Item 1A. Risk Factors
Investing in our common stock involves significant risk and investors should carefully consider the risks described below, together with all other information included or referenced in this Annual
Report on Form 10-K. There are numerous and varied risks, known and unknown, that may prevent us from achieving our goals. The risks described below are not the only ones we will face. In addition to the other information in this Annual Report on
Form 10-K, any of the factors set forth below could significantly and negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects and the trading price of our stock. This section contains forward-looking statements. You
should refer to the explanation of the qualifications and limitations on forward-looking statements beginning on page 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The dollar amounts presented in this section are depicted in thousands.
Summary of Risk Factors
Material risks that may affect our business, operating results and financial condition include, but are not necessarily limited to, those relating to:
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Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Need for Additional Capital
We have incurred significant losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future and may
never achieve or maintain profitability.
We have a limited operating history and, to date we have focused primarily on developing a broad product portfolio.
Some of our product candidates will require substantial additional development time and resources before we are able to receive regulatory approvals, implement commercialization strategies and begin
generating revenue from product sales. Our commercialization efforts for our self-developed product and product candidates are still in their early stages and we may not generate substantial revenue from sales of our self-developed product and
product candidates in the near term, if ever.
We have devoted most of our financial resources to product development. To date, we have financed our operations primarily through the sale of equity and debt securities, proceeds from our debt
facilities, and from revenues from certain product licenses and collaborations and from our self-developed product. The extent of future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future expenditures and our ability to generate revenue.
The development, regulatory approval process, and commercialization of drug candidates involve significant risk and significant uncertainty, including matters over which we have no control. Because
of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with pharmaceutical product development, we are unable to fully predict the timing or amount of our expenses. We expect to incur substantial expenses going forward, which we expect will increase as
we expand our development, commercialization activities and product portfolio. Some of the expenses we expect to incur going forward include:
• conducting clinical trials of our product candidates;
• maintaining, expanding and protecting our intellectual property portfolio;
We expect to continue to incur net losses for at least the next few years as we pursue the development, commercialization and marketing of our proprietary product candidates. Our net losses may
fluctuate significantly from period to period, depending on regulatory approval developments concerning both our late-stage and earlier-stage product candidates, the timing of our planned clinical trials and expenditures on our other research and
development, as well as our commercialization activities. We expect our expenses will continue to be substantial in 2021 and future periods as we continue, subject to any delay as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, to:
We expect to continue to manage the timing and level of expenses in light of the declining Suboxone revenues, offset in part by increasing revenue contributions from Sympazan, while focusing on the
development and commercialization of Libervant and AQST-108-SF and their subsequent commercialization, if approved by the FDA for U.S. market access.
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Until we become profitable, if ever, we expect to need to raise significant additional capital in the future through equity or debt issuances, or both, to continue to manage our expenses to extend
our capital runway, in order to further the development, regulatory approval, commercialization and marketing of our products and product candidates, and to conduct our business. We have no committed sources of additional capital, and there can be no
assurance that such needed capital or debt financing will be available on favorable terms, or at all. We may seek to obtain additional capital in the future through the issuance of our common stock, through other public or private equity or debt
financings, through potential non-dilutive capital raising events that may result from royalty streams that may be realizable from our licensed products or licensed intellectual property, through collaborations or licensing arrangements with other
companies, and through the sale of assets, including product, product candidates, plants or other tangible assets, or by other means, if available. We may not be able to raise additional capital or other funding on terms acceptable to us, or at all,
and any failure to raise capital as and when needed could compromise our ability to execute on our business plan and cause us to delay or curtail our operations until such funding is received. To the extent that we raise additional funds by issuance
of equity securities, our stockholders would experience dilution, and debt financings, if available (and subject to all of the existing restrictions and conditions under the Indenture) may involve increased restrictive covenants and increased fixed
payments or may otherwise further constrain our financial flexibility. To the extent that we raise additional funds through collaborative or licensing arrangements, it may be necessary to relinquish some rights to our intellectual property or grant
licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. In addition, payments made by potential collaborators or licensees generally will depend upon our achievement of negotiated development and regulatory milestones. Failure to achieve these milestones may
harm our future capital position.
We will need substantial additional capital to fund our operations, which may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all.
The Company’s cash requirements for 2021 and beyond include expenses related to continuing development and clinical evaluation of its products, manufacture and supply costs, costs of regulatory
filings, patent prosecution expenses and litigation expenses, expenses related to commercialization of our products, as well as costs to comply with the requirements of being a public company operating in a highly regulated industry. As of December
31, 2020, we had $31.8 million of cash and cash equivalents.
On November 3, 2020, we entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement (the “Monetization Agreement”) with MAM Pangolin Royalty, LLC, an affiliate of Marathon Asset Management (“Marathon”). Under the
terms of the Monetization Agreement, we sold all of our contractual rights to receive royalties and milestone payments due under the Sunovion License Agreement related to Sunovion’s apomorphine product, KYNMOBI®. KYNMOBI®, an
apomorphine film therapy for the treatment of off episodes in Parkinson’s disease patients, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 21, 2020. In exchange for the sale of these rights, we received an upfront payment
of $40.0 million and an additional payment of $10.0 million through the achievement of the first milestone. We have received an aggregate amount of $50.0 million through December 31, 2020 under the Monetization Agreement.
Under the Monetization Agreement, additional aggregate contingent payments of up to $75.0 million may be due to us upon the achievement of worldwide royalty and other commercial targets within a
specified timeframe, which could result in total potential proceeds of $125.0 million.
With the upfront proceeds of the monetization, we repaid $22.5 million of the Senior Secured Notes due 2025 (the “12.5% Notes”), and issued $4.0 million of new 12.5% Notes in lieu of paying a
prepayment premium on the early repayment of the 12.5% Notes, reducing the aggregate principal balance of 12.5% Notes outstanding to $51.5 million. In addition, the holders of the 12.5% Notes agreed to extend to December 31, 2021 our ability to
access, at our option, an additional $30.0 million of 12.5% Notes re-openers under the Indenture. The first $10.0 million senior notes re-opener represents a commitment of such amount by current holders of 12.5% Notes, at our option, contingent upon
FDA approval of our product candidate Libervant. A second $20.0 million senior notes re-opener represents a right, at our option, to market to current holders of our 12.5% Notes, and/or other lenders, additional senior notes up to such amount,
contingent upon FDA approval of Libervant for U.S. market access. If and to the extent that we access these re-openers, we will grant warrants to purchase up to 714,000 shares of common stock, with the strike price calculated based on the 30-day
volume weighted average closing price of our common stock at the warrant grant date. In addition, as of the closing of this transaction, we issued to the holders of the 12.5% Notes warrants to purchase 143,000 shares of our common stock.
We may not be able to raise additional capital or secure other funding on terms acceptable to us, or at all, and any failure to raise additional capital or other funding as and when needed for our
cash requirements would have a negative impact on our business, financial condition and prospects and on our ability to execute and achieve our business plan.
If adequate funds are not available for our liquidity needs and cash requirements as and when needed, or at all, we may be required to reduce staff, significantly delay, significantly scale back or
even discontinue some or all of our research and development programs and clinical and other product development activities, reduce our planned commercialization efforts, enter into potential funding arrangements on unattractive terms, and otherwise
significantly reduce our cash spend and adjust our operating plan, and we would need to seek to take other steps intended to improve our liquidity, any of which would likely have a material adverse effect on our business, stock price and our
relationships with third parties with whom we have business relationships, at least until additional funding is obtained. We also may be required to evaluate additional licensing opportunities, if any become available, of our proprietary products
and product candidate programs that we currently plan to self-commercialize or explore other potential liquidity opportunities or other alternatives or options or strategic alternatives, including the sale of assets, although we cannot be assured
that any of these actions would be available at all or available on reasonable terms. If we do not have sufficient funds to continue operations, we could be required to seek bankruptcy protection or other alternatives that would likely result in our
stockholders losing most if not all of their investment in us.
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We may sell additional equity, incur debt or raise funds through licensing arrangements to fund our operations, which may result in dilution to our
stockholders, impose restrictions on our business or require us to relinquish proprietary rights.
