lxrx-20231231
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2023
or
For the Transition Period from _____________ to _____________
Commission File Number: 000-30111
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
2445 Technology Forest Blvd., 11th Floor
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of Each Class Trading Symbol(s) Name of Each Exchange on which Registered
Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share LXRX Nasdaq Global Select Market
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933. Yes ☐ No ☑
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes ☐ No ☑
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☑ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☑ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. (check one): Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☐Non-accelerated filer ☑ Smaller reporting company ☑Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934). Yes ☐ No ☑
The aggregate market value of voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of the last day of the registrant’s most recently completed second quarter was approximately $273.7 million, based on the closing price of the common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on June 30, 2023 of $2.29 per share. For purposes of the preceding sentence only, our directors, executive officers and controlling stockholders are assumed to be affiliates. As of March 21, 2024, 246,236,753 shares of common stock were outstanding.
Documents Incorporated by Reference
Certain sections of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement relating to the registrant’s 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, which proxy statement will be filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 within 120 days of the end of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this annual report on Form 10-K.
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Table of Contents
Item
PART I
1. Business 1
1A. Risk Factors 17
1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 34
1C. Cybersecurity 34
2. Properties 36
3. Legal Proceedings 36
4. Mine Safety Disclosures 36
PART II
6. [Reserved] 37
7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 44
8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 44
9A. Controls and Procedures 44
9B. Other Information 45
9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 45
PART III
10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 46
11. Executive Compensation 46
13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence 46
14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 46
PART IV
15. Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules 47
Signatures 50
The Lexicon name and logo and INPEFA® are registered trademarks of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. INPEFA TogetherTM is a trademark of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
_____________________________________________________
In this annual report on Form 10-K, “Lexicon Pharmaceuticals,” “Lexicon,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
_____________________________________________________
Factors Affecting Forward-Looking Statements
This annual report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. We have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminology including “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “should” or “will” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risks outlined under “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” that may cause our or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. We are not under any duty to update any of the
forward-looking statements after the date of this annual report on Form 10-K to conform these statements to actual results, unless required by law.
PART I
Item 1. Business
Overview
We are a biopharmaceutical company with a mission of pioneering medicines that transform patients’ lives. We are devoting most of our resources to the commercialization of our approved drug, INPEFA® (sotagliflozin), for heart failure and the research and development of our most advanced drug candidates:
•We are commercializing INPEFA, an orally-delivered small molecule drug, in the United States to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, hospitalization for heart failure, and urgent heart failure visits in adults with heart failure or type 2 diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, or CKD, and other cardiovascular risk factors.
We are separately pursuing regulatory approval of sotagliflozin as a treatment for type 1 diabetes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, issued a complete response letter regarding our New Drug Application, or NDA, for sotagliflozin in type 1 diabetes in March 2019, which we appealed. Following FDA feedback from recent discussions, we are now preparing to resubmit our NDA for patients with type 1 diabetes and CKD. We have reported positive results from three Phase 3 clinical trials of sotagliflozin in type 1 diabetes.
We are also developing sotagliflozin as a treatment for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, and are preparing to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial of sotagliflozin in HCM.
•We are developing LX9211, an orally-delivered small molecule drug candidate, as a treatment for neuropathic pain. We are conducting a Phase 2b clinical trial of LX9211 in diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, or DPNP, and have received Fast Track designation from the FDA for development of LX9211 in that indication. We have reported positive results from a Phase 2 clinical trial of LX9211 in DPNP and top-line results from a separate Phase 2 clinical trial of LX9211 in post-herpetic neuralgia which also demonstrated evidence of effect.
•We are conducting preclinical development of LX9851, an orally-delivered small molecule drug candidate, as a treatment for obesity and tool for weight management.
•We are conducting preclinical research and development and preparing to conduct clinical development of compounds from a number of additional drug programs originating from our internal drug discovery efforts.
INPEFA, LX9851 and compounds from a number of additional drug programs originated from our own internal drug discovery efforts, and LX9211 originated from our collaborative neuroscience drug discovery efforts with Bristol-Myers Squibb. Our efforts were driven by a systematic, target biology-driven approach in which we used gene knockout technologies and an integrated platform of advanced medical technologies to systematically study the physiological and behavioral functions of almost 5,000 genes in mice and assessed the utility of the proteins encoded by the corresponding human genes as potential drug targets. We have identified and validated in living animals, or in vivo, more than 100 targets with promising profiles for drug discovery.
We have worked both independently and through collaborations and strategic alliances with third parties to capitalize on our drug target discoveries and research and development programs. We seek to retain exclusive or co-exclusive rights to the benefits of certain research and development programs by developing and commercializing drug candidates from those programs internally, particularly in the United States for indications treated by specialist physicians. We seek to collaborate with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with respect to the research, development and commercialization of certain of our drug candidates, particularly with respect to commercialization in territories outside the United States or commercialization in the United States for indications treated by primary care physicians, or when the collaboration may otherwise provide us with access to expertise and resources that we do not possess internally or are complementary to our own.
