Item 1A. RISK FACTORS
Except for the historical information contained herein, this report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include projections about our finances, plans and objectives for the future, future operating and economic performance and other statements regarding future performance. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or events. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this report. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the following section, as well as those discussed in Part II, Item 7 entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and elsewhere throughout this report.
You should consider carefully the following risk factors, together with all of the other information included in this report. If any of the following risks, either alone or taken together, or other risks not presently known to us or that we currently believe to not be significant, develop into actual events, then our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects could be materially adversely affected. If that happens, the market price of our common stock could decline, and stockholders may lose all or part of their investment.
Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this section to “we,” “us,” “our” and the “Company” refer to Butterfly Network, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements
We have a limited operating history on which to assess the prospects for our business, we have generated limited revenue from sales of our products, and we have incurred losses since inception. We anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for at least the next several years as we continue to commercialize our existing products and services and seek to develop and commercialize new products and services.
Since inception, we have devoted substantially all of our financial resources to develop our products and related services. We have financed our operations primarily through the issuance of equity and convertible debt securities. We have generated limited revenue from the sale of our products and services to date and have incurred significant losses. The amount of our future net losses will depend, in part, on sales and on-going development of our products and related services, the rate of our future expenditures and our ability to obtain funding through the issuance of our securities, strategic collaborations or grants. We expect to continue to incur significant losses for at least the next several years as we continue to commercialize our existing products and services and seek to develop and commercialize new products and services. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:
● continue to develop our products and services;
● seek to maintain, protect and expand our intellectual property portfolio;
● seek to attract and retain skilled personnel; and
● support our operations as a public company.
Our ability to generate future revenue from product and service sales depends heavily on our success in many areas, including, but not limited to:
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● addressing any competing technological and market developments;
We have incurred significant losses since inception. As such, you cannot rely upon our historical operating performance to make an investment decision about us.
Since our inception, we have engaged in research and development activities and launched our first product, Butterfly iQ, in the fourth quarter of 2018, and our second product, Butterfly iQ+, in 2020. Since commercialization of the Butterfly iQ, we also engaged in the continued development and sales of our enterprise software. We have financed our operations primarily through the issuance of equity securities and convertible debt. We have incurred net losses of $32.4 million, $162.7 million and $99.7 million in the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Our accumulated deficit as of December 31, 2021 was $427.2 million. We do not know whether or when we will become profitable. Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability depends upon our ability to accelerate the commercialization of our products and service offerings in line with the demand from current and future customers and our aggressive business strategy. We may be unable to achieve any or all of these goals.
We may need to raise additional funding to expand the commercialization of our products and services and to expand our research and development efforts. This additional financing may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed may force us to delay, limit or terminate our product commercialization or development efforts or other operations.
Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception. We expect to expend substantial additional amounts to commercialize our products and services and to develop new products and services. We expect to use the funds received in connection with the Business Combination to scale our operations, develop new products and services, expand internationally, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. We may require additional capital to expand the commercialization of our existing products and services and to develop new products and services. In addition, our operating plans may change as a result of many factors that may currently be unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned.
We cannot guarantee that future financing will be available in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. Moreover, the terms of any future financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of our stockholders and the issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, by the Company, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. The incurrence of indebtedness could result in increased fixed payment obligations, and we may be required to agree to certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. We could also be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborative partners or otherwise at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable, and we may be required to relinquish rights to some of our technologies or products or otherwise agree to terms that are unfavorable to us, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects. In addition, raising additional capital through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities would cause dilution to holders of our equity securities, and may affect the rights of then-existing holders of our equity securities. Even if we believe that we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans, we may seek additional capital if market conditions are favorable or if we have specific strategic considerations.
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Risks Related to Our Business and Operations
Our success depends upon market acceptance of our products and services, our ability to develop and commercialize existing and new products and services and generate revenues, and our ability to identify new markets for our technology.
We have developed, and we are engaged in the development of, ultrasound imaging solutions using our ultrasound-on-a-semiconductor-chip technology. We are commercializing Butterfly iQ+ point-of-care ultrasound imaging devices. Our success will depend on the acceptance of our products and services in the U.S. and international healthcare markets. We are faced with the risk that the marketplace will not be receptive to our products and services over competing products, including traditional cart-based ultrasound devices used in hospitals, imaging centers and physicians’ offices, and that we will be unable to compete effectively. Factors that could affect our ability to successfully commercialize our current products and services and to commercialize any potential future products and services include:
We cannot assure investors that our current products and services or any future products and services will gain broad market acceptance. If the market for our current products and services or any future products and services fails to develop or develops more slowly than expected, or if any of the services and standards supported by us do not achieve or sustain market acceptance, our business and operating results would be materially and adversely affected.
Medical device development is costly and involves continual technological change, which may render our current or future products obsolete.
The market for point-of-care medical devices is characterized by rapid technological change, medical advances and evolving industry standards. Any one of these factors could reduce the demand for our devices or services or require substantial resources and expenditures for research, design and development to avoid technological or market obsolescence.
Our success will depend on our ability to enhance our current technology, services and systems and develop or acquire and market new technologies to keep pace with technological developments and evolving industry standards, while responding to changes in customer needs. A failure to adequately develop or acquire device enhancements or new devices that will address changing technologies and customer requirements adequately, or to introduce such devices on a timely basis, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We might have insufficient financial resources to improve existing devices, advance technologies and develop new devices at competitive prices. Technological advances by one or more competitors or future entrants into the field may result in our current devices becoming non-competitive or obsolete, which may decrease revenues and profits and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
We may encounter significant competition across our existing and future planned products and services and in each market in which we sell or plan to sell our products and services from various companies, many of which have greater financial and marketing resources than we do. Our primary competitors include General Electric, Phillips Healthcare, Canon Medical Systems (f/k/a Toshiba), Hitachi and Siemens Healthineers, which, per IHI Markit data, are the top five manufacturers of legacy cart-based incumbent ultrasound devices.
In addition, our competitors, which are well-established manufacturers with significant resources, may engage in aggressive marketing tactics. Competitors may also possess the ability to commercialize additional lines of products, bundle products or offer higher discounts and incentives to customers in order to gain a competitive advantage. If the prices of competing products are lowered as a result, we may not be able to compete effectively.
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We will be dependent upon the success of our sales and customer acquisition and retention strategies.
Our business is dependent upon the success of our sales and customer acquisition and retention strategies, and our marketing efforts are focused on developing a strong reputation with healthcare providers and increasing awareness of our products and services. If we fail to maintain a high quality of service or a high quality of device technology, we may fail to retain existing users or add new users. If we do not successfully continue our sales efforts and promotional activities, particularly to health systems and large institutions, or if existing users decrease their level of engagement, our revenue, financial results and business may be significantly harmed. Our future success depends upon continued expansion of our commercial operations in the United States and internationally, as well as entering additional markets to commercialize our products and services. We believe that our growth will depend on the further development and commercialization of our current products and services, and marketing authorization of our future products and services. If we fail to expand the use of our products and services in a timely manner, we may not be able to expand our market share or to grow our revenue. Our financial performance will be substantially dictated by our success in adding, retaining and engaging active users of our products. If customers do not perceive our products or services to be useful, reliable and trustworthy, we may not be able to attract or retain customers or otherwise maintain or increase the frequency and duration of their engagement. As our business model is predicated on both hardware and software sales, there is risk that any decline in software renewal rates will adversely impact our business. To date, utilization of our software has varied across different medical specialties, but usage does not directly correlate to renewal of subscriptions, as different medical specialties interact with the device in different ways depending on their clinical focus and routine. A decrease in customer retention, growth or engagement with our products and services may have a material and adverse impact on our revenue, business, financial condition and results of operations.
Any number of factors could negatively affect customer retention, growth and engagement, including:
● customers increasingly engaging with competing products;
● failure to introduce new and improved products and services;
If we do not successfully manage the development and launch of new products, we will not meet our long term forecasts, and operating and financial results and condition could be adversely affected.
Our technology on a microchip has the potential to allow us to monitor patients in various care settings due to its portability and cost. We expect our development path will be directed at accessing and optimizing our technology for use in various care settings, potentially including home scanning and or wearable patient technology, subject to appropriate regulatory authorization. We face risks associated with launching such new products. If we encounter development or manufacturing challenges or discover errors during our product development cycle, the product launch dates of new products may be delayed, which will cause delays in our ability to achieve our forecasted results. The expenses or losses associated with unsuccessful product development or launch activities or lack of market acceptance of our new products could adversely affect our business or financial condition.
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We expect to generate an increasing portion of our revenue internationally in the future and may become subject to various additional risks relating to our international activities, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
During the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, approximately 31%, 28% and 13%, respectively, of our product and service revenue was generated from customers located outside of the United States. We believe that a substantial percentage of our future revenue will come from international sources as we expand our sales and marketing opportunities internationally. We have limited experience operating internationally, and engaging in international business involves a number of difficulties and risks, including:
● difficulties and costs of staffing and managing foreign operations;
● laws and business practices that may favor local companies;
If we dedicate significant resources to our international operations and are unable to manage these risks effectively, our business, operating results and financial condition may be adversely affected.
We are subject to export and import control laws and regulations that could impair our ability to compete in international markets or subject us to liability if we violate such laws and regulations.
We are required to comply with export and import control laws, which may affect our ability to enter into or complete transactions with certain customers, business partners, and other persons. In certain circumstances, export control regulations may prohibit the export of certain products, services, and technologies. We may be required to obtain an export license before exporting a controlled item, and granting of a required license cannot be assured. Compliance with the import laws that apply to our businesses may restrict our access to, and may increase the cost of obtaining, certain products and could interrupt our supply of imported inventory.
Exported technologies necessary to develop and manufacture certain products are subject to U.S. export control laws and similar laws of other jurisdictions. We may be subject to adverse regulatory consequences, including government oversight of facilities and export transactions, monetary penalties, and other sanctions for violations of these laws. In certain instances, these regulations may prohibit us from developing or manufacturing certain of our products for specific applications outside the United States. Failure to comply with any of these laws and regulations could result in civil and criminal, monetary, and nonmonetary penalties; disruptions to our business; limitations on our ability to import and export products and services; or damage to our reputation.
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If we experience decreasing prices for our products and are unable to reduce our expenses, including the per unit cost of producing our products, there may be a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
We may experience decreasing prices for our products due to pricing pressure from managed care organizations and other third-party payors and suppliers, increased market power of our payors as the medical device industry consolidates, and increased competition among suppliers, including manufacturing services providers. If the prices for our products and services decrease and we are unable to reduce our expenses, including the cost of sourcing materials, logistics and the cost to manufacture our products, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows may be adversely affected. To the extent that we engage in enterprise sales, we may be subject to procurement discounts, which could have a negative impact on the prices of our products.
If we are unable to attract, recruit, train, retain, motivate and integrate key personnel, we may not achieve our goals.
Our future success depends on our ability to attract, recruit, train, retain, motivate and integrate key personnel, including our Founder and Chairman, Dr. Jonathan Rothberg, and our President and Chief Executive Officer, Todd M. Fruchterman, M.D., Ph.D., as well as our management team and our research and development, manufacturing, software engineering and sales and marketing personnel. Competition for qualified personnel is intense. Several members of our senior management team ended their service with us during the past year. The loss or incapacity of existing members of our executive management team could adversely affect our operations if we experience difficulties in hiring qualified successors. Our executive officers have signed offer letters or employment agreements with us, but their service is at-will and may end at any point in time. In addition, all of our employees are at-will, which means that either we or the employee may terminate their employment at any time.