As of December 31, 2020, Aquestive has experienced a history of net losses and the Company’s accumulated deficits totaled $186,257 which have been partially funded by gross margins from sales of
commercialized licensed and proprietary products, license fees, milestone and royalty payments from our commercial licensees and co-development parties, and with the balance of the related funding requirements met by the Company’s equity and debt
offerings, including the 12.5% Notes. In 2019, the Company raised funding totaling $52.2 million, consisting of net proceeds of $13.1 million from the refinancing of debt in July 2019, $37.3 million from the public offering of 8,050,000 common shares
in December 2019, and $1.8 million from the exercise of warrants in connection with the debt financing.
The Company began utilizing its “At-The-Market” (ATM) facility in November 2020 which has generated net cash of approximately $6.1 million as of December 31, 2020. This facility has approximately
$18.5 million available at December 31, 2020.
Until such time, if ever, that we can generate sufficient revenue to fully fund our operations, we would need to seek additional capital and cash resources through public or private equity or debt
financings, third-party funding, marketing and distribution arrangements, as well as other collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements, or any combination of these approaches. To the extent that we raise additional capital through
the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the stockholders’ existing ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of existing stockholders. Debt financings
may be coupled with an equity component, such as warrants to purchase shares of our common stock, which could also result in dilution of existing stockholders’ ownership. The incurrence of additional indebtedness would result in increased fixed
payment obligations and could also result in certain increased restrictive covenants (most if not all of which currently exist under our existing debt facilities), such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our
ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights or sell assets, and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business and continue to result in liens being placed on all of our assets and
intellectual property. If we were to default on such indebtedness, we could lose all such assets and intellectual property and our ability to operate our business.
If we raise additional funds through collaborations, or strategic alliance, marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may need to relinquish valuable rights to our
technologies, product candidates or future revenue streams or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us.
Even if we can generate revenues from our operations in the future, our revenues and operating income is likely to fluctuate significantly from year-to-year or
quarter-to-quarter and create volatility in our stock price.
Even if we are able to generate future revenues, our results of operations would likely continue to vary significantly from year-to-year and quarter-to-quarter. Variations may result from, among
other factors:
• the timing of process validation for particular product candidates;
• timing of revenue recognition related to our collaboration agreements;
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Our level of indebtedness and significant debt service obligations could constrain our ability to invest in our business and make it more difficult for us to
fund our operations.
We have substantial debt and substantial debt service obligations. At December 31, 2020, we had an aggregate principal amount of $51.5 million of outstanding indebtedness, represented by the 12.5%
Notes. In the future, we may need to borrow additional funds.
Because of our indebtedness:
We intend to satisfy our current and future debt service obligations with our existing cash and cash equivalents and potential access to other funding. However, we may not have sufficient funds, and
may be unable to arrange for additional financing, to pay the amounts due under the Indenture and 12.5% Notes or any other debt instruments we may enter into. Failure to make required debt service payments or comply with other covenants under our
existing debt facilities or such other debt instruments would result in an event of default and acceleration of amounts due, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are dependent upon the commercial success of our licensed and self-commercialized products and other licensing activities to generate revenue for the near
future.
Although we are in the process of testing and developing proprietary product candidates and may seek to acquire rights in other approved drugs, we anticipate that our ability to generate revenue and
to become profitable in the near future will depend upon the continued commercial success of Suboxone, Exservan, KYNMOBI® and Sympazan, our ability to license Zuplenz, and our ability to commercialize our product candidate Libervant
subject to FDA approval including our ability to demonstrate that Libervant will, if approved by the FDA for U.S. market access, represent a “major contribution to patient care” within the meaning of FDA regulations and guidance, as compared to
available treatment options. There is no assurance that we will become commercially successful to the extent necessary to become profitable. If our current products are not commercially successful, our ability to generate manufacturing and sale
margins and licensing or royalty revenues will be impaired. Without those revenues, our ability to continue planned development initiatives and commercialization efforts would be limited. Due to our dependence on the commercial success of our
products, delays or setbacks in the commercial success of any of these products would likely materially adversely affect our business, prospects, results and operations and financial consideration.
A substantial portion of our revenues is derived from a single customer and license and any loss or material reduction in revenues from such significant
customer would adversely affect our business.
Historically, a substantial portion of our revenues in each quarter and year has been derived from a single customer and this trend is expected to continue while we continue to develop, seek
regulatory approval of and seek to commercialize our proprietary products and product candidates. If revenues from such key customer were to decline significantly, it would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
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In April 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury sitting in the Western District of Virginia had criminally indicated Indivior PLC, or Indivior, for which we
exclusively manufacture and supply Suboxone film products and license certain of our intellectual property, in connection with Indivior’s allegedly deceptive and misleading marketing and distribution practices in its distribution and sale of Suboxone
film products, dating back a number of years, and seeking a monetary judgment of not less than $3 billion. Indivior has denied the claims and publicly stated that it intends to contest the allegations vigorously. Indivior accounted for
approximately 57% of our revenues for 2020 and approximately 86% of our revenues for 2019 and we believe in the future will continue to account for a substantial part of our revenues. On July 24, 2020, Indivior disclosed a $600 million settlement
and disposition of this matter with the U.S. Department of Justice. We cannot assess whether this settlement and disposition will have a material adverse financial impact on our business, prospects, liquidity, financial condition and operating
results.
Further, the Indivior License Agreement under which we manufacture and supply Suboxone to Indivior on an exclusive basis, may be terminated should certain causes or events occur. For example, either
party may terminate the relationship in connection with a material breach by the other party of its contractual obligations. Indivior may also terminate the Indivior License Agreement if the FDA or other applicable regulatory authority declares our
manufacturing site to no longer be suitable for the manufacture of Suboxone or Suboxone is no longer suitable to be manufactured due to health or safety reasons. In addition, the Indivior Licensing Agreement currently has a one-year term, subject
to automatic one-year renewals unless either party provides the other party with twelve months’ prior notice of non-renewal. As a result, there can be no assurance that either party will not terminate the Indivior License Agreement either due to any
future breach of obligation, other termination cause or event, or notice of non-renewal. Any such termination would have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, capital position and prospects.
Indivior has ceased production of the authorized generic product of Suboxone which can be expected to continue to have a material impact on our manufactured
product sales and revenues.
In early 2019, certain third-party pharmaceutical companies launched at risk, generic film products for buprenorphine-naloxone. Also, in early 2019 Indivior began to market and sell an authorized
generic sublingual film product for Suboxone, which we also exclusively manufactured and supplied. In October 2019, Indivior publicly announced its intention to cease production of the authorized generic sublingual film product.
Indivior accounted for approximately 57% of our annual revenues in fiscal year 2020. As a result of Indivior’s decision to cease production of the authorized generic sublingual film product, our
manufacturing and supply revenue for that product has ceased, which has and we believe will continue to have a material negative impact on our manufacture and supply revenues and our results of operations. Although branded Suboxone has continued to
retain meaningful market share, we have planned for the erosion of this sunsetting branded product over time, which will further affect our total revenues and our results from operations.
We are currently involved in antitrust litigation in connection with the launch of Suboxone Sublingual Film and any adverse decisions in such litigation could
impair our ability to raise addition capital and significantly harm our business.
We are named as a defendant in antitrust litigation brought against us and Indivior. The litigation involves allegations that we have engaged in conduct intended to interfere with the introduction of
generic drug products that would compete with our product, Suboxone, in the marketplace. We have denied any wrongdoing and are defending the litigation. However, depending on the outcome of the litigation, including whether or not any judgements are
entered against us or Indivior and, if so, the extent of those judgements, our ability to earn revenues from Suboxone may be impaired, which may affect our business, profitability, prospects, financial condition ability to generate sufficient
revenues, and our ability to raise additional funding. Moreover, regardless of the merits of any claim, the continued legal and other costs arising from these judicial proceedings may result in substantial additional expenses and divert management’s
time and attention away from our other business operations, which could also significantly harm our business. For more information, please see Part II Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 20. Contingencies.
KYNMOBI® is commercialized by Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., therefore,
there is no assurance that we will receive additional contingent payments pursuant to the Monetization Agreement in the amount or at the time we have planned, or at all, and any failure to receive such payments would have a material adverse impact
on our financial position and capital needs.
