collaboration, licensing or other commercialization opportunities.
Development of a biological molecule is inherently uncertain, and it is possible that none of the antibody-drug candidates discovered using our antibody discovery and development capabilities that are further developed by us or our partners will receive marketing approval or become viable commercial products, on a timely basis, or at all.
We have used our discovery and development capabilities to offer antibodies to partners who are engaged in antibody discovery and development. These partners include large cap pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies of all sizes and non-profit and government organizations. While we receive upfront payments from our partners generated through technology access and discovery research fees, we estimate that the vast majority of the economic value of the contracts that we enter with our partners is in the downstream payments that are payable if certain milestones are met or approved products are sold. Due to our reliance on our partners, the risks relating to product development, regulatory clearance, authorization or approval and commercialization apply to us derivatively through the activities of our partners. While we believe our discovery and development capabilities are capable of identifying high quality antibodies, there can
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be no assurance that our partnerships will successfully develop, secure marketing approvals for and commercialize any therapeutics based on the antibodies that we discover. As a result, we may not realize the intended benefits of our partnerships.
Due to the uncertain, time-consuming and costly clinical development and regulatory approval process, there may not be successful development of any drug candidates with the antibodies that we discover, or we and our partners may choose to discontinue the development of these drug candidates for a variety of reasons, including due to safety, risk versus benefit profile, exclusivity, competitive landscape, commercialization potential, production limitations or prioritization of their resources. It is possible that none of these drug candidates will ever receive regulatory approval and, even if approved, such drug candidates may never be successfully commercialized. For example, under our research agreement with Lilly, we are eligible to receive and have received payments upon the achievement of certain development milestones and are eligible to receive royalties resulting from sales of both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 products that incorporate antibodies we discovered. While we have received milestone and royalty payments from this collaboration, there can be no assurance that we will receive additional milestone payments or any royalties in the future.
In addition, even if these drug candidates receive regulatory approval in the United States, the drug candidates may never obtain approval or commercialize such drugs outside of the United States, which would limit their full market potential and therefore our ability to realize their potential downstream value. Furthermore, approved drugs may not achieve broad market acceptance among physicians, patients, the medical community and third-party payors, in which case revenue generated from their sales would be limited. Likewise, we or our partners have to make decisions about which clinical stage and preclinical drug candidates to develop and advance, and we or our partners may not have the resources to invest in all of the drug candidates that contain antibodies discovered using our discovery and development capabilities, or clinical data and other development considerations may not support the advancement of one or more drug candidates. Decision-making about which drug candidates to prioritize involves inherent uncertainty, and our partners’ development program decision-making and resource prioritization decisions, which are outside of our control, may adversely affect the potential value of those partnerships. Additionally, subject to its contractual obligations to us, if one more of our partners is involved in a business combination, the partner might deemphasize or terminate the development or commercialization of any drug candidate that utilizes an antibody that we have discovered. If one of our strategic partners terminates its agreement with us, we may find it more difficult to attract new partners.
The failure to effectively advance, market and commercialize drug candidates with the antibodies that we discover could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, and cause the market price of our common shares to decline. In addition to the inherent uncertainty in drug development addresses above, our ability to forecast our future revenues may be limited.
The failure of our partners to meet their contractual obligations to us could adversely affect our business.
For partners who have contractual obligations to us, this poses a number of additional risks, including the risk that they may not perform their contractual obligations to us to our standards, in compliance with applicable legal or contractual requirements, in a timely manner or at all; they may not maintain the confidentiality of our proprietary information; and disagreements or disputes could arise that could cause delays in, or termination of, the research, development or commercialization of products using our antibodies or result in litigation or arbitration.
In addition, certain of our partners are large, multinational organizations that run many programs concurrently, and we are dependent on their ability to accurately track and make milestone payments to us pursuant to the terms of our agreements with them. Any failure by them to inform us when milestones are reached and make related payments to us could adversely affect our results of operations.
Any of these factors could adversely impact their financial condition and results of operations, which could impair their ability to meet their contractual obligations to us, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have invested, and expect to continue to invest, in research and development efforts that further enhance our technology and platform. Such investments in technology are inherently risky and may affect our operating results. If the return on these investments is lower or develops more slowly than we expect, our operating results may suffer.
Since our inception, we have dedicated a substantial portion of our resources on the development of our capabilities and the technology that we incorporate to further enhance our antibody discovery and development capabilities, and our internal pipeline. These investments may involve significant time, risks, and uncertainties, including the risk that the expenses associated with these investments may affect operating results and that such investments may not generate sufficient technological advantage relative to alternatives in the market which would, in turn, impact revenues to offset liabilities assumed and expenses associated with these new investments. The industry in which we operate changes rapidly
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as a result of technological and drug developments, which may render our solutions less desirable. We believe that we must continue to invest a significant amount of time and resources in our discovery and development capabilities, and our internal pipeline, to maintain and improve our competitive position. If we do not achieve the benefits anticipated from these investments, if the achievement of these benefits is delayed, if our discovery and development capabilities are not able to accelerate the process of antibody discovery and development as quickly as we anticipate, or if our internal pipeline is not successful, our revenue and operating results may be adversely affected.
Our partners have significant discretion in determining when and whether to make announcements, if any, about the status of our partnerships, including about clinical developments and timelines for advancing collaborative programs, and the price of our common shares may decline as a result of announcements of unexpected results or developments.
Our partners have significant discretion in determining when and whether to make announcements about the status of our partnerships, including about preclinical and clinical developments and timelines for advancing antibodies discovered using our discovery and development capabilities. We do not plan to disclose the development status and progress of individual drug candidates of our partners, unless and until those partners do so first. Our partners may wish to report such information more or less frequently than we intend to or may not wish to report such information at all, in which case we would not report that information either. In addition, if partners choose to announce a collaboration with us, there is no guarantee that we will recognize research discovery fees in that quarter or even the following quarter, as such fees are not payable to us until our partner begins discovery activities. The price of our common shares may decline as a result of the public announcement of unexpected results or developments in our partnerships, or as a result of our partners withholding such information.
Our partners may not achieve projected discovery and development milestones and other anticipated key events in the expected timelines or at all, which could have an adverse impact on our business and could cause the price of our common shares to decline.
From time to time, we may make public statements regarding the expected timing of certain milestones and key events, as well as regarding developments and milestones under our partnerships, to the extent that our partners have publicly disclosed such information or permit us to make such disclosures. Certain of our partners have also made public statements regarding their expectations for the development of programs under partnership with us and they and other partners may in the future make additional statements about their goals and expectations for partnerships with us. The actual timing of these events can vary dramatically due to a number of factors such as delays or failures in our or our current and future partners’ antibody discovery and development programs, the amount of time, effort, and resources committed by us and our current and future partners, and the numerous uncertainties inherent in the development of drugs. As a result, there can be no assurance that our partners’ current and future programs will advance or be completed in the time frames we or they expect. If our partners fail to achieve one or more of these milestones or other key events as planned, our business could be materially adversely affected and the price of our common shares could decline.
For programs that are lead by a partner, but for which we have downstream economic participation, our future success is dependent on the eventual approval and commercialization of products developed by our partners for which we have no control over the clinical development plan, regulatory strategy or commercialization efforts.
Our business model is dependent on the eventual progression of therapeutic candidates discovered or initially developed utilizing our discovery and development capabilities into clinical trials and commercialization. This requires us to attract partners and enter into agreements with them that contain obligations for the partners to pay us milestone payments as well as royalties on sales of approved products for the therapeutic candidates they develop that are generated utilizing our discovery and development capabilities. Given the nature of our relationships with our partners, we do not control the progression, clinical development, regulatory strategy or eventual commercialization, if approved, of these therapeutic candidates. As a result, our future success and the potential to receive milestones and royalties are entirely dependent on our partners’ efforts over which we have no control. Additionally, unless publicly disclosed by our partners, we do not have access to information related to our partners’ preclinical studies or clinical trial results, including serious adverse events, or ongoing communications with the relevant health authorities regarding our partners’ development strategy, which limits our visibility into how such programs may be progressing. If our partners determine not to proceed with the future development of a drug candidate discovered or initially developed utilizing our discovery and development capabilities, or if they implement preclinical, clinical or regulatory strategies that ultimately do not result in the further development or approval of the therapeutic candidate, we will not receive the benefits of our partnerships, which may have a material and adverse effect on our operations.
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We may not be able to file applications or amendments to commence additional clinical trials on the timelines we expect, and even if we are able to, the regulatory body may not permit us to proceed.
We may not be able to file applications (e.g. CTA, IND) for our internal pipeline candidates on the timelines we expect. For example, we may experience delays with enabling studies or manufacturing delays. Moreover, we cannot be sure that submission of a clinical trial application (CTA) will result in allowing the start of clinical trials, or that, once begun, issues will not arise that suspend or terminate clinical trials. Additionally, even if such regulatory authorities agree with the design and implementation of the clinical trials set forth in an application, we cannot guarantee that such regulatory authorities will not change their requirements in the future. These considerations also apply to new clinical trials we may submit as amendments to a new application. Any failure to file a clinical trial application on the timelines we expect or to obtain regulatory approvals for our trials may prevent us from completing our clinical trials or commercializing our products on a timely basis, if at all.
We have no marketed proprietary products and have not yet independently started clinical development, which makes it difficult to assess our ability to independently develop future product candidates and monetize any resulting products.