We were incorporated in Delaware in July 1995, commenced operations in September 1995 and were listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market in April 2000. Our corporate headquarters are located at 2445 Technology Forest Blvd., 11th Floor, The Woodlands, Texas 77381, and our telephone number is (281) 863-3000.
Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 are made available free of charge on our corporate website located at www.lexpharma.com as soon as reasonably practicable after the filing of
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those reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. Information found on our website should not be considered part of this annual report on Form 10-K. Alternatively, you may access these reports on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Drugs and Drug Candidates
We are devoting most of our resources to the commercialization of INPEFA and the research and development of sotagliflozin, LX9211 and LX9851. We have also advanced a number of additional compounds into various stages of preclinical research and development.
INPEFA (sotagliflozin)
INPEFA (sotagliflozin) is an orally-delivered small molecule compound that we are commercializing for heart failure and developing for type 1 diabetes and HCM. Our scientists identified the targets of sotagliflozin, sodium-glucose cotransporter type 1, or SGLT1, and sodium-glucose cotransporter type 2, or SGLT2, in our target discovery efforts based on their discovery that mice lacking SGLT1, SGLT2 or both exhibited favorable phenotypes across multiple measures of metabolism and glucose control in preclinical models. Preclinical studies of sotagliflozin demonstrated that compounds inhibiting both targets had a favorable preclinical profile relative to compounds selective for SGLT2.
We use “INPEFA” when referring to our FDA-approved drug and “sotagliflozin” when referring to our development of INPEFA for type 1 diabetes, HCM and any additional indications.
Heart Failure
We commercially launched INPEFA, a once-daily oral tablet, following regulatory approval in the United States in May 2023 to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, hospitalization for heart failure, and urgent heart failure visit in adults with heart failure or type 2 diabetes, CKD, and other cardiovascular risk factors.
We have a fully integrated commercial team consisting of sales, marketing, market access and commercial operations functions. Our sales force of approximately 150 cardiovascular specialty representatives is focused on promoting INPEFA to high-volume prescribers and institutions in the United States, concentrating their efforts on cardiologists specializing in heart failure. We have also built an internal medical affairs function with responsibility for responding to external inquiries regarding the appropriate use of INPEFA with regularly updated and well-substantiated scientific and medical information. We principally sell INPEFA to a limited number of major wholesalers, as well as selected regional wholesalers, most of whom in turn resell INPEFA to retail pharmacies, hospitals, government agencies and other institutions for subsequent resale to patients and healthcare providers.
Major cardiology societies in the United States and elsewhere have issued treatment guidelines recommending the use of SGLT inhibitors, such as INPEFA, as an important element in the standard of care for treating heart failure. SGLT inhibitors are the only class of therapy recommended by such treatment guidelines as a foundational treatment for heart failure regardless of left ventricular ejection fraction, with our Phase 3 SOLOIST-WHF study of INPEFA specifically cited as part of the basis for such recommendation.
To ensure that all eligible patients in the United States have appropriate access to INPEFA, we have established a comprehensive reimbursement and support program called INPEFA TogetherTM. Through INPEFA Together, we provide co-pay assistance to qualified, commercially insured patients to help minimize out-of-pocket costs and provide free drug to uninsured or under-insured patients who meet certain clinical and financial criteria. In addition, INPEFA Together is designed to provide comprehensive reimbursement support services, such as benefits investigation and, if needed, appeals support.
Type 1 Diabetes
The FDA issued a complete response letter in March 2019 regarding our NDA for sotagliflozin in type 1 diabetes and confirmed that position in denying two appeals of the complete response letter in November 2019 and March 2020. At our request, the FDA issued a public Notice of Opportunity for Hearing, or NOOH, in March 2021 on whether there are grounds for denying approval of our NDA. We and the FDA agreed to pause the NOOH proceedings in September 2023 in order to engage in discussions regarding a potential path forward for the approval of sotagliflozin in type 1 diabetes. Following FDA feedback from such discussions, we are now preparing to resubmit our NDA for sotagliflozin as an adjunct to insulin therapy for patients with type 1 diabetes and CKD.
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We have completed three Phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the safety and tolerability of sotagliflozin and its effects on glycemic parameters associated with type 1 diabetes.
