Item 1A. Risk Factors
Risk Factor Summary
Below is a summary of the principal factors that make an investment in our common stock speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, and other risks that we face, can be found below under the heading “Risk Factors” and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our financial statements and related notes thereto, before making investment decisions regarding our common stock.
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Risk Factors
Investing in the common stock of a biopharmaceutical company, including one with significant international partnerships and multiple products in development, is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If any of the following risks are realized, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. The risks described below are not the only risks facing us. Risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and/or prospects.
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements
We have a limited history of profitability, which we have not maintained and may not achieve again, and only two products that have been approved and marketed, one of which we have agreed to sell, and with multiple products that are not approved and still in development.
With the exception of generating net income of $28.5 million, $132.2 million and $89.8 million in 2024, 2020 and 2019, respectively, we incurred net losses in each year from our inception in September 2010 through December 31, 2024, including net losses of $237.9 million and $291.8 million in 2023 and 2022, respectively. It is uncertain that we will be profitable in future periods, particularly if the UDENYCA Sale is consummated, as research and development is expensive and risky. The amount of our future net losses or any future net income will depend, in part, on the amount of our future expenditures offset by the amount of future product sales, including sales of our current products or any other products that may receive regulatory approval. Biopharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk.
For example, as of December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $1.6 billion. The losses and accumulated deficit were primarily due to the substantial investments we made to identify, develop or license our product candidates, including conducting, among other things, analytical characterization, process development and manufacturing, formulation and clinical studies and providing general and administrative support for these operations.
We have incurred and anticipate we will continue to incur certain development and commercial expenses for LOQTORZI, the anti-PD-1 antibody we licensed from Junshi Biosciences in 2021, and have agreed to pay up to $90.0 million for the achievement of certain regulatory approvals and up to $290.0 million for the attainment of certain sales thresholds. The recent launch of this product and future work to advance our other product candidates through clinical development in combination with toripalimab will be expensive and could result in us continuing to experience future net losses.
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For UDENYCA and LOQTORZI, which are launched products, and if we obtain regulatory approval to market any other product candidate, our future revenue will depend upon the size of any markets in which our product candidates may receive approval and our ability to achieve sufficient market acceptance, pricing, reimbursement from third-party payers, and adequate market share for our product candidates which include all product candidates for which we obtained commercial rights, in those markets. However, even if additional product candidates in addition to our current products gain regulatory approval and are commercialized, we may not remain profitable.
Our expenses will increase substantially if and as we:
● continue our nonclinical and clinical development of our product candidates;
● expand the scope of our current clinical studies for our product candidates;
● advance our programs into more expensive clinical studies;
● seek to attract and retain skilled personnel;
In addition, the UDENYCA Sale may make it more difficult or make it take more time for us to become profitable at any point in the future. UDENYCA is our largest product that contributes significantly more revenue to our business than LOQTORZI currently. LOQTORZI may not increase its revenue contribution to our business as quickly as we project or at all and for our clinical trials for our product candidates may be delayed, may be unsuccessful or may take more time and expense to complete than we currently anticipate. The inherent risk involved in divesting a major business could make it difficult for us to replace the revenue lost by selling UDENYCA or by becoming profitable in the future.
Further, the net loss or net income we achieve may fluctuate significantly from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year such that a period-to-period comparison of our results of operations may not be a good indication of our future performance quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year due to factors including the timing of clinical trials, any litigation that we may initiate or that may be initiated against us as well as any settlements or judgments from such litigation, the execution of collaboration, licensing or other agreements and the timing of any payments we make or receive thereunder.
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We continue to be dependent on the ability to raise funds. This additional funding 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 development and commercialization efforts or other operations.
As of December 31, 2024, our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $126.0 million. We expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents, investments, cash collected from our product sales and cash proceeds from the UDENYCA Sale (assuming it is consummated) will be sufficient to fund our current operations for the foreseeable future. We have financed our operations primarily through the sale of equity securities, convertible notes, credit facilities, divestitures, license agreements and through recent product sales of our products.
However, our operating or investing 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. Our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including but not limited to:
● our ability to consummate the UDENYCA Sale;
● our ability to continue to successfully commercialize our products;
● our ability to maintain continuity for the supply of our products;
● the number and characteristics of product candidates that we pursue;
● the cost, timing and outcomes of regulatory approvals;
Any additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates. In addition, 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 financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of our stockholders, and the issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, by us or the possibility of such issuance may cause the market price of our shares to decline. The sale of additional equity or convertible securities, such as the sales from time to time through our sales agreement dated November 8, 2022 (the “Sales Agreement”) with Cowen and Company, LLC (“TD Cowen”) pursuant to which we may issue and sell from time to time up to $150.0 million of our common stock, including the common stock already sold, through or to TD Cowen as our sales agent or principal in an at-the-market offering (“ATM Offering”), may dilute the share ownership of our existing stockholders. The incurrence of indebtedness could result in increased fixed payment obligations and we may be required to agree to certain restrictive covenants, such as those contained in the loan agreement (the “2029 Loan Agreement”), dated as of May 8, 2024 (the “2029 Term Loan Effective Date”), by and among us, Ankura Trust Company, LLC, as administrative agent (in such capacity, the “Agent”), and the lenders signatory thereto (collectively, the “2029 Lenders”) governing the senior secured term loan facility of up to $38.7 million (the “2029 Term Loan”) we entered into on the 2029 Term Loan Effective Date, including 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 such as a financial covenant which requires us to maintain certain levels of cash and cash equivalents. We could also be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborative partners or otherwise at an earlier stage or for a lower
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price than otherwise would be desirable and we may be required to relinquish rights to some of our technologies or product candidates or otherwise agree to terms unfavorable to us, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects. Even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans, we may seek additional capital if market conditions are favorable or for specific strategic considerations.
If we are unable to obtain funding on a timely basis or at all, stay profitable or generate any net profits, we may be required to significantly curtail, delay or discontinue one or more of our research or development programs or the commercialization of any products or product candidates or be unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities, as desired, which could materially affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Launch and Commercialization of our Products and our Product Candidates
We have a limited operating history in an emerging regulatory environment on which to assess our business.
We are a biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history in an emerging regulatory environment of biosimilar and immuno-oncology products. Although we have received upfront payments, milestone and other contingent payments and/or funding for development from some of our collaboration and license agreements, our only approved products are UDENYCA and LOQTORZI which are approved for commercialization in the United States, and we have no products approved in any other territories.
Our ability to generate meaningful revenue and remain profitable depends on our ability, alone or with strategic collaboration partners, to successfully market and sell our products, and to complete the development of, and obtain the regulatory approvals necessary to commercialize, one or more of our product pipeline candidates, which include:
● casdozokitug;
● toripalimab in non-NPC indications.
We may not be able to continue to generate meaningful revenue from product sales, as this depends heavily on our success in many areas, including but not limited to:
● our ability to procure and commercialize our biosimilar product;
● obtaining adequate third-party coverage and reimbursements for our products;
● completing nonclinical and clinical development of our product candidates;
● developing and testing of our product formulations;
● attracting, hiring and retaining qualified personnel;
● addressing any competing technological and market developments;
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Even if one or more of the product candidates that we develop is approved for commercial sale, we anticipate incurring significant costs to commercialize any such product. Our expenses could increase beyond our expectations if we are required by the FDA, the European Medical Agency (the “EMA”), other regulatory agencies, domestic or foreign, or by any unfavorable outcomes in intellectual property litigation filed against us, to change our manufacturing processes or assays or to perform clinical, nonclinical or other types of studies in addition to those that we currently anticipate. In cases where we are successful in obtaining additional regulatory approvals to market one or more of our product candidates, our revenue will be dependent, in part, upon the size of the markets in the territories for which we gain regulatory approval, the number of biosimilar or immuno-oncology competitors in such markets, the accepted price for the product, the ability to get reimbursement at any price, the nature and degree of competition from originators and other biosimilar or immuno-oncology companies (including competition from large pharmaceutical companies entering the biosimilar market or possessing large established positions in the immuno-oncology market that may be able to gain advantages in the sale of biosimilar or immuno-oncology products based on brand recognition or existing relationships with customers and payers) and whether we own (or have partnered with companies owning) the commercial rights for that territory. If the market for our products and product candidates (or our share of that market) is not as significant as we expect, the price of our products is not what we project, the indication approved by regulatory authorities is narrower than we expect or the reasonably accepted population for treatment is narrowed by competition, physician choice or treatment guidelines, we may not generate significant revenue from sales of such products, even if approved. If we are unable to successfully complete development and obtain additional regulatory approval for our products, our business may suffer.
The commercial success of our existing products or any future products will depend upon the degree of market acceptance and adoption by prescribing physicians, healthcare providers and the patients to whom our medicines are prescribed. Additionally, obtaining placement on national and/or local clinical guidelines/pathways, as well as coverage on third-party payor formularies, can impact our short and long-term financial performance.
Even with the requisite approvals from the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, the commercial success of our products or product candidates, if approved, will depend in part on the medical community, patients and third-party payers accepting our products and product candidates as medically useful, cost-effective and safe. Any product that we bring to the market may not gain market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payers and others in the medical community. The degree of market acceptance of our product LOQTORZI, or any of our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:
● the clinical indications for which approval is granted;
● prevalence of the disease or condition for which the product is approved;
● the cost of treatment, particularly in relation to competing treatments;
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● publicity concerning our products or competing products and treatments;
● the price at which we sell our products;
● our ability to maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.
Market acceptance of any future product candidates, if approved, will not be fully known until after they are launched and may be negatively affected by a potential poor safety experience and the track record of other biosimilar and immuno-oncology products and product candidates. Further, continued market acceptance of UDENYCA (prior to the UDENYCA Sale) and LOQTORZI, and any future product candidates that may be approved, depends on our efforts to educate the medical community and third-party payers on the benefits of our products and product candidates and will require significant resources from us and we have significantly less resources compared to large, well-funded pharmaceutical entities. Given the resource disparity, our outreach may have little success or may never be successful. If our products or any future product candidates that are approved fail to achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payers and others in the medical community, we will not be able to generate sufficient revenue to sustain profitability.
The third-party coverage and reimbursement status of our products are uncertain. Failure to obtain or maintain adequate coverage and reimbursement for new or current products could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue.
Pricing, coverage and reimbursement of our products, or any of our product candidates, if approved, may not be adequate to support our commercial infrastructure. The prices required to successfully compete may not continue to be sufficient to recover our development and manufacturing costs, and as a result, we may not be profitable in the future. Accordingly, the availability and adequacy of coverage and reimbursement by governmental and commercial payers are essential to enable provider/patient access to our products and our patient support services must be sufficiently scaled to meet the needs of patients receiving our products. Sales will depend substantially, both domestically and abroad, on the extent to which the costs of our products will be paid for by health maintenance, managed care, pharmacy benefit and similar healthcare management organizations or reimbursed by government authorities, private health insurers and other third-party payers. If coverage and reimbursement are not available, or are available only to limited levels, or become unavailable, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our products or any of our product candidates, if approved. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be adequate to allow us to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realize a return on our investment.