We believe that our management team must be able to act decisively to apply and adapt our business model in the rapidly changing markets in which we will compete. In addition, we rely upon technical and scientific employees or third-party contractors to effectively establish, manage and grow our business. Consequently, we believe that our future viability will depend largely on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled managerial, sales, scientific and technical personnel. In order to do so, we increased our employee compensation in 2021 and in the future we may need to pay higher compensation or fees to our employees or consultants than we currently expect, and such higher compensation payments may have a negative effect on our operating results. Competition for experienced, high-quality personnel is intense, and there is no assurance that we will be able to recruit and retain such personnel. Our growth depends, in particular, on attracting and retaining highly-trained sales personnel with the necessary technical background and ability to understand our products and services at a technical level to effectively identify and sell to potential new customers and develop new products. Because of the technical nature of our products and the dynamic market in which we compete, any failure to attract, recruit, train, retain, motivate and integrate qualified personnel could materially harm our operating results and growth prospects. Recruiting, training and retention difficulties can limit our ability to support our research and development and commercialization efforts.
We will need to expand our organization, and we may experience difficulties in recruiting needed additional employees and consultants, which could disrupt our operations.
As our development and commercialization plans and strategies develop, we will need additional managerial, operational, sales, marketing, financial, legal and other resources. The competition for qualified personnel in the medical device industry is intense. Due to this intense competition, we may be unable to attract and retain the qualified personnel necessary for the development of our business or to recruit suitable replacement personnel.
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, operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. Our expected growth could require significant capital expenditures and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of additional products. 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
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strategy. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize products and services and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth.
We have limited experience in marketing and selling our products and related services, and if we are unable to successfully commercialize our products and related services, our business and operating results will be adversely affected.
We have limited experience marketing and selling our products and related services. We currently sell our products to healthcare practitioners through eCommerce, distributors and enterprise sales. Future sales of our products will depend in large part on our ability to effectively market and sell our products and services, successfully manage and expand our sales force, and increase the scope of our marketing efforts. We may also enter into additional distribution arrangements in the future. Because we have limited experience in marketing and selling our products, our ability to forecast demand, the infrastructure required to support such demand and the sales cycle to customers is unproven. If we do not build an efficient and effective marketing and sales force, our business and operating results will be adversely affected.
We have chosen to engage a single supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, or TSMC, to supply and manufacture a key component of our products. If TSMC fails to fulfill its obligations under its existing contractual arrangements with us or does not perform satisfactorily, or if this relationship is terminated for other reasons, our ability to source our devices would be negatively and adversely affected. In addition, our obligation to purchase a minimum volume from TSMC may adversely affect our cash flows.
We have chosen to engage a single supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, or TSMC, a semiconductor manufacturer, to manufacture and supply all of the wafers used to create the semiconductor chips in our probes. See Item 1, Business — Manufacturing — Key Agreements — Foundry Service Agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited. Since our contracts with TSMC are non-exclusive and do not commit TSMC to supply or manufacture quantities beyond the amounts included in our forecasts, TSMC may give other customers’ needs higher priority than ours, and we may not be able to obtain adequate supplies in a timely manner or on commercially reasonable terms. If TSMC is unable to supply components or devices, our business would be harmed.
We entered into a Foundry Service Agreement, or FSA, with TSMC, under which TSMC agreed to manufacture, and we committed to purchase, a minimum volume of the wafers used for the semiconductor chips in our probes. Our minimum purchase obligation could adversely affect our cash flows, such as in times when we have sufficient inventory and would otherwise be able to use our cash for other purposes. Pursuant to the FSA, we are required to buy back from TSMC any unused raw wafers. If we are required to buy back from TSMC any unused raw wafers pursuant to the FSA, our cash flows may be adversely impacted.
In addition, if we were to lose component suppliers such as TSMC, there can be no assurance that we will be able to identify or enter into agreements with alternative suppliers on a timely basis on acceptable terms, if at all. An interruption in our ability to sell and deliver our products or instruments to customers could occur if we encounter delays or difficulties in securing these components, or if the quality of the components supplied do not meet our specifications, or if we cannot then obtain an acceptable substitute. If any of these events occur, our business and operating results could be harmed.
We rely on a single contract manufacturer, Benchmark Electronics, Inc., or Benchmark, to test, assemble and supply our finished products. If Benchmark fails to fulfill its obligations under its existing contractual arrangements with us or does not perform satisfactorily, our ability to source our devices could be negatively and adversely affected.
In October 2015, we entered into a Manufacture and Supply Agreement, or MSA, with Benchmark. Under the MSA, as amended effective in August 2019 and February 2021, Benchmark will manufacture our products pursuant to binding 90-day purchase orders, as well as non-binding 180-day “forecasts” estimating our product shipment requirements, submitted by us to Benchmark each month, which may become binding in certain cases. We also have certain inventory related obligations, including the obligation to purchase excess and obsolete components from Benchmark. In addition, pursuant to the February 2021 amendment, we agreed to provide global production exclusivity to Benchmark for our current products and other hand-held probes which may be manufactured for us, for a specified exclusivity period. See
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Item 1, Business — Manufacturing — Key Agreements — Manufacture and Supply Agreement with Benchmark Electronics, Inc.
In the event it becomes necessary to utilize a different contract manufacturer for our component products, we would experience additional costs, delays and difficulties in obtaining such components as a result of identifying and entering into an agreement with a new contract manufacturer as well as preparing such new manufacturer to meet the logistical requirements associated with manufacturing our devices, and our business would suffer.
We have and may continue to experience pricing pressures from contract suppliers or manufacturers on which we rely.
Due to supply constraints, we have seen our costs increase in 2021 but we were largely able to offset these costs through manufacturing efficiencies and pricing actions. However, we expect there will continue to be supply constraints; our suppliers are continuing to raise prices and may continue to raise prices in the future, which we may not be able to offset through manufacturing efficiencies or pricing actions. Because we currently rely on TSMC to supply our custom components and on Benchmark to manufacture our finished products, such pricing pressures from either party could increase our costs and force us to increase the prices of our products if we are unable to enter into alternative arrangements with other suppliers or manufacturers, potentially leading to decreased customer demand.
We may experience manufacturing problems or delays that could limit the growth of our revenue or increase our losses.
We may encounter unforeseen situations that would result in delays or shortfalls in our production as well as delays or shortfalls caused by our outsourced manufacturing suppliers and by other third-party suppliers who manufacture components for our products. The FDA (and comparable foreign regulatory authorities) has comprehensive and prescriptive guidelines for medical device component manufacturers, requiring these manufacturers to establish and maintain processes and procedures to adequately control environmental conditions that could adversely affect product quality and impact patient safety. Clean room standards are an example of these requirements. Failure of component manufacturers or other third-party suppliers to comply with applicable standards could delay the production of our products. If we are unable to keep up with demand for our products, our revenue could be impaired, market acceptance for our products could be adversely affected and our customers might instead purchase our competitors’ products. Our inability to successfully manufacture our products would have a material adverse effect on our operating results.
We rely on limited or sole suppliers for some of the materials and components used in our products, and we may not be able to find replacements or immediately transition to alternative suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation.
We rely on limited or sole suppliers for certain materials and components that are used in our products. While we periodically forecast our needs for such materials and enter into standard purchase orders with them, we do not have long-term contracts with some of these suppliers. If we were to lose such suppliers, or if such suppliers were unable to fulfill our orders or to meet our manufacturing specifications, there can be no assurance that we will be able to identify or enter into agreements with alternative suppliers on a timely basis or on acceptable terms, if at all. An interruption in our operations could occur if we encounter delays or difficulties in securing these materials and components, or if the quality of the materials and components supplied do not meet our requirements, or if we cannot then obtain an acceptable substitute. The time and effort required to qualify a new supplier and ensure that the new materials and components provide the same or better quality results could result in significant additional costs. Any such interruption could significantly affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation. To mitigate this risk, we typically carry significant inventory of critical components. While we believe that our level of inventory is currently sufficient for us to continue the manufacturing of our products without a disruption to our business in the event that we must replace one of our suppliers, there can be no assurance that we can maintain this level of inventory in the future.
Acquisitions or joint ventures could disrupt our business, cause dilution to our stockholders and otherwise harm our business.
We may acquire other businesses, products or technologies as well as pursue strategic alliances, joint ventures, technology licenses or investments in complementary businesses. Other than the Business Combination, we have not made any
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acquisitions to date, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven. Any of these transactions could be material to our financial condition and operating results and expose us to many risks, including:
● unanticipated liabilities related to acquired companies;
● possible write-offs or impairment charges relating to acquired businesses.
Foreign acquisitions involve unique risks in addition to those mentioned above, including those related to the integration of operations across different cultures and languages, currency risks and the particular economic, political and regulatory risks associated with specific countries.
In addition, the anticipated benefit of any acquisition may not materialize. Future acquisitions or dispositions could result in potentially dilutive issuances of our equity securities, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities or amortization expenses or write-offs of goodwill, any of which could harm our financial condition. We cannot predict the number, timing or size of future joint ventures or acquisitions, if any, or the effect that any such transactions might have on our operating results.
If we do not successfully optimize and operate our sales and distribution channels or we do not effectively expand and update infrastructure, our operating results and customer experience may be negatively impacted.
If we do not adequately predict market demand or otherwise optimize and operate our sales and distribution channels successfully, this could result in excess or insufficient inventory or fulfillment capacity, increased costs, or immediate shortages in product or component supply, or harm our business in other ways. In addition, if we do not maintain adequate infrastructure to enable us to, among other things, manage our purchasing and inventory, this could negatively impact our operating results and user experience.
If we are unable to continue the development of an adequate sales and marketing organization and/or if our direct sales organization is not successful, we may have difficulty achieving market awareness and selling our products in the future.
We must continue to develop and grow our sales and marketing organization and enter into partnerships or other arrangements to market and sell our products and/or collaborate with third parties, including distributors and others, to market and sell our products to maintain the commercial success of Butterfly iQ+ and to achieve commercial success for any of our future products. Developing and managing a direct sales organization is a difficult, expensive and time-consuming process.
To continue to develop our sales and marketing organization to successfully achieve market awareness and sell our products, we must:
● manage geographically dispersed sales and marketing operations; and
We may not be able to successfully manage our sales force or increase our product sales at acceptable rates.
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Our use of programmatic digital advertising platforms for our eCommerce sales may lead to unwanted advertising and to reputational harm.
Currently, we use programmatic digital advertising platforms that automatically place advertisements for our products on websites visited by those who have visited and/or made purchases from our website. This could lead to unwanted context for advertising about our products and services, resulting in ineffective advertising or even reputational harm.
If we are unable to establish and maintain adequate sales and marketing capabilities or enter into and maintain arrangements with third parties to sell and market our products, our business may be harmed.
We cannot guarantee that we will be able to maintain our current volume of sales in the future. A substantial reduction in sales could have a material adverse effect on our operating performance. To the extent that we enter into additional arrangements with third parties to perform sales or marketing services in the United States, Europe or other countries, our product margins could be lower than if we directly marketed and sold our products. To the extent that we enter into co-promotion or other marketing and sales arrangements with other companies, any revenue received will depend on the skills and efforts of others, and we cannot predict whether these efforts will be successful. In addition, the growth of market acceptance of our products by healthcare practitioners outside of the United States will largely depend on our ability to continue to demonstrate the relative safety, effectiveness, reliability, cost-effectiveness and ease of use of such products. If we are unable to do so, we may not be able to increase product revenue from our sales efforts in Europe or other countries. If we are unable to establish and maintain adequate sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, independently or with others, our future revenue may be reduced and our business may be harmed.