As a company, we have no previous experience in advancing and completing clinical trials, and navigating and complying with the related regulatory requirements, including with respect to the submission of a New Drug Application, or NDA, or equivalent submission. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to independently conduct clinical development and obtain regulatory approval. To execute on our business plan, we will need to successfully reach agreement with multiple regulatory agencies on clinical and preclinical studies required for registration, execute our clinical development and manufacturing plans; and manage our spending as costs and expenses increase due to clinical trials, and regulatory approvals. If we are unsuccessful in accomplishing these objectives, we will not be able to develop any future product candidates independently and could fail to realize the potential advantages of doing so.
We have a limited number of product candidates, all which are still in preclinical development. If we do not obtain regulatory approval of one or more of our product candidates, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially adversely affected.
We currently have no products approved for sale or marketing in any country, and may never be able to obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates. As a result, we are not currently permitted to market any of our product candidates in any country until we obtain regulatory approval from the relevant health authorities. Our product candidates are in preclinical development and as of December 31, 2024 we have not submitted an application, or received marketing approval, for any of our product candidates. Obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates will depend on many factors, including:
•completing clinical trials that demonstrate the efficacy and safety of our product candidates;
•preparation and submission to the appropriate regulatory authorities of an application for marketing approval that includes substantial evidence of safety, purity and potency from results of nonclinical testing and clinical trials;
•establishing and maintaining adequate commercial manufacturing arrangements or establishing our own commercial manufacturing capabilities or reliable arrangements with third-party contract manufacturers;
•potential pre-approval audits of nonclinical sites, clinical trial sites, and third-party manufacturing sites that generated the data and product in support of the marketing application; and
•launching commercial sales, marketing and distribution operations.
Many of these factors are wholly or partially beyond our control, including clinical advancement, the regulatory submission process and changes in the competitive landscape. If we do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner, we could experience significant delays or an inability to develop our product candidates at all.
Clinical trials are expensive, time consuming, difficult to design and implement, and involve uncertain outcomes. Furthermore, the results of preclinical studies and clinical trials may not be predictive of future results, and the results of our planned clinical trials may not satisfy the requirements of the relevant health authority.
We have not previously submitted an application seeking approval for a therapeutic based on antibodies that we have discovered. An application for approval (e.g. BLA) must include extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to establish the product candidate’s safety, purity and efficacy for each desired indication. The BLA must also include significant information regarding the manufacturing controls for the product. Even if we eventually complete
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clinical testing and receive approval of any regulatory filing for our product candidates, the regulatory authority may approve our product candidates for a more limited indication or a narrower patient population than we originally requested.
There is typically an extremely high rate of attrition from the failure of product candidates proceeding through preclinical studies and clinical trials. Positive or timely results from preclinical or early-stage trials do not ensure positive or timely results in late-stage clinical trials or product approval by the relevant health authority (e.g. Health Canada, FDA, EMA). We will be required to demonstrate with substantial evidence through well-controlled clinical trials that our product candidates are safe and effective for use in a diverse population before we can seek regulatory approvals for their commercial sale. A clinical trial may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we or any of our current and future strategic partners may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical or preclinical testing. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different preclinical studies and clinical trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in clinical trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in and adherence to the clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. Moreover, success in preclinical studies or early-stage clinical trials would not mean that future clinical trials or registrational clinical trials will be successful because product candidates in later-stage clinical trials may fail to demonstrate sufficient safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the relevant health authority, despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical trials. Product candidates that show promising results in early clinical trials may suffer significant setbacks in subsequent clinical trials or registrational clinical trials. For example, a number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials, even after obtaining promising results in earlier-stage clinical trials. Similarly, interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results.
There is a high failure rate for biopharmaceutical products proceeding through clinical trials. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in later stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in earlier stage clinical trials. Data obtained from preclinical and clinical activities are subject to varying interpretations, which may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. In addition, regulatory delays or rejections may be encountered as a result of many factors, including changes in regulatory policy during the period of product development.
Applications for our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including but not limited to the following:
•the relevant health authorities may disagree with the design, implementation or data analyses of our clinical trials;
•the relevant health authorities may determine that our product candidate(s) do not have adequate risk-benefit ratio or have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use;
•the population studied in a clinical program may not be sufficiently broad or representative to assure efficacy and safety in the full population for which we seek approval;
•the relevant health authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials;
•the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates may not be sufficient to support the submission of a BLA or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the United States or elsewhere;
•relevant health authorities may fail to approve the manufacturing processes, test procedures and specifications or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies; and
•the approval policies or regulations of the relevant health authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval.
If clinical trials for our product candidates are prolonged, delayed or stopped, we may be unable to obtain regulatory approval and commercialize our product candidates on a timely basis, or at all, which would require us to incur additional costs and delay our receipt of any product revenue.
We may experience delays in future preclinical studies or clinical trials, and we do not know whether future preclinical studies or clinical trials will begin on time, need to be redesigned, enroll an adequate number of patients on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during clinical development, and, because our product candidates are in an early stage of development, there is a high risk of failure and we may never succeed in developing marketable products. The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of
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later-stage clinical trials, particularly because early trials have smaller numbers of subjects tested. In addition, it is not uncommon for product candidates to exhibit unforeseen safety or efficacy issues, such as immunogenicity, when tested in humans despite promising results in preclinical animal models.
Any clinical trials that we may conduct may not demonstrate the safety and efficacy profiles necessary to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates. As we continue developing our product candidates, serious adverse events, undesirable side effects, or unexpected characteristics may emerge, causing us to abandon these product candidates or limit their development to more narrow uses or subpopulations in which the risk-benefit ratio is more acceptable.
Patients treated with our product candidates may experience side effects or adverse events that are unrelated to our product candidates but may still impact the success of our clinical trials. The inclusion of patients with significant co-morbidities in our clinical trials may result in deaths or other adverse medical events due to an underlying condition or other therapies or medications that such patients may be using. Any of these events could prevent us from obtaining regulatory approval or achieving or maintaining market acceptance and impair our ability to commercialize our product candidates. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety and efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in and adherence to the clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants.
The commencement or completion of these planned clinical trials could be substantially delayed or prevented by many factors, including:
•further discussions with the relevant health or regulatory authorities regarding the scope or design of our clinical trials;
•the limited number of, and competition for, suitable sites to conduct our clinical trials, many of which may already be engaged in other clinical trial programs, including some that may be for the same indication as our product candidates;
•any delay or failure to obtain approval or agreement to commence a clinical trial in any of the countries where enrollment is planned;
•inability to obtain sufficient funds required for a clinical trial;
•clinical holds on, or other regulatory objections to, a new or ongoing clinical trial;
•delay or failure to manufacture sufficient supplies of the product candidate for our clinical trials;
•delay or failure to reach agreement on acceptable clinical trial agreement terms or clinical trial protocols with prospective sites or CROs, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different sites or CROs;
•delay or failure to obtain approval from the relevant human subjects review board (e.g. institutional review board - IRB or research ethics boards - REB) to conduct a clinical trial in humans at a prospective site;
•slower than expected rates of patient recruitment and enrollment;
•failure of patients to complete the clinical trial;
•the inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients in studies to ensure adequate statistical power to detect statistically significant treatment effects;
•unforeseen safety issues, including severe or unexpected drug-related adverse effects experienced by patients, including possible deaths;
•lack of efficacy during clinical trials;
•termination of our clinical trials by one or more clinical trial sites;
•inability or unwillingness of patients or clinical investigators to follow our clinical trial protocols;
•inability to monitor patients adequately during or after treatment by us or our CROs;
•our CROs or clinical study sites failing to comply with the trial protocol or regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all, deviating from the protocol or dropping out of a study;
•the inability to address any noncompliance with regulatory requirements or safety concerns that arise during the course of a clinical trial;
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•third-party contractors becoming debarred or suspended or otherwise penalized by the relevant health authorities for violations of applicable regulatory requirements;
•delays in the testing, validation, manufacturing and delivery of our product candidates to the clinical trial sites, including due to a facility manufacturing any of our product candidates or any of their components being ordered by the relevant health authorities to temporarily or permanently shut down due to violations of cGMP regulations or other applicable requirements, or cross-contaminations of product candidates in the manufacturing process;
•the need to repeat or terminate clinical trials as a result of inconclusive or negative results or unforeseen complications in testing;
•our clinical trials may be suspended or terminated upon a breach or pursuant to the terms of any agreement with, or for any other reason by, current or future strategic partners that have responsibility for the clinical development of any of our product candidates; and
•receiving untimely or unfavorable feedback from applicable regulatory authorities regarding the trial or requests from regulatory authorities to modify the design of a trial.
We could also experience delays in physicians enrolling patients in clinical trials of our product candidates in lieu of prescribing existing treatments or other clinical trials. Furthermore, a clinical trial may be suspended or terminated by us, the relevant human subjects review board for the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, the Data Monitoring Committee for such trial, or by the relevant health authorities due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the relevant health authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a product candidate, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. If we experience termination of, or delays in the completion of, any clinical trial of our product candidates, the commercial prospects for our product candidates will be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenue will be delayed. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our product development and approval process and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenue.