There is significant uncertainty related to third-party coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products. In the United States, third-party payers, including private and governmental payers such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs, play an important role in determining the extent to which new drugs and biologics will be covered and reimbursed. The Medicare program covers certain individuals aged 65 or older or those who are disabled or suffering from end-stage renal disease. The Medicaid program, which varies from state to state, covers certain individuals and families who have limited financial means. The Medicare and Medicaid programs increasingly are used as models for how private payers and other governmental payers develop their coverage and reimbursement policies for drugs and biologics. It is difficult to predict what third-party payers will decide with respect to the coverage and reimbursement for any newly approved product. In addition, in the United States, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for biologics exists among third-party payers. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for biologics can differ significantly from payer to payer. As a result, the process for obtaining favorable coverage determinations often is time-consuming and costly and may require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our products to each payer separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be obtained.
Effective January 2019, CMS assigned a product specific Q-Code to UDENYCA, which is necessary to enable providers to separately bill for UDENYCA to have its own reimbursement rate with Medicare or other third-party payers. However, reimbursement is not guaranteed and rates may vary based on product life cycle, site of care, type of payer, coverage decisions, and provider contracts. Furthermore, while payers have adopted the Q-Code assigned by CMS for UDENYCA, there remains uncertainty as to whether such payers will continue to cover and pay providers for the administration and use of the product with each patient or may favor competing products. If our products or any of our future product candidates, are not covered or adequately reimbursed by third-party payers, including
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Medicare, then the cost of the relevant product may be absorbed by healthcare providers or charged to patients. If this is the case, our expectations of the pricing we expect to achieve for such product and the related potential revenue may be significantly diminished.
Outside of the United States, pharmaceutical businesses are generally subject to extensive governmental price controls and other market regulations. In many countries, the prices of medical products are subject to varying price control mechanisms as part of national health systems. Other countries allow companies to fix their own prices for medical products but monitor and control company profits. Additional foreign price controls or other changes in pricing regulation could restrict the amount that we are able to charge for our product candidates. Accordingly, in markets outside the United States, the reimbursement for our products may be reduced compared with the United States and may be insufficient to generate commercially reasonable revenue and profits.
Increasing efforts by governmental and third-party payers in the United States and abroad to control healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and the level of reimbursement for new products approved and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our products or any of our product candidates. While cost containment practices generally benefit biosimilars, severe cost containment practices may adversely affect our product sales. Furthermore, the impact of the IRA on our business and the pharmaceutical industry generally is currently unknown. We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of our products and any of our product candidates due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes.
Our products and our product candidates, even if approved, will remain subject to regulatory scrutiny.
Our products and our product candidates, even If approved, will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record-keeping, conduct of post-marketing studies and submission of safety, efficacy and other post-market information, including both federal and state requirements in the United States and requirements of comparable foreign regulatory authorities.
Manufacturers and manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA, and comparable foreign regulatory authority, requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to current cGMP regulations. As such, we and our contract manufacturers will be subject to continual review and inspections to assess compliance with cGMP and adherence to commitments made in any NDA, original BLA submitted under Section 351(a) of the PHSA, Section 351(k) BLA or marketing authorization application (“MAA”). Accordingly, we and others with whom we work must continue to spend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production and quality control.
Any regulatory approvals that we or our collaboration partners receive for our product candidates may be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval or may contain requirements for potentially costly additional clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product candidate. We will be required to report certain adverse events and production problems, if any, to the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Any new legislation addressing drug safety issues could result in delays in product development or commercialization or increased costs to ensure compliance. We will have to comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for our products. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the product’s approved label. As such, we may not promote our products for indications or uses for which they do not have approval. If our product candidates are approved, we must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain approval for certain changes to the approved products, product labeling or manufacturing process. We or our collaboration partners could also be asked to conduct post-marketing clinical studies to verify the safety and efficacy of our products in general or in specific patient subsets. If original marketing approval is obtained via an accelerated biosimilar approval pathway, we could be required to conduct a successful post-marketing clinical study to confirm clinical benefit for our products. An unsuccessful post-marketing study or failure to complete such a study could result in the withdrawal of marketing approval.
If a regulatory agency discovers previously unknown problems with a product, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured or disagrees with the promotion, marketing or labeling of a product, such regulatory agency may impose restrictions on that product or us, including requiring withdrawal of the product from the market. If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency or enforcement authority may, among other possibilities:
● issue warning letters;
● impose civil or criminal penalties;
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● suspend or withdraw regulatory approval;
● suspend any of our ongoing clinical studies;
● seize or detain products or require a product recall.
Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity. Any failure to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize and generate revenue from our products. If regulatory sanctions are applied or if regulatory approval is withdrawn, the value of our company and our operating results will be adversely affected.
The FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
We also cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States, China or other foreign countries.
Disruptions at the FDA and other government agencies caused by funding shortages, staffing limitations, government shut-downs or global health concerns could hinder their ability to hire, retain or deploy key leadership and other personnel, and conduct inspections of manufacturing facilities, or otherwise prevent new or modified products from being developed, or approved or commercialized in a timely manner or at all, which could negatively impact our business.
The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, government shut-downs, statutory, regulatory, and policy changes, the FDA’s ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and other events that may otherwise affect the FDA’s ability to perform routine functions. Average review times at the FDA have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable. Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs and biologics or modifications to approved drugs and biologics to be reviewed or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, the United States government has periodically shut down and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, had to furlough critical FDA employees and stop critical activities.
Separately, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA postponed most inspections of domestic and foreign manufacturing facilities at various points. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, or if funding shortages, staffing limitations or further global health concerns emerge, such events could significantly impact the ability of the FDA or other regulatory authorities to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Risks Related to Competitive Activity
Our biosimilar product faces significant competition from the reference product and from other biosimilar products or pharmaceuticals approved for the same indication as the originator products. Our product LOQTORZI and product candidate CHS-114, if approved, will face significant competition from other immuno-oncology biologics. If we fail to compete effectively, we may not achieve significant market penetration and expansion.
We operate in highly competitive pharmaceutical markets. Successful competitors in the pharmaceutical market have demonstrated the ability to effectively discover molecules, obtain patents, develop, test and obtain regulatory approvals for products, as well as an ability to effectively commercialize, market and promote approved products. Numerous companies, universities and other research institutions are engaged in developing, patenting, manufacturing and marketing of products competitive with those that we are developing. Many of these potential competitors are large, experienced multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that enjoy significant competitive advantages, such as substantially greater financial, research and development, legal, governmental affairs, manufacturing, personnel, and marketing resources, with additional benefits of mergers and acquisitions.
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LOQTORZI entered a competitive market in the United States where a number of anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 antibody drugs have been approved by the FDA, although not in NPC, including the following marketed products from several competitors: Keytruda® (pembrolizumab) from Merck, Opdivo® (nivolumab) from BMS, Tecentriq® (atezolizumab) from Genentech, Imfinzi® (durvalumab) from AstraZeneca, Bavencio® (avelumab) from EMD Serono Inc. and Pfizer, Libtayo® (cemiplimab-rwlc) from Regeneron, Jemperli (dostarlimab-gxly) from GlaxoSmithKline and TEVIMBRA® (tislelizumab-jsgr) from BeiGene, Ltd. In addition to LOQTORZI, multiple other competitors are seeking to develop and approve novel anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 antibody drugs in the United States in the coming years, including but not limited to camrelizumab from Elevar Therapeutics, Inc. (in collaboration with Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.). As the only immunotherapy approved by the FDA for the treatment of NPC, we believe LOQTORZI addresses a potentially high unmet need.
UDENYCA faces competition in the United States from Amgen, Biocon, Sandoz, Pfizer, Spectrum, Amneal and Fresenius.
Casdozokitug is in development and is the only antagonist antibody in development known to us that is targeting the immune regulatory cytokine IL-27.
CHS-114 is in development and, if approved, faces competition from programs in development specifically targeting CCR8, including those by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Gilead/Jounce, Shionogi, AbbVie, Bayer, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Amgen, LaNova and Immunophage;
These companies may also have greater brand recognition and more experience in conducting preclinical testing and clinical trials of product candidates, obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of products and marketing and commercializing products once approved.
Additionally, many manufacturers of originator products have increasingly used legislative, regulatory and other means, such as litigation, to delay regulatory approval and to seek to restrict competition from manufacturers of biosimilars. These efforts may include or have included:
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Our products and our product candidates, if approved, could face price competition from other products or biosimilars of the same reference product for the same indication. This price competition could exceed our capacity to respond, detrimentally affecting our market share and revenue as well as adversely affecting the overall financial health and attractiveness of the market for the biosimilar.
Competitors in the biosimilar market have the ability to compete on price through pharmacy benefit managers, payers and their third-party administrators, integrated delivery networks and hospitals who exert downward pricing pressure on our product offerings. It is possible our biosimilar competitors’ compliance with price discounting demands in exchange for market share or volume requirements could exceed our capacity to respond in kind and reduce market prices beyond our expectations. There could be similar price competition in the immuno-oncology market that could adversely affect our results in the future. Such practices may limit our ability to increase market share and may also impact profitability.
We face intense competition and rapid technological change and the possibility that our competitors may develop therapies that are similar, more advanced, less costly, easier to administer or more effective than ours, which may adversely affect our financial condition and our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates.
Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and other resources, including larger research and development, marketing and manufacturing organizations. Additionally, mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry may result in even more resources being concentrated in our competitors. As a result, these companies may obtain regulatory approval more rapidly than we are able to and may be more effective in selling and marketing their products. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies. Our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing on an exclusive basis, products that are more effective or less costly than any product candidate that we may develop; they may also obtain patent protection that could block our products; and they may obtain regulatory approval, product commercialization and market penetration earlier than we do. Our competitors may have products that are easier to administer than our products, which could adversely affect our results. Biosimilar or immuno-oncology product candidates developed by our competitors may render our potential product candidates uneconomical, less desirable or obsolete, and we may not be successful in marketing our product candidates against competitors.
If other competitors to toripalimab (in indications besides those approved for LOQTORZI), casdozokitug, CHS-1000 and CHS-114 are approved and successfully commercialized before toripalimab (in indications besides those approved for LOQTORZI), casdozokitug, CHS-1000 and CHS-114, our business would suffer.
There are a number of companies that currently commercialize PD-1/PD-L1 blocking antibodies or are developing such compounds for commercialization in the United States. If other competitors to toripalimab (in indications besides those approved for LOQTORZI), casdozokitug, CHS-1000 and CHS-114 are successfully commercialized before toripalimab (in indications besides those approved for LOQTORZI), casdozokitug, CHS-1000 and CHS-114, we may never achieve meaningful market share for these products, our revenue would be reduced and, as a result, our business, prospects and financial condition could suffer.
If an improved version of an originator product, such as Neulasta, is developed or if the market for the originator product significantly declines, sales of our biosimilar product may suffer.
Originator companies may develop improved versions of a reference product as part of a life cycle extension strategy and may obtain regulatory approval of the improved version under a new or supplemental BLA submitted to the applicable regulatory authority. Should the originator company succeed in obtaining an approval of an improved biologic product, it may capture a significant share of the collective reference product market in the applicable jurisdiction and significantly reduce the market for the reference product and thereby the potential size of the market for our biosimilar product. In addition, the improved product may be protected by additional patent rights that may subject our follow-on biosimilar to claims of infringement.