The market for our products and services is new, rapidly evolving, and increasingly competitive, as the healthcare industry in the United States is undergoing significant structural change, which makes it difficult to forecast demand for our products and services.
The market for our products and services is new and rapidly evolving, and it is uncertain whether we will achieve and sustain high levels of demand and market adoption. Our future financial performance will depend in part on growth in this market and on our ability to adapt to the changing demands of customers. It is difficult to predict the future growth rate and size of our target market. As a result, our market projections may not be achieved. Negative publicity concerning our products could limit market acceptance of our products and services. If our customers do not perceive the benefits of our products and services, or if our products and services do not attract new customers, then our market may not develop at all, or it may develop more slowly than we expect. Our success will depend to a substantial extent on the willingness of healthcare organizations to increase their use of our technology and our ability to demonstrate the value of our technology relative to competing products and services to existing and potential customers. If healthcare organizations do not recognize or acknowledge the benefits of our products and services or if we are unable to reduce healthcare costs or drive positive health outcomes, then the market for our solutions might not develop at all, or it might develop more slowly than we expect. Similarly, negative publicity regarding patient confidentiality and privacy in the context of technology-enabled healthcare or concerns experienced by competitors could limit market acceptance of our products and services.
The healthcare industry in the United States is undergoing significant structural change and is rapidly evolving. We believe that demand for our products and services has been driven in large part by rapidly growing costs in the traditional healthcare system, the movement toward patient-centricity and personalized healthcare, and advances in technology. Widespread acceptance of personalized healthcare is critical to our future growth and success. A reduction in the growth of personalized healthcare could reduce the demand for our products and services and result in a lower revenue growth rate or decreased revenue. Additionally, our products and services are offered on a subscription basis, and the adoption of subscription business models is still relatively new, especially in the healthcare industry. If companies do not shift to subscription business models and subscription health management tools do not achieve widespread adoption, or if there is a reduction in demand for subscription products and services or subscription health management tools, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected. Further, the ability of our customers to purchase our products is often contingent upon the customer’s ability to secure adequate funding. Such funding may be derived from internal and external resources, which are subject to a number of circumstances outside of our control. Therefore, it is possible customer funding intended to use towards the purchase of our products may be either delayed or cancelled, which
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could present a negative impact on a customer’s ability to complete purchases and/or continue payments for ongoing subscription services.
Quality problems could lead to recalls or safety alerts and/or reputational harm and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Quality of our products is very important to us and our customers due to the serious and costly consequences of product failure. Our business exposes us to potential product liability risks that are inherent in the design, manufacture, and marketing of medical devices. Product or component failures, manufacturing nonconformities, design defects, off-label use, or inadequate disclosure of product-related risks or product-related information with respect to our products, if they were to occur, could result in inaccurate imaging and safety risks. These problems could lead to the recall of, or the issuance of a safety alert relating to, our products, and could result in product liability claims and lawsuits.
Additionally, the manufacture and production of our products must occur in a highly controlled and clean environment to minimize particles and other yield- and quality-limiting contaminants. Weaknesses in process control or minute impurities in materials may cause defective products. If we are not able to maintain stringent quality controls, or if contamination problems arise, our development and commercialization efforts could be delayed, which would harm our business and results of operations.
If we fail to meet any applicable product quality standards and our products are the subject of recalls or safety alerts, our reputation could be damaged, we could lose customers, and our revenue and results of operations could decline.
Our devices use lithium-ion battery cells, which have been observed to catch fire or vent smoke and flame, and these events may raise concerns about the batteries that we use.
The battery pack used in Butterfly’s iQ+ makes use of lithium-ion cells. On rare occasions, lithium-ion cells can rapidly release the energy they contain by venting smoke and flames in a manner that can ignite nearby materials. Publicized incidents of laptop computers and cell phones bursting into flames have focused consumer attention on the safety of these cells. There can be no assurance that the battery packs that we use would not fail, and this could lead to property damage, personal injury or death, and may subject us to lawsuits. We may also have to recall products due to battery-related safety concerns, which would be time-consuming and expensive. Also, negative perceptions in the healthcare and patient communities regarding the suitability of lithium-ion cells for medical applications or any future incident involving lithium-ion cells could seriously harm our business, even in the absence of an incident involving us.
If we are not able to develop and release new products and services, or successful enhancements, new features and modifications to our existing products and services, to successfully implement our Software-as-a-Services, or SAAS, solutions or to achieve adequate clinical utility, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The markets in which we operate are characterized by rapid technological change, frequent new product and service introductions and enhancements, changing customer demands, and evolving industry standards. The introduction of products and services embodying new technologies can quickly make existing products and services, including software memberships, obsolete and unmarketable. Additionally, changes in laws and regulations could impact the usefulness of our products and could necessitate changes or modifications to our products to accommodate such changes. We invest substantial resources in researching and developing new products and enhancing existing products by incorporating additional features, improving functionality, and adding other improvements to meet customers’ evolving needs. The success of any enhancements or improvements to our existing products or any new products depends on several factors, including timely completion, competitive pricing, adequate quality testing, integration with new and existing technologies and third-party partners’ technologies and overall market acceptance. We may not succeed in developing, marketing and delivering on a timely and cost-effective basis enhancements or improvements to our existing products or any new products that respond to continued changes in market demands or new customer requirements, and any enhancements or improvements to our products or any new solutions may not achieve market acceptance. Since developing our products is complex, the timetable for the release of new products and enhancements to existing products is difficult to predict, and we may not offer new products and updates as rapidly as our customers require or expect. Any new products that we develop may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, may contain errors or defects,
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or may not achieve the broad market acceptance necessary to generate sufficient revenue. Moreover, even if we introduce new products, we may experience a decline in revenue from our existing products that is not offset by revenue from the new products. For example, customers may delay making purchases of new products to permit them to make a more thorough evaluation of these products or until industry and marketplace reviews become widely available. Customers may also delay purchasing a new product because their existing Butterfly or other device continues to meet their needs. Some customers may hesitate to migrate to a new product due to concerns regarding the performance of the new product. In addition, we may lose existing customers who choose a competitor’s products and services. This could result in a temporary or permanent revenue shortfall and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The introduction of new products and solutions by competitors, the development of entirely new technologies to replace existing offerings or shifts in healthcare benefits trends could make our products obsolete or adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may experience difficulties with software development, industry standards, design or marketing that could delay or prevent our development, introduction or implementation of new products, enhancements, additional features or capabilities. If customers do not widely purchase and adopt our products, we may not be able to realize a return on our investment. If we do not accurately anticipate customer demand or if we are unable to develop, license or acquire new features and capabilities on a timely and cost-effective basis, or if such enhancements do not achieve market acceptance, this could result in adverse publicity, loss of revenue or market acceptance or claims by customers brought against us, each of which could have a material and adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.
The COVID-19 pandemic has and could continue to negatively affect various aspects of our business, make it more difficult for us to meet our obligations to our customers, and result in reduced demand for our products and services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China, and it has since spread throughout other parts of the world, including the United States. Any outbreak of contagious diseases, or other adverse public health developments, could have a material adverse effect on our business operations. These impacts to our operations have included, and could again in the future include, disruptions or restrictions on the ability of our employees and customers to travel or of us to pursue collaborations and other business transactions, travel to customers and/or conduct live demonstrations of our products at promotional events, maintain our presence in medical schools and other educational institutions, oversee the activities of our third-party manufacturers and suppliers and make shipments of materials. We may also be impacted by the temporary closure of the facilities of suppliers, manufacturers or customers. The COVID-19 pandemic may also continue to cause financial strain on our customer base due to decreased funding and other revenue shortfalls. With the recent Omicron variant wave of infections, we have seen our customer base become further strained in solving immediate problems associated with the variant. As a result, some of our customers have had to shift their attention to these pressing issues, resulting in longer sales cycles and slower adoption in the near term.
Travel restrictions and business closures have and may in the future adversely impact our operations locally and worldwide, including our ability to manufacture, market, sell or distribute our products, and such restrictions and closure have caused or may cause temporary closures of facilities of suppliers, manufacturers or customers. Disruptions in the operations of our suppliers, customers, and manufacturers and access to customers have and may in the future adversely impact our sales and operating results. In addition, travel restrictions have made it more difficult for us to monitor the quality of our third-party manufacturing operations when we are unable to conduct in-person quality audits of those facilities.
In addition, the issues originally brought on by COVID-19 continue to have an ongoing adverse impact on global supply chains, including ours. We have experienced constraints in availability, increasing lead times and costs required to obtain some inventory components. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures designed to contain its spread, our suppliers may not have the materials, capacity, or capability to supply our components according to our schedule and specifications. Further, there may be logistics issues, including our ability and our supply chain’s ability to maintain production, as well as transportation demands that may cause further delays. If our suppliers’ operations are curtailed, we may need to seek alternate sources of supply, which may be more expensive. Alternate sources may not be available or may result in delays in shipments to us from our suppliers and subsequently to our customers. In addition,
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the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures designed to stop the spread of the virus may have similar effects on our customers. The current pandemic may also give rise to force majeure contractual protections being asserted by customers and/or suppliers that we maintain contracts with, potentially relieving contractual obligations these parties have to us. In any case, any disruption of our suppliers’ or customers’ businesses would likely negatively impact our sales and operating results.
While the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to be temporary, the duration and financial impact of the pandemic cannot be estimated at this time, and the impact on our supply chain and customers has and could continue to have an adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows. Further, while the potential impact and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and our business in particular may be difficult to assess or predict, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in, and may continue to result in, significant disruption of global financial markets and an economic downturn that may continue to affect demand for our products and services, reduce our ability to access capital or our customers’ ability to pay us for past or future purchases, impact our operating results, and have a negative impact on our liquidity and stock price. In addition, an extended recession or an additional financial market correction resulting from the spread of COVID-19 could, adversely affect demand for our products and services, our business and the value of our common stock. The global pandemic of COVID-19 continues to rapidly evolve, and we will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely. Given the uncertainty and potential economic volatility of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent developments we have experienced may change based on new information that may emerge concerning COVID-19, the actions to contain it or address its impact and the economic impact on local, regional, national and international markets. In addition, the continued spread of COVID-19 and actions taken to mitigate such spread as well as the prolonged nature of the pandemic or the occurrence of other outbreaks of contagious diseases could adversely impact our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows.
Unfavorable global economic conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the global financial markets, including changes in inflation, interest rates and overall economic conditions and uncertainties. We have experienced pricing increases from our suppliers and we have increased compensation to our employees to help ensure employee retention. To the extent inflation or other factors increase our business costs, it may not be feasible to pass price increases on to our customers or offset higher costs through manufacturing efficiencies. Inflation could also adversely affect the ability of our customers to purchase our products. An economic downturn could result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened demand for our products and our inability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. A weak or declining economy could also result in further constraints on our suppliers or cause future customers to delay making payments for our products. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our business.
We have incurred and will incur increased costs and demands upon management as a result of complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We have incurred and will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, including costs associated with public company reporting requirements. We also have incurred and will continue to incur costs associated with corporate governance requirements, including requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules implemented by the SEC and the NYSE. These rules and regulations are expected to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time consuming and costly. For example, our executive officers and other personnel will need to devote substantial time regarding operations as a public company and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers, which may adversely affect investor confidence in the Company and could cause our business or stock price to suffer.
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The enactment of legislation implementing changes in the U.S. taxation of international business activities, the adoption of other tax reform policies or changes in tax legislation or policies in jurisdictions outside of the United States could materially impact our results of operations and financial condition.