Our pivotal inTandem1 Phase 3 clinical trial enrolled 793 patients with type 1 diabetes in the United States and Canada in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 200mg and 400mg once daily doses of sotagliflozin over a 24-week treatment period, followed by a 28-week extension. Insulin therapy was optimized in patients over a 6-week period prior to dosing. The primary efficacy endpoint under evaluation in the trial was the reduction of A1C versus placebo on optimized insulin treatment at 24 weeks, with secondary endpoints including percentage of patients achieving A1C levels of less than 7% without experiencing an event of severe hypoglycemia or diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA, change in meal-time, or bolus, insulin use, body weight, fasting plasma glucose and patient-reported assessments. Data from the study showed that patients treated with sotagliflozin experienced statistically significant reductions in A1C from baseline of 0.43% for the 200mg dose (p<0.001) and 0.48% for the 400mg dose (p<0.001), as compared to a reduction of 0.07% on placebo after 24 weeks of treatment, meeting the study’s primary efficacy endpoint at both dose levels. The A1C benefit achieved with sotagliflozin was sustained with statistically significant results over the full 52-week duration of the study for both the 200mg and 400mg doses. Benefits in all secondary efficacy endpoints were observed in both the 200mg and 400mg dose arms compared to placebo, with statistically significant improvements in all secondary efficacy endpoints observed in the 400mg dose arm and in the percentage of patients achieving A1C levels of less than 7% without any severe hypoglycemia or DKA events and weight loss observed in the 200mg dose arm and statistically significant improvements in all secondary efficacy endpoints observed in the 400mg dose arm. Over the full 52-week treatment period, the incidences of treatment-emergent adverse events in the placebo, 200mg and 400mg dose arms were 80.6%, 81.7% and 79.8%, respectively; the incidences of serious adverse events were 7.5%, 10.3% and 11.1%, respectively; and the incidences of discontinuation due to adverse events were 4.1%, 4.9% and 6.5%, respectively. Potential cases of severe hypoglycemia and DKA were reviewed by a blinded adjudication panel, which determined whether such cases met pre-established diagnostic criteria. The number of patients with positively adjudicated severe hypoglycemic events during the full 52-week treatment period was 26 (9.7%), 17 (6.5%) and 17 (6.5%) in the placebo, 200mg and 400mg dose arms, respectively. The number of patients with positively adjudicated DKA events during the full 52-week treatment period was 1 (0.4%), 9 (3.4%) and 11 (4.2%) in the placebo, 200mg and 400mg dose arms, respectively.
Our pivotal inTandem2 Phase 3 clinical trial enrolled 782 patients with type 1 diabetes in Europe and Israel in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 200mg and 400mg once daily doses of sotagliflozin over a 24-week treatment period, followed by a 28-week extension. Insulin therapy was optimized in patients over a 6-week period prior to dosing. As with inTandem1, the primary efficacy endpoint under evaluation in the trial was the reduction of A1C versus placebo on optimized insulin treatment at 24 weeks, with secondary endpoints including percentage of patients achieving A1C levels of less than 7% without experiencing a severe hypoglycemia or DKA event, change in bolus insulin use, body weight, fasting plasma glucose and patient-reported assessments. Data from the study showed that patients treated with sotagliflozin experienced statistically significant reductions in A1C from baseline of 0.39% for the 200mg dose (p<0.001) and 0.37% for the 400mg dose (p<0.001), as compared to a reduction of 0.02% on placebo after 24 weeks of treatment, meeting the study’s primary efficacy endpoint at both dose levels. The A1C benefit achieved with sotagliflozin was sustained with statistically significant results over the full 52-week duration of the study for both the 200mg and 400mg doses. Statistically significant improvements in all secondary efficacy endpoints were observed in both the 200mg and 400mg dose arms compared to placebo. Over the full 52-week treatment period, the incidences of treatment-emergent adverse events in the placebo, 200mg and 400mg dose arms were 61.2%, 68.2% and 68.8%, respectively; the incidences of serious adverse events were 6.6%, 10.0% and 8.0%, respectively; and the incidences of discontinuation due to adverse events were 3.5%, 3.8% and 6.8%, respectively. Potential cases of severe hypoglycemia and DKA were reviewed by a blinded adjudication panel, which determined whether such cases met pre-established diagnostic criteria. The number of patients with positively adjudicated severe hypoglycemic events during the full 52-week treatment period was 13 (5.0%), 13 (5.0%) and 6 (2.3%) in the placebo, 200mg and 400mg dose arms, respectively. The number of patients with positively adjudicated DKA events during the full 52-week treatment period was 0 (0.0%), 6 (2.3%) and 9 (3.4%) in the placebo, 200mg and 400mg dose arms, respectively.
Our inTandem3 Phase 3 clinical trial enrolled 1,405 patients with type 1 diabetes in the United States and Europe in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of a 400mg once daily dose of sotagliflozin over a 24-week treatment period. Insulin therapy was not optimized in patients and eligibility criteria included any background insulin therapy. The primary efficacy endpoint under evaluation in the trial was the proportion of patients achieving A1C levels of less than 7% at 24 weeks without experiencing a severe hypoglycemic or DKA event, with secondary endpoints including the change from baseline in A1C, body weight, systolic blood pressure and bolus insulin use. Data from the study showed statistically significant superiority of sotagliflozin (28.6%) compared to placebo (15.2%) in the proportion of patients achieving A1C levels of less than 7% without experiencing a severe hypoglycemic or DKA event (p<0.001), meeting the study’s primary endpoint. Patients treated with sotagliflozin also experienced statistically significant improvements in all secondary efficacy endpoints compared to placebo. The incidences of treatment-emergent adverse events in the placebo and 400mg dose arms were 52.5% and 55.1%, respectively; the incidences of serious adverse events were 3.3% and 6.9%, respectively; and the incidences of
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discontinuation due to adverse events were 2.3% and 6.3%, respectively. Potential cases of severe hypoglycemia and DKA were reviewed by a blinded adjudication panel, which determined whether such cases met pre-established diagnostic criteria. The number of patients with positively adjudicated severe hypoglycemic events during the 24-week treatment period was 17 (2.4%) and 21 (3.0%) in the placebo and 400mg dose arms, respectively. The number of patients with positively adjudicated DKA events during the 24-week treatment period was 4 (0.6%) and 21 (3.0%) in the placebo and 400mg dose arms, respectively. Results from the inTandem3 trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in September 2017.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
We are preparing to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the safety and tolerability of sotagliflozin and its effects on HCM. The trial is expected to enroll approximately 500 patients experiencing obstructive or non-obstructive HCM in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of a 400mg once daily dose of sotagliflozin over a 26-week treatment period. Doses for patients not tolerating treatment may be reduced to 200mg beginning at week 4. The primary efficacy endpoint under evaluation will be change from baseline in the patient-reported Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, or KCCQ, clinical summary score at 26 weeks, with secondary endpoints including change in KCCQ total symptom score and New York Heart Association class improvement at 26 weeks.