Biologic reference products may also face competition as technological advances are made that may offer patients a more convenient form of administration or increased efficacy or as new products are introduced. External developments can also result in changing preferences for convenient forms of administration of products that may impact our business. As new products are approved that compete with the reference product to our biosimilar product, sales of the reference originator product may be adversely impacted or rendered obsolete. If the market for the reference product is impacted, we may lose significant market share for our biosimilar product. As a result of the above factors, our business, prospects and financial condition could suffer.
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Any product candidates for which we intend to seek approval as original biologic products may face competition sooner than anticipated.
Our development of novel biologic product candidates, such as casdozokitug, CHS-1000 and CHS-114, subjects us to additional risks relating to biosimilar competition. In particular, under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”), an application for a biosimilar product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first licensed by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a full BLA for the competing product containing the sponsor’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity and potency of its product.
We believe that LOQTORZI does, and any of our product candidates approved under an original BLA should, qualify for the 12-year period of exclusivity. However, there is a risk that this exclusivity could be shortened due to congressional action or otherwise, or that the FDA will not consider our product candidates to be reference products for competing products, potentially creating the opportunity for generic competition sooner than anticipated. Moreover, the extent to which a biosimilar, once approved, could be substituted for any one of our reference products in a way that is similar to traditional generic substitution for non-biological products will depend on a number of marketplace and regulatory factors.
Risks Related to Our Ability to Hire and Retain Highly Qualified Personnel
We are highly dependent on the services of our key executives and personnel, including our President and Chief Executive Officer, Dennis M. Lanfear, and if we are not able to retain these members of our management or recruit additional management, product development and scientific personnel, our business will suffer.
We are highly dependent on the principal members of our management and scientific and technical staff. The loss of service of any of our management or key scientific and technical staff could harm our business. In addition, we are dependent on our continued ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified additional management, product development and scientific personnel. If we are not able to retain our management, particularly our President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lanfear, and to attract, on acceptable terms, additional qualified personnel necessary for the continued development of our business, we may not be able to sustain our operations or grow.
Our future performance will also depend, in part, on our ability to successfully integrate newly hired executive officers into our management team and our ability to develop an effective working relationship among senior management. Our failure to integrate these individuals and create effective working relationships among them and other members of management could result in inefficiencies in the development and commercialization of our product candidates, harming future regulatory approvals, sales of our product candidates and our results of operations. Additionally, we do not currently maintain “key person” life insurance on the lives of our executives or any of our employees.
We will need to expand and effectively manage our managerial, scientific, operational, financial, commercial and other resources in order to successfully pursue our product development and commercialization efforts. Our success also depends on our continued ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified management and technical personnel. We may not be able to attract or retain qualified management and scientific and product development personnel in the future due to the intense competition for qualified personnel among biotechnology, pharmaceutical and other businesses, particularly those located in the San Francisco Bay Area. We also use equity compensation as a part of a comprehensive compensation package for our personnel. The majority of our outstanding options have exercise prices that are above our current stock price. See the tables describing our outstanding stock options in Note 12. Stock-Based Compensation and Employee Benefits to our financial statements included in our Annual Report for the Fiscal Year ended December 31, 2024. If we are not able to attract, retain and motivate necessary personnel to accomplish our business objectives, we may experience constraints that will significantly impede the achievement of our development objectives, our ability to raise additional capital and our ability to implement our business strategy.
We may experience difficulties in managing changes in our number of employees, particularly due to employees departing due to divestitures, reductions in force and turnover, which could disrupt our operations.
As of December 31, 2024, we had 228 full-time and part-time employees, which represented a decrease of 78 full-time and part-time employees since December 31, 2023. As our development and commercialization plans and strategies develop and evolve from time
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to time we face difficulty managing these changes as we experience changes in our number of employees, including due to divestitures, like the potential employee transfers to Accord in the UDENYCA Sale, reductions in force and turnover. We may not be able to effectively manage during a period of significant change in our number of employees, which may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities and reduced productivity and morale among remaining employees. If our management is unable to effectively manage the changes in our number of employees, our expenses may increase more than expected and our ability to generate or grow revenue could be reduced. Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize product candidates and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage changes in our number of employees.
Risks Related to Reliance on Third Parties
We rely on third parties, and in some cases a single third party, to manufacture nonclinical, clinical and commercial drug supplies of our products and product candidates and to store critical components of our products and product candidates for us. Our business could be harmed if those third parties fail to provide us with sufficient quantities of products and product candidates or fail to do so at acceptable quality levels or prices.
We do not currently have the infrastructure or capability internally to manufacture supplies of our products and product candidates for use in our nonclinical and clinical studies, and we lack the resources and the capability to manufacture any of our products and product candidates on a clinical or commercial scale. We rely on third-party manufacturers to manufacture and supply us with our products and product candidates for our preclinical and clinical studies as well as to maintain commercial supplies of our products. Successfully transferring complicated manufacturing techniques to contract manufacturing organizations and scaling up these techniques for commercial quantities is time consuming and we may not be able to achieve such transfer or do so in a timely manner. Moreover, the availability of contract manufacturing services for protein-based therapeutics is highly variable and there are periods of relatively abundant capacity alternating with periods in which there is little available capacity. If our need for contract manufacturing services increases during a period of industry-wide production capacity shortage, we may not be able to produce our product candidates on a timely basis or on commercially viable terms. Although we will plan accordingly and generally do not begin a clinical study unless we believe we have a sufficient supply of a product candidate to complete such study, any significant delay or discontinuation in the supply of a product candidate for an ongoing clinical study due to the need to replace a third-party manufacturer could considerably delay completion of our clinical studies, product testing and potential regulatory approval of our product candidates, which could harm our business and results of operations.
Reliance on third-party manufacturers entails additional risks, including reliance on the third party for regulatory compliance and quality assurance, the possible breach of the manufacturing agreement by the third party and the possible termination or nonrenewal of the agreement by the third party at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us. In addition, third-party manufacturers may not be able to comply with cGMP or similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. Our failure or the failure of our third-party manufacturers to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our product candidates or any other product candidates or products that we may develop. Any failure or refusal to supply the components for our product candidates that we may develop could delay, prevent or impair our clinical development or commercialization efforts. If our contract manufacturers were to breach or terminate their manufacturing arrangements with us, the development or commercialization of the affected products or product candidates could be delayed, which could have an adverse effect on our business. Any change in our manufacturers could be costly because the commercial terms of any new arrangement could be less favorable and because the expenses relating to the transfer of necessary technology and processes could be significant.
On September 13, 2024, we announced that our third-party labeling and packaging CMO for UDENYCA delayed production of UDENYCA due to over-commitments and capacity constraints. These delays caused a temporary UDENYCA supply interruption that quickly took away our ability to sell our product UDENYCA, that makes up a large percentage of our total revenue, for a significant period of time. Production resumed in November 2024. The Company announced in January 2025 that due to strong demand in Q4 2024 and into Q1 2025, all three presentations of UDENYCA were being temporarily allocated. Based on individual distributor historical purchasing patterns, supply allocations to wholesalers for all three presentations of UDENYCA were removed between the end of January 2025 and the end of February 2025. The temporary UDENYCA supply interruption had a significant impact on our business, relationships with customers and affected the negotiations with potential counterparties in the UDENYCA Sale. Similar circumstances to the temporary UDENYCA supply interruption could arise in the future, which would have an adverse impact on our financial statements and reputation.
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If any of our product candidates are approved, in order to produce the quantities necessary to meet anticipated market demand, any contract manufacturer that we engage may need to increase manufacturing capacity. If we are unable to build and stock our product candidates in sufficient quantities to meet the requirements for the launch of these candidates or to meet future demand, our revenue and gross margins could be adversely affected. We cannot be certain that we will be able to obtain long-term supply arrangements for our product candidates or materials used to produce them on acceptable terms, if at all. If we are unable to arrange for third-party manufacturing, or to do so on commercially reasonable terms, we may not be able to complete development of our product candidates or market them.
We rely on third parties to conduct our nonclinical and clinical studies and perform other tasks for us. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or comply with regulatory requirements, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates and our business could be substantially harmed.
We have relied upon and plan to continue to rely upon third-party contract research organizations (“CROs”) to monitor and manage data for our ongoing nonclinical and clinical programs. We rely on these parties for execution of our nonclinical and clinical studies and control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards and our reliance on the CROs does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and our CROs and other vendors are required to comply with cGMP, GCP, and good laboratory practices (“GLP”), which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA, the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the EEA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for all of our product candidates in clinical development. Regulatory authorities enforce these regulations through periodic inspections or remote regulatory assessments (“RRAs”) of study sponsors, principal investigators, study sites and other contractors. If we, any of our CROs, service providers or investigators fail to comply with applicable regulations or GCPs, the data generated in our nonclinical and clinical studies may be deemed unreliable and the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional nonclinical and clinical studies before approving our marketing applications. There can be no assurance that upon inspection or conclusion of an RRA by a given regulatory authority, such regulatory authority will determine that any of our clinical studies comply with GCP regulations. In addition, our clinical studies must be conducted with product generated under cGMP regulations. Failure to comply by any of the participating parties or ourselves with these regulations may require us to repeat clinical studies, which would delay the regulatory approval process. Moreover, our business may be implicated if our CROs or any other participating parties violate federal or state fraud and abuse or false claims laws and regulations or healthcare or data privacy and security laws.
If any of our relationships with these third-party CROs terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative CROs or do so on commercially reasonable terms. In addition, our CROs are not our employees, and except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such CROs, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our on-going nonclinical and clinical programs. If CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced or if the quality or accuracy of the data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our protocols, regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical studies may be extended, delayed or terminated and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize our product candidates. CROs may also generate higher costs than anticipated. As a result, our results of operations and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed.
Switching or adding additional CROs involves additional cost and requires management time and focus. In addition, a transition period is necessary when a new CRO commences work, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Though we strive to carefully manage our relationships with our CROs, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter similar challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects and financial condition.
We are dependent on Junshi Biosciences and Orox / Gador for the commercialization of our product candidates in certain markets and we intend to seek additional commercialization partners for major markets, and the failure to commercialize in those markets could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.
We have an exclusive license from Junshi Biosciences to develop and commercialize LOQTORZI in the United States and Canada. Our licensors are responsible for supplying us with drug substance and final drug products.
Our exclusive licensee, Orox / Laboratorio Gador S.A., is responsible for commercialization of certain of our products and product candidates, including UDENYCA, in certain Caribbean and Latin American countries (excluding Brazil, and in the case of UDENYCA, also excluding Argentina).
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Our licenses with Junshi Biosciences, Orox / Laboratorio Gador S.A., or other future license or collaboration agreements, may not result in positive outcomes. Factors that may affect the success of our licenses and collaborations include, but are not limited to, the following:
Moreover, any disputes with our licensees and collaboration partners could substantially divert the attention of our senior management from other business activities and may require us to incur substantial costs associated with litigation or arbitration proceedings. If we cannot maintain successful license and collaboration arrangements, our business, financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected.