On November 3, 2020, we entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement (the “Monetization Agreement”) with MAM Pangolin Royalty, LLC, an affiliate of Marathon Asset Management (“Marathon”). Under the
terms of the Monetization Agreement, we sold all of our contractual rights to receive royalties and milestone payments due under the Sunovion License Agreement related to Sunovion’s apomorphine product, KYNMOBI®. KYNMOBI®, an
apomorphine film therapy for the treatment of off episodes in Parkinson’s disease patients, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 21, 2020. In exchange for the sale of these rights, we received an upfront payment
of $40.0 million and an additional payment of $10.0 million through the achievement of the first milestone. We have received an aggregate amount of $50.0 million through December 31, 2020 under the Monetization Agreement.
Under the Monetization Agreement, additional aggregate contingent payments of up to $75.0 million may be due to us upon the achievement of worldwide royalty and other commercial targets within a
specified timeframe, which could result in total potential proceeds of $125.0 million.
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With the upfront proceeds of the monetization, we repaid $22.5 million of the 12.5% Notes, and issued $4.0 million of new 12.5% Notes in lieu of paying a prepayment premium on the early repayment of
the 12.5% Notes, reducing the aggregate principal balance of 12.5% Notes outstanding to $51.5 million.
We cannot be assured of receiving any additional contingent payments under the Monetization Agreement.
Risks Related to Development and Commercialization of Our Products and Product Candidates
We will be required to demonstrate to the FDA that our drug candidate LibervantTM provides a “major contribution to patient care” relative to the approved drugs with the same active moiety for the same indication, and there can be no assurance that we will be successful.
We are developing Libervant as an alternative to device-dependent rescue therapies currently available to patients with refractory epilepsy, which are a rectal gel and newly approved nasal sprays.
We completed the rolling submission of our NDA filing with the FDA for Libervant on November 27, 2019, our NDA for Libervant was accepted by the FDA on February 10, 2020, and a PDUFA goal date of September 27, 2020 was provided by the FDA. On
January 10, 2020 Neurelis, Inc. obtained FDA approval of its drug candidate Valtoco® (diazepam nasal spray). We are seeking to demonstrate that Libervant will, if approved by the FDA for U.S. market access, represent a “major contribution
to patient care” within the meaning of FDA regulations and guidance, as compared to available treatment options, as the first, non-device delivered, oral diazepam-based product available to manage seizure clusters in epilepsy patients. However,
overcoming the orphan drug marketing exclusivity is difficult to establish, with limited precedent, and there can be no assurance that the FDA will agree with our position seeking to overcome such market exclusivity and approve Libervant for U.S.
market access. A company that obtains FDA approval for a designated orphan drug receives market exclusivity for that drug for the designated indication for a period of seven years from the grant date in the United States. This orphan drug
exclusivity approval may prevent a subsequent product seeking FDA approval from being marketed in the United States during the exclusivity period for the same active moiety for the same orphan drug indication except in the case where the drug
candidate sponsor is able to demonstrate, and the FDA concludes, that the later drug is “clinically superior” to the approved products (e.g., safer, more effective, or providing a major contribution to patient
care) within the meaning of FDA regulations and guidance. In assessing whether a drug candidate sponsor has demonstrated that its drug candidate provides a “major contribution to patient care” over and above the currently approved drugs, which is
evaluated by the FDA on a case by case basis, there is no one objective standard and the FDA may, in appropriate circumstances, consider such factors as convenience of treatment location, duration of treatment, patient comfort, reduced treatment
burden, advances in ease and comfort of drug administration, longer periods between doses, and potential for self-administration.
If the FDA does not approve our NDA for Libervant, or the continued development of Libervant is significantly delayed or terminated, our business and results of
operations could be significantly adversely affected.
We completed the rolling submission of our NDA filing with the FDA for Libervant on November 27, 2019, our NDA for Libervant was accepted by the FDA on February 10, 2020, and a PDUFA goal date of
September 27, 2020 was provided by the FDA. However, on September 25, 2020, we received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the FDA for Libervant. The FDA issues a CRL to indicate that the review cycle for an application is complete but the
application cannot be approved in its current form. In the CRL, the FDA cited that, in a study submitted by the Company with the NDA, certain weight groups showed a lower drug exposure level than desired. In a Type A meeting with the FDA in
November, the FDA confirmed that these issues may be addressed by utilizing modeling and simulations for an updated dosing regimen. The Company resubmitted a revised weight-based dosing regimen with modeling and simulations in December 2020. As
recently announced, the FDA provided guidance on the December submission which clarified the information that the Agency expected to see in the Company’s population pharmacokinetic model to be included in the resubmitted NDA. Based upon the FDA’s
feedback at the Type A meeting as well as further guidance from the Agency, the Company continues to believe that no further clinical studies are necessary. The Company expects to resubmit its NDA late in the second quarter of 2021. Once the NDA is
resubmitted, the Company anticipates a six month review process. The FDA did not include in the CRL any indication regarding approval of U.S. market access for Libervant. Any failure to obtain FDA approval of, and to demonstrate clinical
superiority for, Libervant would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations in 2021 and later.
We cannot be certain that we will be able to successfully develop our product candidates or obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates.
Prior to receiving approval to commercialize any of our drug products, we must demonstrate with substantial evidence from well-controlled clinical trials, and to the satisfaction of the FDA and/or
other regulatory authorities in the U.S. and other countries, that our particular product candidates are both safe and effective. For each drug product, we must demonstrate its efficacy and monitor its safety throughout the process. If development
within these parameters is unsuccessful, our business could be harmed, and our stock price could be adversely affected.
We currently have multiple product candidates in preclinical and clinical development. Our business depends primarily on the successful clinical development, regulatory approval and commercialization
of our product candidates. Before our product candidates can be marketed, the FDA and other comparable foreign regulatory agencies must approve our applicable NDA or comparable regulatory submissions. Clinical testing is expensive, difficult to
design and implement, can take many years to complete and is very uncertain as to outcome. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. Further, positive results from earlier stage clinical trials may not be predictive
of later clinical trials or other regulatory developments. In addition, many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in later stage clinical trials after achieving positive results in early
stage development, and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. Also, preclinical 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 FDA approval. Even after successful completion of clinical testing, there is a risk that the FDA may request further information from us, disagree with our
findings or otherwise undertake a lengthy review of our submission. We also face hurdles and setbacks by reason of competitors’ drug candidates obtaining FDA or other regulatory approvals, including orphan drug market exclusivity, prior to our
obtaining FDA or other regulatory approval of our similar drug candidate. Even if the FDA approves our NDA, we may be unable to successfully commercialize our products and product candidates.
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In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to the numerous factors, including changes in
clinical trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, adherence to the dosing regimen, and other clinical trial protocols, and the rate of dropout among clinical participants. If we fail to
produce positive results in our planned preclinical studies or clinical trials of any of our product candidates, the development timeline and regulatory approval and commercialization prospects for our product candidates and, correspondingly, our
business and financial prospects, would be materially adversely affected.
It is also possible that the FDA will not approve an application that we may submit, or our product candidates may not obtain appropriate regulatory approvals necessary for us to commence clinical
trials for our product candidates. Any delay or failure in obtaining required approvals could have a material adverse effect on our business. This process from development to commercialization can take many years and will likely require the
expenditure of substantial resources beyond the proceeds we currently have on hand, without any guarantee or assurance that we will be successful with regulatory approval, or commercial success, of such product candidate.
Even if we obtain approval from the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for our current and future product candidates, any approval might contain significant limitations related to use
restrictions for specified age groups, warnings, precautions or contraindications, or may be subject to burdensome post-approval study or risk management requirements. If we are unable to obtain regulatory approval, or any approval contains
significant limitations, we may not be able to obtain sufficient funding or generate sufficient revenue to continue the development of that product candidate or any other product candidate that we may in-license, develop or acquire in the future.
If we do not obtain market exclusivity for our certain of our products, including orphan drug exclusivity, our business may be harmed.
We intend to seek exclusivity for certain of our product candidates, including orphan drug exclusivity for Libervant. Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States, may
designate drugs for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product as an orphan drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a
patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States.
Generally, if a product with an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first marketing approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to a period of
market exclusivity, which precludes the FDA from approving another marketing application for the same drug for the same disease for seven years. Orphan drug exclusivity may be lost if the FDA determines that the request for designation was materially
defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the drug to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition. Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting an application for marketing approval.