Securing regulatory approval also requires the submission of information about the manufacturing processes and inspection of manufacturing facilities by the relevant regulatory authority. The relevant health authorities may reject our manufacturing processes or facilities, whether run by us or our contract manufacturing organizations. In addition, if we make manufacturing changes to our product candidates in the future, we may need to conduct additional preclinical and/or clinical studies to bridge our modified product candidates to earlier versions.
Changes in regulatory requirements, policies and guidelines may also occur and we may need to significantly amend clinical trial protocols to reflect these changes with appropriate regulatory authorities. These changes may require us to renegotiate terms with CROs or resubmit clinical trial protocols to the relevant human subjects review board for re-consideration, which may impact the costs, timing or successful completion of a clinical trial. Our clinical trials may be suspended or terminated at any time by the relevant health authorities, the relevant human subjects review board overseeing the clinical trial at issue, any of our clinical trial sites with respect to that site, or us.
Any failure or significant delay in commencing or completing clinical trials for our product candidates would adversely affect our ability to obtain regulatory approval, and our commercial prospects and ability to generate product revenue will be diminished.
In addition, even if the trials are successfully completed, clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and we cannot guarantee that the relevant health authorities will interpret the results as we do, and more trials could be required before we submit our product candidates for approval. We cannot guarantee that the relevant health authorities will view any of our product candidates as having adequate safety and efficacy profiles even if favorable results are observed in these clinical trials, and we may receive unexpected or unfavorable feedback from the relevant health authorities regarding satisfaction of safety, purity and potency (including clinical efficacy), amongst other factors. To the extent that the results of the trials are not satisfactory to the relevant health authorities for support of a marketing application, approval of our product candidates may be significantly delayed, or we may be required to expend significant additional resources, which may not be available to us, to conduct additional trials in support of potential approval of our product candidates.
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Our long-term prospects depend in part upon discovering, developing and commercializing additional product candidates, which may fail in development or suffer delays that adversely affect their commercial viability.
Our future operating results are dependent in part on our ability to successfully discover, develop, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize product candidates. A product candidate can unexpectedly fail at any stage of preclinical and clinical development. Our investments in our early-stage research and development efforts may not yield any promising product candidates. Even if our research and development efforts yield product candidates that advance into clinical studies, the historical failure rate for product candidates is high due to risks relating to safety, efficacy, clinical execution, changing standards of medical care and other unpredictable variables. The results from preclinical testing or early clinical trials of a product candidate may not be predictive of the results that will be obtained in later stage clinical trials of the product candidate.
The success of product candidates we may develop will depend on many factors, including the following:
•generating sufficient data to support the initiation or continuation of clinical trials;
•obtaining regulatory permission to initiate clinical trials;
•contracting with the necessary parties to conduct clinical trials;
•successful enrollment of patients in, and the completion of, clinical trials on a timely basis;
•the timely manufacture of sufficient quantities of the product candidate for use in clinical trials; and
•adverse events in the clinical trials.
Even if we successfully advance product candidates into clinical development, their success will be subject to all of the clinical, regulatory and commercial risks described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section. Accordingly, we may never be able to discover, develop, obtain regulatory approval of, commercialize or generate significant revenue from product candidates.
If we, or any of our partners, are unable to enroll patients in clinical trials, we will be unable to complete these trials on a timely basis or at all.
Patient enrollment is a significant factor in the timing of clinical trials and is affected by many factors including the size and nature of the patient population, the proximity of subjects to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the trial, the design of the clinical trial, ability to obtain and maintain patient consents, risk that enrolled subjects will drop out before completion, competing clinical trials and clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the drug being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the indications we are investigating. If we, or any of our strategic partners that perform clinical tests for our product candidates, are unable to enroll a sufficient number of patients to complete clinical testing, we will be unable to gain marketing approval for such product candidates and our business will be harmed.
In addition, the U.S. federal Right to Try Act (RTA), among other things, provides a federal framework in the United States for patients to access certain investigational new drug products that have completed a Phase 1 clinical trial. Similarly, Health Canada's special access program (SAP) provides a similar pathway for eligible Canadian patients. Under certain circumstances, eligible patients can seek treatment without enrolling in clinical trials and without obtaining approval from the relevant health authority under the authority's expanded access program. While there is no obligation to make product candidates available to eligible patients as a result of these programs (e.g. RTA and SAP), new and emerging legislation regarding expanded access to unapproved drugs could negatively impact enrollment in our clinical trials and our business in the future.
The design or our execution of clinical trials may not support regulatory approval.
The design or execution of a clinical trial can determine whether its results will support regulatory approval, and flaws in the design or execution of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is underway. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial protocols, differences in size and type of the patient populations, adherence to the dosing regimen and other trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. We do not know whether any clinical trial we or any of our strategic partners may conduct will demonstrate consistent or adequate efficacy and safety to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates.
Further, the relevant health authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and in determining when or whether regulatory approval will be obtained for any of our product candidates. Our product candidates may not be approved even if they achieve their primary endpoints in any Phase 3 clinical trials or registration trials. The relevant health
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authorities may disagree with our trial design and our interpretation of data from preclinical studies and clinical trials. In addition, any of these regulatory authorities may change requirements for the approval of a product candidate even after reviewing and providing comments or advice on a protocol for a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial that has the potential to result in approval by the relevant health authority. In addition, any of these regulatory authorities may also approve a product candidate for fewer or more limited indications than we request or may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials. The relevant health authorities may not approve the labeling claims that we believe would be necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates.
Interim, preliminary or top-line data from our clinical trials that we may announce or publish may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.
We may publish interim, preliminary or top-line data from clinical trials. Interim data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Preliminary or top-line data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary or top-line data previously published. As a result, interim, preliminary and top-line data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Adverse differences between interim, preliminary or top-line data and final data could significantly harm our reputation and business prospects. Moreover, preliminary, interim and top-line data are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as more patient data become available when patients mature on study, patient enrollment continues or as other ongoing or future clinical trials with a product candidate further develop. Past results of clinical trials may not be predictive of future results.
In addition, the information we choose to publicly disclose regarding a particular study or clinical trial is based on what is typically more extensive information, and you or others may not agree with what we determine is the material or otherwise appropriate information to include in our disclosure. Any information we determine not to disclose may ultimately be deemed significant with respect to future decisions, conclusions, views, activities or otherwise regarding a particular product candidate or our business. Similarly, even if we are able to complete our planned and ongoing preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates according to our current development timeline, the positive results from such preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates may not be replicated in subsequent preclinical studies or clinical trial results.
Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials after achieving positive results in early-stage development and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. These setbacks have been caused by, among other things, preclinical and other nonclinical findings made while clinical trials were underway or safety or efficacy observations made in preclinical studies and clinical trials, including previously unreported adverse events. Moreover, preclinical, nonclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses and many companies that believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials nonetheless failed to obtain the relevant regulatory approval.
Disruptions at the relevant health authorities and other government agencies caused by funding shortages or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire, retain or deploy key leadership and other personnel, or otherwise prevent new or modified product candidates from being developed, or approved or commercialized in a timely manner or at all, which could negatively impact our business.
The ability of the relevant health authorities to review and clear or approve new product candidates can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, statutory, regulatory, and policy changes, the relevant health authority's ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and other events that may otherwise affect the relevant health authority's ability to perform routine functions. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable. If global health concerns impact the relevant health and regulatory authorities from conducting their regular inspections, reviews, or other regulatory activities, or if the relevant health authority and other agencies experience other delays, backlogs or disruptions, it could significantly impact the ability of the relevant health authority or other regulatory authorities to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Successful development of our current and future product candidates is uncertain and we may discontinue or reprioritize the development of any of our product candidates at any time, at our discretion.
Before obtaining regulatory approval for the commercial distribution of our product candidates, we must conduct, at our own expense, extensive preclinical tests and clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product
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candidates in humans. Preclinical and clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and is uncertain as to outcome. Additionally, the results from nonclinical testing or early clinical trials of a product candidate may not predict the results that will be obtained in subsequent human clinical trials of that product candidate. There is a high failure rate for drugs proceeding through clinical studies. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in clinical development even after achieving promising results in earlier studies, and any such setbacks in any future clinical development could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results. Alternatively, management may elect to discontinue development of certain product candidates to accommodate a shift in corporate strategy, despite positive clinical results. Based on our operating results and business strategy, among other factors, we may discontinue the development of any of our product candidates under development or reprioritize our focus on other product candidates at any time and at our discretion.
Additionally, because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we focus on research programs, therapeutic platforms and product candidates that we identify for specific indications. As a result, we may forgo or delay pursuit of opportunities with other therapeutic platforms or product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights.
Our product candidates may have undesirable side effects that may delay or prevent marketing approval or, if approval is received, require them to be taken off the market, require them to include safety warnings or otherwise limit their sales; no regulatory agency has made any determination that any of our product candidates are safe or effective for use by the general public for any indication.
Our product candidates are in preclinical development. Consequently, all of our product candidates are required to undergo ongoing safety testing in humans as part of clinical trials. Unforeseen side effects from any of our product candidates could arise either during clinical development or, if approved by regulatory authorities, after the approved product has been marketed. Even if we believe that our clinical trials and preclinical studies demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates, only the relevant health authority and regulatory agencies may ultimately make such determination.