Risks Related to the UDENYCA Sale and our future operations following the UDENYCA Sale
The announcement and pendency of the UDENYCA Sale, whether or not consummated, may adversely affect our business.
The announcement and pendency of the UDENYCA Sale, whether or not consummated, may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock, our business or our relationships with customers, suppliers and employees. In addition, pending the completion of the UDENYCA Sale, we may be unable to attract and retain key personnel and the focus and attention of our management and employee resources may be diverted from operational matters during the pendency of the UDENYCA Sale.
The closing of the UDENYCA Sale is subject to multiple conditions beyond our control. Failure to complete the UDENYCA Sale could materially and adversely affect our future business, results of operations, financial condition and stock price.
The closing of the UDENYCA Sale is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of various conditions, including FDA authorization of commercial supply from our additional packaging and labeling CMO for UDENYCA. We cannot predict whether and when the conditions will be satisfied. If one or more of these conditions is not satisfied, and as a result, we do not complete the UDENYCA Sale, or in the event the UDENYCA Sale is not completed or is delayed for any other reason, we and investors in our common stock may be harmed. If we are unable to satisfy the closing conditions in Intas’ favor or if other mutual closing conditions are not satisfied, Intas will not be obligated to complete the UDENYCA Sale. In the event that the UDENYCA Sale is not completed, the announcement of the termination of the UDENYCA Purchase Agreement may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock, our business and operations or our relationships with our employees. Any delay in completing the UDENYCA Sale may significantly reduce the benefits that we expect to achieve if we successfully complete the UDENYCA Sale within the expected timeframe.
The UDENYCA Purchase Agreement limits our ability to pursue alternatives to the UDENYCA Sale.
The UDENYCA Purchase Agreement contains customary “no-shop” restrictions on our ability to solicit alternative acquisition proposals from third parties for the UDENYCA Business and to provide information to, and participate and engage in discussions or negotiations with, third parties regarding any alternative acquisition proposals. These restrictions are subject to a customary “fiduciary out” provision that allows us, under certain specified circumstances, to provide information to, and participate or engage in discussions or negotiations with and afford access to, third parties with respect to an acquisition proposal if our Board determines in good faith (after consultation with its financial advisor and outside legal counsel) that such alternative acquisition proposal either constitutes a superior
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proposal or would be reasonably likely to result in a superior proposal, and our Board determines in good faith (after consultation with its outside legal counsel) that the failure to take such actions would be inconsistent with its fiduciary duties pursuant to applicable law.
There is no guarantee that we will receive either of the Earnout Payments under the UDENYCA Purchase Agreement.
A portion of the Consideration potentially payable to us under the UDENYCA Purchase Agreement is in the form of two Earnout Payments of $37.5 million each. The first such payment is payable by Intas to us if Net Sales of UDENYCA for four consecutive fiscal quarters within the first five full fiscal quarters following the consummation of the UDENYCA Sale are equal to or greater than $300 million, and the second such payment is payable by Intas to us if Net Sales of UDENYCA for four consecutive fiscal quarters within the first seven full fiscal quarters following the consummation of the UDENYCA Sale are equal to or greater than $350 million. However, there is no guarantee that we will receive either of the Earnout Payments, and we may not receive more than the Closing Consideration for selling the UDENYCA Business. If we do not receive the Earnout Payments the total consideration paid to us for the sale of UDENYCA will be significantly lower, which could be harmful to our future financial position.
Our stockholders should not assume that they will receive any of the proceeds of the UDENYCA Sale.
The proceeds from the UDENYCA Sale will be paid directly to us and not to our stockholders. We intend to use substantially all of the proceeds to pay off certain financial liabilities and for working capital and general corporate purposes in connection with its continued business which is focused on the research, development and commercialization of innovative immunotherapies to treat cancer and the development of an innovative immuno-oncology pipeline. We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and the Board does not currently expect to declare a special dividend of any UDENYCA Sale proceeds to our stockholders.
We have incurred and will continue to incur significant expenses in connection with the UDENYCA Sale, regardless of whether the UDENYCA Sale is completed.
We have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant expenses related to the UDENYCA Sale. These expenses are substantial and include, but are not limited to, financial advisory and opinion fees and expenses, legal fees and expenses, accounting fees and expenses, certain employee expenses, filing fees, printing expenses and other related fees and expenses. Many of these expenses have already been incurred by us and will be payable by us regardless of whether the UDENYCA Sale is completed.
Immediately following the UDENYCA Sale, we will be a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of innovative immunotherapies to treat cancer.
Upon the closing of the UDENYCA Sale, we will no longer operate the UDENYCA Business, other than certain transition activities for a temporary period of time to transition the UDENYCA Business to Intas pursuant to the UDENYCA TSA, and will be focused on the research, development and commercialization of innovative immunotherapies to treat cancer and the commercialization of LOQTORZI for the treatment of NPC patients in the U.S. We expect to continue to generate revenue by sales of our commercial product LOQTORZI and otherwise expect to devote substantial resources to our research, development and commercialization efforts for our pipeline product candidates. However, there is no guarantee that these efforts will ever result in any meaningful revenue for us, and revenue generated from these immunotherapies alone or in combination with revenue generated by LOQTORZI may never equal or surpass revenue generated by the UDENYCA Business. If our stock price decreases after the closing of the UDENYCA Sale because our revenue is lower than when we operated the UDENYCA Business or for other reasons it could result in the delisting of our shares from The Nasdaq Global Market or other adverse consequences that would materially harm our business and prospects.
We have discretion in the use of the proceeds from the UDENYCA Sale and our choices about the use of proceeds may not be effective.
If the UDENYCA Sale is consummated, we will receive the Closing Consideration proceeds from the UDENYCA Sale. We announced that we plan to use a portion of the proceeds of the UDENYCA Sale to pay off the $230 million in aggregate principal amount of convertible notes due April 2026 and to buy out the right to receive royalties on net sales of UDENYCA, which is expected to be $47.7 million, assuming a close late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2025, in accordance with the Revenue Purchase and Sale Agreement. We plan to use the remainder for working capital and general corporate purposes, in connection with our continued business, which is focused on the research, development and commercialization of innovative immunotherapies to treat cancer and the development of an innovative immuno-oncology pipeline and the commercialization of LOQTORZI for the treatment of NPC patients in the U.S. We will have broad discretion in the application of the proceeds from the UDENYCA Sale and our planned use of proceeds described above may not improve our results of operations or enhance the value of our common stock. If our planned use of proceeds is not effective it could result in financial losses that could have a material adverse effect on our business and cause the price of our common stock to decline. Pending their use, we may invest the proceeds in a manner that does not produce income or that loses value. Although our Board will evaluate various alternatives regarding the use of the proceeds from the UDENYCA Sale, it has made no decision with respect to the specific use of
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proceeds other than as described above and has not committed to making any such decision by a particular date. This uncertainty may negatively impact the value and liquidity of our common stock.
There are risks and uncertainties associated with the transition services agreement that will be entered into between us and Intas at or before the date of the closing of the UDENYCA Sale, one or more of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or stock price.
In connection with the UDENYCA Sale, we are required to enter into the UDENYCA TSA pursuant to which we expect to be required to provide certain business support services to Intas for a defined transition period of time. There are a number of risks and uncertainties associated with the UDENYCA TSA, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or stock price, including, among other things:
● potential unanticipated costs to us under the UDENYCA TSA.
Risks Related to Manufacturing and Supply Chain
We are subject to a multitude of manufacturing risks and the risks of inaccurately forecasting sales of our products. We also need to make a determination of excess or obsolete inventory that requires judgment and may result in write-downs of inventory, charges related to firm purchase commitments, or both. Any adverse developments affecting the manufacturing operations of our products and product candidates could substantially increase our costs and limit supply for our products and product candidates.
The process of manufacturing our product candidates is complex, highly regulated and subject to several risks, including but not limited to:
We have experienced reduced production yields, product defects and other supply disruptions. For example, we have experienced failures with respect to the manufacturing of certain lots of each of our products and product candidates resulting in delays prior to our taking corrective action. Additionally, if microbial, viral or other contaminations are discovered in our products or product candidates or in the manufacturing facilities in which our products or product candidates are made, such manufacturing facilities may need to be closed for an extended period of time to investigate and remedy the contamination.
Any adverse developments affecting manufacturing operations for our products and product candidates, including due to sudden or long-term changes in weather patterns or conflicts in particular geographic areas, may result in shipment delays, inventory shortages, lot failures, withdrawals or recalls or other interruptions in the supply of our products and product candidates. We also need to make a determination of excess or obsolete inventory that requires judgment and includes consideration of many factors, such as estimates of future product demand, current and future market conditions, product expiration information and potential product obsolescence, among others. Although we believe that the assumptions we use in estimating potential inventory write-downs are reasonable, if actual market conditions are less favorable than projected by us, write-downs of inventory, charges related to firm purchase commitments, or both may be required which would be recorded as cost of goods sold in our consolidated statements of operations. Adverse developments affecting our assumptions of the level and timing of demand for our products include those that are outside of our control such as the actions taken by competitors and customers, the direct or indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other factors.
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We may have to take inventory write-downs and incur other charges and expenses, such as charges related to firm purchase commitments, for products that are manufactured in reliance on a forecast that proves to be inaccurate because we do not sell as many units as forecasted. For example, during the third quarter of 2022, we recorded a $26.0 million write-down of UDENYCA inventory that was at risk of expiration and during the fourth quarter of 2023, we recorded a $47.0 million charge for the write-down of slow moving YUSIMRY inventory and the related partial recognition of certain firm purchase commitments. Although we believe that the assumptions that we use in estimating inventory write-downs are reasonable, additional write-downs of inventory may be required in the future if actual market conditions are less favorable than our projections, which could materially and adversely impact our financial results. In addition to such write-downs, we may also have to incur charges and expenses related to firm purchase commitments or for product candidates that fail to meet specifications, undertake costly remediation efforts or seek costlier manufacturing alternatives.
On September 13, 2024, we announced that our third-party labeling and packaging CMO for UDENYCA delayed production of UDENYCA due to over-commitments and capacity constraints. These delays caused a temporary UDENYCA supply interruption that quickly took away our ability to sell our product UDENYCA, that makes up a large percentage of our total revenue, for a significant period of time. Production resumed in November 2024. The Company announced in January 2025 that due to strong demand in Q4 2024 and into Q1 2025, all three presentations of UDENYCA were being temporarily allocated. Based on individual distributor historical purchasing patterns, supply allocations to wholesalers for all three presentations of UDENYCA were removed between the end of January 2025 and the end of February 2025. The temporary UDENYCA supply interruption had a significant impact on our business, relationships with customers and affected the negotiations with potential counterparties in the UDENYCA Sale. Similar circumstances to the temporary UDENYCA supply interruption could arise in the future, which would have an adverse impact on our financial statements and reputation.
We currently engage single suppliers for manufacture, clinical trial services, formulation development and product testing of our products and product candidates. The loss of any of these suppliers or vendors could materially and adversely affect our business.