We are subject to income tax in the numerous jurisdictions in which we operate. Reforming the taxation of international businesses has been a priority for politicians, and a wide variety of potential changes have been proposed. Some proposals, several of which have been enacted, impose incremental taxes on gross revenue, regardless of profitability. Furthermore, it is reasonable to expect that global taxing authorities will be reviewing current legislation for potential modifications in reaction to the implementation of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or the TCJA, in the United States. Due to the expanding scale of our international business activities, changes in the taxation of such activities may increase our worldwide effective tax rate and the amount of taxes we pay and harm our business.
In the United States, the TCJA enacted on December 22, 2017 significantly affected U.S. tax law by changing how the United States imposes income tax on multinational corporations. The U.S. Department of Treasury has broad authority to issue regulations and interpretative guidance that may significantly impact how we will apply the law and impact our results of operations in the period issued.
The TCJA requires complex computations not previously provided in U.S. tax law. As such, the application of accounting guidance for such items remain uncertain. Further, compliance with the TCJA and the accounting for such provisions requires an accumulation of information not previously required or regularly produced. As additional regulatory guidance is issued by the applicable taxing authorities, as accounting treatment is clarified, and as we perform additional analysis on the application of the law, our effective tax rate could be materially different.
Our ability to use net operating losses and certain other tax assets to offset future income may be subject to certain limitations.
As of December 31, 2021, we had federal net operating loss carry forwards, or NOLs, of approximately $494.7 million, of which approximately $73.7 million will begin to expire in 2031, if not utilized. Unused NOLs may be carried forward to offset future taxable income if we achieve profitability in the future, unless such NOLs expire under applicable tax laws. However, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs and other pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset post-change taxable income. For Section 382 purposes, an ownership change generally occurs where the aggregate equity ownership of one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who owns at least 5% of a corporation’s stock increases its ownership by more than 50 percentage points over its lowest ownership percentage within a three-year period (calculated on a rolling basis). The Company has completed an ownership shift analysis through September 30, 2021 and determined that an ownership change has occurred on February 12, 2021 within the meaning of Section 382 and 383 of the Code. Based on our ownership change limitation study, we are limited to utilize only a portion of our pre-change federal NOLs and tax credits until 2026. However, the limitation due to the ownership change will not result in any of the NOLs or tax credits expiring untilized. In addition, future changes in our stock ownership, including future offerings, as well as other changes that may be outside of our control, could result in additional ownership changes under Section 382 of the Code. Our NOLs and tax credits may also be limited under similar provisions of state laws. We have recorded a full valuation allowance related to our NOLs and other deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty of the ultimate realization of the future benefits of those assets.
In addition to the limitations discussed above under Sections 382 of the Code, the utilization of NOLs incurred in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, are subject to limitations adopted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as modified by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act. Under the TCJA, in general, NOLs generated in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 may offset no more than 80 percent of such year’s taxable income and there is no ability for such NOLs to be carried back to a prior taxable year. The CARES Act modifies the TCJA with respect to the TCJA’s limitation on the deduction of NOLs and provides that NOLs arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2021, may be carried back to each of the five taxable years preceding the tax year of such loss, but NOLs arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020 may not be carried back. In addition, the CARES Act eliminates the limitation on the deduction of NOLs to 80 percent of current year taxable income
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for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2021. As a result of such limitation, we may be required to pay federal income tax in some future year notwithstanding that we had a net loss for all years in the aggregate.
U.S. taxation of international business activities or the adoption of tax reform policies could materially impact our future financial position and results of operations.
Limitations on the ability of taxpayers to claim and utilize foreign tax credits and the deferral of certain tax deductions until earnings outside of the United States are repatriated to the United States, as well as changes to U.S. tax laws that may be enacted in the future, could impact the tax treatment of future foreign earnings. Should the scale of our international business activities expand, any changes in the U.S. taxation of such activities could increase our worldwide effective tax rate and harm our future financial position and results of operations.
Taxing authorities may successfully assert that we should have collected or we in the future should collect sales and use, value-added, or similar taxes, and we could be subject to liability with respect to past or future sales, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
Jurisdictions in which we do not collect sales, use, value-added, or similar taxes on our products may assert that such taxes are applicable, which could result in tax assessments, penalties, and interest, and we may be required to collect such taxes in the future. Such tax assessments, penalties, interest, or future requirements would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Further, in June 2018, the Supreme Court held in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. that states could impose sales tax collection obligations on out-of-state sellers even if those sellers lack any physical presence within the states imposing the sales taxes. Under Wayfair, a person requires only a “substantial nexus” with the taxing state before the state may subject the person to sales tax collection obligations therein. An increasing number of states (both before and after the publication of Wayfair) have considered or adopted laws that attempt to impose sales tax collection obligations on out-of-state sellers. The Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision has removed a significant impediment to the enactment and enforcement of these laws, and it is possible that states may seek to tax out-of-state sellers on sales that occurred in prior tax years, which could create additional administrative burdens for us, put us at a competitive disadvantage if such states do not impose similar obligations on our competitors, and decrease our future sales, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We could be adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other worldwide anti-bribery laws by us or our agents.
We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, which prohibits companies and their intermediaries from making payments in violation of law to non-U.S. government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing any other improper advantage. Our planned future reliance on independent distributors to sell our products internationally demands a high degree of vigilance in enforcing our policy against participation in corrupt activity, because these distributors could be deemed to be our agents, and we could be held responsible for their actions. Other U.S. companies in the medical device and pharmaceutical fields have faced criminal penalties under the FCPA for allowing their agents to deviate from appropriate practices in doing business with such non-U.S. government officials. We are also subject to similar anti-bribery laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate, including the United Kingdom’s Bribery Act of 2010, which also prohibits commercial bribery and makes it a crime for companies to fail to prevent bribery. We have limited experience in complying with these laws and in developing procedures to monitor compliance with these laws by our agents. These laws are complex and far-reaching in nature, and, as a result, we cannot assure investors that we would not be required in the future to alter one or more of our practices to be in compliance with these laws or any changes in these laws or the interpretation thereof.
Any violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt our operations, involve significant management distraction, involve significant costs and expenses, including legal fees, and could result in a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, or results of operations. We could also incur severe penalties, including criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement, and other remedial measures.
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Risks Related to Government Regulation and Other Legal Compliance Matters
We are subject to extensive government regulation, which could restrict the development, marketing, sale and distribution of our products and could cause us to incur significant costs.
Our ultrasound imaging products and associated services are subject to extensive pre-market and post-market regulation by the FDA and various other federal, state, local and foreign government authorities. Government regulation of medical devices is meant to assure their safety and effectiveness, and includes requirements for, among other things:
● design, development and manufacturing processes;
● labeling, content and language of instructions for use and storage;
● product testing, non-clinical studies and clinical trials;
● advertising and promotion;
● marketing, sales and distribution;
● conformity assessment procedures;
● product traceability and record-keeping procedures;
● post-market studies (if applicable); and
● product import and export.
The laws and regulations to which we and our products are subject are complex and subject to periodic changes. Regulatory changes could result in restrictions on our ability to carry on or expand our operations, higher than anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales.
Before a new medical device, or a significant modification of a medical device, including a new use of or claim for an existing product, can be marketed in the United States, it must first receive either 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval, or PMA, from the FDA, unless an exemption applies. In the 510(k) clearance process, the FDA must determine that a proposed device is “substantially equivalent” to a device legally on the market, known as a “predicate” device, with respect to intended use, technology and safety and effectiveness, in order to clear the proposed device for marketing. Clinical data is sometimes required to support substantial equivalence. Further, if a previously unclassified new medical device does not qualify for the 510(k) pre-market notification process because no predicate device to which it is substantially equivalent can be identified, the device is automatically classified into Class III. If such a device would be considered low or moderate risk (in other words, it does not rise to the level of requiring the approval of a PMA), it may be eligible for the De Novo classification process.
Obtaining 510(k) clearance, De Novo classification, or PMA approval for medical devices can be expensive and time-consuming, and entails significant user fees, unless an exemption is available. The FDA’s process for obtaining 510(k) clearance usually takes three to 12 months, but it can last longer. In the PMA approval process, the FDA must determine that a proposed device is safe and effective for its intended use based, in part, on extensive data, including but not limited to, technical, non-clinical, clinical trial, manufacturing and labeling data. The process for obtaining a PMA is more costly and uncertain than for a 510(k), and approval can take anywhere from at least one year to, in some cases, multiple years from the time the application is initially filed with the FDA. Modifications to products that are approved through a PMA application generally require further FDA approval. Some of our future products may require PMA approval. In addition, the FDA may require that we obtain a PMA prior to marketing future changes of our existing products. Further, we may not be able to obtain additional 510(k) clearances or PMAs for new products or for modifications to, or additional indications for, our products in a timely fashion or at all. Delays in obtaining future clearances or approvals could adversely affect our ability to introduce new or enhanced products in a timely manner, which in turn could harm our revenue and future profitability.
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We received 510(k) clearance for the Butterfly iQ in 2017, and the FDA determined, following a 2020 pre-submission meeting with us, that the Butterfly iQ+ was eligible to be marketed under the original 510(k) clearance. We may be required to obtain a new 510(k) clearance or PMA for significant post-market modifications to our products, including any modifications made to the Butterfly iQ+. In order to pave the way for at-home use of the Butterfly iQ+ and future products or services, we anticipate that we will need to validate at-home applications through focused clinical trials.
In order to conduct a clinical investigation involving human subjects for the purpose of demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of a medical device, if necessary, for a PMA application, De Novo classification request, or 510(k) notification, a company must, among other things, apply for and obtain institutional review board, or IRB, approval of the proposed investigation. In addition, if the clinical study involves a “significant risk” (as defined by the FDA) to human health, the sponsor of the investigation must also submit and obtain FDA approval of an investigational device exemption, or IDE, application and follow applicable IDE regulations. Unless IDE-exempt, nonsignificant risk devices are still subject to certain abbreviated IDE requirements, however, an IDE application is not required if such abbreviated requirements are met. We may not be able to obtain any necessary FDA and/or IRB approval to undertake clinical trials in the United States for future devices we develop and intend to market in the United States. If we do obtain such approvals, the FDA may find that our studies do not comply with the IDE or other regulations governing clinical investigations or the data from any such trials may not support clearance or approval of the investigational device. Moreover, certainty that clinical trials will meet desired endpoints, produce meaningful or useful data and be free of unexpected adverse effects, or that the FDA will accept the validity of foreign clinical study data (if applicable) cannot be assured, and such uncertainty could preclude or delay market clearance or authorizations resulting in significant financial costs and reduced revenue.
We are also subject to numerous post-marketing regulatory requirements, which include quality system regulations related to the manufacture of our devices, labeling regulations and medical device reporting, or MDR, regulations. The last of these regulations requires us to report to the FDA if our devices cause or contribute to a death or serious injury, or malfunction in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction recurred. If we fail to comply with present or future regulatory requirements that are applicable to Butterfly, we may be subject to enforcement action by the FDA, which may include any of the following sanctions:
● customer notification, or orders for repair, replacement or refunds;
● operating restrictions, suspension or shutdown of production;
● criminal prosecution.
The occurrence of any of these events may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
There is no guarantee that the FDA will grant 510(k) clearance or PMA approval of our future products, and failure to obtain necessary clearances or approvals for our future products would adversely affect our ability to grow our business.