A company that first obtains FDA approval for a designated orphan drug for the designated rare disease or condition receives orphan drug market exclusivity for that drug for the designated disease
for a period of seven years in the United States. This orphan drug exclusivity prevents the FDA from approving another application to market a drug containing the same active moiety for the same orphan indication, except in very limited
circumstances, including when the FDA concludes that the later drug is safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care within the meaning of FDA regulations and guidance. In addition, a designated orphan drug may not receive
orphan drug exclusivity if it is approved for a use that is broader than the indication for which it received orphan designation.
Even if we receive orphan drug designation for one or more of our drug candidates, we may not be the first to obtain marketing approval for the orphan-designated indication due to the uncertainties
associated with developing product candidates. If any of these other pharmaceutical companies obtains approval of an NDA before we are able to receive approval for one or more of our drug candidates with the same active moiety for the same
indication, we would be barred from marketing that product in the United States during the seven-year orphan drug exclusivity period, unless we could demonstrate that such drug candidate is clinically superior to the approved products or satisfies
one of the other limited exceptions to such orphan drug exclusivity.
Further, even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs with different active moieties can
be approved for the same condition or a drug with the same active moiety can be approved for a different indication. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug nor gives the drug any advantage in
the regulatory review or approval process. In addition, even if we intend to seek orphan drug designation for any of our product candidates or indications, we may never receive such designations or obtain orphan drug exclusivity.
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Also, overcoming the orphan drug marketing exclusivity is difficult to establish, with limited precedent, and there can be no assurance that the FDA will agree with our position seeking to overcome
such marking exclusivity and approve Libervant for U.S. market access with orphan drug exclusivity. If we fail to receive such extensions or exclusive rights, our ability to prevent competitors from manufacturing, marketing and selling competing
products will be materially impaired, and our results of operations and financial condition may be significantly adversely affected.
Clinical trials may be delayed, suspended or terminated for many reasons, which will increase our expenses and delay the time it takes to develop
our product candidates.
We may experience delays in our ongoing or future preclinical 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. The commencement and completion of clinical trials for our clinical product candidates may be delayed suspended or terminated as a result of many factors, including:
• changes in regulatory requirements, policies and guidelines;
• having clinical sites deviate from the trial protocol;
• delays in establishing the appropriate dosage levels; and
If we experience delays in the commencement or completion of any clinical trial of our product candidates, or if any clinical trials suspended or terminated, our costs may substantially increase and
the commercial prospects of our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenue from sales of any product candidate will be delayed or not realized at all. Significant preclinical study or clinical trial delays also could
shorten the period during which we have exclusive rights to commercialize a product candidate or allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do and impair our ability to successfully commercialize a product candidate.
We have directly marketed just a single product, Sympazan. With this limited experience, we may lack the necessary expertise, personnel and resources to
successfully commercialize this product or our other products that must first receive regulatory approval, either on our own or together with collaborators.
We rely on our third-party licensees to commercialize our two licensed products, Suboxone and Exservan, and to date have only marketed, through our own efforts and with the services of third-party
outsourcing vendors including contract sales personnel, our first self-developed product, Sympazan, launched in December 2018. Thus, we have a very limited history of direct experience in commercializing product candidates, and we have no long-term
experience upon which to measure our ability or success in commercializing a product or our ability to make predictions about financial results or prospects of any product. To achieve commercial success of our existing product as well as our product
candidates, if any more are approved, we are in the process of continuing to develop our own sales, marketing and supply capabilities, including through third-party outsourcing and contract sales personnel.
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Our ongoing commercial strategy for our products and product candidates involves the development of a commercial infrastructure that spans multiple jurisdictions and is dependent upon our ability to
continue to build an infrastructure that is capable of implementing our commercial product launch strategy. The establishment and development of our commercial infrastructure will continue to be expensive and time consuming, and we may not be able to
develop our commercial infrastructure successfully or in a timely manner or at all. Doing so will require a high degree of coordination and compliance with laws and regulations in numerous territories, including in the United States, each state, and
other countries in which we do business, including restrictions on advertising practices, enforcement of intellectual property rights, restrictions on pricing or discounts, transparency laws and regulations, and unexpected changes in regulatory
requirements and tariffs. If we are unable to effectively coordinate such activities or comply with such laws and regulations, our ability to commercialize our products and product candidates in the United States and other jurisdictions in which they
are or may be available will be materially adversely affected.
Factors that may affect our ability to commercialize our products and product candidates on our own include: recruiting and retaining adequate numbers of effective sales and marketing personnel,
including both internally and through contractual third-party outsourcing arrangements, cultivating effective relationships with third-party physicians and overall pharmaceutical industry payors, obtaining access to or persuading adequate numbers of
physicians to prescribe our product candidates and other unforeseen costs associated with creating an independent sales and marketing organization. Maintaining a sales and marketing organization requires significant investment and resources, is
time-consuming and could delay or impair the launch of our product candidates. We may not be able to build an effective sales and marketing organization in the United States or other key global markets. We also intend to enter into strategic licenses
with third parties to commercialize our product candidates outside of the United States. We may have difficulty establishing relationships with third parties on terms that are acceptable to us, or in all of the regions where we wish to commercialize
our products, or at all. If we are unable to build our own distribution and marketing capabilities or to find suitable licensees for the commercialization of our products and product candidates, we may have difficulties generating revenue from them
and our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects and the trading price of our stock may be materially adversely affected.
Our commercial success depends upon attaining significant market acceptance of our products and product candidates, if approved, among patients, physicians,
pharmacists and the medical community.
It is possible that we may not complete development of our product candidates or obtain regulatory approval for those product candidates. Even if we do complete development and obtain regulatory
approval for our product candidates, our product candidates may not gain market acceptance among patients, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, the medical community or third-party payors, which is critical to commercial success. Market acceptance of our
products and any product candidate for which we receive approval depends on a number of factors, including:
• the clinical indications for which the product candidate is approved;
• relative convenience and ease of administration;
• the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts.
Even if a potential product displays a favorable efficacy and safety profile in clinical trials, market acceptance of the product will not be known until a period of time after it is launched. If our
products or product candidates, if approved, fail to achieve an adequate level of acceptance by patients, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, the medical community or third-party payors, we will be unable to generate significant revenues, and we may not
become or remain profitable.
In addition, the potential market opportunities for our product candidates are difficult to estimate. Our estimates of the potential market opportunities are predicated on several key assumptions
such as industry knowledge and publications, third-party research reports or analyses and other analytical information. While we believe that our internal assumptions are reasonable, these assumptions may be inaccurate. If any of the assumptions
proves to be inaccurate, then the actual market for our product candidates could be smaller than our estimates of the potential market opportunity. If the actual market for our product candidates is smaller than we expect, or if the products fail to
achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, health care payors and patients, our revenue from product sales may be limited and we may be unable to achieve or maintain profitability.
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Further, we may not be able to hire or contract for a sales force that is sufficient in size or has adequate expertise in the medical markets that we intend to target. Any failure or delay in the
development of our sales, marketing and distribution capabilities would adversely impact the commercialization of our products.
Regulatory approval for any approved product is limited by the FDA to those specific indications and conditions for which clinical safety and efficacy have been
demonstrated, and any allegations of our failure to comply with such approved indications could limit our sales efforts and have a material adverse effect on our business.
The FDA strictly regulates marketing, labeling, advertising and promotion of prescription drugs. These regulations include standards and restrictions for direct-to-consumer advertising,
industry-sponsored scientific and educational activities, promotional activities involving the internet and off-label promotion. Any regulatory approval that the FDA grants is limited to those specific diseases and indications for which a product is
deemed to be safe and effective by the FDA. In addition to the FDA approval required for new formulations, any new indication for an approved product also requires FDA approval. If we are not able to obtain FDA approval for any desired future
indications for our products and product candidates, our ability to effectively market and sell our products may be reduced and our business may be materially adversely affected.
While physicians in the U.S. may choose and are generally permitted to prescribe drugs for uses that are not described in the product’s labeling and for uses that differ from those tested in clinical
trials and approved by the regulatory authorities, our ability to promote our products is narrowly limited to those indications that are specifically approved by the FDA. These “off-label” uses are common across medical specialties and may constitute
an appropriate treatment for some patients in varied circumstances. Regulatory authorities in the U.S. generally do not regulate the behavior of physicians in their choice of treatments. Regulatory authorities do, however, restrict communications by
pharmaceutical companies on the subject of off-label use. If our promotional activities fail to comply with the FDA’s regulations or guidelines, we may be subject to warnings from, or enforcement action by, these authorities. In addition, our failure
to follow FDA rules and guidelines relating to promotion and advertising may cause the FDA to issue warning letters or untitled letters, bring an enforcement action against us, suspend or withdraw an approved product from the market, require a recall
or institute fines, or could result in disgorgement of money, operating restrictions, injunctions or criminal prosecution, any of which could materially harm our reputation and our business significantly.