If any of our product candidates receive marketing approval and we or others later identify undesirable or unacceptable side effects caused by such products:
•regulatory authorities may require us to take our approved product off the market;
•regulatory authorities may require the addition of labeling statements, specific warnings, a contraindication or field alerts to physicians and pharmacies, or impose a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy that includes restrictions and conditions on product distribution, prescribing and/or dispensing;
•we may be required to change the way the product is administered, conduct additional clinical trials or change the labeling of the product;
•we may be subject to limitations on how we may promote the product;
•sales of the product may decrease significantly;
•we may be subject to litigation or product liability claims; and
•our reputation may suffer.
Any of these events could prevent us or our current or future strategic partners from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the affected product or could substantially increase commercialization costs and expenses, which in turn could delay or prevent us from generating revenue from the sale of any future products.
If any of our product candidates receive regulatory approval, the approved products may not achieve broad market acceptance among physicians, patients, the medical community and third-party payors, in which case revenue generated from their sales would be limited.
The commercial success of our product candidates will depend upon their acceptance among physicians, patients and the medical community. The degree of market acceptance of our product candidates will depend on a number of factors, including:
•limitations or warnings contained in the approved labeling for a product candidate;
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•changes in the standard of care for the targeted indications for any of our product candidates;
•limitations in the approved clinical indications for our product candidates;
•demonstrated clinical safety and efficacy compared to other products;
•sales, marketing and distribution support;
•availability of coverage and extent of reimbursement from managed care plans and other third-party payors;
•timing of market introduction and perceived effectiveness of competitive products;
•availability of alternative therapies at similar or lower cost, including generic, biosimilar and over-the-counter products;
•the extent to which the product candidate is approved for inclusion on formularies of hospitals and managed care organizations;
•whether the product is designated under physician treatment guidelines as a first-line therapy or as a second- or third-line therapy for particular diseases;
•whether the product can be used effectively with other therapies to achieve higher response rates;
•adverse publicity about our product candidates or favorable publicity about competitive products;
•convenience and ease of administration of our products; and
•potential product liability claims.
If any of our product candidates are approved, but do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, patients and the medical community, we may not generate sufficient revenue from these products, and we may not become or remain profitable. In addition, efforts to educate the medical community and third-party payors on the benefits of our product candidates may require significant resources and may never be successful.
Even if we obtain FDA approval of any of our product candidates, we may never obtain approval or commercialize such products outside of the United States, which would limit our ability to realize their full market potential.
In order to market any products outside of the United States, we must establish and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of other countries regarding safety and efficacy. Clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not mean that regulatory approval will be obtained in any other country. Approval procedures vary among countries and can involve additional product testing and validation and additional administrative review periods. Seeking foreign regulatory approvals could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and may require additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, which would be costly and time consuming. Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country and region to region and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in those countries. Satisfying these and other regulatory requirements is costly, time consuming, uncertain and subject to unanticipated delays. In addition, our failure to obtain regulatory approval in any country may delay or have negative effects on the process for regulatory approval in other countries. We do not have any product candidates approved for sale in any jurisdiction, including international markets, and we do not have experience in obtaining regulatory approval in international markets. If we fail to comply with regulatory requirements in international markets or to obtain and maintain required approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our products will be harmed.
Our ability to eventually generate significant revenues from product sales will depend on a number of factors, including:
•successful completion of preclinical studies;
•submission of IND or foreign equivalent applications, or other regulatory applications, for our planned clinical trials or future clinical trials and authorizations from regulators to initiate clinical studies;
•successful enrollment in, and completion of, clinical trials;
•achieving favorable results from clinical trials;
•receipt of marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities;
•establishing and maintaining sufficient manufacturing capabilities, whether internally or with third parties, for clinical and commercial supply;
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•obtaining pricing, reimbursement, and hospital formulary access;
•establishing sales, marketing and distribution capabilities and launching commercial sales of our products, if and when approved, whether alone or in combination with other products;
•sufficiency of our financial and other resources to complete the necessary preclinical studies and clinical trials and commercialization activities;
•effectively competing with other therapies;
•developing and implementing successful marketing and reimbursement strategies;
•obtaining and maintaining patent, trade secret and other intellectual property protection and regulatory exclusivity for our product candidates; and
•maintaining a continued acceptable safety profile of any product following approval, if any.
If we do not achieve one or more of these requirements in a timely manner, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize our product candidates, which would materially harm our business.
We cannot be certain that our clinical trials will be initiated and completed on time, if at all, or whether our planned clinical strategy will be acceptable to the FDA or foreign health authorities. To become and remain profitable, we must develop, obtain approval for and eventually commercialize products, if approved, that generate significant revenue. Even if we obtain approval and begin commercializing one or more of our product candidates, we may never generate revenue that is significant or large enough to achieve profitability.
Reimbursement decisions by third-party payors may have an adverse effect on pricing and market acceptance. If there is not sufficient reimbursement for our products, it is less likely that our products will be widely used.
The regulations that govern marketing approvals, pricing, coverage and reimbursement for new drugs vary from country to country. Many countries require approval of the sale price of a drug before it can be marketed. The pricing review period begins after marketing or product licensing approval is granted in most cases. In some foreign markets, prescription pharmaceutical pricing remains subject to continuing governmental control even after initial approval is granted. As a result, we might obtain regulatory approval for a product in a particular country, but then be subject to price regulations that delay our commercial launch of the product and negatively impact the revenues we are able to generate from the sale of the product in that country.
Our ability to commercialize any products successfully also will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement for these products and related treatments will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers and other third-party payors. In many jurisdictions, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. Obtaining coverage and reimbursement approval of a product from a government or other third-party payor is a time-consuming and costly process that could require us to provide to the payor supporting scientific, clinical and cost-effectiveness data for the use of our products. If we are not currently capturing the scientific and clinical data that will be required for reimbursement approval, we may be required to conduct additional trials, which may delay or suspend reimbursement approval. Additionally, in the United States, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for products exists among third-party payors. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for products can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that will require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of a product candidate that receives regulatory approval to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be obtained.
Even if our product candidates are approved for sale by the appropriate regulatory authorities, market acceptance and sales of these products will depend on reimbursement policies and may be affected by future healthcare reform measures. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which drugs they will reimburse and establish payment levels. We cannot be certain that reimbursement will be available for any products that we develop. If reimbursement is not available or is available on a limited basis, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any of our approved products.
In the United States, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, also called the Medicare Modernization Act (“MMA”), changed the way Medicare covers and pays for pharmaceutical products. The legislation established Medicare Part D, which expanded Medicare coverage for outpatient prescription drug purchases by the elderly but provided authority for limiting the number of drugs that will be covered in any therapeutic class. The MMA also introduced a new reimbursement methodology based on average sales prices for physician-administered drugs. We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of any products that we develop, due to the trend toward
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managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative proposals. In August 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes prescription drug provisions that have significant implications for the pharmaceutical industry and Medicare beneficiaries, including allowing the federal government to negotiate a maximum fair price for certain high-priced single-source Medicare drugs, imposing penalties and excise tax for manufacturers that fail to comply with the drug price negotiation requirements, requiring inflation rebates for all Medicare Part B and Part D drugs, with limited exceptions, if their drug prices increase faster than inflation, and redesigning Medicare Part D to reduce out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for beneficiaries, among other changes. Various industry stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Infusion Center Association, the Global Colon Cancer Association, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, have initiated lawsuits against the federal government asserting that the price negotiation provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act are unconstitutional. The impact of these judicial challenges, legislative, executive, and administrative actions and any future healthcare measures and agency rules implemented by the government on us and the pharmaceutical industry as a whole is unclear. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our product candidates if approved.
There may be significant delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs, and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the drug is approved by Health Canada, the FDA, EMA or other regulatory authorities. Moreover, eligibility for coverage and reimbursement does not imply that a drug will be paid for in all cases or at a rate that covers our costs, including research, development, manufacture, sale and distribution expenses. Interim reimbursement levels for new drugs, if applicable, may also be insufficient to cover our and any collaborator’s costs and may not be made permanent. Reimbursement rates may vary according to the use of the drug and the clinical setting in which it is used, may be based on reimbursement levels already set for lower cost drugs and may be incorporated into existing payments for other services. Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs or private payors and by any future relaxation of laws that currently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the United States. Our or any collaborator’s inability to promptly obtain coverage and profitable payment rates from both government-funded and private payors for any approved products that we or our strategic partners develop could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, our ability to raise capital needed to commercialize product candidates and our overall financial condition.
We may not be successful in our efforts to use our therapeutic platforms to build a pipeline of product candidates.
We intend to use our therapeutic platforms to build a pipeline of product candidates and progress these product candidates through clinical development for the treatment of a variety of diseases. Although our research and development efforts as of the date of this report have resulted in a pipeline of product candidates directed at various cancers, we may not be able to develop product candidates that are safe and effective. In addition, although we expect that our therapeutic platforms will allow us to develop further product candidates, they may not prove to be successful at doing so. Even if we are successful in continuing to build our pipeline, the potential product candidates that we identify may not be suitable for clinical development, including as a result of being shown to have harmful side effects or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to be products that will receive marketing approval and achieve market acceptance. If we do not continue to successfully develop and begin to commercialize product candidates, we will face difficulty in obtaining product revenue in future periods, which could result in significant harm to our financial position and adversely affect our share price.