Some of our new or modified products will require FDA clearance of a 510(k) notification or FDA approval of a PMA application, or potentially a grant of a De Novo classification. The FDA may refuse our requests for 510(k) clearance or PMA of new products or may not clear or approve these products for the indications that are necessary or desirable for successful commercialization. Early stage review may also result in delays or other issues. For example, the FDA has issued guidance intended to explain the procedures and criteria used in assessing whether 510(k) and PMA submissions should be accepted for substantive review. Under the “Refuse to Accept” guidance, the FDA conducts an early review against specific acceptance criteria to inform 510(k) and PMA submitters if the submission is administratively complete, or if not, to identify the missing element(s). Submitters are given the opportunity to provide the FDA with any information
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identified as missing. If the information is not provided within a specified time, the submission will not be accepted for FDA review. The FDA may also change its clearance and approval policies, adopt additional regulations or revise existing regulations, or take other actions that may prevent or delay approval or clearance of our products under development or impact our ability to gain clearance or approval for modifications to our currently approved or cleared products in a timely manner. Significant delays in receiving clearance or approval, or the failure to receive clearance or approval for our new products, would have an adverse effect on our ability to expand our business.
Recent initiatives by the FDA to enhance and modernize various regulatory pathways for device products and its overall approach to safety and innovation in the medical technology industry creates the possibility of changing product development costs, requirements, and other factors and additional uncertainty for our future products and business.
Regulatory requirements may change in the future in a way that adversely affects us. Any change in the laws or regulations that govern the clearance and approval processes or the post-market compliance requirements relating to our current and future products could make it more difficult and costly to obtain clearance or approval for new products, or to produce, market and distribute existing products.
For example, the FDA and other government agencies have been focusing on the cybersecurity risks associated with certain medical devices and encouraging device manufacturers to take a more proactive approach to assessing the cybersecurity risks of their devices both during development and on a periodic basis after the devices are in commercial distribution. These regulatory efforts could lead to new FDA requirements in the future or additional product liability or other litigation risks if any of our products is considered to be susceptible to third-party tampering. In December 2016, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act, which made multiple changes to the FDA’s rules for medical devices as well as for clinical trials, and in August 2017, Congress passed the Medical Device User Fee reauthorization package, which affects medical device regulation both pre- and post-approval and could have certain impacts on our business. Since that time, the FDA has announced a series of efforts to modernize and streamline the 510(k) notification and regulatory review process and monitoring post-market safety, and issued a final rule to formalize the De Novo classification process to provide clarity to innovative device developers. In addition, the next FDA reauthorization package is currently being negotiated and is required to be finalized by Congress in mid-2022. Changes in the FDA 510(k) process could make clearance more difficult to obtain, increase delay, add uncertainty and have other significant adverse effects on our ability to obtain and maintain clearance for our products.
It is unclear at this time whether and how various activities initiated or announced by the FDA to modernize the U.S. medical device regulatory system could affect our business, as some of the FDA’s new medical device safety and innovation initiatives have not been formalized and remain subject to change. For example, a 2018 Medical Device Safety Action Plan announced by former FDA Commissioner Gottlieb included a particular focus on post-market surveillance and how to respond when new safety concerns emerge once a product is on the market. The increased attention that the medical technology industry is receiving from FDA leadership that understands the challenging and rapidly changing nature of the U.S. health care system creates the possibility of unanticipated regulatory and other potential changes to our products and our overall business. In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the FDA’s device and diagnostic center leadership has exercised a significant amount of enforcement discretion to meet the medical community’s and patients’ needs for remote monitoring and other innovative solutions that involve digital health products. In December 2021, the FDA issued draft guidance documents describing a phased transition process for medical devices that were developed or modified during the course of the pandemic to treat COVID-19 patients or allow greater access to patients, including medical imaging devices that were developed or modified in accordance with FDA’s Enforcement Policy for Imaging Systems During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. It is unclear how those policies could impact the medical device industry in the future.
If we fail to obtain marketing authorization in other countries for existing products or products under development, we will not be able to commercialize these products in those countries.
In order for us to market our products in countries outside of the United States, we must comply with extensive safety and quality regulations in other countries regarding the quality, safety and efficacy of our products. These regulations, including the requirements for approvals, clearance or CE mark grant, and the time required for regulatory review, vary from country to country. Failure to obtain regulatory approval, clearance or CE mark (or equivalent) in any foreign
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country in which we plan to market our products may harm our ability to generate revenue and harm our business. Approval and CE marking procedures vary between countries and can involve additional product testing and additional administrative review periods. The time required to obtain approval or CE mark in other countries might differ from that required to obtain FDA clearance. The regulatory approval or CE marking process in other countries may include all of the risks detailed above regarding FDA clearance in the United States. Regulatory approval or the CE marking of a product in one country does not ensure regulatory approval in another, but a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval or a CE mark in one country may negatively impact the regulatory process in others. Failure to obtain regulatory approval or a CE mark in other countries or any delay or setback in obtaining such approval could have the same adverse effects described above regarding FDA clearance in the United States.
The primary regulatory environment in Europe is that of the EEA, which is comprised of the Member States of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. We cannot be certain that we will be successful in meeting and continuing to meet the requirements to market a medical device in the EEA in light of the current transition period between the prior system, called the Medical Device Directive, or MDD, to the current system, called the Medical Device Regulation. The Medical Device Regulation went into force in May 2017 but allowed a three-year transition period until May 2020 for Member States, regulatory authorities, and medical device stakeholders to come into compliance with the new requirements. A one-year delay of the compliance date of the Medical Device Regulation was implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, such that May 2021 was the deadline for industry compliance. Compared to the MDD, the Medical Device Regulation promotes a shift from the pre-approval stage (i.e., the path to CE Marking) to a life-cycle approach and places greater emphasis on clinical data and clinical evaluations to assure the safety and performance of new medical devices. Moreover, the Medical Device Regulation includes elements intended to strengthen the conformity assessment procedures, assert greater control over notified bodies and their standards, increase overall system transparency, and impose more robust device vigilance requirements on manufacturers and distributors. Among other changes, many device manufacturers will need to switch notified bodies to one that has received its designation under the Medical Device Regulation, which will require those manufacturers to undergo an audit and have all their documentation reviewed by the new notified body before it can assess their medical device products under the new standards. European medical device manufacturers and distributors are currently benefiting from a grace period for legacy MDD certificates that lasts until May 26, 2024. For a product to qualify for the grace period, there must be no significant changes to such a legacy medical device as described in its existing MDD certificate; the recertification process under the Medical Device Regulation requires a demonstration that the performance and the safety of the currently marketed medical device has been maintained and that the system meets the new regulatory requirements. The new rules and procedures that have been created under the overhauled European regulations will likely result in increased regulatory oversight of all medical devices marketed in the EU, and this may, in turn, increase the costs, time and requirements that need to be met in order to place an innovative or high-risk medical device on the EEA market.
If we, our contract manufacturers or our component suppliers are unable to manufacture our products in sufficient quantities, on a timely basis, at acceptable costs and in compliance with regulatory and quality requirements, the manufacturing and distribution of our devices could be interrupted, and our product sales and operating results could suffer.
We, our contract manufacturers and our component suppliers are required to comply with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation or QSR, which is a complex regulatory framework that covers the procedures and documentation of the design, testing, production, control, quality assurance, labeling, packaging, sterilization, storage, shipping and servicing of our devices. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements is subject to continual review and is monitored rigorously through periodic, sometimes unannounced, inspections by the FDA. We cannot assure investors that our facilities or our third-party manufacturers’ or suppliers’ facilities would pass any future quality system inspection. Failure of our or our third-party manufacturers and component suppliers to adhere to QSR requirements or take adequate and timely corrective action in response to an adverse quality system inspection finding could delay production of our products and lead to fines, difficulties in obtaining regulatory clearances, recalls, enforcement actions, including injunctive relief or consent decrees, or other consequences, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations. Any such failure, including the failure of our contract manufacturers, to achieve and maintain the required high manufacturing standards could result in further delays or failures in product testing or delivery, cost overruns, increased warranty costs or other problems that could harm our business and prospects.
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In addition, any of our products shipped internationally are also required to comply with the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, quality system standards as well as European Directives and norms in order to produce products for sale in the EU. In addition, any of our products shipped internationally are also required to comply with the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, quality system standards as well as European Directives and norms in order to produce products for sale in the EU. The FDA is also expected to publish proposed regulations in 2022 intended to modernize and harmonize the QSR with the applicable ISO standards, which may have wide-reaching effects on medical device production and the industry as a whole.
In addition, many countries such as Canada and Japan have very specific additional regulatory requirements for quality assurance and manufacturing. If we fail to continue to comply with current good manufacturing requirements, as well as ISO or other regulatory standards, we may be required to cease all or part of our operations until we comply with these regulations. Maintaining compliance with multiple regulators adds complexity and cost to our manufacturing and compliance processes.
Our current or future products may be subject to product recalls even after receiving FDA clearance or approval. A recall of our products, either voluntarily or at the direction of the FDA, or the discovery of serious safety issues with our products, could have a significant adverse impact on us.
The FDA and similar governmental bodies in other countries have the authority to require the recall of our products if we or our third-party manufacturers fail to comply with relevant regulations pertaining to, among other things, manufacturing practices, labeling, advertising or promotional activities, or if new information is obtained concerning the safety or efficacy of these products. For example, under the FDA’s MDR regulations, we are required to report to the FDA any incident in which our products may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or in which our products malfunctioned in a manner likely to cause or contribute to death or serious injury if that malfunction were to recur. Repeated adverse events or product malfunctions may result in a voluntary or involuntary product recall, or administrative or judicial seizure or injunction, when warranted. A government-mandated recall may be ordered if the FDA finds that there is a reasonable probability that the device would cause serious, adverse health consequences or death. A voluntary recall by us could occur as a result of any material deficiency in a device, such as manufacturing defects, labeling deficiencies, packaging defects or other failures to comply with applicable regulations, such as a failure to obtain marketing approval or clearance before launching a new product. In February 2020, we initiated a voluntary recall of two software tools after being notified by the FDA that each of them required clearance via a 510(k) pre-market notification. The FDA evaluated the recall and subsequently terminated it in June 2020. In general, if we decide to make a change to our product, we are responsible for determining whether to classify the change as a recall. It is possible that the FDA could disagree with our initial classification. The FDA requires that certain classifications of recalls be reported to the FDA within 10 working days after the recall is initiated. If a change to a device addresses a violation of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, that change would generally constitute a medical device recall and require submission of a recall report to the FDA.
Recalls of any of our products would divert managerial and financial resources and have an adverse effect on our reputation, results of operations and financial condition, which could impair our ability to produce our products in a cost-effective and timely manner in order to meet our customers’ demands. We may also be subject to product liability claims, be required to bear other costs, or be required to take other actions that may have a negative impact on our future sales and our ability to generate profits. Companies are required to maintain certain records of recalls, even if they are not reportable to the FDA. We may initiate voluntary recalls involving our products in the future that we determine do not require notification to the FDA. If the FDA disagrees with our determinations, the FDA could require us to report those actions as recalls. A future recall, withdrawal, or seizure of any product could materially and adversely affect consumer confidence in the Butterfly brand, lead to decreased demand for our products and negatively affect our sales. In addition, the FDA could take enforcement action for failing to report recalls when they were conducted by us or one of our agents.
We may be subject to enforcement action if we engage in improper or off-label marketing or promotion of our products, including fines, penalties and injunctions.
Our promotional materials and training methods must comply with FDA and other applicable laws and regulations, including the prohibition of the promotion of unapproved, or off-label, uses. Physicians may, however, use our products
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off-label, as the FDA does not restrict or regulate a physician’s practice of medicine. Medical device manufacturers and distributors are permitted to promote their products in a way that is consistent with the FDA-authorized labeling and indications for use. However, if the FDA determines that our promotional materials or training materials promote a 510(k)-cleared or approved medical device in a manner inconsistent with its labeling, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance of an Untitled Letter, a Warning Letter, injunction, seizure, civil fine or criminal penalties. In addition to ensuring that the claims we make are consistent with our regulatory clearances or approvals, the FDA also ensures that promotional labeling for all regulated medical devices is neither false nor misleading.