LX9211
LX9211 is an orally-delivered small molecule compound that we are developing as a treatment for neuropathic pain. We have received Fast Track designation from the FDA for development of LX9211 in DPNP. Our scientists identified the target of LX9211, adapter-associated kinase 1, or AAK1, in our target discovery efforts based on their discovery that mice lacking AAK1 exhibited increased resistance to induced neuropathic pain in preclinical models. LX9211 and another development candidate were discovered by scientists working within our drug discovery alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb from which we hold exclusive development and commercialization rights. Preclinical studies of LX9211 demonstrated central nervous system penetration and reduction in pain behavior in models of neuropathic pain without affecting opiate pathways.
We are conducting a Phase 2b clinical trial, PROGRESS, evaluating the safety and tolerability of LX9211 and its effects on DPNP. The trial is expected to enroll approximately 416 patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes and experiencing moderate to severe DPNP in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating three treatment groups receiving once daily LX9211 doses of 10mg, 20mg or 20mg for seven days followed by 10mg thereafter. The effects of LX9211 will be assessed over a 16-week evaluation period, which includes a screening period of up to two weeks and a blinded evaluation period of 14 weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint under evaluation is the reduction in an average daily pain score at 8 weeks, with secondary endpoints including reduction in burning pain and reduction in pain interference on sleep at 8 weeks. Certain patient-reported outcome measures will also be assessed.
We have completed two Phase 2 clinical trials evaluating the safety and tolerability of LX9211 and its effects on neuropathic pain.
Our RELIEF-DPN-1 Phase 2 clinical trial enrolled 319 patients experiencing DPNP in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of LX9211 evaluating three treatment groups receiving an initial loading dose of 100mg or 200mg of LX9211 or placebo, followed by once daily doses of 10mg or 20mg of LX9211 or placebo, respectively. The effects of LX9211 were assessed over an 11-week evaluation period, which included a 5-week placebo run-off period following the initial 6-week treatment period. The primary efficacy endpoint under evaluation in the study was the change from baseline to week 6 in average daily pain score, or ADPS, based on the 11-point numerical rating scale in patients treated with LX9211 compared with placebo. Data from the study showed a statistically significant reduction from baseline to week 6 in ADPS of 1.39 points in the low dose arm, compared to 0.72 in the placebo arm (p=0.007 versus placebo), meeting the study’s primary endpoint. The high dose arm demonstrated a reduction from baseline to week 6 in ADPS of 1.27 points (p=0.030 versus placebo), narrowly missing statistical significance. Consistent and statistically significant benefits in burning pain, pain interference with sleep and other measures of particular importance in DPNP were also observed in both LX9211 treatment arms as compared to placebo during the initial 6-week treatment period. During the blinded 5-week placebo run-off period, there was a gradual tapering of efficacy in both treatment arms with no evidence of rebound pain or withdrawal symptoms. Adverse events were more frequent in the LX9211 treatment arms and at the higher dose during the initial 6-week treatment period, with the most common being dizziness, headache and nausea and nearly all being reported as mild or moderate. There were no observed differences in drug-related treatment-emergent adverse events between the treatment and placebo arms during the run-off period, and no drug-related serious adverse events or deaths were reported in the study.
Our RELIEF-PHN-1 Phase 2 clinical trial enrolled 79 patients experiencing post-herpetic neuralgia, or PHN, in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of LX9211 evaluating two treatment groups receiving an initial loading
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dose of 200mg of LX9211 or placebo, followed by once daily doses of 20mg of LX9211 or placebo, respectively. The effects of LX9211 were assessed over an 11-week evaluation period, which included a 5-week placebo run-off period following the initial 6-week treatment period. The primary efficacy endpoint under evaluation in the study was the change from baseline to week 6 in ADPS based on the 11-point numerical rating scale in patients treated with LX9211 compared with placebo. Topline data from the study showed a reduction from baseline to week 6 in ADPS of 2.42 points in the LX9211 arm, compared to a reduction of 1.62 points in the placebo arm (p=0.120 versus placebo), missing statistical significance in the study’s primary endpoint but demonstrating evidence of effect. Separation of LX9211 from placebo on ADPS was observed at week 1 and maintained consistently thereafter, with an average placebo-adjusted reduction over the 6-week treatment period of 0.80 points (p=0.031 versus placebo). Adverse events were consistent with those observed in our RELIEF-DPN-1 clinical trial, with dizziness as the most commonly reported and the most frequently associated with patient dropouts from the study. No drug-related serious adverse events or deaths were reported in the study.