For our products and our product candidates, we currently engage a distinct vendor or service provider for each of the principal activities supporting our manufacture and development of these products, such as manufacture of the biological substance present in each of the products, manufacture of the final filled and finished presentation of these products, as well as laboratory testing, formulation development and clinical testing of these products. Because we currently have engaged a limited number of back-up suppliers or vendors for these single-sourced services, and although we believe that there are alternate sources that could fulfill these activities, we cannot make any assurances that identifying and establishing relationships with alternate suppliers and vendors would not result in significant delay in the development of our product candidates. Additional delays or cost increases could occur due to the direct or indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Additionally, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative service providers on commercially reasonable terms or at all. A delay in the development of our products and product candidates, or having to enter into a new agreement with a different third party on less favorable terms than we have with our current suppliers, could have a material adverse impact on our business.
For example, on September 13, 2024, we announced that our third-party labeling and packaging CMO for UDENYCA delayed production of UDENYCA due to over-commitments and capacity constraints. These delays caused a temporary UDENYCA supply interruption that quickly took away our ability to sell our product UDENYCA, that makes up a large percentage of our total revenue, for a significant period of time. Production resumed in November 2024. The Company announced in January 2025 that due to strong demand in Q4 2024 and into Q1 2025, all three presentations of UDENYCA were being temporarily allocated. Based on individual distributor historical purchasing patterns, supply allocations to wholesalers for all three presentations of UDENYCA were removed between the end of January 2025 and the end of February 2025. The temporary UDENYCA supply interruption had a significant impact on our business, relationships with customers and affected the negotiations with potential counterparties in the UDENYCA Sale. Similar circumstances to the temporary UDENYCA supply interruption could arise in the future, which would have an adverse impact on our financial statements and reputation.
We and our collaboration partners and contract manufacturers are subject to significant regulation with respect to manufacturing our product candidates. The manufacturing facilities on which we rely may not continue to meet regulatory requirements or may not be able to meet supply demands.
All entities involved in the preparation of therapeutics for clinical studies or commercial sale, including our existing contract manufacturers for our product candidates, are subject to extensive regulation. Components of a finished therapeutic product approved for commercial sale or used in clinical studies must be manufactured in accordance with cGMP. These regulations govern manufacturing processes and procedures (including record keeping) and the implementation and operation of quality systems to control and assure the
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quality of investigational products and products approved for sale. Poor control of production processes can lead to the introduction of contaminants or to inadvertent changes in the properties or stability of our product candidates that may not be detectable in final product testing. We, our collaboration partners, or our contract manufacturers must supply all necessary documentation in support of a Section 351(k) BLA, original BLA, NDA or MAA on a timely basis and must adhere to GLP and cGMP regulations enforced by the FDA and other regulatory agencies through their facilities inspection program. Some of our contract manufacturers may have never produced a commercially approved pharmaceutical product and therefore have not obtained the requisite regulatory authority approvals to do so. The facilities and quality systems of some or all of our collaboration partners and third-party contractors must successfully complete a pre-approval inspection for compliance with the applicable regulations as a condition of regulatory approval of our product candidates or any of our other potential products. In addition, the regulatory authorities may, at any time, audit or inspect a manufacturing facility involved with the preparation of our product candidates or our other potential products or the associated quality systems for compliance with the regulations applicable to the activities being conducted. Although we oversee the contract manufacturers, we cannot control the manufacturing process of, and are completely dependent on, our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with the regulatory requirements. If these facilities do not successfully complete a pre-approval plant inspection, regulatory approval of the products may not be granted or may be substantially delayed until any violations are corrected to the satisfaction of the regulatory authority, if ever.
The regulatory authorities also may, at any time following approval of a product for sale, inspect, audit or initiate an RRA of the manufacturing facilities of our collaboration partners and third-party contractors. If any such inspection, audit or RRA identifies a failure to comply with applicable regulations or if a violation of our product specifications or applicable regulations occurs independent of such an inspection, audit or RRA, we or the relevant regulatory authority may require remedial measures that may be costly or time consuming for us or a third party to implement and that may include the temporary or permanent suspension of a clinical study or commercial sales or the temporary or permanent closure of a facility. Any such remedial measures imposed upon us or third parties with whom we contract could materially harm our business.
If we, our collaboration partners or any of our third-party manufacturers fail to maintain regulatory compliance, the FDA or other applicable regulatory authority can impose regulatory sanctions including, among other things, refusal to approve a pending application for a new product candidate, withdrawal of an approval or suspension of production. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially harmed.
Additionally, if a manufacturer cannot meet the supply demand, supply from an alternative manufacturer would require the submission of a BLA/NDA supplement or MAA Variation (or equivalent foreign regulatory filing) which could result in further delay. The regulatory agencies may also require additional studies if a new manufacturer is relied upon for commercial production. Switching manufacturers may involve substantial costs and is likely to result in a delay in our desired clinical and commercial timelines. For example, on September 13, 2024, we announced that our third-party labeling and packaging CMO for UDENYCA delayed production of UDENYCA due to over-commitments and capacity constraints. These delays caused a temporary UDENYCA supply interruption that quickly took away our ability to sell our product UDENYCA, that makes up a large percentage of our total revenue, for a significant period of time. Production resumed in November 2024. The Company announced in January 2025 that due to strong demand in Q4 2024 and into Q1 2025, all three presentations of UDENYCA were being temporarily allocated. Based on individual distributor historical purchasing patterns, supply allocations to wholesalers for all three presentations of UDENYCA were removed between the end of January 2025 and the end of February 2025.
These factors could cause us to incur additional costs and could cause the delay or termination of clinical studies, regulatory submissions, required approvals or commercialization of our product candidates. Furthermore, if our suppliers fail to meet contractual requirements and we are unable to secure one or more replacement suppliers capable of production at a substantially equivalent cost, our clinical studies may be delayed or we could lose potential revenue.
The structure of complex proteins used in protein-based therapeutics is inherently variable and highly dependent on the processes and conditions used to manufacture them. If we are unable to develop manufacturing processes that achieve a requisite degree of biosimilarity to the originator drug, and within a range of variability considered acceptable by regulatory authorities, we may not be able to maintain regulatory approval for our biosimilar product.
Protein-based therapeutics are inherently heterogeneous and their structures are highly dependent on the production process and conditions. Products from one production facility can differ within an acceptable range from those produced in another facility. Similarly, physicochemical differences can also exist among different lots produced within a single facility. The physicochemical complexity and size of biologic therapeutics create significant technical and scientific challenges in the context of their replication as biosimilar products.
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The inherent variability in protein structure from one production lot to another is a fundamental consideration with respect to establishing biosimilarity to an originator product to support regulatory approval requirements. For example, the glycosylation of the protein, meaning the manner in which sugar molecules are attached to the protein backbone of a therapeutic protein when it is produced in a living cell, is critical to therapeutic efficacy, half-life, efficacy and even safety of the therapeutic and is therefore a key consideration for biosimilarity. Defining and understanding the variability of an originator molecule in order to match its glycosylation profile requires significant skill in cell biology, protein purification and analytical protein chemistry. Furthermore, manufacturing proteins with reliable and consistent glycosylation profiles at scale is challenging and highly dependent on the skill of the cell biologist and process scientist.
There are extraordinary technical challenges in developing complex protein-based therapeutics that not only must achieve an acceptable degree of similarity to the originator molecule in terms of characteristics such as the unique glycosylation pattern, but also the ability to develop manufacturing processes that can replicate the necessary structural characteristics within an acceptable range of variability sufficient to satisfy regulatory authorities.
Given the challenges caused by the inherent variability in protein production, we may not be successful in continuing to develop our biosimilar product if regulators conclude that we have not achieved a sufficient level of biosimilarity to the originator product, or that the processes we use are unable to generate our products are within an acceptable range of variability.
Risks Related to Adverse Events
Our products or our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that could, as applicable, delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit the commercial profile of an approved label or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if granted.
As with most pharmaceutical products, use of our products or our product candidates could be associated with side effects or adverse events, which can vary in severity (from minor reactions to death) and frequency (infrequent or prevalent). Side effects or adverse events associated with the use of our product candidates may be observed at any time, including in clinical trials or when a product is commercialized. Undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical studies and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or other comparable foreign authorities. Results of our studies could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects such as toxicity or other safety issues and could require us or our collaboration partners to perform additional studies or halt development or sale of these product candidates or expose us to product liability lawsuits, which will harm our business. In such an event, we may be required by regulatory agencies to conduct additional animal or human studies regarding the safety and efficacy of our product candidates, which we have not planned or anticipated or our studies could be suspended or terminated, and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny or withdraw approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. There can be no assurance that we will resolve any issues related to any product-related adverse events to the satisfaction of the FDA or any other regulatory agency in a timely manner, if ever, which could harm our business, prospects and financial condition.
Additionally, product quality characteristics have been shown to be sensitive to changes in process conditions, manufacturing techniques, equipment or sites and other such related considerations, hence any manufacturing process changes we implement prior to or after regulatory approval could impact product safety and efficacy.
Drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment for clinical trials, the ability of enrolled patients to complete our studies or result in potential product liability claims. We currently carry product liability insurance and we are required to maintain product liability insurance pursuant to certain of our license agreements. We cannot assure that out product liability coverage will cover in full claims to which we are exposed. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses due to liability. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us could adversely affect our results of operations and business. In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in impairment of our business reputation, withdrawal of clinical study participants, costs due to related litigation, distraction of management’s attention from our primary business, initiation of investigations by regulators, substantial monetary awards to patients or other claimants, the inability to commercialize our product candidates and decreased demand for our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale.
Additionally, if one or more of our product candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by such products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including but not limited to:
● regulatory authorities may withdraw approvals of such product;
● regulatory authorities may require additional warnings on the label;
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● we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; and
● our reputation may suffer.
Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved, and could significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.
For our products and If we receive approval for our product candidates, regulatory agencies including the FDA and foreign regulatory agencies, regulations require that we report certain information about adverse medical events if those products may have caused or contributed to those adverse events. The timing of our obligation to report would be triggered by the date we become aware of the adverse event as well as the nature of the event. We may fail to report adverse events we become aware of within the prescribed timeframe. We may also fail to appreciate that we have become aware of a reportable adverse event, especially if it is not reported to us as an adverse event or if it is an adverse event that is unexpected or removed in time from the use of our products. If we fail to comply with our reporting obligations, the FDA or foreign regulatory agencies could take action including criminal prosecution, the imposition of civil monetary penalties, seizure of our products or extended delay in approval or clearance of future products.
Adverse events involving an originator product, other biosimilars of such originator product or other anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 antibody product may negatively affect our business.
In the event that use of an originator product, other biosimilar for such originator product, or anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 antibody product results in unanticipated side effects or other adverse events, it is likely that our product will be viewed comparably and may become subject to the same scrutiny and regulatory sanctions as the originator product, other biosimilar, or other anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 antibody product, as applicable. Accordingly, we may become subject to regulatory supervisions, clinical holds, product recalls or other regulatory actions for matters outside of our control that affect the originator product, other biosimilar, or other anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 antibody product, as applicable, if and until we are able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of our regulators that our product is not subject to the same issues leading to the regulatory action as the originator product or other biosimilar, or other anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 antibody product, as applicable.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
If we infringe or are alleged to infringe intellectual property rights of third parties, our business could be harmed. Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement may prevent or delay our development and commercialization efforts.