We could incur substantial costs and disruption to our business and delays in the launch of our product candidates if our competitors and/or collaborators bring
legal actions against us, which could harm our business and operating results.
We cannot predict whether our competitors or potential competitors, some of whom we collaborate with, may bring legal action against us based on our research, development and commercialization
activities, as well as any product candidates or products resulting from these activities, claiming, among other things, infringement of their intellectual property rights, breach of contract, false or disparaging statements about another company’s
products or product candidates, or other legal theories. To date we have been subject to a number of claims of this nature. In defending such lawsuits, whether or not they are with or without merit or are ultimately determined in our favor, we would
continue to face costly litigation and diversion of technical and management personnel. These lawsuits could hinder our ability to enter the market early with our product candidates and thereby hinder our ability to influence usage patterns when
fewer, if any, of our potential competitors have entered the market, which could adversely impact our potential revenue from such product candidates. Some of our competitors have substantially greater resources than we do and could be able to sustain
the cost of litigation to a greater extent and for longer periods of time than we can. Furthermore, an adverse outcome of a dispute may require us: to pay damages, potentially including treble damages and attorneys’ fees, if we are found to have
willfully infringed a party’s patent or other intellectual property rights; to cease making, licensing or using products that are alleged to incorporate or make use of the intellectual property of others; to expend additional development resources to
reformulate our products or prevent us from marketing a product; and to enter into potentially unfavorable royalty or license agreements in order to obtain the rights to use necessary technologies.
Guidelines and recommendations published by government agencies can reduce the use of our products or product candidates.
Government agencies promulgate regulations and guidelines applicable to certain drug classes which may include our products and product candidates. Regulations and guidelines of government agencies
may relate to such matters as usage, dosage, route of administration and use of concomitant therapies. Regulations or guidelines suggesting the reduced use of certain drug classes which may include our products and product candidates or the use of
competitive or alternative products as the standard of care to be followed by patients and healthcare providers could result in decreased use of our products or product candidates or negatively impact our ability to gain market acceptance and market
share. For example, Suboxone, which treats opioid addiction, has as one of its active ingredients an opioid, buprenorphine. Revisions to regulations or guidelines suggesting the reduced use of opioid drugs such as buprenorphine could result in
decreased use of Suboxone.
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We face significant competition from other pharmaceutical companies, and our operating results will suffer if we fail to compete effectively.
The pharmaceutical industry is intensely competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological change. We expect to have competitors both in the United States and internationally, including
major multinational pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and universities and other research institutions. Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and other resources, such as larger research and
development staff and experienced marketing and manufacturing organizations. Mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources being concentrated in our competitors. As a result, these
companies may obtain regulatory approval more rapidly than we are able and may be more effective in selling and marketing their products. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through
collaborative arrangements with large, established companies. Competition may increase further as a result of advances in the commercial applicability of technologies and greater availability of capital for investment in these companies. Our
competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing on an exclusive basis drug products or drug administration technologies that are more effective than our products or product candidates. In addition, our competitors may file citizen
petitions with the FDA in an attempt to persuade the FDA that our product candidates, or the clinical studies that support their approval, contain deficiencies. Such actions by our competitors could delay or even prevent the FDA from approving any
NDA that we submit under Section 505(b)(2) or other filing pathways.
We believe that our ability to successfully compete will depend on, among other things:
• the efficacy and safety of our products and product candidates;
• our ability to maintain a good relationship with regulatory authorities;
If our competitors’ market products that are more effective, safer or less expensive than our product candidates, or that reach the market sooner than our product candidates, we may enter the market
too late in the cycle and may not achieve commercial success. In addition, the biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapid technological change. Because we have limited research and development capabilities, it may be difficult for us to
stay abreast of the rapid changes in each technology. 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.
If we are unable to achieve and maintain coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors for our products or product candidates, if approved, their
commercial success may be severely hindered.
Our ability to commercialize our product candidates successfully will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement are available for our product candidates, once
approved, from third-party payors, including governmental healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, commercial health insurers and managed care organizations, and how quickly we obtain such coverage and reimbursement, if we are able to
obtain it at all. Third-party payors determine which medications they will cover and establish reimbursement levels. Reimbursement decisions by third-party payors depend upon a number of factors, including, among other things, each third-party
payor’s determination that use of a product is:
• a covered benefit under its health plan;
• appropriate and medically necessary for the specific condition or disease;
• cost effective; and
• neither experimental nor investigational.
Obtaining coverage and reimbursement approval for our product candidates from third-party payors may be a time consuming and costly process that could require us to provide supporting scientific,
clinical and cost-effectiveness data, including results from expensive pharmacoeconomic studies, beyond the data required to obtain marketing approval, to each third-party payor. There is no guarantee that we will be able to provide data sufficient
to gain acceptance with respect to coverage and reimbursement.
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Cost containment is a primary concern of the U.S. healthcare industry and elsewhere as well as for governmental authorities. Third-party payors are increasingly attempting to contain healthcare costs
by limiting both coverage and the level of reimbursement for medical products and services. Third-party payors may deny reimbursement for covered products if they determine that a medical product was not used in accordance with third-party payor
coverage policies, such as required procedures for cost-effective diagnosis methods and other conditions that must be met before the third-party payor will provide coverage for use of a product. For example, insurers may establish a “step-edit”
system that requires a patient to first use a lower price alternative product prior to becoming eligible for reimbursement of a higher price product. Third-party payors also may refuse to reimburse for drugs, procedures and devices deemed to be
experimental, or that are prescribed for an unapproved indication. It is also possible that a third-party payor may consider our products or product candidates as substitutable by less expensive therapies and only offer to reimburse patients for the
less expensive product. Even if we show improved efficacy or improved convenience of administration with our products or product candidates, pricing of existing drugs may limit the amount we will be able to charge for our products or product
candidates. These payors may deny or revoke the reimbursement status of a given product or establish prices for new or existing marketed products at levels that are too low to enable us to realize an appropriate return on investment in product
development. Further, third-party payors may also limit coverage to specific products on an approved list, or formulary, which might not include all of the FDA-approved products for a particular indication. Further, some third-party payors challenge
the prices charged for medical products and may impose price controls or require that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices.
Obtaining and maintaining reimbursement status is time-consuming and costly. No uniform policy for coverage reimbursement for products exists among third-party payors in the United States.
Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for products can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the coverage determination process is generally a time-consuming and costly process that requires us to provide scientific and clinical
support for the use of our products to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance. Furthermore, rules and regulations regarding reimbursement
change frequently, in some cases on short notice, and we believe that changes in these rules and regulations are likely.
The process for determining whether a payor will provide coverage for a product may be separate from the process for setting the price or reimbursement rate that the payor will pay for the product
once coverage is approved. Levels of reimbursement may also decrease in the future, and future legislation, regulation or reimbursement policies of third-party payors may adversely affect the reimbursement available for and the pricing of our product
candidates, once approved, which in turn, could negatively impact the demand for our product candidates. If payors are not adequately reimbursed for our product candidates, they may reduce or discontinue purchases of them, which would result in a
significant shortfall in achieving revenue expectations and negatively impact our business, prospects and financial condition.
Our relationships with customers, physicians, and third-party payors will be subject, directly or indirectly, to federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse
laws, false claims laws, health information privacy and security laws, and other healthcare laws and regulations. If we are unable to comply, or have not fully complied, with such laws, we could face substantial penalties.
Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of our existing proprietary product, any
licensed products we are currently marketing and 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
may subject us to various federal and state fraud and abuse laws and other healthcare laws, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal civil and criminal false claims laws and the law commonly referred to as the
Physician Payments Sunshine Act and regulations promulgated thereunder. These laws will impact, among other things, our clinical research programs and our proposed sales, marketing and educational programs. In addition, we may be subject to patient
privacy laws by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct or may conduct our business. The laws that will affect our operations include, but are not limited to:
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Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our business activities could be subject to challenge under
one or more of such laws.