It is also possible that other federal, state or foreign enforcement authorities might take action if they consider our promotional or training materials to constitute promotion of an off-label use, which could result in significant fines or penalties under other statutory authorities, such as laws prohibiting false claims for reimbursement. In that event, our reputation could be damaged, and adoption of our products could be impaired. Although our policy is to refrain from making statements or from disseminating promotional material that could be considered off-label promotion of our products, the FDA or another regulatory agency could disagree and conclude that we have engaged in off-label promotion. In addition, the off-label use of our products may increase the risk of product liability claims. Product liability claims are expensive to defend and could divert our management’s attention, result in substantial damage awards against us, and harm our reputation. Recent court decisions have impacted the FDA’s enforcement activity regarding off-label promotion in light of First Amendment considerations, although there are still significant risks in this area in part due to the potential False Claims Act exposure. Further, this area is subject to ongoing policy changes at the federal level, resulting in some degree of uncertainty for regulated businesses. For example, in August 2021, the FDA issued a final rule revising the agency’s regulation governing the types of evidence relevant to determining the “intended use” of a medical device under the FDCA, which has significant implications for when a manufacturer or distributor has engaged in off-label marketing.
Direct-to-consumer marketing and social media efforts may expose us to additional regulatory scrutiny, including from the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, and other consumer protection agencies and regulators.
In addition to the laws and regulations enforced by the FDA, advertising for various services and for non-restricted medical devices is subject to federal truth-in-advertising laws enforced by the FTC, as well as comparable state consumer protection laws. Our efforts to promote our prescription products via direct-to-consumer marketing and social media initiatives may subject us to additional scrutiny of our practices. For example, the FTC and other consumer protection agencies scrutinize all forms of advertising (whether in digital or traditional formats) for business services, consumer-directed products, and non-restricted medical devices to ensure that advertisers are not making false, misleading or unsubstantiated claims or failing to disclose material relationships between the advertiser and its products’ endorsers, among other potential issues. The FDA oversees the advertising and promotional labeling for restricted medical devices and ensures, among other things, that there is effective communication of, and a fair and balanced presentation of, the risks and benefits of such high-risk medical devices.
Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, or FTC Act, the FTC is empowered, among other things, to (a) prevent unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce; (b) seek monetary redress and other relief for conduct injurious to consumers; and (c) gather and compile information and conduct investigations relating to the organization, business, practices, and management of entities engaged in commerce. The FTC has very broad enforcement authority, and failure to abide by the substantive requirements of the FTC Act and other consumer protection laws can result in administrative or judicial penalties, including civil penalties, injunctions affecting the manner in which we would be able to market services or products in the future, or criminal prosecution. We plan to increase our advertising activities that may be subject to these federal and state truth-in-advertising laws. Any actual or perceived non-compliance with those laws could lead to an investigation by the FTC or a comparable state agency, or could lead to allegations of misleading advertising by private plaintiffs. Any such action against us would disrupt our business operations, cause damage to our reputation, and have a material adverse effect on our business.
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In some instances in our advertising and promotion, we may make claims regarding our product as compared to competing products, which may subject us to heightened regulatory scrutiny, enforcement risk, and litigation risks.
The FDA requires that promotional labeling be truthful and not misleading, including with respect to any comparative claims made about competing products or technologies. In addition to FDA implications, the use of comparative claims also presents risk of a lawsuit by the competitor under federal and state false advertising and unfair competition statutes (e.g., the Lanham Act) or unfair and deceptive trade practices law, and possibly also state libel law. Such a suit may seek injunctive relief against further advertising, a court order directing corrective advertising, and compensatory and punitive damages where permitted by law. Further, notwithstanding the ultimate outcome of any Lanham Act or similar complaint, our reputation and relationship with certain customers or distribution partners may be harmed as a result of the allegations related to our products or our business practices more generally.
Because we do not require training for users of our current products, although they are limited under FDA’s marketing clearances to use by trained healthcare practitioners, there exists a potential for misuse of these products, which could ultimately harm our reputation and business.
Federal regulations allow us to sell our medical device products to or on the order of practitioners licensed by law to use or order the use of a prescription device. The definition of “licensed practitioners” varies from state to state. As a result, our products may be purchased or operated by physicians with varying levels of training and, in many states, by non-physicians, including nurse practitioners, chiropractors and technicians. Outside the United States, many jurisdictions do not require specific qualifications or training for purchasers or operators of medical device products. We do not supervise the procedures performed with our products, nor can we require that direct medical supervision occur. Although product training is offered, neither we nor our distributors require purchasers or operators of our non-invasive products to attend training sessions. The lack of required training and the purchase and use of our non-invasive products by non-physicians may result in product misuse and adverse treatment outcomes, which could harm our reputation and expose us to costly product liability litigation.
We are subject to federal, state and foreign laws prohibiting “kickbacks” and false or fraudulent claims, and other fraud and abuse laws, transparency laws, and other health care laws and regulations, which, if violated, could subject us to substantial penalties. Additionally, any challenge to or investigation into our practices under these laws could cause adverse publicity and be costly to respond to, and thus could harm our business.
Our relationships with customers and third-party payors are subject to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other health care laws and regulations that may constrain Butterfly’s sales, marketing and other promotional activities by limiting the kinds of financial arrangements, including sales programs and certain customer and product support programs, we may have with hospitals, physicians or other purchasers of medical devices. Other federal and state laws generally prohibit individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid, or other third-party payors that are false or fraudulent, or are for items or services that were not provided as claimed. These laws include, among others, the federal healthcare Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal civil False Claims Act, other federal health care false statement and fraud statutes, the Open Payments program, the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, and analogous fraud and abuse and transparency laws in most states, as described in Item 1, Business — Government Regulation. While the federal laws generally apply only to products or services for which payment may be made by a federal healthcare program, state laws often apply regardless of whether federal funds may be involved.
While we believe and make every effort to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties and other activities and programs comply with all applicable laws, these laws are complex, and our activities may be found not to be compliant with one or more of these laws, which may result in significant civil, criminal and/or administrative penalties, fines, damages and exclusion from participation in federal health care programs. Even an unsuccessful challenge or investigation into our practices could cause adverse publicity, and be costly to respond to, and thus could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our compliance with Medicare and Medicaid regulations may be reviewed by federal or state agencies, including the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or OIG, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, and the U.S. Department of Justice, or may be subject to whistleblower lawsuits under federal and state false claims laws. To
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ensure compliance with Medicare, Medicaid and other regulations, government agencies conduct periodic audits of the Company to ensure compliance with various supplier standards and billing requirements.
Similarly, our international operations are subject to the provisions of the FCPA, which prohibits U.S. companies and their intermediaries from making payments in violation of law to non-U.S. government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing any other improper advantage. In many countries, the healthcare professionals that medical device distributors regularly interact with may meet the definition of a foreign official for purposes of the FCPA. International business operations are also subject to various other international anti-bribery laws such as the U.K. Anti-Bribery Act. Despite meaningful measures that we undertake to facilitate lawful conduct, which include training and compliance programs and internal policies and procedures, we may not always prevent unauthorized, reckless or criminal acts by our employees or agents, or employees or agents of businesses or operations we may acquire. Violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt operations, involve significant management distraction and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, among other adverse consequences.
If we are found to have violated laws protecting the confidentiality and security of health information, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, which could increase our liabilities and harm our reputation or our business.
There are a number of federal and state laws protecting the confidentiality and security of individually identifiable health information, or protected health information, or PHI, and restricting the use and disclosure of that protected information. In particular, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services promulgated privacy rules under the Health and Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. The HIPAA privacy rules protect medical records and other personal health information by limiting their use and disclosure, giving individuals the right to access, amend and seek accounting of their own health information and limiting most use and disclosures of health information to the minimum amount reasonably necessary to accomplish the intended purpose. The HIPAA security rules require the implementation of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect the security of PHI. HIPAA applies to health plans, health care providers who engage in certain standard healthcare transactions electronically, such as electronic billing, and healthcare clearinghouses, all of which are referred to as “covered entities.” HIPAA also applies to “business associates,” or organizations that provide services to covered entities involving the use or disclosure of PHI. Business associates, like us, are subject to direct liability for violations of HIPAA.
Penalties for HIPAA violations can be issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, the U.S. Department of Justice, and state attorneys general. Financial penalties can range from $100 to $50,000 per violation, with a maximum penalty of $1.5 million per year for violation. HIPAA authorizes states attorneys’ general to file suit on behalf of state residents; in such cases, courts can award damages, costs and attorneys’ fees related to HIPAA violations in addition to the aforementioned financial penalties. While HIPAA does not create a private right of action allowing individuals to sue in civil court for HIPAA violations, the HIPAA rules have been used as the basis for a duty of care claim in state civil suits for negligence or recklessness in the misuse or breach of PHI. Further, to provide “covered entity” clients with services that involve access to PHI, HIPAA requires us to enter into business associate agreements that require us to safeguard PHI in accordance with HIPAA. If we fail to comply with the terms of our business associate agreements, we may also be liable contractually.
Additionally, we are subject to any state laws that are more restrictive than the rules issued under HIPAA. These laws vary by state and could impose stricter standards and additional penalties. If we are found to be in violation of these applicable state laws, we could be subject to additional civil or criminal penalties, which could increase our liabilities, harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, and other matters. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or declines in customer growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.
We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States and abroad that involve matters central to our business, including laws and regulations relating to privacy, data sharing and data protection, artificial intelligence and use of machine learning, rights of publicity, content, intellectual property, advertising, marketing, distribution, data
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security, data retention and deletion, personal information, electronic contracts and other communications, competition, protection of minors, consumer protection, telecommunications, product liability, taxation, economic or other trade prohibitions or sanctions, corrupt practices, fraud, waste and abuse restrictions, and securities law compliance. The introduction of new products or expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions may subject us to additional laws and regulations. For example, both the federal and various state governments of the United States have adopted or are considering laws, guidelines or rules for the collection, distribution, use and storage of information collected from or about customers or their devices. The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, for example, which became effective January 1, 2020, substantially expands privacy obligations of many businesses providing services to California residents, including us. The CCPA requires new disclosures to California consumers, imposes new rules for collecting or using information about minors, and affords consumers new rights, such as the right to know whether the data is sold or disclosed and to whom, the right to request that a company delete personal information collected, the right to opt out of the sale of personal information and the right to non-discrimination in terms of price or service when a consumer exercises a privacy right. If we fail to comply with these regulations, the CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. Moreover, a newly passed ballot initiative, the California Privacy Rights Act, or CPRA, which will become operational in 2023, expands on the CCPA, creating new consumer rights and protections, including: the right to correct personal information, the right to opt out of the use of personal information in automated decision making, the right to opt out of “sharing” consumer’s personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and the right to restrict use of and disclosure of sensitive personal information, including geolocation data to third parties. We will need to evaluate and potentially update our privacy program to ensure compliance with the CPRA and may incur additional costs and expenses in our effort to comply.