Even if we receive regulatory approval to commercialize any of the product candidates that we develop, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense.
Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates may be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or subject to certain conditions of approval, and may contain requirements for potentially costly post-approval trials, and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the marketed product.
For any approved product, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and extensive oversight by regulatory authorities, including with respect to manufacturing processes, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion and recordkeeping for the product. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-approval information and reports, as well as continued compliance with cGMP and good clinical practice (“GCP”), for any clinical trials that we or our strategic partners conduct after approval. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with
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third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in, among other things:
•restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of the product;
•withdrawal of the product from the market or voluntary or mandatory product recalls;
•fines, warning letters or holds on clinical trials;
•refusal by the FDA, EMA, Health Canada or another applicable regulatory authority to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications filed by us or our strategic partners, or suspension or revocation of product license approvals;
•product seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of products; and
•injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
Occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material and adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Further, the FDA’s or other ex-U.S. regulators’ policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2024 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine, under which courts were required to give deference to regulatory agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguous federal statutes. The Loper decision could result in additional legal challenges to regulations and guidance issued by federal agencies, including the FDA. Any such legal challenges, if successful, could have a material impact on our business. Additionally, the Loper decision may result in increased regulatory uncertainty, inconsistent judicial interpretations, and other impacts to the agency rulemaking process, any of which could adversely impact our business and operations. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained, which would adversely affect our business, prospects and ability to achieve or sustain profitability.
The FDA strictly regulates manufacturers’ promotional claims of drug products. In particular, a drug product may not be promoted by manufacturers for uses that are not approved by the FDA, as reflected in the FDA-approved labeling, although healthcare professionals are permitted to use drug products for off-label uses. The FDA, the Department of Justice, the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, among other government agencies, actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting manufacturers’ promotion of off-label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant liability, including large civil and criminal fines, penalties, and enforcement actions. The FDA has also imposed consent decrees or permanent injunctions under which specified promotional conduct is changed or curtailed for companies that engaged in such prohibited activities. If we cannot successfully manage the promotion of our approved product candidates, we could become subject to significant liability, which would materially adversely affect our business and financial condition.
If any product liability lawsuits are successfully brought against us or any of our strategic partners, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates.
Product liability claims may be brought against us or our strategic partners by participants enrolled in our clinical trials, patients, health care providers or others using, administering or selling any of our future approved products. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against any such claims, we may incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of their merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
•decreased demand for any future approved products;
•injury to our reputation;
•withdrawal of clinical trial participants;
•termination of clinical trial sites or entire trial programs;
•increased regulatory scrutiny;
•significant litigation costs;
•substantial monetary awards to, or costly settlement with, patients or other claimants;
•product recalls or a change in the indications for which they may be used;
•loss of revenue;
•diversion of management and scientific resources from our business operations; and
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•the inability to commercialize our product candidates.
We may need increased product liability coverage when we begin the commercialization of our product candidates. Insurance coverage is becoming increasingly expensive. As a result, we may be unable to maintain or obtain sufficient insurance at a reasonable cost to protect us against losses that could have a material adverse effect on our business. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us, particularly if judgments exceed any insurance coverage we may have, could decrease our cash resources and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operation.
Even in a circumstance in which we do not believe that an adverse event is related to our product candidates, the investigation into the circumstance may be time-consuming or inconclusive. These investigations may interrupt our sales efforts, delay our regulatory approval process in other countries, or impact and limit the type of regulatory approvals our product candidates receive or maintain. As a result of these factors, a product liability claim, even if successfully defended, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
If we or any of our third-party manufacturers encounter manufacturing difficulties, our ability to provide supply of our product candidates for clinical trials or our products for patients, if approved, could be delayed or prevented.
The manufacture of biological drug products is complex and requires significant expertise and capital investment, including the development of advanced manufacturing techniques, process and quality controls. Manufacturers of biologic products often encounter difficulties in production and sourcing, particularly in scaling up or out, validating the production process and assuring high reliability of the manufacturing processes (including the absence of contamination), in light of variations and supply constraints of key components. These problems include logistics and shipping, difficulties with production costs and yields, quality control, including consistency, stability, purity and efficacy of the product, product testing, operator error and availability of qualified personnel, as well as compliance with applicable federal, state and foreign regulations. If contaminants are discovered in our supply of our product candidates or in the manufacturing facilities, such manufacturing facilities may need to be closed for an extended period of time to investigate and remedy the contamination. We may have stability, purity, and efficacy failures, deficiencies, or other issues relating to the manufacture of our product candidates. Our research and development activities also involve the controlled use of potentially hazardous substances, including chemical and biological materials, by our third-party manufacturers. While we currently outsource all manufacturing to third parties, we and our manufacturers are subject to local laws and regulations governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of medical and hazardous materials. Although we believe that our manufacturers’ procedures for using, handling, storing and disposing of these materials comply with legally prescribed standards, we cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury, and any related liability, resulting from medical or hazardous materials.
Material modifications in method of product candidate manufacturing or formulating, and price controls imposed by governments may adversely affect our future profitability.
As product candidates are developed through preclinical to late-stage clinical trials, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods and formulation, are altered in an effort to optimize processes and results. Such changes carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives. Any of these changes could cause our product candidates to perform differently and affect the results of planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials conducted with the altered materials. This could delay completion of clinical trials, require the conduct of bridging clinical trials or the repetition of one or more clinical trials, increase clinical trial costs, delay approval of our product candidates and jeopardize our ability, or our strategic partners’ ability, to commence product sales and generate revenue.
Furthermore, our future profitability may be adversely affected by strict price controls imposed by many governments, particularly in the EU. Pricing and reimbursement negotiations with governmental authorities in these countries can be lengthy and complex, often requiring additional clinical trials to demonstrate cost-effectiveness compared to existing therapies. Even after marketing approval, securing acceptable pricing or reimbursement can be delayed or denied, potentially impacting or preventing commercial launch. The resulting price regulations, if unfavorable, or competition from lower-priced cross-border sales, could significantly limit our revenue potential and negatively impact our profitability.
Current and future legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us to commercialize any products that we or our strategic partners develop and affect the prices we may obtain.
The United States and some foreign jurisdictions are considering or have enacted a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change healthcare systems in ways that could affect our ability to sell any of our product candidates
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profitably, if such product candidates are approved for sale. Among policy makers and payors in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and expanding access. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives.
In March 2010, the PPACA became law in the United States. The PPACA may affect the operational results of companies in the pharmaceutical industry, including us, by imposing on them additional costs. For example, effective January 1, 2010, PPACA increased the minimum Medicaid drug rebates for pharmaceutical companies and imposed an annual fee on certain branded prescription drugs and biologics. Since the enactment of PPACA, there have been executive, judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the PPACA, including judicial challenges in the Fifth Circuit Court and the United States Supreme Court. In June 2021, the United States Supreme Court held that Texas and other challengers had no legal standing to challenge the PPACA, dismissing the case without specifically ruling on the constitutionality of the PPACA. Accordingly, the PPACA remains in effect in its current form. It is unclear how future litigation or healthcare measures promulgated by the Biden administration will impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. Complying with any new legislation or changes in healthcare regulation could be time-intensive and expensive, resulting in a material adverse effect on our business.
Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the PPACA was enacted. For example, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, among other things, amended the PPACA, effective January 1, 2019, to close the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans. The Budget Control Act of 2011, which calls for aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of up to 2% per fiscal year, began in 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments, will remain in effect through 2032, with the exception of a temporary suspension implemented under various COVID-19 relief legislation. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. These laws may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, which could have a material adverse effect on potential customers for our product candidates, if approved, and, accordingly, our future financial operations. We are unable to predict the future course of federal or state health care legislation or foreign regulations relating to the marketing, pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceutical products.
There have been U.S. Congressional inquiries, presidential executive orders, and proposed federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under Medicare, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drugs. For example, under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, effective January 1, 2024, Medicaid statutory rebates will no longer be capped at 100% of AMP (average manufacturer price). Elimination of this cap may require pharmaceutical manufacturers to pay more in rebates than it receives on the sale of products, which could have a material impact on our business. Additionally, in July 2021, the Biden administration released an executive order, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” with multiple provisions aimed at prescription drugs. In response to Biden’s executive order, on September 9, 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) released a Comprehensive Plan for Addressing High Drug Prices that outlines principles for drug pricing reform and sets out a variety of potential legislative policies that Congress could pursue as well as potential administrative actions HHS can take to advance these principles. As discussed above, the United States Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes prescription drug provisions that have significant implications for the pharmaceutical industry and Medicare beneficiaries, including allowing the federal government to negotiate a maximum fair price for certain high-priced single-source Medicare drugs, imposing penalties and excise tax for manufacturers that fail to comply with the drug price negotiation requirements, requiring inflation rebates for all Medicare Part B and Part D drugs, with limited exceptions, if their drug prices increase faster than inflation, and redesigning Medicare Part D to reduce out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for beneficiaries, among other changes. Various industry stakeholders have initiated lawsuits against the federal government asserting that the price negotiation provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act are unconstitutional. The impact of these judicial challenges as well as future actions and agency rules implemented by the government on us and the pharmaceutical industry as a whole is unclear. The implementation of cost containment measures, including the prescription drug provisions under the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our product candidates if approved. Complying with any new legislation and regulatory changes could be time-intensive and expensive, resulting in a material adverse effect on our business.