Our commercial success depends in large part on avoiding infringement of the patents and proprietary rights of third parties. There have been many lawsuits and other proceedings involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the pharmaceutical industry, including patent infringement lawsuits, interferences, oppositions and reexamination proceedings before the USPTO and corresponding foreign patent offices. Numerous United States and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we are developing product candidates. As the pharmaceutical industry expands and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our product candidates may be subject to claims of infringement of the patent rights of third parties.
Our research, development and commercialization activities may infringe or otherwise violate or be claimed to infringe or otherwise violate patents owned or controlled by other parties. The company that originated the product for which we introduced a biosimilar version, such as Amgen, as well as other competitors (including other companies developing biosimilars) have developed, and are continuing to develop, worldwide patent portfolios of varying sizes and breadth, many of which are in fields relating to our business, and it may not always be clear to industry participants, including us, which patents cover various types of products or methods of use.
Third parties may assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. We are aware of third-party patents or patent applications with claims, for example, to compositions, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods for treatment related to the use or manufacture of our product candidates. While we have conducted freedom to operate analyses with respect to our products and our product candidates, including our in-licensed biosimilar candidates, as well as our pipeline candidates, we cannot guarantee that any of our analyses are complete and thorough, nor can we be sure that we have identified each patent and pending application in the United States and abroad that is relevant or necessary to the commercialization of our product candidates. Moreover, because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents covering our product candidates. With respect to products we are evaluating for inclusion in our future product pipeline, our freedom to operate analyses, including our research on the timing of potentially relevant patent expirations, are ongoing.
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There may also be patent applications that have been filed but not published and if such applications issue as patents, they could be asserted against us. For example, in most cases, a patent filed today would not become known to industry participants for at least 18 months given patent rules applicable in most jurisdictions, which do not require publication of patent applications until 18 months after filing. Moreover, some United States patents may issue without any prior publication in cases where the patent applicant does not also make a foreign filing. We may also face claims from non-practicing entities that have no relevant product revenue and against whom our own patent portfolio may have no deterrent effect. In addition, coverage of patents is subject to interpretation by the courts, and the interpretation is not always uniform. If we are sued for patent infringement, we would need to demonstrate that our product candidates, products or methods either do not infringe the patent claims of the relevant patent or that the patent claims are invalid or unenforceable, and we may not be able to do this. Proving that a patent is invalid or unenforceable is difficult. For example, in the United States, proving invalidity requires a showing of clear and convincing evidence to overcome the presumption of validity enjoyed by issued patents. Also, in proceedings before courts in Europe, the burden of proving invalidity of the patent usually rests on the party alleging invalidity. Even if we are successful in these proceedings, we may incur substantial costs and the time and attention of our management and scientific personnel could be diverted in pursuing these proceedings, which could have a material adverse effect on us. In addition, we may not have sufficient resources to bring these actions to a successful conclusion.
Third parties could bring claims against us that would cause us to incur substantial expenses and, if successful against us, could cause us to pay substantial monetary damages. Further, if a patent infringement suit were brought against us, we could be forced to stop or delay research, development, manufacturing or sales of the product or product candidate that is the subject of the suit. Ultimately, we could be prevented from commercializing a product or be forced to cease some aspect of our business operations, if, as a result of actual or threatened patent infringement claims, we are unable to enter into licenses on commercially acceptable terms or at all. If, as a result of patent infringement claims or to avoid potential claims, we choose or are required to seek licenses from third parties, these licenses may not be available on acceptable terms or at all. Even if we are able to obtain a license, the license may obligate us to pay substantial license fees or royalties or both, and the rights granted to us might be nonexclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same intellectual property. Parties making claims against us may obtain injunctive or other equitable relief, which could effectively block our ability to further develop and commercialize one or more of our product candidates. Defense of these claims, regardless of their merit, would likely involve substantial litigation expense and would likely be a substantial diversion of employee resources from our business. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may, in addition to being blocked from the market, have to pay substantial monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, pay royalties, redesign our infringing products or obtain one or more licenses from third parties, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure.
In addition to infringement claims against us, we may become a party to other patent litigation and other proceedings, including interference, IPR, derivation or post-grant proceedings declared or granted by the USPTO and similar proceedings in foreign countries, regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our current or future products. An unfavorable outcome in any such proceeding could require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party or could cause us to lose valuable intellectual property rights. Our business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us a license on commercially reasonable terms, if any license is offered at all. Litigation or other proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees. We may also become involved in disputes with others regarding the ownership of intellectual property rights. For example, we jointly develop intellectual property with certain parties, and disagreements may therefore arise as to the ownership of the intellectual property developed pursuant to these relationships. If we are unable to resolve these disputes, we could lose valuable intellectual property rights.
Third parties may submit applications for patent term extensions in the United States or other jurisdictions where similar extensions are available or Supplementary Protection Certificates in the E.U. states and Switzerland seeking to extend certain patent protection, which, if approved, may interfere with or delay the launch of one or more of our products.
The cost to us of any patent litigation or other proceeding, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. Patent litigation and other proceedings may fail, and even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees. The companies that originated the products for which we intend to introduce biosimilar versions, as well as other competitors (including other biosimilar companies) may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their substantially greater financial resources. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could impair our ability to compete in the marketplace.
We do not know whether any of our pending patent applications will result in the issuance of any patents or whether the rights granted under any patents issuing from these applications will prevent any of our competitors from marketing similar products that may be competitive with our own. Moreover, even if we do obtain issued patents, they will not guarantee us the right to use our patented
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technology for commercialization of our product candidates. Third parties may have blocking patents that could prevent us from commercializing our own products, even if our products use or embody our own, patented inventions.
The validity and enforceability of patents are generally uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions. Any patents that may be issued on our pending applications may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, which could limit our ability to stop competitors from marketing products similar to ours. Furthermore, our competitors may develop similar or alternative technologies not covered by any patents that may issue to us.
For technologies for which we do not seek patent protection, we may rely on trade secrets to protect our proprietary position. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. We seek to protect our technology and product candidates, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements with those who have access to our confidential information, including our employees, consultants, advisors, contractors or collaborators. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our proprietary technology and processes by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. While we have confidence in these individuals, organizations and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. To the extent that our employees, consultants, advisors, contractors and collaborators use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions.
We may be involved in lawsuits or IPR proceedings to protect or enforce our patents, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful.
We may discover that competitors are infringing our issued patents. Expensive and time-consuming litigation may be required to abate such infringement. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. If we or one of our collaboration partners were to initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering one of our product candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that the patent covering our product candidate is invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including but not limited to lack of novelty, obviousness or non-enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could include an allegation that someone involved in the prosecution of the patent withheld relevant or material information related to the patentability of the invention from the USPTO or made a misleading statement during prosecution. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable.
Interference proceedings provoked by third parties or brought by us or declared by the USPTO may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions with respect to our patents or patent applications. An unfavorable outcome could require us to cease using the related technology or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if we cannot obtain a license from the prevailing party on commercially reasonable terms. Third parties may request an IPR of our patents in the USPTO. An unfavorable decision may result in the revocation of our patent or a limitation to the scope of the claims of our patents. Our defense of litigation, interference or IPR proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distract our management and other employees. In addition, the uncertainties associated with litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our clinical trials, continue our research programs, license necessary technology from third parties or enter into development partnerships that would help us bring our product candidates to market.
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 any litigation we initiate to enforce our patents. There could also be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common stock.
We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants, or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties or that our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their former employers.
We employ individuals, retain independent contractors and consultants and members on our board of directors or scientific advisory board who were previously employed at universities or other pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. For example, our Chief Executive Officer, Dennis M. Lanfear is a former employee of Amgen. Mr. Lanfear was employed at Amgen during periods when Amgen’s operations included the development and commercialization of Neulasta. Senior members of our commercial team and medical affairs team who were responsible for the launch of additional presentations of UDENYCA formerly held positions at Amgen. Our board of directors and scientific advisory board include members who were former employees of Amgen and
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Abbott Laboratories. Although we have procedures in place to try to ensure that our employees, consultants and independent contractors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or our employees or consultants have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of a former employer or other third parties. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel, which could adversely impact our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees.
On March 3, 2017, Amgen filed an action against us, KBI Biopharma, our employee Howard S. Weiser and Does 1-20 in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Ventura. The complaint, which was amended, alleged that we engaged in unfair competition and improperly solicited and hired certain former Amgen employees in order to acquire and access trade secrets and other confidential information belonging to Amgen. The complaint, as amended, sought injunctive relief and monetary damages. On May 2, 2019, we and Amgen settled the trade secret action brought by Amgen. The details of the settlement are confidential but we will continue to market UDENYCA, until the closing of the UDENYCA Sale, and from July 1, 2019 to July 1, 2024 we paid a mid-single digit royalty to Amgen.
If we fail to comply with our obligations in the agreements under which we license intellectual property and other rights from third parties or otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our licensors, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.
We are a party to certain non-exclusive intellectual property license agreements with certain vendors that are important to our business, and we expect to enter into additional license agreements in the future. Our existing license agreements impose, and we expect that future license agreements will impose, various diligence, milestone payment, royalty and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with our obligations under these agreements or we are subject to a bankruptcy, we may be required to make certain payments to the licensor, we may lose the license or the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, in which event we would not be able to develop or market products covered by the license. Additionally, the milestone and other payments associated with these licenses will make it less profitable for us to develop our product candidates.
In the event we breach any of our obligations related to such agreements, we may incur significant liability to our licensing partners. Disputes may arise regarding intellectual property subject to a licensing agreement, including but not limited to:
● the sublicensing of patents and other rights;
● the priority of invention of patented technology.
If disputes over intellectual property and other rights that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates and that could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We may not be successful in obtaining or maintaining necessary rights to our products and product candidates through acquisitions and in-licenses.
We currently have rights to certain intellectual property, through licenses from third parties and under patent applications that we own, to develop and commercialize our products and product candidates. Because we may find that our programs require the use of proprietary rights held by third parties, the growth of our business may depend in part on our ability to acquire, in-license or use these proprietary rights. We may be unable to acquire or in-license compositions, methods of use, processes or other third-party intellectual property rights from third parties that we identify as necessary for our product candidates. The licensing and acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and a number of more established companies are also pursuing strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, financial resources and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition,
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companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. We also may be unable to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment. We may also get into disputes or litigation with third parties from whom we license intellectual property rights necessary for the sale of our products.
If we are unable to successfully obtain required third-party intellectual property rights or maintain the existing intellectual property rights we have, we may have to abandon development of that program and our business and financial condition could suffer.
Risks Related to the Discovery and Development of Our Product Candidates
We are heavily dependent on the development, clinical success, regulatory approval and commercial success of our product candidates. We cannot give any assurance that any of our product candidates will receive regulatory approval, which is necessary before they can be commercialized.
We invest substantial efforts and financial resources to identify, acquire and develop our product candidates. Our future success is dependent on our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and then commercialize and obtain adequate third-party coverage and reimbursement for one or more of our product candidates. We currently have two approved products: UDENYCA and LOQTORZI.