LX9851
We are developing LX9851, an orally-delivered small molecule drug candidate, for the treatment of obesity and as a tool for weight management. We have commenced preclinical studies of the compound and its associated back-up molecules and are preparing to initiate clinical development. Our scientists identified the target of LX9851 in our target discovery efforts based on their discovery that mice lacking such target exhibited favorable phenotypes across multiple measures of metabolic syndrome in preclinical models, including resistance to diet-induced obesity and improved body composition.
Additional Research and Development Programs
We are conducting preclinical research and development of compounds from a number of additional drug programs originating from our internal drug discovery efforts. Those efforts were driven by a systematic, target biology-driven approach in which we used gene knockout technologies and an integrated platform of advanced medical technologies to systematically study the physiological and behavioral functions of almost 5,000 genes in mice and assessed the utility of the proteins encoded by the corresponding human genes as potential drug targets. We have identified and validated in living animals, or in vivo, more than 100 targets with promising profiles for drug discovery.
Collaborations and Strategic Alliances
We have worked both independently and through collaborations and strategic alliances with third parties to capitalize on our drug target discoveries and research and development programs. Consistent with this approach, we seek to retain exclusive rights to the benefits of certain research and development programs by developing and commercializing drug candidates from those programs internally, particularly in the United States for indications treated by specialist physicians, as we have with INPEFA in the United States. We seek to collaborate with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with respect to the research, development and commercialization of certain of our drug candidates, particularly with respect to commercialization in territories outside the United States or commercialization in the United States for indications treated by primary care physicians, or when the collaboration may provide us with access to expertise and resources that we do not possess internally or are complementary to our own. We also seek to collaborate with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, research institutes and academic institutions to capitalize on our drug target discoveries.
Bristol-Myers Squibb
We established a drug discovery alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in December 2003 to discover, develop and commercialize small molecule drugs in the neuroscience field. Bristol-Myers Squibb extended the target discovery term of the alliance in May 2006. We initiated the alliance with a number of neuroscience drug discovery programs at various stages of development and used our gene knockout technologies to identify additional drug targets with promise in the neuroscience field. For those targets that were selected for the alliance, we and Bristol-Myers Squibb worked together, on an exclusive basis, to identify, characterize and carry out the preclinical development of small molecule drugs. Bristol-Myers Squibb has the first option to assume full responsibility for clinical development and commercialization of any drugs resulting from the alliance which enter clinical trials, other than LX9211 and additional compounds acting through AAK1, for which we hold exclusive development and commercialization rights under the alliance. We received $86 million in upfront payments and research funding under the agreement during the target discovery portion of the alliance, which expired in October 2009. In addition, we are entitled to receive clinical and regulatory milestone payments ranging, depending on the timing and extent of our efforts in the alliance, up to $76 million for each drug developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb under the alliance. We will also earn royalties on sales of drugs commercialized by Bristol-Myers Squibb under the alliance.
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LX9211 and another development compound acting through AAK1 were discovered by scientists working within our alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb. We have agreed to pay Bristol-Myers Squibb up to $34.5 million in clinical and regulatory milestones for the first indication and up to $16 million in clinical and regulatory milestones for each of the second and third indications, if applicable. We have also agreed to pay single digit royalties on worldwide net sales and up to $40 million in commercial milestones.
Other Collaborations
We have established collaborations with a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, research institutes and academic institutions under which we have received fees in exchange for generating knockout mice for genes requested by the collaborator, providing phenotypic data with respect to such knockout mice or otherwise granting access to some of our technologies and discoveries. In some cases, we remain eligible to receive milestone or royalty payments on the sale of mice and phenotypic data or on products that our collaborators discover or develop using our technology.
Manufacturing and Product Supply
We do not own or operate manufacturing or distribution facilities or resources for commercial production and distribution of INPEFA or clinical production and distribution of sotagliflozin, LX9211, LX9851 or our other drug candidates. Instead, we have multiple contractual agreements in place with third-party contract manufacturing organizations, or CMOs, who, on our behalf, manufacture commercial supplies of INPEFA and clinical supplies of our drug candidates, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. We have selected well-established and reputable global CMOs for our active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, and drug product manufacturing that have good regulatory standing, large manufacturing capacities, and multiple manufacturing sites within their business footprint. We employ highly skilled personnel with both technical and manufacturing experience to diligently manage the activities at our CMOs. Our quality department audits these suppliers on a periodic basis. Our commercial suppliers are subject to routine inspection by regulatory agencies. We work closely with our third-party manufacturers to ensure compliance with current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP, and other stringent regulatory requirements enforced by the FDA and foreign regulatory agencies in other territories, as applicable.