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. 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,
damages, fines, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, exclusion from government funded 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 non-compliance with these laws, contractual damages, reputational harm and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations.
The risk of our being found in violation of these laws is increased by the fact that many of them have not been fully interpreted by the regulatory authorities or the courts, and the provisions are
open to a variety of interpretations. Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. Any action against us for violation of these laws,
even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our management’s attention from the operation of our business. The shifting compliance environment and the need to build and maintain robust and
expandable systems to comply with multiple jurisdictions with different compliance and/or reporting requirements increases the possibility that a healthcare company may run afoul of one or more of the requirements.
Recently enacted and future healthcare reform legislation or regulation may increase the difficulty and cost for us and any future collaborators to obtain
marketing approval of and commercialize our product candidates and may adversely affect the prices we, or they, may obtain and may have a negative impact on our business and results of operations.
In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could, among other
things, prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability, or the ability of any future collaborators, to profitably sell any products for which we, or they, obtain
marketing approval. Among policymakers 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/or 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. We expect that current laws, as well as other healthcare reform measures that
may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we, or any future collaborators, may receive for any approved products. In March 2010, President Obama signed into law
the PPACA. Among the provisions of the PPACA of importance to our business, including our ability to commercialize and the prices we may obtain for any of our products and product candidates that are approved for sale, are the following:
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In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the PPACA was enacted. For example, beginning April 1, 2013, Medicare payments for all items and services, including drugs
and biologics, were reduced by 2% under the sequestration (i.e., automatic spending reductions) required by the Budget Control Act of 2011, as amended by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Subsequent
legislation, including the BBA, extended the 2% reduction, on average, to 2027, subject to additional Congressional action. Sequestration may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and, if we obtain regulatory
approvals, may otherwise affect the prices we may obtain for our product candidates or the frequency with which our product candidates may be prescribed or used if approved. Additional changes that may affect our business include the expansion of new
programs such as Medicare payment for performance initiatives for physicians under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, or MACRA, which is required to be fully implemented in 2019. At this time, it is unclear how the
introduction of the Medicare quality payment program will impact overall physician reimbursement and their choice of medications to use.
Further, legislative changes to or regulatory changes under the PPACA remain possible in the U.S. Congress and under the Biden administration. The nature and extent of any legislative or regulatory
changes to the PPACA, including repeal and replacement initiatives, are uncertain at this time. It is possible that the PPACA repeal and replacement initiatives, if enacted into law, could ultimately result in fewer individuals having health
insurance coverage or in individuals having insurance coverage with less generous benefits, including limited coverage for drugs. While Congress has not passed repeal legislation, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or the TCJA, which was signed into
law by President Trump, includes a provision repealing, effective January 1, 2019, the tax-based shared responsibility payment imposed by the PPACA on certain individuals who fail to maintain qualifying health coverage for all or part of a year that
is commonly referred to as the “individual mandate.” In addition, the BBA, amended the PPACA to close the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly referred to as the “donut hole.” The scope of potential future legislation to modify or
repeal and replace the PPACA provisions is highly uncertain in many respects. We continue to evaluate the potential impact of the PPACA and its possible repeal or replacement on our business.
The costs of prescription pharmaceuticals in the United States have also been the subject of considerable discussion in the United States, and members of Congress and the administration have stated
that they will address such costs through new legislative and administrative measures. This focus has resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to bring more transparency to product
pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products. At the federal level, the Trump administration’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2019 and
2020 contained further drug price control measures that could be enacted during the budget process or in other future legislation, including, for example, measures to permit Medicare Part D plans to negotiate the price of certain drugs under Medicare
Part B, to allow some states to negotiate drug prices under Medicaid, and to eliminate cost sharing for generic drugs for low-income patients. Further, the Trump administration released a “Blueprint”, or plan, to lower drug prices and reduce out of
pocket costs of drugs that contain additional proposals to increase drug manufacturer competition, increase the negotiating power of certain federal healthcare programs, incentivize manufacturers to lower the list price of their products, and reduce
the out of pocket costs of drug products paid by consumers. The Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, has started the process of soliciting feedback on some of these measures and, at the same, is immediately implementing others under its
existing authority. While some proposed measures will require authorization through additional legislation to become effective, Congress and the Trump administration indicated that they would continue to pursue new legislative and/or administrative
measures to control drug costs. At the state level, legislatures are increasingly passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement
constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing.
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We expect that we may experience more rigorous coverage criteria and additional downward pricing pressure as the result of these and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the
future. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being
able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our drugs. 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 result in reduced demand for our product candidates or additional pricing pressures.
The pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is also subject to governmental control outside the United States. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take
considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost effectiveness of our product candidates to
other available product candidates. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our ability to generate revenues and become profitable could be impaired.
Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties
We rely on third parties to conduct our preclinical studies and clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties
or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates and our business could be substantially harmed.
We have relied upon and plan to continue to rely upon third-party contract research organizations, or CROs, to monitor and manage data for our preclinical and clinical programs. We rely on these
parties for execution of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, and control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol,
legal, regulatory and scientific standards and our reliance on the CROs does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and our CROs are required to comply with FDA laws and regulations regarding current good clinical practice, or GCP,
which are also required by the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Economic Area and comparable foreign regulatory authorities in the form of International Conference on Harmonization, or ICH, guidelines for all of our products
in clinical development. Regulatory authorities enforce GCP through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of our CROs fail to comply with applicable GCP, the clinical data generated in our
clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that upon inspection by a given
regulatory authority, such regulatory authority will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with GCP regulations. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product produced under the current good manufacturing practice, or
cGMP, regulations. While we have agreements governing activities of our CROs, we have limited influence over their actual performance. In addition, portions of the clinical trials for our product candidates are expected to be conducted outside of the
United States, which will make it more difficult for us to monitor CROs and visit clinical trial sites and will force us to rely heavily on CROs to ensure the proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials and compliance with applicable
regulations, including GCP. Failure to comply with applicable regulations in the conduct of the clinical trials for our product candidates may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process.
Some of our CROs have an ability to terminate their respective agreements with us if, among other reasons, it can be reasonably demonstrated that the safety of the subjects participating in our
clinical trials warrants such termination, if we make a general assignment for the benefit of our creditors or if we are liquidated. If any of our relationships with these third-party CROs terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with
alternative CROs or to do so on commercially reasonable terms. In addition, our CROs are not our employees, and except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such CROs, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and
resources to our preclinical and clinical programs. If CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain
is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully
commercialize our product candidates. Consequently, our results of operations and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase substantially and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed
significantly.
Switching or adding additional CROs involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new CRO commences work. As a result,
delays occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Though we strive to manage our relationships with our CROs, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter challenges or delays in the
future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and prospects.
We rely on limited sources of supply for our thin film foil, and any disruption in the chain of supply may impact production and sales and cause delay in
developing and commercializing our proprietary PharmFilm® Technology product candidates.
We currently have relationships with two third-parties for the manufacture of our thin film foil. Because of the unique equipment and process for manufacturing our thin film foil, transferring
manufacturing activities for our foil to an alternate supplier would be a time-consuming and costly endeavor, and there are only a limited number of manufacturers that we believe are capable of performing this function for us. Switching thin film
foil suppliers may involve substantial cost and could result in a delay in our desired clinical and commercial timelines. If any of our thin film foil manufacturers breach or terminate their agreements with us, we would need to identify an
alternative source for the thin film foil manufacture and supply of foil to us for the development and commercialization of the applicable products. Identifying an appropriately qualified source of alternative thin film foil supply for any one or
more of these product candidates could be time consuming, and we may not be able to do so without incurring material delays in the development and commercialization of our product candidates, or in satisfying our manufacturing and supply
commitments and obligations for our licensed products and our commercialized self-developed products, which could harm our financial position, the commercial potential for our products, and our results of operations, as well as to result in a
default in our supply commitments and obligations. Any alternative thin film foil vendor would also need to be qualified through an NDA supplement which could result in further delay. The FDA or other regulatory agencies outside of the United
States may also require additional studies if we appoint a new manufacturer for supply of our product candidates that differs from the manufacturer used for clinical development of such product candidates. For our other product candidates, we
expect that only one supplier will initially be qualified as a vendor with the FDA. If supply from the approved vendor is interrupted, there could be a significant disruption in commercial supply.