Our product candidates are in varying stages of development and will require additional clinical development, management of nonclinical, clinical and manufacturing activities, regulatory approval, adequate manufacturing supplies, commercial organization and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenue from product sales. Other than certain pharmacokinetic bridging studies, we have not initiated Phase 3 clinical trials for other product candidates in our pipeline. It may be some time before we file for market approval with the relevant regulatory agencies for these product candidates.
We cannot be certain that any of our product candidates will be successful in clinical trials or receive regulatory approval. Further, our product candidates may not receive regulatory approval even if they are successful in clinical trials. If we and our existing or future collaboration partners do not receive regulatory approvals for our product candidates, we may not be able to continue our operations.
We, together with our collaboration partners, generally plan to seek regulatory approval to commercialize our product candidates in the United States, the E.U., and additional foreign countries where we or our partners have commercial rights. To obtain regulatory approval, we and our collaboration partners must comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of such countries regarding safety, efficacy, chemistry, manufacturing and controls, clinical studies, commercial sales, and pricing and distribution of our product candidates. Even if we and our collaboration partners are successful in obtaining approval in one jurisdiction, we cannot ensure that we will obtain approval in any other jurisdictions. If we and our collaboration partners are unable to obtain approval for our product candidates in multiple jurisdictions, our revenue and results of operations could be negatively affected.
The regulatory approval processes of the FDA, EMA and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable, and the regulatory approval requirements for biosimilars are evolving. If we and our collaboration partners are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our business will be substantially harmed.
The research, development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, packaging, approval, promotion, advertising, storage, marketing, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting and export and import of biologic and biosimilar products are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory authorities in the United States, by the EMA and EEA Competent Authorities in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), and by other regulatory authorities in other countries, where regulations differ from country to country. Neither we nor any existing or future collaboration partners are permitted to market our product candidates in the United States until we and our collaboration partners receive approval from the FDA, or in the EEA until we and our collaboration partners receive EC or EEA Competent Authority approvals.
The time required to develop new products or obtain approval for new products by the FDA and comparable foreign authorities is unpredictable, may take many years following the completion of clinical studies and depends upon numerous factors. Further, applications to the Human Genetic Resources Administration of China (HGRAC) required for any activities, including development activities and data sharing with our partners in China, may result in product development delays. In addition, approval policies, regulations or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions, which may cause delays in the approval or the decision not to approve an application. Neither we nor any collaboration partner has obtained regulatory approval for any of our products and product candidates, other than UDENYCA, which has
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received approval from the FDA and EMA, and LOQTORZI, which has received approval from the FDA and is also approved for use in China, and it is possible that none of our other current or future product candidates will ever obtain additional regulatory approvals.
Applications for our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including but not limited to the following:
This approval process, as well as the unpredictability of the results of clinical studies, may result in our failure to obtain regulatory approval to market any of our product candidates, which would significantly harm our business. Any delays in the commencement or completion of clinical testing could significantly impact our product development costs and could result in the need for additional financing, which may be unavailable to us on acceptable terms or at all.
Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process and we may encounter substantial delays in our clinical studies or may fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of applicable regulatory authorities.
Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our product candidates, we or our collaboration partners, or both, as the case may be, must conduct clinical studies to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the product candidates in humans.
Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical study process. The results of preclinical studies and early clinical studies of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical studies. Product candidates that have shown promising results in early-stage clinical studies may still suffer significant setbacks in subsequent registration clinical studies. There is a high failure rate for product candidates proceeding through clinical studies, and product candidates in later stages of clinical studies may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy traits despite having progressed through preclinical studies and initial clinical studies. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical studies due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier studies. Nonclinical and clinical data are also often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses. We do not know whether any clinical studies we may conduct for our product candidates will demonstrate consistent or adequate efficacy and safety to obtain regulatory approval. Furthermore, biosimilar clinical studies must use originator products as comparators, and such supplies may not be available on a timely basis to support such trials.
We cannot guarantee that any clinical studies will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all. A failure of one or more clinical studies can occur at any stage of testing, and our future clinical studies may not be successful. Events that may prevent successful or timely completion of clinical development include but are not limited to:
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● delays in reaching a consensus with regulatory agencies on study design;
● delays in obtaining required IRB approval at each clinical study site;
● difficulty collaborating with patient groups and investigators;
Any inability to successfully complete nonclinical and clinical development could result in additional costs to us or impair our ability to continue to generate revenue. In addition, if we make manufacturing or formulation changes to our product candidates, we may need to conduct additional studies to bridge our modified product candidates to earlier versions.
If we encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.
Patient enrollment is a significant factor in the timing of clinical trials, and the timing of our clinical trials will depend, in part, on the speed at which we can recruit patients to participate in our trials, as well as completion of required follow-up periods. We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our product candidates if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in these trials to such trial’s conclusion as required by the FDA or other comparable regulatory authorities. Some of the conditions for which we may plan to evaluate our product candidates are rare diseases with limited patient pools from which to draw for clinical trials. The eligibility criteria of our clinical trials, once established, may further limit the pool of available trial participants.
Patient enrollment in clinical trials may be affected by other factors, including:
• size and nature of the targeted patient population;
• severity of the disease or condition under investigation;
• perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study;
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• efforts to facilitate timely enrollment in clinical trials;
• patient referral practices of physicians;
• the ability to monitor patients adequately during and after treatment;
• proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective patients;
• continued enrollment of prospective patients by clinical trial sites; and
Additionally, other pharmaceutical companies targeting these same diseases are recruiting clinical trial patients from these patient populations, which may make it more difficult to fully enroll any clinical trials. We also rely on, and will continue to rely on, CROs and clinical trial sites to ensure proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials and preclinical studies. Though we have entered into agreements governing their services, we will have limited influence over their actual performance. Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials would result in significant delays or may require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether. Enrollment delays in our clinical trials may result in increased development costs for our product candidates and jeopardize our ability to obtain regulatory approval for the sale of our product candidates.
The development, manufacture and commercialization of biosimilar products under various global regulatory pathways pose unique risks.
We and our collaboration partners intend to pursue market authorization globally. In the United States, an abbreviated pathway for approval of biosimilar products was established by the BPCIA, enacted on March 23, 2010, as part of the ACA. The BPCIA established this abbreviated pathway under Section 351(k) of the PHSA. Subsequent to the enactment of the BPCIA, the FDA issued guidance documents regarding the demonstration of biosimilarity and interchangeability as well as the submission and review of biosimilar applications. Moreover, market acceptance of biosimilar products in the United States is unclear. Numerous states are considering or have already enacted laws that regulate or restrict the substitution by state pharmacies of biosimilars for originator products already licensed by the FDA. Market success of biosimilar products will depend on demonstrating to patients, physicians, payers and relevant authorities that such products are similar in quality, safety and efficacy as compared to the reference product.
We will continue to analyze and incorporate into our biosimilar development plans any final regulations issued by the FDA, pharmacy substitution policies enacted by state governments and other applicable requirements established by relevant authorities. The costs of development and approval will be dependent upon the application of any laws and regulations issued by the relevant regulatory authorities.
Biosimilar products may also be subject to extensive originator-controlled patent portfolios and patent infringement litigation, which may delay and could prevent the commercial launch of a product. Moreover, the BPCIA prohibits the FDA from accepting an application for a biosimilar candidate to a reference product within four years of the reference product’s licensure by the FDA. In addition, the BPCIA provides innovative biologics with 12 years of exclusivity from the date of their licensure, during which time the FDA cannot approve any application for a biosimilar candidate to the reference product.
Under current E.U. regulations, an application for regulatory approval of a biosimilar drug cannot be submitted in the E.U. until expiration of an eight-year data exclusivity period for the reference (originator) product, measured from the date of the reference product’s initial marketing authorization. Furthermore, once approved, the biosimilar cannot be marketed until expiration of a ten-year period following the initial marketing authorization of the reference product, such ten-year period being extendible to 11 years if the reference product received approval of an additional therapeutic indication, within the first eight years following its initial marketing authorization, representing a significant clinical benefit in comparison with existing therapies.
In Europe, the approval of a biosimilar for marketing is based on an opinion issued by the EMA and a decision issued by the EC. Therefore, the marketing approval will cover the entire EEA. However, substitution of a biosimilar for the originator is a decision that is made at the national level. Additionally, a number of countries do not permit the automatic substitution of biosimilars for the originator product. Therefore, even if we obtain marketing approval for the entire EEA, we may not receive substitution in one or more European nations, thereby restricting our ability to market our products in those jurisdictions.
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Other regions, including Canada, Japan and South Korea, also have their own legislation outlining a regulatory pathway for the approval of biosimilars. In some cases, other countries have either adopted European guidance (Singapore and Malaysia) or are following guidance issued by the World Health Organization (Cuba and Brazil). While there is overlap in the regulatory requirements across regions, there are also some areas of non-overlap. Additionally, we cannot predict whether countries that we may wish to market in which do not yet have an established or tested regulatory framework could decide to issue regulations or guidance or adopt a more conservative viewpoint than other regions. Therefore, it is possible that even if we obtain agreement from one health authority to an accelerated or optimized development plan, we will need to defer to the most conservative view to ensure global harmonization of the development plan. Also, for regions where regulatory authorities do not yet have sufficient experience in the review and approval of a biosimilar product, these authorities may rely on the approval from another region (e.g., the United States or the E.U.), which could delay our approval in that region. Finally, it is possible that some countries will not approve a biosimilar without clinical data from their population or may require that the biosimilar product be manufactured within their region, or some countries may require both.
If other biosimilars of pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) are determined to be interchangeable and our biosimilar product is not, our business could suffer.
The FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities may determine that a proposed biosimilar product is “interchangeable” with a reference product, meaning that the biosimilar product may be substituted for the reference product without the intervention of the health care provider who prescribed the reference product, if the application includes sufficient information to show that the product is biosimilar to the reference product and that it can be expected to produce the same clinical result as the reference product in any given patient. If the biosimilar product may be administered more than once to a patient, the applicant must demonstrate that the risk in terms of safety or diminished efficacy of alternating or switching between the biosimilar product and the reference product is not greater than the risk of using the reference product without such alternation or switch. To make a final determination of interchangeability, regulatory authorities may require additional confirmatory information beyond what we plan to initially submit in our applications for approval, such as more in-depth analytical characterization, animal testing or further clinical studies. Provision of sufficient information for approval may prove difficult and expensive.
We cannot predict whether any of our biosimilar products and product candidates will meet regulatory authority requirements for approval not only as a biosimilar product but also as an interchangeable product in any jurisdiction. Furthermore, legislation governing interchangeability could differ by jurisdiction on a state or national level worldwide. For example, recent U.S. legislative proposals have sought to reduce or altogether eliminate the statutory and regulatory distinctions between interchangeable products and conventional biosimilars. Such efforts, if successful, could reduce or eliminate any competitive or regulatory advantages currently afforded to interchangeable products.