Raw materials that are used to manufacture our API are sourced from multiple third-party suppliers in Asia and Europe. Third-party API contract manufacturers in Asia and Europe stock sufficient quantities of these materials to ensure they can manufacture quantities of API sufficient to meet our commercial and clinical requirements. We store API at third-party facilities in North America, and provide appropriate amounts to third-party drug product contract manufacturers in North America who then manufacture, package and label our specified quantities of finished commercial goods for INPEFA and clinical goods for our drug candidates. Our third-party contract manufacturers also need to obtain materials such as excipients, components and reagents to manufacture our API and finished drug products. Within our supply chain, we have established safety stock amounts for both our API and drug products, and store those quantities in multiple locations. The quantities that we store are based on our business needs and take into account scenarios for demand, production lead times, potential supply interruptions and shelf life for our API and drug products. We believe that our current manufacturing network has the appropriate capacity to produce sufficient commercial quantities of INPEFA and clinical quantities of sotagliflozin, LX9211, LX9851 and our other drug candidates.
For business continuity reasons, we are establishing a backup supplier for the API necessary to manufacture commercial supplies of INPEFA. We rely on a sole source third party drug product contract manufacturer in the United States to manufacture, package and label finished drug product for commercial distribution of INPEFA, and are in the process of evaluating a backup supplier for our commercial INPEFA drug product. We also rely on a single third party logistics provider, with two distribution locations, to provide shipping and warehousing services for our commercial supply of INPEFA.
Competition
The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are highly competitive and characterized by rapid technological change. We face significant competition in each of the aspects of our business from other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as academic research institutions, clinical reference laboratories and governmental agencies that are pursuing research or development activities similar to ours. Many of our competitors have substantially greater research, development and commercialization capabilities and financial, scientific, marketing and human resources than we do. As a result, our competitors have and may in the future succeed in developing products earlier than we do and obtaining approvals from the FDA or other regulatory agencies for those products more rapidly than we do. In addition, our competitors may develop products that are more effective than those we develop or commercialize products more effectively and profitably than we do. Similarly, our collaborators face similar competition from other competitors who may succeed in developing products
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more quickly, developing products that are more effective than those developed by our collaborators or commercialize products more effectively and profitably than our collaborators.
The competition for our drugs and drug candidates includes both marketed products and drug candidates that are being developed by others, including pharmaceutical products that are currently in a more advanced stage of commercialization or clinical development than are our own drugs and drug candidates. These competitive marketed products and drug candidates include compounds that employ different mechanisms of action in addressing diseases and conditions for which we are developing our own drug candidates and, in some cases such as INPEFA, that employ the same or similar mechanisms of action.
We believe that our ability to successfully compete with these competitive products currently on the market and potentially competitive drug candidates will depend on, among other things:
•the efficacy, safety and reliability of our products;
•our ability, and the ability of our collaborators, to complete preclinical and clinical development and obtain regulatory approvals for our drug candidates;
•the timing and scope of regulatory approvals of our products;
•our ability, and the ability of our collaborators, to obtain product acceptance by physicians and other health care providers and secure coverage and adequate reimbursement for product use in approved indications;
•our ability, and the ability of our collaborators, to manufacture and sell commercial quantities of our products;
•the skills of our employees and our ability to recruit and retain skilled employees;
•protection of our intellectual property; and
•the availability of substantial capital resources to fund commercialization and development activities.
Our principal competition for INPEFA for the treatment of heart failure includes drugs which selectively inhibit SGLT2, or selective SGLT2 inhibitors, which have gained or may gain regulatory approval for the treatment of heart failure. Such selective SGLT2 inhibitors include dapagliflozin and empagliflozin, currently marketed for the treatment of heart failure by AstraZeneca and through an alliance between Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, respectively. Such competition also includes, to some extent, other classes of drugs used in the treatment of heart failure, such as the combination drug sacubitril/valsartan, currently marketed for the treatment of heart failure by Novartis, and vericiguat, currently marketed for the treatment of heart failure by Merck.
We expect that our principal competition for sotagliflozin in the treatment of type 1 diabetes would include established insulin therapies, and potentially, to some extent, selective SGLT2 inhibitors currently being prescribed off-label. Such selective SGLT2 inhibitors include dapagliflozin, empagliflozin and canagliflozin, currently marketed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes by AstraZeneca, through an alliance between Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, and by Janssen (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), respectively.
We expect that our principal competition for sotagliflozin in the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy would include generic beta blockers and calcium channel blockers and cardiac myosin inhibitors, such as mavacamten marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb and aficamten in development by Cytokinetics.
We expect that our principal competition for LX9211 for the treatment of DPNP would include duloxetine and pregabalin, which are currently marketed for the treatment of DPNP by Eli Lilly and Pfizer, respectively, and are also available as generics. We also expect that we would experience competition from gabapentin, which is available as a generic and is frequently prescribed off-label for the treatment of DPNP.