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These factors could cause the delay of clinical trials, regulatory submissions, required approvals or commercialization of our approved products and product candidates, cause us to incur higher costs
and prevent us from commercializing them successfully. Furthermore, if our suppliers fail to deliver the required commercial quantities of components and active pharmaceutical ingredient on a timely basis and at commercially reasonable prices, and we
are unable to secure one or more replacement suppliers capable of production at a substantially equivalent cost, we would likely be in default in our supply obligations, which could result in the termination of our supply obligations, our incurring
potential default damages and our loss of significant revenues.
We rely on third parties to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API, for our product candidates, and we intend to rely on third parties to
manufacture the API for any other approved products. The commercialization of any of our products could be stopped, delayed or made less profitable if those third parties fail to provide us with sufficient quantities of API or fail to do so at
acceptable quality levels or prices or fail to maintain or achieve satisfactory regulatory compliance.
We currently rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to manufacture API for our licensed products, our existing proprietary product and our product candidates, and control only certain
aspects of their activities.
Any of these third parties may terminate their engagements with us at any time. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements, it could delay our proprietary product candidate programs and
commercialization activities. Our reliance on these third parties reduces our control over these activities but does not relieve us of our responsibility to ensure compliance with all required legal, regulatory and scientific standards and any
applicable trial protocols or our obligations under our product supply commitments and obligations. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our studies in accordance with
regulatory requirements or our stated study plans and protocols, we will not be able to complete, or may be delayed in completing, clinical trials required to support future regulatory submissions and approval of our product candidates and we would
likely be in default in our supply commitments and obligations, which could result in the termination of our supply obligations, our incurring potential default damages and our loss of significant revenues.
Our products and product candidates are highly reliant on very complex sterile techniques and personnel aseptic techniques. The facilities used by us, and by our third-party API manufacturers, to
manufacture our products and product candidates must maintain a compliance status acceptable to the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities pursuant to inspections that will be conducted after we submit our NDA to the FDA. If we or any of our
third-party API manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the applicable regulatory authorities’ strict regulatory requirements, or pass regulatory inspection, we or they will not be able to secure
or maintain regulatory approval for the manufacturing facilities. In addition, we have no control over the ability of third-party API manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. Further, as we scale
up manufacturing of our product candidates and conduct required stability testing, product, packaging, equipment and process-related issues may require refinement or resolution in order for us to proceed with our planned clinical trials and obtain
regulatory approval for commercialization of our product candidates. In the future, for example, we may identify impurities in the product manufactured by us or for us for commercial supply, which could result in increased scrutiny by the regulatory
agencies, delays in our clinical program and regulatory approval, increases in our operating expenses, or failure to obtain or maintain approval for our products and product candidates. If the FDA or any other applicable regulatory authority does not
approve these facilities for the manufacture of our products or if they withdraw any such approval in the future, or if our suppliers or third-party manufacturers decide they no longer want to manufacture our products, we would need to find
alternative manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our products or product candidates and which could also result in default in our supply commitments and
obligations, our incurring potential default damages and our loss of significant revenues.
More generally, we and our API manufacturers of pharmaceutical products, may often encounter difficulties in production, particularly in scaling up and validating initial production. These problems
include difficulties with production costs and yields, quality control, including stability of the product, quality assurance testing, shortages of qualified personnel, as well as compliance with strictly enforced federal, state and foreign
regulations. Additionally, we and our API manufacturers may experience manufacturing difficulties due to resource constraints or as a result of labor disputes or unstable political environments. If we or our manufacturers were to encounter any of
these difficulties, or otherwise fail to comply with their contractual obligations, our ability to manufacture our products, or to make our product candidates available for clinical trials and development purposes or to further commercialize any of
our products and product candidates in the United States, would be jeopardized. Any delay or interruption in our ability to meet commercial demand may result in the loss of significant potential revenues and could adversely affect our ability to gain
market acceptance for approved products as well as a potential default of our supply commitments or obligations. In addition, any delay or interruption in the supply of clinical trial supplies could delay the completion of clinical trials, increase
the costs associated with maintaining clinical trial programs and, depending upon the period of delay, require us to commence new clinical trials at additional expense or terminate clinical trials completely. Additionally, if supply from one approved
API manufacturer is interrupted, there could be a significant disruption in commercial supply. Regulatory agencies may also require additional studies if a new manufacturer is relied upon for commercial production. Switching manufacturers may involve
substantial costs and would likely result in a delay in our desired clinical and commercial timelines and disrupt our supply commitment and obligations.
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The occurrence of any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
The design, development, manufacture, supply, and distribution of our products and our product candidates is highly regulated and technically complex.
All entities involved in the preparation of therapeutics for clinical trials or commercial sale are subject to extensive regulation. Components of a finished therapeutic product approved for
commercial sale or used in late-stage clinical trials must be manufactured in accordance with cGMP and equivalent foreign standards. These regulations govern manufacturing processes and procedures (including record keeping) and the implementation and
operation of quality systems to control and assure the quality of investigational products and products approved for sale. Poor control of production processes can lead to the introduction of adventitious agents or other contaminants, or to
inadvertent changes in the properties or stability of our product candidates that may not be detectable in final product testing. The development, manufacture, supply, and distribution of our products and our product candidates is highly regulated
and technically complex. We, along with our third-party providers, must comply with all applicable regulatory requirements of the FDA and foreign authorities.
We, or our API and component manufacturers, must supply all necessary documentation in support of our regulatory filings for our product candidates on a timely basis and must adhere to the FDA’s good
laboratory practices, or GLP, and cGMP regulations enforced by the FDA through its facilities inspection program, and the equivalent standards of the regulatory authorities in other countries. Any failure by us or by our third-party API or component
manufacturers to comply with cGMP or failure to scale-up manufacturing processes, including any failure to deliver sufficient quantities of product candidates in a timely manner, could lead to a delay in, or failure to obtain, regulatory approval of
any of our product candidates. Our facilities and quality systems and the facilities and quality systems of some or all of our third-party API and component manufacturers must also pass a pre-approval inspection for compliance with the applicable
regulations as a condition of regulatory approval of our product candidates or any of our other potential products. In addition, the regulatory authorities in any country may, at any time, audit or inspect a manufacturing facility involved with the
preparation of our product candidates or our other potential products or the associated quality systems for compliance with the regulations applicable to the activities being conducted. If these facilities and quality systems do not pass a
pre-approval plant inspection, FDA approval of our product candidates, or the equivalent approvals in other jurisdictions, will not be granted.
Regulatory authorities also may, at any time following approval of a product for sale, inspect our manufacturing facilities or those of our third-party suppliers or contractors. If any such
inspection identifies a failure to comply with applicable regulations or if a violation of our product specifications or applicable regulations occurs independent of such an inspection or audit, we or the relevant regulatory authority may require
remedial measures that may be costly and/or time-consuming for us or a third-party to implement and that may include the temporary or permanent suspension of a clinical trial or commercial sales of our approved products or the temporary or permanent
closure of a facility. Any such remedial measures imposed upon us or third parties with whom we contract could materially harm our business. If we or any of our third-party API or component manufacturers fail to maintain regulatory compliance, the
FDA can impose regulatory sanctions including, among other things, refusal to approve a pending NDA for a new drug product or revocation of a pre-existing approval. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be
materially harmed resulting in a significant loss of revenues and results and resulting in a potential default in our supply commitments or obligations, which could lead to termination of our supply obligations our incurrence of default damages and
our loss of significant revenues.
We may not be successful in establishing development and commercialization collaborations, which could adversely affect, and potentially prohibit, our ability
to develop our product candidates.
Because developing pharmaceutical products, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals, establishing manufacturing capabilities and marketing approved products are expensive, we
continue to explore collaborations or licensing arrangements with third parties that have available resources and experience both in the United States and in territories outside of the United States. We continue to explore selective collaborations
with third parties for development and commercialization of our product candidates both in and outside of the United States. We may, however, be unable to advance the development and/or commercialization of our products and product candidates in
territories outside of the United States, which may limit the market potential for certain product candidates outside the U.S.
In situations where we enter into a development and commercial collaborative arrangement for a product or product candidate, we may also seek to establish additional collaborations for development
and commercialization in territories outside of those addressed by the first collaborative arrangement for such product candidate. There are a limited number of potential licensees, and we expect to face competition in seeking appropriate licensees.