The labelling of “interchangeability” is important because, in the United States for example, the first biosimilar determined to be interchangeable with a particular reference, or originator, product for any condition of use is eligible for a period of market exclusivity that delays an FDA determination that a second or subsequent biosimilar product is interchangeable with that originator product for any condition of use until the earlier of: (1) one year after the first commercial marketing of the first interchangeable product; (2) 18 months after resolution of a patent infringement suit instituted under 42 U.S.C. § 262(l)(6) against the applicant that submitted the application for the first interchangeable product, based on a final court decision regarding all of the patents in the litigation or dismissal of the litigation with or without prejudice; (3) 42 months after approval of the first interchangeable product, if a patent infringement suit instituted under 42 U.S.C. § 262(l)(6) against the applicant that submitted the application for the first interchangeable product is still ongoing; or (4) 18 months after approval of the first interchangeable product if the applicant that submitted the application for the first interchangeable product has not been sued under 42 U.S.C. § 262(l)(6). Thus, a determination that another company’s product is interchangeable with the originator biologic before we obtain approval of our corresponding biosimilar product candidates may delay the potential determination that our products are interchangeable with the originator product, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations and delay, prevent or limit our ability to generate revenue.
Failure to obtain regulatory approval in any targeted regulatory jurisdiction would prevent us from marketing our products to a larger patient population and reduce our commercial opportunities.
We are marketing LOQTORZI and UDENYCA in the United States, and subject to product approvals and relevant patent and settlement agreement expirations, we intend to market our other products in the United States and outside the United States on our own or with future collaboration partners. We entered into a distribution agreement with our licensee Orox / Gador for the commercialization of a biosimilar version of pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) in certain Caribbean and Latin American countries. We intend to market our products in the United States and may seek to partner commercially all products outside the United States, such as our Canada License Agreement with Apotex in Canada for LOQTORZI.
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In order to market our products in the E.U., the United States and other jurisdictions, we and our collaboration partners must obtain separate regulatory approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The EMA is responsible for the centralized procedure for the regulation and approval of human medicines. This procedure results in a single marketing authorization that is valid in all E.U. countries, as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The time required to obtain approval abroad may differ from that required to obtain FDA approval. The foreign regulatory approval process may include all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval and we may not obtain foreign regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and approval by one foreign regulatory authority does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other foreign countries or by the FDA. We or our collaboration partners may not be able to file for regulatory approvals and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize our products in any market. Failure to obtain these approvals would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may not be successful in our efforts to identify, develop or commercialize additional product candidates.
Although a substantial amount of our effort will focus on the continued clinical testing, potential approval and commercialization of our existing product candidates, the success of our business also depends upon our ability to identify, develop and commercialize additional product candidates. Research programs to identify new product candidates require substantial technical, financial and human resources. We may focus our efforts and resources on potential programs or product candidates that ultimately prove to be unsuccessful. Our development efforts may fail to yield additional product candidates suitable for clinical development and commercialization for a number of reasons, including but not limited to the following:
● our product candidates may not succeed in nonclinical or clinical testing; and
If any of these events occur, we may be forced to abandon our development efforts for a program or programs or we may not be able to identify, develop or commercialize additional product candidates, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and could potentially cause us to cease operations.
Risks Related to Our Compliance with Applicable Laws
Healthcare reform measures, including the IRA, may increase the difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval for and commercialize our products, affect the prices we may set, and have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
In the United States, there have been and continue to be a number of legislative initiatives to contain healthcare costs. For example, in March 2010, the ACA, was passed, which substantially changed the way health care is financed by both governmental and private insurers and has impacted and continues to impact the United States pharmaceutical industry. The ACA, among other things, modified the average manufacturer price (“AMP”) definition under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program (“MDRP”) for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected and not generally distributed through the retail channel; expanded rebate payments under the MDRP to include utilization by individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations; added a provision to increase the Medicaid rebate for line extension drugs; established annual fees and taxes on manufacturers of certain branded prescription drugs; expanded the entities eligible for discounts under the Public Health Service 340B drug pricing program; and established the Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program, in which manufacturers must agree to offer point-of-sale discounts off negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs to eligible beneficiaries during their coverage gap period, as a condition for the manufacturer’s outpatient drugs to be covered under Medicare Part D.
Since its enactment, there have been judicial, executive and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA. On June 17, 2021, the United States Supreme Court dismissed the most recent judicial challenge to the ACA brought by several states without specifically ruling on the constitutionality of the ACA.
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In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. These changes include the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which eliminated the statutory cap on the Medicaid drug rebate beginning January 1, 2024. The rebate was previously capped at 100% of a drug’s AMP.
Most significantly, on August 16, 2022, the IRA was signed into law. Among other things, the IRA requires manufacturers of certain drugs to engage in price negotiations with Medicare (beginning in 2026), with prices that can be negotiated subject to a cap; imposes rebates under Medicare Part B and Medicare Part D to penalize price increases that outpace inflation (first due in 2023); and replaces the Part D coverage gap discount program with a new discounting program (beginning in 2025). The IRA permits the Secretary of HHS to implement many of these provisions through guidance, as opposed to regulation, for the initial years. HHS has and will continue to issue and update guidance as these programs are implemented. On August 29, 2023, HHS announced the list of the first ten drugs that will be subject to price negotiations, although the Medicare drug price negotiation program is currently subject to legal challenges. For that and other reasons, the impact of the IRA on our business and the pharmaceutical industry cannot yet be fully determined. If a product becomes subject to the IRA negotiation provision and related price cap, that may significantly alter the economic rationale for developing and commercializing a biosimilar. Additionally, in response to the Biden administration’s October 2022 executive order, on February 14, 2023, HHS released a report outlining three new models for testing by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation which will be evaluated on their ability to lower the cost of drugs, promote accessibility, and improve quality of care. It is unclear whether the models will be utilized in any health reform measures in the future.
The cost of prescription pharmaceuticals in the United States is likely to remain the subject of considerable discussion. There have been several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted legislation designed to, among other things, reform government program reimbursement methodologies. The likelihood of implementation of these and other reform initiatives is uncertain. In the coming years, additional legislative and regulatory changes could be made to governmental health programs that could significantly impact pharmaceutical companies and the success of our product candidates. We expect that healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future may result in more rigorous coverage criteria, new payment methodologies and additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our product candidates.
Individual states in the United States have also proposed and enacted legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access, marketing cost disclosure, drug price reporting and other transparency measures, and, in some cases, measures designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Some states have enacted legislation creating so-called prescription drug affordability boards, which ultimately may attempt to impose price limits on certain drugs in these states. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our product candidates or additional pricing pressures, such as a single reimbursement code for biosimilar products.
We expect that healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future may result in more rigorous coverage criteria, new payment methodologies and additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our product candidates.
In the E.U., similar political, economic and regulatory developments may affect our ability to profitably commercialize our product candidates, if approved. In addition to continuing pressure on prices and cost containment measures, legislative developments at the E.U. or member state level may result in significant additional requirements or obstacles that may increase our operating costs. The delivery of healthcare in the E.U., including the establishment and operation of health services and the pricing and reimbursement of medicines, is almost exclusively a matter for national, rather than E.U., law and policy. National governments and health service providers have different priorities and approaches to the delivery of health care and the pricing and reimbursement of products in that context. In general, however, the healthcare budgetary constraints in most E.U. member states have resulted in restrictions on the pricing and reimbursement of medicines by relevant health service providers. Coupled with ever-increasing E.U. and national regulatory burdens on those wishing to develop and market products, this could prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to commercialize our product candidates, if approved. In markets outside of the United States and E.U., reimbursement and healthcare payment systems vary significantly by country, and many countries have instituted price ceilings on specific products and therapies.
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We may be subject, directly or indirectly, to federal and state healthcare laws, including fraud and abuse, false claims and physician payment transparency laws. If we are unable to comply or have not fully complied with such laws, we could face substantial penalties.
Our operations are directly or indirectly through our customers subject to various federal and state fraud and abuse laws, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal False Claims Act and physician sunshine laws and regulations. These laws impact, among other things, sales, marketing and education programs. The laws that may affect our ability to operate include:
Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. In addition, recent health care reform legislation has strengthened these laws.
Efforts to ensure that our operations and business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. If we are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other governmental regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from participation in government health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, imprisonment, additional reporting obligations and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and
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our results of operations. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly, time-consuming and may require significant personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired.
If we fail to comply with our reporting and payment obligations under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program or other governmental pricing programs in the United States, we could be subject to additional reimbursement requirements, penalties, sanctions and fines which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We participate in governmental programs that impose drug price reporting, payment, and other compliance obligations on pharmaceutical manufacturers. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program for low-income and disabled beneficiaries. Medicare is a federal program that is administered by the federal government covering individuals age 65 and over as well as those with certain disabilities. Medicare Part B reimburses physicians who administer our products. Under the MDRP, as a condition of having federal funds available for our covered outpatient drugs under Medicaid and under Medicare Part B, we must enter into, and have entered into, an agreement with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to pay a rebate to state Medicaid programs for each unit of our covered outpatient drugs dispensed to a Medicaid beneficiary and paid for by the state Medicaid program. Medicaid rebates are based on pricing data that we are required to report on a monthly and quarterly basis to CMS, the federal agency that administers the MDRP and Medicare programs. For the MDRP, these data include the AMP for each drug and, in the case of innovator products, the Best Price, which represents the lowest price available from us to any wholesaler, retailer, provider, health maintenance organization, nonprofit entity, or governmental entity in the United States in any pricing structure, calculated to include all applicable sales and associated rebates, discounts and other price concessions. In connection with Medicare Part B, we must provide CMS with ASP information on a quarterly basis. CMS uses this information to compute Medicare Part B payment rates, which consist of ASP plus a specified percentage. If we become aware that our MDRP submissions for a prior period were incorrect or have changed as a result of recalculation of the pricing data, we must resubmit the corrected data for up to three years after those data originally were due. Pursuant to the IRA, the AMP and ASP figures we report will also be used to compute rebates under Medicare Part D and Medicare Part B triggered by price increases that outpace inflation. If we fail to provide information timely or are found to have knowingly submitted false information to CMS, we may be subject to civil monetary penalties and other sanctions, including termination from the MDRP.
Federal law requires that any company that participates in the MDRP also participate in the Public Health Service’s 340B drug pricing program in order for federal funds to be available for the manufacturer’s drugs under Medicaid and Medicare Part B. The 340B program is administered by the HRSA and requires us to agree to charge statutorily defined covered entities no more than the 340B “ceiling price” for our covered drugs when used in an outpatient setting. These 340B covered entities include a variety of community health clinics and other entities that receive health services grants from the Public Health Service, as well as hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients. The 340B ceiling price is calculated using a statutory formula, which is based on the AMP and rebate amount for the covered outpatient drug as calculated under the MDRP. In general, products subject to Medicaid price reporting and rebate liability are also subject to the 340B ceiling price requirement. We must report 340B ceiling prices to HRSA on a quarterly basis, and HRSA publishes them to 340B covered entities. HRSA has finalized regulations regarding the calculation of the 340B ceiling price and the imposition of civil monetary penalties on manufacturers that knowingly and intentionally overcharge covered entities for 340B eligible drugs. HRSA has also finalized an administrative dispute resolution process through which 340B covered entities may pursue claims against participating manufacturers for overcharges.