We expect that our principal competition for LX9851 would include drugs approved for weight loss, including GLP-1 analogs and similar drugs.
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Government Regulation
Regulation in the United States
The development, manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical products are subject to extensive regulation by United States governmental authorities, including federal, state and local authorities. In the United States, new drugs are subject to regulation under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder, or the FDC Act. The FDA and comparable governmental authorities regulate, among other things, research and development activities and the testing, manufacture, quality control, safety, efficacy, record keeping, reporting, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale, distribution, export and import of pharmaceutical products.
The standard process required by the FDA before a drug candidate may be marketed in the United States generally includes the following:
•preclinical laboratory and animal tests performed under current good laboratory practices, or cGLP;
•submission of an Investigational New Drug application, or IND, which must become effective before human clinical trials may commence;
•adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials to establish the safety and efficacy of the drug candidate for its intended use;
•submission of an NDA, for approval of commercial marketing and sale, or of an NDA supplement, or sNDA, for approval of a new indication if the product is already approved for another indication;
•pre-approval inspection of manufacturing facilities and selected clinical investigators for their compliance with cGMP and current good clinical practices, or cGCP;
•if the FDA convenes an advisory committee, satisfactory completion of the advisory committee review; and
•FDA approval of the NDA or sNDA.
This process for the testing and approval of drug candidates requires substantial time, effort and financial resources. Preclinical development of a drug candidate can take from one to several years to complete, with no guarantee that an IND based on those studies will become effective to even permit clinical testing to begin. Before commencing the first clinical trial of a drug candidate in the United States, we must submit an IND to the FDA. The IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless the FDA, within the 30-day time period, raises concerns or questions about the conduct of the clinical trial. In such a case, we and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns before the clinical trial may begin. Submission of an IND may not result in FDA authorization to commence a clinical trial. A separate submission to the existing IND must be made for each successive clinical trial conducted during product development, and the FDA must grant permission for each clinical trial to start and continue. Further, an independent institutional review board for each medical center proposing to participate in the clinical trial must review and approve the plan for any clinical trial before it commences at that center. Regulatory authorities or an institutional review board or we may suspend a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the subjects or patients are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk.
For purposes of NDA approval, human clinical trials are typically conducted in three sequential phases that may overlap.
•Phase 1 clinical trials are conducted in a limited number of healthy human volunteers or, in some cases, patients, to evaluate the safety, dosage tolerance, absorption, metabolism, distribution and excretion of the drug candidate;
•Phase 2 clinical trials are conducted in groups of patients afflicted with a specified disease or condition to obtain preliminary data regarding efficacy as well as to further evaluate safety and optimize dosing of the drug candidate. Multiple Phase 2 clinical trials may be conducted to obtain information prior to beginning larger and more expensive Phase 3 clinical trials; and
•Phase 3 clinical trials are conducted in larger patient populations at multiple clinical trial sites to obtain statistically significant evidence of the efficacy of the drug candidate for its intended use and to further test for safety in an expanded patient population.
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In addition, the FDA may require, or companies may pursue, additional clinical trials after a product is approved. These so-called Phase 4 studies may be made a condition to be satisfied after a drug receives approval. Failure to satisfy such post-marketing commitments can result in FDA enforcement action, up and to including withdrawal of NDA approval. The results of Phase 4 studies can confirm the effectiveness of a drug candidate and can provide important safety information to augment the FDA’s adverse drug reaction reporting system.
After completion of clinical trials, FDA approval of an NDA must be obtained before a new drug may be marketed in the United States. The submission of an NDA requires payment of a substantial user fee to the FDA. An NDA must contain, among other things, information on chemistry, manufacturing controls and potency and purity, non-clinical pharmacology and toxicology, human pharmacokinetics and bioavailability and clinical data. There can be no assurance that the FDA will accept an NDA for filing and, even if accepted for filing, that approval will be granted. The FDA may convene an advisory committee to provide clinical insight on NDA review questions. Although the FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of an advisory committee, the agency typically does so. Among other things, the FDA reviews an NDA to determine whether a product is safe and effective for its intended use and whether the facility in which it is manufactured, processed, packed, or held meets standards designed to assure the product’s continued safety, purity and potency. The FDA may deny approval of an NDA by way of a complete response letter if the applicable regulatory criteria are not satisfied, or it may require additional clinical data or an additional pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial. Even if such data are submitted, the FDA may ultimately decide that the NDA does not satisfy the criteria for approval. An NDA may be approved with significant restrictions on its labeling, marketing and distribution under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy or otherwise that could restrict the commercial applications of a product or impose costly procedures in connection with the commercialization or use of the product. Once issued, the FDA may withdraw product approval if ongoing regulatory standards are not met or if safety problems occur after the product reaches the market. In addition, the FDA may require testing and surveillance programs to monitor the effect of approved products which have been commercialized, and the FDA has the power to prevent or limit further marketing of a product based on the results of these post-marketing programs.