In addition, foreign data protection, privacy, and other laws and regulations can be more restrictive than those in the United States. For example, the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/267, or GDPR, which came into force on May 25, 2018, implemented stringent operational requirements for the collection, use, storage of, protection of and disclosure of personal data. The GDPR introduced more stringent requirements (which will continue to be interpreted through guidance and decisions over the coming years), including but not limited to requiring organizations to erase an individual’s information upon request, limiting the purposes for which personal data may be used, and implementing mandatory data breach notification requirements, requiring organizations in taking certain measures when engaging third party processors and imposing certain obligations on service providers. The GDPR also confers a private right of action on data subjects and consumer associations to lodge complaints with the supervisory authorities, seek judicial remedies and obtain compensation for damages resulting from violations of the GDPR. The European regime also includes directives which, among other things, require EU member states to regulate marketing by electronic means, the use of web cookies and other tracking technology. Each EU Member State has transposed the requirements of such directives into its own national data privacy regime, and therefore, the laws may differ between jurisdictions. We may also be subject to EU rules with respect to cross-border transfers of personal data out of the European Economic Area, or EEA. Recent legal developments in Europe have created complexity and uncertainty regarding transfers of personal data from the EEA to the United States, as the CJEU invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, or Privacy Shield, on July 16, 2020, which may impact our ability to transfer personal data outside of the EEA to the United States or other jurisdictions. The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU may also require us to find alternative solutions for the compliant transfer of personal data into and possibly from the United Kingdom as we will have to comply with the GDPR and also the UK equivalent. If found non-compliant with any of the many requirements under the GDPR, we may be subject to fines of up to the greater of €20 million or up to 4% of our total global annual turnover.
While the CJEU invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, the Court upheld the Standard Contractual Clauses as a valid mechanism for data transfers from the EEA to the United States. We anticipated this issue, which is why in our Data Processing Addendum, the Standard Contractual Clauses automatically come into effect as a back-up transfer mechanism for personal data to be transferred from the EEA to the United States in the event of Privacy Shield invalidation. We are closely following the European Commission’s draft guidance on the Standard Contractual Clauses and the European Data Protection Board’s draft guidance on supplemental tools to ensure that data transfers are handled in accordance with GDPR and to determine if any changes to our privacy program are necessary.
Data localization laws in some countries may mandate that certain types of data collected in a particular country be stored and/or processed within that country. We could be subject to audits in Europe and around the world, particularly in the areas of consumer and data protection, as we continue to grow and expand our operations. Legislators and regulators may
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make legal and regulatory changes, or interpret and apply existing laws, in ways that make our products less useful to customers, require us to incur substantial costs, expose us to unanticipated civil or criminal liability, or cause us to change our business practices. These changes or increased costs could negatively impact our business and results of operations in material ways. If we fail to comply with these standards, we could be subject to criminal penalties and civil sanctions, including fines and penalties and amounts could be significant.
Cybersecurity risks and cyber incidents could result in the compromise of confidential data or critical data systems and give rise to potential harm to customers, remediation and other expenses, expose us to liability under HIPAA, consumer protection laws, or other common law theories, subject us to litigation and federal and state governmental inquiries, damage our reputation, and otherwise be disruptive to our business and operations.
Cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. We collect and store on our networks sensitive information, including intellectual property, proprietary business information and personally identifiable information of individuals, such as our customers and employees. The secure maintenance of this information and technology is critical to our business operations. We have implemented multiple layers of security measures to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of this data and the systems and devices that store and transmit such data. We utilize current security technologies, including encryption and data depersonalization, and our defenses are monitored and routinely tested. Despite these efforts, threats from malicious persons and groups, new vulnerabilities and advanced new attacks against information systems create risk of cybersecurity incidents. These incidents can include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently and may not immediately produce signs of intrusion, we may be unable to anticipate these incidents or techniques, timely discover them, or implement adequate preventative measures.
Cybersecurity threats can come from a variety of sources, and may range in sophistication from an individual hacker to malfeasance by employees, consultants or other service providers to state-sponsored attacks. Cyber threats may be generic, or they may be custom-crafted against our information systems. Over the past several years, cyber-attacks have become more prevalent and much harder to detect and defend against. Our network and storage applications, as well as those of our contractors, may be vulnerable to cyber-attack, malicious intrusion, malfeasance, loss of data privacy or other significant disruption and may be subject to unauthorized access by hackers, employees, consultants or other service providers. In addition, hardware, software or applications that we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise information security. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to gain access to our systems or facilities through fraud, trickery or other forms of deceiving our employees, contractors and temporary staff.
There can be no assurance that we will not be subject to cybersecurity incidents that bypass our security measures, impact the integrity, availability or privacy of personal health information or other data subject to privacy laws or disrupt our information systems, devices or business, including our ability to deliver services to our users. As a result, cybersecurity, physical security and the continued development and enhancement of our controls, processes and practices designed to protect our enterprise, information systems and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access remain a priority for us. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The occurrence of any of these events could result in:
● harm to customers and end-users;
● business interruptions and delays;
● the loss, misappropriation, corruption or unauthorized access of data;
● reputational damage;
● increase to insurance premiums; and
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Security breaches, loss of data and other disruptions could compromise sensitive information related to our business or prevent us from accessing critical information and expose us to liability, which could adversely affect our business and our reputation.
In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store sensitive data, intellectual property and proprietary business information owned or controlled by us or our users. This data encompasses a wide variety of business-critical information, including research and development information, commercial information, and business and financial information. We face four primary risks relative to protecting this critical information: loss of access; inappropriate disclosure; inappropriate modification; and inadequate monitoring of our controls over the first three risks.
The secure processing, storage, maintenance, and transmission of this critical information is vital to our operations and business strategy, and we devote significant resources to protecting such information. Although we take measures to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access or disclosure, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or viruses, breaches, interruptions due to employee error, malfeasance, lapses in compliance with privacy and security mandates, or other disruptions. Any such breach or interruption could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed by unauthorized parties, publicly disclosed, lost, or stolen.
Any such security breach or interruption, as well as any action by us or our employees or contractors that might be inconsistent with the rapidly evolving data privacy and security laws and regulations applicable within the United States and elsewhere where we conduct business, could result in enforcement actions by U.S. states, the U.S. federal government or foreign governments, liability or sanctions under data privacy laws that protect personally identifiable information, regulatory penalties, other legal proceedings such as, but not limited to, private litigation, the incurrence of significant remediation costs, disruptions to our development programs, business operations and collaborations, diversion of management efforts and damage to our reputation, which could harm our business and operations. For example, the CCPA provides for both civil penalties and a private right of action for data breaches as a result of an entity’s non-compliance with the CCPA. Because of the rapidly moving nature of technology and the increasing sophistication of cybersecurity threats, our measures to prevent, respond to and minimize such risks may be unsuccessful.
With respect to medical information, we follow HIPAA rules and applicable state laws, separate personal information from medical information, and further employ additional encryption tools to protect the privacy and security of Butterfly’s users and medical data. However, hackers may attempt to penetrate our computer systems, and, if successful, misappropriate personal or confidential business information. In addition, an associate, contractor or other third party with whom we do business may attempt to circumvent our security measures in order to obtain such information, and may purposefully or inadvertently cause a breach involving such information. While we continue to implement additional protective measures to reduce the risk of and detect cyber incidents, cyber-attacks are becoming more sophisticated and frequent, and the techniques used in such attacks change rapidly.
In addition, non-compliance with any foreign data privacy and data security regulations, such as the GDPR, which requires stringent data breach notification obligations, among many other requirements, resulting in a data breach may result in fines of up to €20 million or 4% of the annual global revenues of the infringer, whichever is greater. There can be no assurance that our efforts to comply with these and other applicable data privacy regulatory regimes will be successful.
Further, unauthorized access, loss or dissemination of sensitive information could also disrupt our operations, including our ability to conduct research and development activities, process and prepare company financial information, manage various general and administrative aspects of our business and damage our reputation, any of which could adversely affect our business and reputation. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will promptly detect any such disruption or security breach, if at all. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the further development of our products could be delayed.
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Broad-based domestic and international government initiatives to reduce spending, particularly those related to healthcare costs, may reduce reimbursement rates for medical procedures, which will reduce the cost-effectiveness of our products and services.
Healthcare reforms, changes in healthcare policies and changes to third-party coverage and reimbursements, including legislation enacted reforming the U.S. healthcare system and both domestic and foreign healthcare cost containment legislation, and any future changes to such legislation, may affect demand for our products and services and may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. The ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act, in the United States, as well as state-level healthcare reform proposals could reduce medical procedure volumes and impact the demand for medical device products or the prices at which we can sell products. These reforms include a national pilot program on payment bundling to encourage hospitals, physicians and other providers to improve the coordination, quality and efficiency of certain healthcare services through bundled payment models. The impact of this healthcare reform legislation, and practices including price regulation, competitive pricing, comparative effectiveness of therapies, technology assessments, and managed care arrangements are uncertain. There can be no assurance that current levels of reimbursement will not be decreased in the future, or that future legislation, regulation, or reimbursement policies of third parties will not adversely affect the demand for our products and services or our ability to sell products and provide services on a profitable basis. The adoption of significant changes to the healthcare system in the United States, the EEA or other jurisdictions in which we may market our products and services, could limit the prices we are able to charge for our products and services or the amounts of reimbursement available for our products and services, could limit the acceptance and availability of our products and services, reduce medical procedure volumes and increase operational and other costs.
There have been judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act, and as a result, certain sections of the Act have not been fully implemented or were effectively repealed. However, following several years of litigation in the federal courts, in June 2021, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act when it dismissed a legal challenge to the Act’s constitutionality. Further legislative and regulatory changes under the Affordable Care Act remain possible, although the new Democrat-led presidential administration has been taking steps to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and the 117th Congress is not expected to have the same interest in repealing the law, in part due to the healthcare economic impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on many subsets of the U.S. population. In addition to the Affordable Care Act, there have been and will likely continue to be other federal and state changes that affect the provision of healthcare goods and services in the United States. While we are unable to predict what changes may ultimately be enacted, to the extent that future changes affect how our products and services are paid for and reimbursed by government and private payers, our business could be adversely impacted. Moreover, complying with any new legislation or reversing changes implemented under the Affordable Care Act could be time-intensive and expensive, resulting in a material adverse effect on the business.
Inadequate funding for the FDA, the SEC and other government agencies could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.
The ability of the FDA to review and approve or clear new medical device products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of the SEC and other government agencies on which our operations may rely, including those that fund research and development activities, is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.
Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also increase the time necessary for new products to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, the U.S. government has shut down several times, and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, have had to furlough critical employees and stop critical activities. Separately, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020, the FDA temporarily postponed routine surveillance inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities and provided guidance regarding the conduct of clinical trials, which has since been further updated and is
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being refreshed on a periodic basis. The FDA has also noted that it is continuing to ensure timely reviews of applications for medical products during the COVID-19 pandemic in line with its user fee performance goals and conducting “mission-critical” domestic and foreign inspections to ensure compliance of manufacturing facilities with FDA quality standards.
Subsequently, in July 2020, the FDA announced its intention to resume certain on-site inspections of domestic manufacturing facilities subject to a risk-based prioritization system. The FDA intends to use this risk-based assessment system to identify the categories of regulatory activity that can occur within a given geographic area, ranging from mission-critical inspections to resumption of all regulatory activities. The agency’s rating system is used to assist in determining when and where it is safest to conduct such inspections based on data about the virus’s trajectory in a given state and locality and the rules and guidelines that are put in place by state and local governments. The FDA’s assessment of whether an inspection is mission-critical considers many factors related to the public health benefit of U.S. patients having access to the product subject to inspection, including whether the products are used to diagnose, treat, or prevent a serious disease or medical condition for which there is no other appropriate substitute. Both for-cause and pre-approval inspections can be deemed mission-critical.
Additionally, regulatory authorities outside the United States may adopt similar restrictions or other policy measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If a prolonged government shutdown or slowdown occurs, or if global health concerns continue to prevent the FDA or other regulatory authorities from conducting their regular inspections, reviews, or other regulatory activities, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our future business. Further, future government shutdowns could impact our ability to access the public markets and obtain necessary capital in order to properly capitalize and continue our operations.