If we are unable to enter into any development and commercial collaborations and/or sales and marketing arrangements on acceptable terms, if at all, we may be unable to successfully develop and seek regulatory approval for our product or product
candidates and/or effectively market and sell approved products, if any, in all of the territories outside of the United States where it may otherwise be valuable to do so.
Whether we reach an agreement for a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed
collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the likelihood of approval by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities, the potential market for the product candidate, the costs and
complexities of delivering such product candidate to patients, competing products, and industry and market conditions generally. Collaborations are complex and time-consuming to negotiate and document.
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We may not be able to negotiate collaborations on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all. If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our
own, we may need to obtain significant additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not have sufficient funds, we may not be able to further develop our product candidates or bring them to market and
generate product revenue.
We rely on third parties to perform many essential services for Sympazan and any other products that we commercialize, including services related to sales,
marketing, customer service support, warehousing and inventory program services, distribution services, contract administration and chargeback processing services, accounts receivable management and cash application services, and financial management
and information technology services. If these third parties fail to perform as expected or to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, our ability to commercialize Sympazan and other products we commercialize will be significantly impacted and
we may be subject to regulatory sanctions.
We have entered into agreements with third-party service providers to perform a variety of functions related to the sale and distribution of our self-developed products, including Sympazan, key
aspects of which are out of our direct control. These service providers provide key services related to sales, marketing, customer service support, warehousing and inventory program services, distribution services, contract administration and
chargeback processing services, accounts receivable management and cash application services, financial management and information technology services. In addition, our inventory is stored at a warehouse maintained by a third party service provider.
We substantially rely on the provider as well as other third-party providers that perform services for us. If these third-party service providers fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, fail to meet expected deadlines or otherwise do not
carry out their contractual duties to us, or encounter damage or disruption at their facilities, our ability to deliver product to meet commercial demand would be significantly impaired. In addition, we may engage third parties to perform various
other services for us relating to adverse event reporting, safety database management, fulfillment of requests for medical information regarding our product candidates and related services. If the quality or accuracy of the data maintained by these
service providers is insufficient, we could be subject to regulatory sanctions.
We may not be successful in maintaining development and commercialization collaborations, and any collaborators may not devote sufficient resources to the
development or commercialization of our product candidates or may otherwise fail in development or commercialization efforts, which could adversely affect our ability to develop and successfully commercialize certain of our products and product
candidates and our financial condition and operating results.
When we establish collaborative arrangements, such collaboration may not ultimately be successful, which could have a negative impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and
prospects. If we collaborate with a third-party for development and commercialization of a product or product candidate, we can expect to relinquish some or all of the control over the future success of that product candidate to the third-party. It
is possible that a third-party collaborator may not devote sufficient resources to the development or commercialization of our product or product candidate or may otherwise fail in development or commercialization efforts, in which event the
development and commercialization of such product or product candidate could be delayed or terminated and our business could be substantially harmed. In addition, the terms of any collaboration or other arrangement that we establish may not prove to
be favorable to us or may not be perceived as favorable, which may negatively impact the trading price of our common stock. In some cases, we may be responsible for continuing development of a product or product candidate or research program under a
collaboration, and the payment we receive from our licensee may be insufficient to cover the cost of this development. Moreover, collaborations and sales and marketing arrangements are complex and time consuming to negotiate, document and implement,
and they may require substantial resources to maintain.
We are subject to a number of additional risks associated with our dependence on collaborations with third parties, the occurrence of which could cause our collaborative arrangements to fail,
including that:
• we may be required to assume substantial actual or contingent liabilities;
• collaborators may not perform their obligations as expected;
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If any such collaborations do not result in the successful development and commercialization of product candidates, or if one of our collaborators terminates its agreement with us, the development or
commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed and our business and prospects harmed. All of the risks relating to product development, regulatory approval and commercialization apply to the activities of our existing and future
collaborators.
Additionally, conflicts may arise between us and our third-party collaborators, such as conflicts concerning the interpretation of clinical data, the achievement of milestones, the interpretation of
financial provisions or the ownership of intellectual property developed during the collaboration. For example, our existing revenue streams are largely dependent on Indivior, which holds the global commercialization rights to our approved product,
Suboxone. During the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, Indivior represented 57% and 86% of our total revenue, respectively. If any such conflicts were to arise with Indivior or any such third party could act in its own self-interest, which may
be averse to our interests. Any such disagreement between us and a third-party collaborator could result in one or more of the following, each of which could delay or prevent the development or commercialization of our product or product candidates
and harm our business:
Risks Related to Our Business Operations and Industry
We will need to expand our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth, which could disrupt our operations.
Our Company has been rapidly growing based upon the number of products and product candidates in our pipeline, and we expect to continue to grow over the next number of years. As our Company matures,
we expect to expand our employee base to increase our managerial, scientific and engineering, operational, sales, marketing, financial and other resources and to hire more consultants and contractors. Future growth would impose significant additional
responsibilities on our management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain, motivate and integrate additional employees, consultants, contractors and contract employees. Also, our management may need to divert a disproportionate amount of
its attention away from our day-to-day activities and devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities. We may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations, which may result in weaknesses in our
infrastructure, give rise to operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. Future growth could require significant capital expenditures and may divert financial resources
from other projects, such as the development of our existing or future product candidates. If our management is unable to effectively manage our growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate and/or grow revenue could
be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our products and product candidates, if approved, and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to
effectively manage any future growth.
In addition, our expected continuing growth in our management team adds increased expense which we must absorb, without necessarily having commensurate growth in our revenues. Also, to date, we have
only directly marketed one product in the market. If we commercialize and directly market Libervant, this could require a significant upfront expense and create a rapid growth in our workforce. This increase in expense may negatively impact our
results of operations and may add to our need for additional funds.
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Our products and, if approved, product candidates, may give rise to potential product liability claims or false marketing claims, and, if successful claims are
brought against us, we may incur substantial liability.
As a pharmaceutical company, we operate in a market that is subject to significant risk of liability. The sales of our approved products and of any product candidates for which we obtain marketing
approval and the use of our product candidates in clinical trials, if any, exposes us to the risk of product liability claims alleging adverse effects from such products or product candidates and false marketing claims relating to the
commercialization of such products or product candidates. Product liability or false marketing claims might be brought against us by consumers, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, others selling or otherwise coming into contact with our
product candidates, or governmental agencies. Suboxone, which treats opioid addiction, has as one of its active ingredients an opioid, buprenorphine. There can be no assurance that we will not become the target of claims relating to opioid addiction
as have companies that market opioids. Any product liability claims or false marketing claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and future growth prospects. If we cannot successfully
defend against product liability claims or false marketing claims, we could incur substantial liability and costs. In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims or false marketing claims may result in:
• impairment of our business reputation;
• withdrawal of clinical study participants;
• substantial costs due to litigation;
• distraction of management’s attention from our primary business;
• substantial monetary awards to patients or other claimants;
• the inability to commercialize our products or product candidates; and
We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage, and our existing or any future insurance policies or our own resources may not sufficiently cover claims for
damages that we may receive in the future.
Our business exposes us to potential product liability and other liability risks that are inherent in clinical development, manufacturing, marketing, sale and use of human therapeutic products. It is
generally necessary for us to secure certain levels of insurance as a condition for the conduct of clinical trials and any sale or use of our products. We have procured product liability insurance with respect to the sale of our approved products and
all clinical trials performed to date for which we were responsible (i.e., in respect of our internal product pipeline). Further, we may seek to expand our insurance coverage for our approved products and our
marketing and commercialization of such products as well as any future approved products as well as other risks related to our business.
Our current product liability insurance coverage may not be sufficient to reimburse us for any expenses or losses we may suffer. Insurance coverage is becoming increasingly expensive and, in the
future, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at an acceptable cost to us or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses due to liability. On occasion, large judgments have been awarded in class action lawsuits based on drugs that
had unanticipated adverse effects. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us could cause our stock price to decline and, if judgments exceed our insurance coverage, could materially adversely affect our results of
operations and business.
We rely significantly on information technology and any failure, inadequacy, interruption or security lapse of that technology, including any cybersecurity
incidents, could harm our ability to operate our business effectively.
Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of third parties with which we contract are vulnerable to damage from cyber-attacks, computer viruses,
unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. We have previously been the target of a phishing attack that resulted in unauthorized access to email. While our systems have been secured and