Further, many states have proposed or enacted legislation and administrative actions that seek to indirectly or directly regulate pharmaceutical drug pricing, such as by requiring biopharmaceutical manufacturers to publicly report proprietary pricing information or to place a maximum price ceiling on pharmaceutical products purchased by state agencies. For example, the FDA recently authorized the state of Florida to import certain prescription drugs from Canada
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for a period of two years to help reduce drug costs, provided that Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration meets the requirements set forth by the FDA. Other states may follow Florida. Additionally, a number of states are considering or have enacted state drug price transparency and reporting laws that could substantially increase our compliance burdens and expose us to greater liability under such state laws once we begin commercialization after obtaining regulatory approval for any of our products candidates. We cannot be sure to what extent these and future legislative and regulatory efforts, whether FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our product candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by Congress of the FDA’s approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us to more stringent product labeling and post-marketing testing and other requirements. These measures could reduce the ultimate demand for our products, once approved, or put pressure on our product pricing. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could affect the prices we may obtain for any of our product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval or the frequency with which any such product candidate, if approved, is prescribed or used.
In the EU similar political, economic and regulatory developments may affect our ability to profitably commercialize any future products. In addition to continuing pressure on prices and cost containment measures, legislative developments at the EU or member state level may result in significant additional requirements or obstacles that may increase our operating costs. In international markets, reimbursement and healthcare payment systems vary significantly by country, and many countries have instituted price ceilings on specific products and therapies. Our future products, if any, might not be considered medically reasonable and necessary for a specific indication or cost-effective by third-party payors, an adequate level of reimbursement might not be available for such products, and third-party payors’ reimbursement policies might adversely affect our or our strategic partners’ ability to sell any future products profitably.
Legislative and regulatory proposals have been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for pharmaceutical products. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether the FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our product candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by the U.S. Congress of the FDA’s approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us to more stringent product labeling and post-approval testing and other requirements.
We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or elsewhere. If we or our strategic partners are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we or our strategic partners are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, our product candidates may lose any marketing approval that may have been obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business.
Our business may be adversely affected by public health outbreaks and pandemics.
Our business has been, and may continue to be, adversely affected by public health outbreaks and pandemics. If a public health outbreak or pandemic occurs, particularly in regions where we or our strategic partners and suppliers do business, we could experience disruptions that could significantly impact our current and planned clinical trials, preclinical research and other business activities, including:
•disruption to and delays in preclinical research activities due to extended closure or reduced capacity of lab facilities;
•further delays or difficulties in enrolling patients in our ongoing and planned clinical trials;
•patients discontinuing their treatment or follow-up visits;
•further delays or difficulties in clinical site initiation, including limitations on access to sites, limitations to site initiation activities that can be carried out remotely, and limitations on the number of clinical site staff on site from time to time;
•interruption of key clinical trial activities, such as clinical trial site monitoring, due to limitations on travel imposed or recommended by relevant governments, employers and others;
•shortages, disruptions in supply, logistics or other activities related to the procurement of materials and other supplies, which could have a negative impact on our ability to conduct preclinical research, initiate or complete our clinical trials or commercialize our product candidates;
•diversion of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials, including the diversion of hospitals serving as our clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of clinical trials;
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•interruption of key business activities due to illness and/or quarantine of key individuals and delays associated with recruiting, hiring and training new temporary or permanent replacements for such key individuals, both internally and at our third-party service providers and strategic partners;
•limitations in resources that would otherwise be focused on the conduct of our business or our current or planned clinical trials or preclinical research, including because of sickness, the desire to avoid contact with large groups of people, restrictions on travel, or prolonged stay-at-home or similar working arrangements;
•delays in receiving approvals from regulatory authorities to initiate our planned clinical trials;
•changes in regulations as part of a response to public health outbreaks or pandemics, which may require us to change the ways in which our clinical trials are conducted and incur unexpected costs, or require us to discontinue clinical trials altogether;
•delays in necessary interactions with regulators and relevant health authorities, ethics committees and other important agencies and contractors due to limitations in employee resources or furlough of government or contractor personnel;
•disruptions to our strategic partners’ operations, which could delay the development of our product candidates in certain geographical regions and thereby affect the timing of development and commercial milestone payments and royalties on potential future product sales we may receive; and
•limitations on our ability to recruit any necessary preclinical research, clinical, regulatory and other professional staff on the timeframe required to support our research and development programs.
The impact of such disruptions would be highly uncertain and would depend on factors such as the location, duration and severity, travel restrictions and social distancing, business closures or disruptions, and the effectiveness of actions taken to contain and treat the disease and to address its impact, including on financial markets. In addition, public health outbreaks or pandemics, and related disruptions could disrupt the global financial markets, reducing our ability to access capital, which could negatively affect our liquidity and could heighten the volatility of the financial markets, which could adversely impact the value of our common shares.
Our business and current and future relationships with customers and third-party payors, directly or indirectly, to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, false claims, transparency, health information privacy and security, and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm, administrative burdens, and diminished profits and future earnings.
Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors in the countries in which we operate and elsewhere play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval.
Our current and future arrangements with healthcare professionals, principal investigators, consultants, customers, and third-party payors and other entities may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, including the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the federal False Claims Act, that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we conduct clinical research on product candidates and market, sell and distribute any products for which we obtain marketing approval. In addition, we may be subject to transparency laws and patient privacy regulation by the federal government and by the U.S. states and foreign jurisdictions in which we conduct our business. The applicable federal, state and foreign healthcare laws and regulations that may affect our ability to operate include the following:
•the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration (including any kickback, bribe or rebate), directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation of, any good or service for which payment may be made under federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid;
•federal civil and criminal false claims laws and civil monetary penalty laws, including the federal False Claims Act, impose criminal or civil penalties, as applicable, against individuals or entities for knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, to the federal government (including the Medicare and Medicaid programs) or other third-party payor claims for payment that are false or fraudulent or making a false statement to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government;
•HIPAA established the federal offense of health care fraud, which among other things, imposes criminal liability for knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or to obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, any of
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the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any healthcare benefit program, regardless of the payor (e.g. public or private) and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up by any trick or device a material fact or making any materially false statements in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services relating to healthcare matters;
•HIPAA, as amended by HITECH, and its implementing regulations, which imposes certain obligations, including mandatory contractual terms, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information without the appropriate authorization by entities subject to the law, such as health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and healthcare providers and their respective business associates and their covered subcontractors;
•the federal Open Payments program under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, created under Section 6002 of the PPACA and its implementing regulations, requires applicable group purchasing organizations and manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions) to report annually to HHS information related to “payments or other transfers of value” made in the previous year to covered recipients, including physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors, other health care professionals (such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants) and teaching hospitals, and information regarding ownership and investment interests held by physicians (as defined above) or their immediate family members; and
•analogous and similar state and foreign laws and regulations, including: state anti-kickback and false claims laws that may apply to our business practices (including research, distribution, sales and marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by state governmental and non-governmental third-party payors, including private insurers); state laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the applicable compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government; state laws that require drug manufacturers to track gifts and other remuneration and items of value provided to healthcare professionals and entities and file reports relating to pricing and marketing information; and state and foreign laws that govern the privacy and security of health information in specified circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.
Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of any available statutory exceptions and safe harbors, it is possible that some of our current and future business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws.
Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations may involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with such laws, regulations, or case law may result in governmental investigations or enforcement actions, litigation, claims and other proceedings, harm our reputation, and could result in significant liability. Additionally, if our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, including damages, fines, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of noncompliance with these laws and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. If any of the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we expect to do business, including our strategic partners, is found not to be in compliance with applicable laws, it may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from participation in government healthcare programs, which could also materially affect our business.
We are subject to U.S. and certain foreign export and import controls, sanctions, embargoes, anti-corruption laws, and anti-money laundering laws and regulations. Compliance with these legal standards could impair our ability to compete in domestic and international markets. We can face criminal liability and other serious consequences for violations that can harm our business.
In addition to potential risks discussed above at the risk factor entitled “Our business may become subject to economic, political, regulatory and other risks associated with international operations”, we are subject to export control and import laws and regulations, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, U.S. Customs regulations, various economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18
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U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and other state and national anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in the countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees, agents, contractors, and other partners from authorizing, promising, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or anything else of value to recipients in the public or private sector. We currently engage third parties for clinical trials outside of the United States and we may in the future engage third parties to sell our products outside of the United States once we enter a commercialization phase, or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations, and other regulatory approvals. We may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities, and other organizations. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees, agents, contractors, and other partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. Any violation of the laws and regulations described above may result in substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties, imprisonment, the loss of export or import privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm, and other consequences.
Third-party manufacturers may not be able to comply with U.S. export control regulations, cGMP regulations or similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. Our failure, or the failure of our third-party manufacturers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in a necessity to replace current third parties, resulting in the possibility of supply delays, clinical holds on our trials, sanctions being imposed on us, including fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocations, seizures or recalls of product candidates or medicines, operating restrictions, and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our medicines and harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We face significant competition, and if our competitors develop and market products that are more effective, safer or less expensive than our product candidates, our commercial opportunities will be negatively impacted.