Risks Related to Butterfly’s Intellectual Property
If we are unable to protect our intellectual property, our ability to maintain any technological or competitive advantage over our competitors and potential competitors would be adversely impacted, and our business may be harmed.
We rely on patent protection as well as trademark, copyright, trade secret and other intellectual property rights protection and contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary technologies, all of which provide limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage. As of December 31, 2021, we owned approximately 352 issued patents and approximately 455 pending patent applications. Of our approximately 352 issued patents, approximately 104 were issued U.S. utility patents and approximately 35 were issued U.S. design patents. Of our approximately 455 pending patent applications, approximately 145 were pending U.S. utility patent applications and approximately 13 were pending U.S. design applications. In addition, as of December 31, 2021, we owned approximately 213 issued patents in foreign jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and India, and 293 pending patent applications in foreign jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and India, corresponding to the foregoing. In total, as of December 31, 2021, we owned approximately 187 patent families generally directed to our ultrasound products, including manufacturing, circuit components and add-on features. These issued patents and pending patent applications (if they were to issue as patents) have expected expiration dates ranging between 2030 and 2042. If we fail to protect our intellectual property, third parties may be able to compete more effectively against us, we may lose our technological or competitive advantage, or we may incur substantial litigation costs in our attempts to recover or restrict use of our intellectual property.
We cannot assure investors that any of our currently pending or future patent applications will result in granted patents, and we cannot predict how long it will take for such patents to be granted or whether the scope of such patents, if granted, will adequately protect our products from competitors. It is possible that, for any of our patents that have granted or that may be granted in the future, others will design alternatives that do not infringe upon our patented technologies. Further, we cannot assure investors that other parties will not challenge any patents granted to us or that courts or regulatory agencies will hold our patents to be valid or enforceable. We cannot guarantee investors that we will be successful in defending challenges made against our patents and patent applications. Any successful third-party challenge to our patents could result in the unenforceability or invalidity of such patents, or to such patents being interpreted narrowly or
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otherwise in a manner adverse to our interests. Our ability to establish or maintain a technological or competitive advantage over our competitors may be diminished because of these uncertainties. For these and other reasons, our intellectual property may not provide us with any competitive advantage. For example:
● The patents of others may have an adverse effect on our business; and
To the extent our intellectual property offers inadequate protection, or is found to be invalid or unenforceable, we would be exposed to a greater risk of direct competition. If our intellectual property does not provide adequate coverage over our products and protection against our competitors’ products, our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business.
Software is a critical component of our devices. To the extent such software is not protected by our patents, we depend on copyright and trade secret protection and non-disclosure agreements with our employees, strategic partners and consultants, which may not provide adequate protection.
The measures that we use to protect the security of our intellectual property and other proprietary rights may not be adequate, which could result in the loss of legal protection for, and thereby diminish the value of, such intellectual property and other rights.
In addition to pursuing patents on our technology, we also rely upon trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights and unfair competition laws, as well as license agreements and other contractual provisions, to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. Despite these measures, any of our intellectual property rights could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented or misappropriated. In addition, we take steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology by entering into confidentiality agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees, consultants, corporate partners and, when needed, our advisors. Our suppliers also have access to the patented technology owned or used by us as well as other proprietary information, and these suppliers are subject to confidentiality provisions under their agreements with us.
Such agreements or provisions may not be enforceable or may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure or other breaches of the agreements, and we may not be able to prevent such unauthorized disclosure. Notwithstanding any such agreements, there is no assurance that our current or former manufacturers or suppliers will not use and/or supply our competitors with our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information to which these parties gained access or generated from their relationship with us. This could lead to our competitors gaining access to patented or other proprietary information. Moreover, if a party to an agreement with us has an overlapping or conflicting obligation to a third party, our rights in and to certain intellectual property could be undermined. Monitoring unauthorized disclosure is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to prevent such disclosure are, or will be, adequate. If we were to enforce a claim that a third
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party had illegally obtained and was using our trade secrets, it would be expensive and time-consuming, the outcome would be unpredictable, and any remedy may be inadequate. In addition, courts outside the United States may be less willing to protect trade secrets.
In addition, competitors could purchase our products and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, willfully infringe our intellectual property rights, design around our protected technology or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual property rights. If our intellectual property does not adequately protect our market share against competitors’ products and methods, our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business.
We are party to the Technology and Services Exchange Agreement by and among us and certain affiliated companies, pursuant to which the parties have agreed to share personnel and certain non-core technologies. The sharing arrangements under the agreement may prevent us from fully utilizing our personnel and/or the technologies shared under the agreement. Furthermore, if this agreement were to terminate, or if we were to lose access to these technologies and services, our business could be adversely affected.
We entered into a Technology and Services Exchange Agreement, or the TSEA, by and among us and other participant companies controlled by the Rothbergs, consisting of AI Therapeutics, Inc., Quantum-Si Incorporated, Hyperfine Operations, Inc. (f/k/a Hyperfine, Inc.), 4Bionics LLC, Tesseract Health, Inc., Liminal Operations, Inc. (f/k/a Liminal Sciences, Inc.) and Detect, Inc. (f/k/a Homodeus Inc.). The TSEA, signed in November 2020, became effective upon the Closing. Under the TSEA, we and the other participant companies may, in their discretion, permit the use of certain non-core technologies, which include any technologies, information or equipment owned or otherwise controlled by the participant company that are not specifically related to the core business area of the participant, such as software, hardware, electronics, fabrication and supplier information, vendor lists and contractor lists, with the other participant companies. The TSEA provides that ownership of each non-core technology shared by us or another participant company will remain with the company that originally shared the non-core technology. In addition, any participant company (including the Company) may, in its discretion, permit its personnel to be engaged by another participant company to perform professional, technical or consulting services for such participant. Unless otherwise agreed to by us and the other participant company, all rights, title and interest in and to any inventions, works-of-authorship, idea, data or know-how invented, made, created or developed by the personnel (employees, contractors or consultants) in the course of conducting services for a participant company, or Created IP, will be owned by the participant company for which the work was performed, and the recipient participant company grants to the party that had its personnel provide the services that resulted in the creation of the Created IP a royalty-free, perpetual, limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, sub-licensable (and with respect to software, sub-licensable in object code only) license to utilize the Created IP only in the core business field of the originating participant company, including a license to create and use derivative works based on the Created IP in the originating participant’s core business field, subject to any agreed upon restrictions.
The technology- and personnel-sharing arrangements under the TSEA may prevent us from fully utilizing our personnel if such personnel are also being used by the other participant companies and may also cause our personnel to enter into agreements with or provide services to other companies that interfere with their obligations to us. Created IP under the TSEA may be relevant to our business and created by our personnel but owned by the other participant companies. Furthermore, if the TSEA were to terminate, or if we were to lose access to the technologies and services available pursuant to the TSEA, our business could be adversely affected.
Our wafer bonding technology for ultrasound applications is licensed to us by Stanford University. Any loss of our rights to this technology could prevent us from selling our products.
Our wafer bonding technology for use in ultrasound applications is licensed co-exclusively to us from Stanford until the end of December 2023, at which time the license becomes non-exclusive. We also license on a non-exclusive basis 7 active patents from Stanford. We do not own the patents that underlie these licenses. Our rights to use the licensed technology and employ the inventions claimed in the licensed patents are subject to the continuation of and compliance with the terms of the license. Our principal obligations under the license agreements with Stanford include the following:
● royalty payments;
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● annual maintenance fees;
● providing certain reports.
If we breach any of these obligations, Stanford may have the right to terminate the licenses, which could result in us being unable to develop, manufacture and sell products using the licensed technology. Termination of our license agreements with Stanford would have a material adverse effect on our business.
In addition, we are a party to a number of other agreements that include licenses to intellectual property, including non-exclusive licenses. We may need to enter into additional license agreements in the future. Our business could suffer, for example, if any current or future licenses terminate, if the licensors fail to abide by the terms of the license, if the licensed patents or other rights are found to be invalid or unenforceable, or if we are unable to enter into necessary licenses on acceptable terms.
We may need or may choose to obtain licenses from third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our current or future products, and we cannot provide any assurances that we would be able to obtain such licenses.
We may need or may choose to obtain licenses from third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of our current or future products, and we cannot provide any assurances that third-party patents do not exist that might be enforced against our current or future products in the absence of such a license. We may fail to obtain any of these licenses on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Even if we are able to obtain a license, it may be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. If we could not obtain a license, we may be required to expend significant time and resources to develop or license replacement technology. If we are unable to do so, we may be unable to develop or commercialize the affected products, which could materially harm our business and the third parties owning such intellectual property rights could seek either an injunction prohibiting our sales, or, with respect to our sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties and/or other forms of compensation.
Licensing intellectual property involves complex legal, business and scientific issues. Disputes may arise between us and our licensors regarding intellectual property subject to a license agreement, including:
If disputes over licensed intellectual property prevent or impair our ability to maintain the licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product, or the dispute may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.
In addition to agreements pursuant to which we in-license intellectual property, we have in the past, and we may in the future, grant licenses under our intellectual property. Like in-licenses, out-licenses are complex, and disputes may arise between us and our licensees, such as the types of disputes described above. Moreover, our licensees may breach their obligations, or we may be exposed to liability due to our failure or alleged failure to satisfy our obligations. Any such occurrence could have an adverse effect on our business.
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If we or any of our partners are sued for infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties, such litigation would be costly and time consuming, and an unfavorable outcome in any such litigation could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our success also depends on our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our products and perform our services without infringing upon the proprietary rights of third parties. Numerous U.S. and foreign-issued patents and pending patent applications owned by third parties exist in the fields in which we are developing products and services. As part of a business strategy to impede our successful commercialization and entry into new markets, competitors may claim that our products and/or services infringe their intellectual property rights and may suggest that we enter into license agreements.
Even if such claims are without merit, we could incur substantial costs and the attention of our management, and technical personnel could be diverted in defending us against claims of infringement made by third parties or settling such claims. Any adverse ruling by a court or administrative body, or perception of an adverse ruling, may have a material adverse impact on our ability to conduct our business and our finances. Moreover, third parties making claims against us may be able to obtain injunctive relief against us, which could block our ability to offer one or more products or services and could result in a substantial award of damages against us. In addition, since we sometimes indemnify customers, collaborators or licensees, we may have additional liability in connection with any infringement or alleged infringement of third-party intellectual property.
Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be pending applications, some of which are unknown to us, that may result in issued patents upon which our products or proprietary technologies may infringe. Moreover, we may fail to identify issued patents of relevance or incorrectly conclude that an issued patent is invalid or not infringed by our technology or any of our products. There is a substantial amount of litigation involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the medical device space. As we face increasing competition and as our business grows, we will likely face more claims of infringement. If a third party claims that we or any of our licensors, customers or collaboration partners infringe upon a third party’s intellectual property rights, we may have to:
We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful.
Competitors may infringe our patents or the patents that we license. In the event of infringement or unauthorized use, we may file one or more infringement lawsuits, which can be expensive and time-consuming. An adverse result in any such litigation proceedings could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated, being found to be unenforceable or being interpreted narrowly and could put our patent applications at risk of not issuing. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation.
Many of our competitors are larger than we are and have substantially greater resources. They are, therefore, likely to be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation longer than we could. In addition, the uncertainties associated with litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise any funds necessary to continue our operations, continue our internal research programs, in-license needed technology, or enter into development partnerships that would help us bring our products to market.
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