The life sciences industry is highly competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological change. We are currently developing biotherapeutics that will compete with other drugs and therapies that currently exist or are being developed. Products we may develop in the future are also likely to face competition from other drugs and therapies, some of which we may not currently be aware. We have competitors both in the United States and internationally, including major multinational pharmaceutical companies, established biotechnology companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies, universities and other research institutions. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, manufacturing, marketing, drug development, technical and human resources than we do. Large pharmaceutical companies, in particular, have extensive experience in clinical testing, obtaining regulatory approvals, recruiting patients and in manufacturing pharmaceutical products. These companies also have significantly greater research and marketing capabilities than we do and may also have products that have been approved or are in late stages of development and collaborative arrangements in our target markets with leading companies and research institutions. Established pharmaceutical companies may also invest heavily to accelerate discovery and development of novel compounds or to in-license novel compounds that could make the product candidates that we develop obsolete. As a result of all of these factors, our competitors may succeed in obtaining patent protection or regulatory approval or discovering, developing and commercializing products in our field before we do.
Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, more convenient or less expensive than any products we develop. Our competitors also may obtain regulatory approval for their products more rapidly, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market.
Smaller and other early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. In addition, the biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapid technological change. If we fail to stay at the forefront of technological change, we may be unable to compete effectively. Technological advances or products developed by our competitors may render our technologies or product candidates obsolete, less competitive or not economical.
In addition, we expect to compete with biosimilar versions of already approved products, and even if our product candidates achieve marketing approval, they may be challenged to achieve a price premium over competitive biosimilar products and will compete for market share with them.
The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, which is included in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”), authorized the FDA to approve similar versions of innovative biologics, commonly known as biosimilars. Under the PPACA, a manufacturer may submit an application for licensure of a biologic product that
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is “biosimilar to” or “interchangeable with” a previously approved biologic product or “reference product.” Manufacturers may not submit an application for a biosimilar to the FDA until four years following approval of the reference product, and the FDA may not approve a biosimilar product until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was approved. Even if our product candidates, if approved, are deemed to be reference products eligible for exclusivity, another company could market a competing version of that product if the FDA approves a full BLA for such product containing the sponsor’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of their product. Additionally, from time to time, there are proposals to repeal or modify the PPACA, including proposals that could significantly shorten the exclusivity period for biologics.
Our management uses certain key business metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions and such metrics may not accurately reflect all of the aspects of our business needed to make such evaluations and decisions, in particular as our business continues to grow.
In addition to our consolidated financial results, our management regularly reviews a number of operating and financial metrics, including number of program starts, the trend of potential downstream revenue terms (milestones and royalties) of the portfolio, the performance of the portfolio in probability of success in achieving clinical milestones as compared to historical averages and the performance of the portfolio in the time taken to achieve clinical milestones, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions. We believe that these metrics are representative of our current business; however, these metrics may not accurately reflect all aspects of our business and we anticipate that these metrics may change or may be substituted for additional or different metrics as our business grows and as we introduce new solutions. If our management fails to review other relevant information or change or substitute the key business metrics they review as our business grows, their ability to accurately formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions may be compromised and our business, financial results and future growth prospects may be adversely impacted.
We depend on our information technology systems, and any failure of these systems could harm our business.
We depend on information technology and telecommunications systems for significant elements of our operations, including our laboratory information management system, our computational biology system, our knowledge management system, our customer reporting, our discovery and development capabilities, our advanced automation systems, and advanced application software. We have installed, and expect to expand, a number of enterprise software systems that affect a broad range of business processes and functional areas, including for example, systems handling human resources, financial controls and reporting, contract management, regulatory compliance and other infrastructure operations. These implementations were expensive and required a significant effort in terms of both time and effort. In addition to the aforementioned business systems, we intend to extend the capabilities of both our preventative and detective security controls by augmenting the monitoring and alerting functions, the network design and the automatic countermeasure operations of our technical systems. These information technology and telecommunications systems support a variety of functions, including manufacturing operations, laboratory operations, data analysis, quality control, customer service and support, billing, research and development activities, scientific and general administrative activities. A significant risk in implementing these systems, for example, is the integration and communication between separate IT systems.
Information technology and telecommunications systems are vulnerable to damage from a variety of sources, including telecommunications or network failures, malicious software, bugs or viruses, human acts and natural disasters. Moreover, despite network security and back-up measures, some of our servers are potentially vulnerable to physical or electronic break-ins, computer viruses and similar disruptive problems. Any disruption or loss of information technology or telecommunications systems on which critical aspects of our operations depend could have an adverse effect on our business and our reputation, and we may be unable to regain or repair our reputation in the future.
Upgrading and integrating our business systems could result in implementation issues and business disruptions.
In recent years, we have been and will continue updating and consolidating systems and automating processes in many parts of our business with a variety of systems, including in connection with the integration of acquired businesses and the implementation of a new enterprise resource planning software. Specifically, we are in the process of implementing a new ERP within 2025. The expansion and ongoing implementation of operational systems may occur at a future date based on value to the business. In general, the process of planning and preparing for these types of integrated, wide-scale implementations is extremely complex and are required to address a number of challenges, including information security assessment and remediation, data conversion, network and system cutover, user training, and integration with existing processes or systems. Incongruities in any of these areas could cause operational problems during implementation including inconsistent practices, delayed report and/or data shipments, missed sales, billing errors and accounting errors.
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Security breaches, loss of data and other disruptions could compromise sensitive information related to our business or protected health information or prevent us from accessing critical information and expose us to liability, which could adversely affect our business and our reputation.
In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store petabytes of sensitive data, including legally protected health information, personally identifiable information, intellectual property and proprietary business information owned or controlled by ourselves or our strategic partners. We manage and maintain our applications and data by utilizing a combination of on-site systems, managed data center systems and cloud-based data center systems. These applications and data encompass a wide variety of business-critical information, including research and development information, commercial information and business and financial information. We face four primary risks relative to protecting this critical information: loss of access risk, inappropriate disclosure risk, inappropriate modification risk and the risk of being unable to adequately monitor our controls over the first three risks.
Although we take measures to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access or disclosure, our information technology and infrastructure and that of any third-party provider we may utilize, may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or viruses or breached due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions. Any such breach or interruption could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed by unauthorized parties, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Any such access, disclosure or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), and regulatory penalties. Although we have implemented security measures and a formal enterprise security program to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data, there is no guarantee that we can protect our systems from breach. Unauthorized access, loss or dissemination could also disrupt our operations (including our ability to conduct our analyses, pay providers, conduct research and development activities, collect, process and prepare company financial information, provide information about any future products, and manage the administrative aspects of our business) and damage our reputation, any of which could adversely affect our business.
HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”), and its implementing regulations, impose certain requirements relating to the privacy, security, transmission and breach reporting of individually identifiable health information upon entities subject to the law, such as health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and healthcare providers and their respective business associates that perform services for them that involve individually identifiable health information. Mandatory penalties for HIPAA violations can be significant, and criminal and monetary penalties, as well as injunctive relief, may be imposed for HIPAA violations. Although drug manufacturers are not directly subject to HIPAA, prosecutors are increasingly using HIPAA-related theories of liability against drug manufacturers and their agents and we also could be subject to criminal penalties if we knowingly obtain individually identifiable health information from a HIPAA-covered entity in a manner that is not authorized or permitted by HIPAA.
Furthermore, in the event of a breach as defined by HIPAA, HIPAA regulations impose specific reporting requirements to regulators, individuals impacted by the breach and the media. Issuing such notifications can be costly, time and resource intensive, and can generate significant negative publicity. Breaches of HIPAA may also constitute contractual violations that could lead to contractual damages or terminations. In addition, U.S. states have enacted and are considering enacting laws relating to the protection of patient health and other data, which may be more rigorous than, or impose additional requirements beyond those required by, HIPAA. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which became effective on January 1, 2020, gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used by requiring covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers (as that term is broadly defined) and provide such consumers new ways to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations as well as a limited private right of action for data breaches, which may increase the volume of data breach litigation. While limited CCPA exemptions may apply to portions of our business, the recency of the CCPA’s implementing regulations and the California Attorney General’s enforcement activity means our obligations under the CCPA could evolve in the future, which may increase our compliance costs and potential liability.
Further, a California ballot initiative, the California Privacy Rights Act, or CPRA, was passed by California voters on November 3, 2020. The CPRA, which became effective on January 1, 2023, creates additional obligations with respect to processing and storing personal information. Additionally, some observers have noted that the CCPA, as modified by the CPRA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the U.S., which could increase our potential liability and adversely affect our business. Already, in the United States, we have witnessed significant developments at the state level. For example, Virginia, Utah, Colorado, and Connecticut have all enacted comprehensive consumer privacy laws. While these state laws incorporate many similar concepts of the CCPA and CPRA, there are also several key differences in the scope, application, and enforcement of the law that will change the operational practices of regulated businesses. The new laws will, among other things, impact how regulated businesses collect and process personal
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sensitive data, conduct data protection assessments, transfer personal data to affiliates, and respond to consumer rights requests.
A number of other states have proposed new privacy laws, some of which are similar to the above discussed recently passed laws. Such proposed legislation, if enacted, may add additional complexity, variation in requirements, restrictions and potential legal risk, require additional investment of resources in compliance programs, impact strategies and the availability of previously useful data and could result in increased compliance costs and/or changes in business practices and policies. The existence of comprehensive privacy laws in different states in the country would make our compliance obligations more complex and costly and may increase the likelihood that we may be subject to enforcement actions or otherwise incur liability for noncompliance.
We may also become subject to laws and regulations in non-U.S. countries covering data privacy and the protection of health-related and other personal information. In particular, the European Economic Area (“EEA”) has adopted data protection laws and regulations that impose significant compliance obligations. Laws and regulations in these jurisdictions apply broadly to the collection, use, storage, disclosure, processing and security of personal information that identifies or may be used to identify an individual, such as names, contact information, and sensitive personal data such as health data. These laws and regulations are subject to frequent revisions and differing interpretations, and have generally become more stringent over time.
The collection, use, storage, disclosure, transfer, or other processing of personal data regarding individuals in the EEA including personal health data, is subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“EU GDPR”) and similarly, processing of personal data regarding individuals in the UK is subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 (“UK GDPR” and together with the EU GDPR “GDPR”). The GDPR is wide-ranging in scope and imposes numerous requirements on companies that process personal data, including requirements relating to processing health and other sensitive data, obtaining consent of the individuals to whom the personal data relates, providing information to individuals regarding data processing activities, implementing safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of personal data, providing notification of data breaches, and taking certain measures when engaging third-party processors. The GDPR also imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data to countries outside the EEA/UK, including the United States, and permits data protection authorities to impose large penalties for violations of the GDPR, including potential fines of up to €20 million (£17.5 million under UK GDPR) or 4% of annual global revenues, whichever is greater. The GDPR also confers a private right of action on data subjects and consumer associations to lodge complaints with supervisory authorities, seek judicial remedies, and obtain compensation for damages resulting from violations of the GDPR. In addition, the GDPR includes restrictions on cross-border data transfers of personal data to countries outside the EEA/UK that are not considered by the European Commission and UK government as providing “adequate” protection to personal data (“third countries”), including the United States. The GDPR may increase our responsibility and liability in relation to personal data that we process where such processing is subject to the GDPR, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms to ensure compliance with the GDPR, including as implemented by individual countries. Compliance with the GDPR is rigorous and time-intensive process that may increase our cost of doing business or require us to change our business practices, and despite those efforts, there is a risk that we may be subject to fines and penalties, litigation, and reputational harm in connection with our European activities.
To enable the transfer of personal data outside of the EEA or the UK, adequate safeguards (for example, the European Commission approved Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”)) must be implemented in compliance with European and UK data protection laws. In addition, transfers made pursuant to the SCCs (and other similar appropriate transfer safeguards) need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis taking into account the legal regime applicable in the destination country, in particular regarding applicable surveillance laws and relevant rights of individuals with respect to the transferred personal data, to ensure an “essentially equivalent” level of protection to that guaranteed in the EEA in the jurisdiction where the data importer is based (“Transfer Impact Assessment”). On June 4, 2021, the EC issued new forms of standard contractual clauses for data transfers from controllers or processors in the EU/EEA (or otherwise subject to the GDPR) to controllers or processors established outside the EU/EEA. The new standard contractual clauses replace the standard contractual clauses that were adopted previously under the EU Data Protection Directive. The UK is not subject to the EC’s new standard contractual clauses but has published its own transfer mechanism, the International Data Transfer Agreement and International Data Transfer Addendum (“IDTA”), which enable transfers from the UK, and has also implemented a similar Transfer Impact Assessment requirement. We will be required to implement these new safeguards and carry out Transfer Impact Assessments when conducting restricted data transfers under the GDPR and doing so will require significant effort and cost, and may result in us needing to make strategic considerations around where EEA or UK personal data is stored and transferred, and which service providers we can utilize for the processing of EEA/UK personal data. On July 10, 2023, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision for the new EU-US Data Privacy Framework (“DPF”), the new transatlantic framework designed to support transfers of personal data from the EU to companies in the US that self-certify compliance with the DPF’s privacy requirements, without having to implement
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additional safeguards. The DPF replaces the Privacy Shield, which was invalidated by the European Court of Justice in July 2020. As with the previous two transatlantic frameworks, it remains to be seen whether the DPF will withstand review by the European courts.
Although the UK is regarded as a third country under the EU GDPR, the European Commission has issued a decision recognizing the UK as providing adequate protection under the EU GDPR (“Adequacy Decision”) and, therefore, transfers of personal data originating in the EEA to the UK remain unrestricted. The UK government has confirmed that personal data transfers from the UK to the EEA remain free flowing. The UK Government has also now introduced a Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (“UK Bill”) into the UK legislative process. The aim of the UK Bill is to reform the UK’s data protection regime following Brexit. If passed, the final version of the UK Bill may have the effect of further altering the similarities between the UK and EEA data protection regime and threaten the UK Adequacy Decision from the EU Commission. This may lead to additional compliance costs and could increase our overall risk. The respective provisions and enforcement of the EU GDPR and UK GDPR may further diverge in the future and create additional regulatory challenges and uncertainties.
The interpretation and application of consumer, health-related and data protection laws in the United States, the EEA, and elsewhere are often uncertain, contradictory and in flux. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with federal, state or foreign laws or regulations, contractual or other legal obligations related to data privacy or data protection may result in claims, warnings, communications, requests or investigations from individuals, supervisory authorities or other legal or regulatory authorities in relation to our processing of personal data. It is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices. If so, this could result in government-imposed fines or orders requiring that we change our practices, which could adversely affect our business. In addition, these privacy regulations vary between states, may differ from country to country, and may vary based on whether testing is performed in the United States or in the local country. Complying with these various laws could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices and compliance procedures in a manner adverse to our business.
Furthermore, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. Likewise, we rely on other third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates and to conduct clinical trials, and similar events relating to their computer systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business.
We may be unable to adequately protect our information systems from cyberattacks, which could result in the disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, including personal data, damage our reputation, and subject us to significant financial and legal exposure.
We rely on information technology systems that we or our third-party providers operate to process, transmit and store electronic information in our day-to-day operations. In connection with our product discovery efforts, we may collect and use a variety of personal data, such as names, mailing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and clinical trial information. A successful cyberattack could result in the theft or destruction of intellectual property, data, or other misappropriation of assets, or otherwise compromise our confidential or proprietary information and disrupt our operations. Cyberattacks are increasing in their frequency, sophistication and intensity, and have become increasingly difficult to detect. We may not be able to anticipate all types of security threats, and we may not be able to implement preventive measures effective against all such security threats. The techniques used by cyber criminals change frequently, may not be recognized until launched, and can originate from a wide variety of sources, including outside groups such as external service providers, organized crime affiliates, terrorist organizations or hostile foreign governments or agencies. Attackers have used Artificial intelligence and machine learning to launch more automated, targeted and coordinated attacks against targets. Cyberattacks could include industrial espionage, wire fraud and other forms of cyber fraud, the deployment of harmful malware, including ransomware, denial-of-service, social engineering fraud or other means to threaten data security, confidentiality, integrity and availability. A successful cyberattack could cause serious negative consequences for us, including, without limitation, the disruption of operations, the misappropriation of confidential business information, including financial information, trade secrets, financial loss and the disclosure of corporate strategic plans. Although we devote resources to protect our information systems, we realize that cyberattacks are a threat, and there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent information security breaches that would result in business, legal, financial, or reputational harm to us, or would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. If we were to experience an attempted or successful cybersecurity attack of our information systems or data, the costs associated with the investigation, remediation and potential notification of the attack to counterparties, data subjects, regulators or others, including costs to deploy additional personnel and protection technologies, train employees, and engage third-party experts and consultants, could be material. Failure to report any such material cybersecurity incidents in a timely manner to the Securities Exchange Commission, on Form 8-K, may result in adverse impacts to our reputation. In addition, following any such attack, our remediation efforts may not be successful. Any failure to prevent or mitigate security breaches or improper
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access to, use of, or disclosure of our clinical data or patients’ personal data could result in significant liability under state, federal and international law and may cause a material adverse impact to our reputation, affect our ability to conduct new studies, and potentially disrupt our business.
The loss of any member of our senior management team or our ability to attract and retain talent across the Company, including senior management, could adversely affect our business.
We are highly dependent upon our senior management and other members of our management team as well as our senior scientists, software engineers and salespeople. Our success depends on the skills, experience and performance of key members of our senior management team, scientists, software engineers, salespeople and our other employees. The individual and collective efforts of our employees will be important as we continue to develop our discovery and development capabilities, and as we expand our commercial activities. The loss or incapacity of existing members of our executive management team could adversely affect our operations if we experience difficulties in hiring qualified successors. While certain of our executive officers are party to employment contracts with us, we cannot guarantee their retention for any period of time beyond the applicable notice period.
Our research and development programs, laboratory operations, and GMP related activities depend on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled scientists and engineers. We may not be able to attract or retain qualified scientists and engineers in the future due to the competition for qualified personnel among life science businesses. We also face competition from universities and public and private research institutions in recruiting and retaining highly qualified scientific and engineering personnel. We may have difficulties locating, recruiting or retaining qualified salespeople and other employees. Recruiting and retention difficulties can limit our ability to support our research and development and sales programs. A key risk in this area, for example, is that certain of our employees are at-will, which means that either we or the employee may terminate their employment at any time.
Our restructuring and reorganization activities may be disruptive to our operations or ineffective.