In addition to obtaining FDA approval for each product, each drug manufacturing establishment must be inspected and approved by the FDA. All manufacturing establishments are subject to inspections by the FDA and by other federal, state and local agencies and must comply with cGMP requirements. Non-compliance with these requirements can result in, among other things, total or partial suspension of production, failure of the government to grant approval for marketing and withdrawal, suspension or revocation of marketing approvals.
Satisfaction of FDA requirements or similar requirements of state, local and foreign regulatory agencies typically takes many years, with the actual time required varying substantially based on, among other things, the nature, novelty and complexity of the drug candidate and of the disease or condition. Government regulation may delay or prevent marketing of drug candidates or new diseases for a considerable period of time and impose costly procedures upon our activities. The FDA or any other regulatory agency may not grant approvals for new indications for our product candidates on a timely basis, if at all. Success in earlier-stage clinical trials does not ensure success in later-stage clinical trials. Targets and pathways identified in vitro may be determined to be less relevant in clinical studies and results in animal model studies may not be predictive of human clinical results. Furthermore, data obtained from clinical activities is not always conclusive and may be susceptible to varying interpretations, which could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. Even if a drug candidate receives regulatory approval, the approval may be significantly limited to specific disease states, patient populations and dosages. Further, even after regulatory approval is obtained, later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product may result in restrictions on the product or even complete withdrawal of the product from the market.
Once the FDA approves a product, a manufacturer must provide certain updated safety and efficacy information. Product changes as well as certain changes in a manufacturing process or facility would necessitate additional FDA review and approval. Other post-approval changes may also necessitate further FDA review and approval. Additionally, a manufacturer must meet other requirements including those related to adverse event reporting and record keeping.
Products manufactured or distributed by us pursuant to FDA approvals are subject to continuing regulation by the FDA, including record-keeping requirements and reporting of adverse experiences with the drug. Drug manufacturers and their subcontractors are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and certain state agencies for compliance with cGMP, which impose certain procedural and documentation requirements upon us and our third-party manufacturers.
The FDA closely regulates the marketing and promotion of drugs, including restricting the promotion of uses for which a drug is not approved by the agency. Not only must a company have appropriate substantiation to support claims made about a drug, under the FDA’s current interpretation of relevant laws, a company can make only those claims relating to safety and efficacy that are for indications for which the FDA has approved the drug and are otherwise consistent with the FDA-
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approved label for the drug. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in adverse publicity, warning letters, corrective advertising and potential civil and criminal penalties. Physicians may, in their independent medical judgment, prescribe legally available drugs for uses that are not described in the product’s labeling and that differ from those tested by us and approved by the FDA. Such off-label uses are common across medical specialties. Physicians may believe that such off-label uses are the best treatment for many patients in varied circumstances. The FDA does not regulate the behavior of physicians in their choice of treatments. The FDA does, however, restrict manufacturers’ communications on the subject of off-label use. Additionally, a significant number of pharmaceutical companies have been the target of inquiries and investigations by various United States federal and state regulatory, investigative, prosecutorial and administrative entities in connection with the promotion of products for off-label uses and other sales practices. These investigations have alleged violations of various United States federal and state laws and regulations, including claims asserting antitrust violations, violations of the FDC Act, false claims laws, the Prescription Drug Marketing Act, anti-kickback laws, and other alleged violations in connection with the promotion of products for unapproved uses, pricing and Medicare and/or Medicaid reimbursement.
The United States Orphan Drug Act is intended to incentivize the development of products for rare diseases or conditions that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. If a drug is being developed for a rare disease or condition, to be eligible for designation as an orphan drug, the FDA must not have previously approved a drug considered the “same drug” for the same orphan indication. If the FDA has previously approved another same drug for the same indication, the sponsor of the subsequent drug would be required to provide a plausible hypotheses of clinical superiority over the previously approved drug to obtain an orphan designation. Upon FDA receipt of orphan drug designation, the sponsor is eligible for tax credits of up to 25% for qualified clinical trial expenses, the ability to apply for annual grant funding and waiver of PDUFA application fee. In addition, upon marketing approval, an orphan-designated drug could be eligible for seven years of market exclusivity for the approved orphan-designated indication. Such orphan drug exclusivity, if awarded, would only block the approval of any drug considered the same drug for the same orphan indication. Moreover, a subsequent same drug could break a previously approved drug’s orphan exclusivity through a demonstration of clinical superiority over the previously approved drug.
The FDA has various programs, including Fast Track, priority review and accelerated approval, which are intended to expedite or simplify the process for developing and reviewing promising drugs, or to provide for the approval of a drug on the basis of a surrogate endpoint. Generally, drugs that are eligible for these programs are those for serious or life-threatening conditions, those with the potential to address unmet medical needs and those that offer meaningful benefits over existing treatments. For example, Fast Track is a process designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of drugs to treat serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions and fill unmet medical needs. Priority review is designed to give drugs that treat serious conditions and offer major advances in treatment or provide a treatment where no adequate therapy exists an initial review within six months of NDA filing as compared to a standard review time of 10 months from NDA filing. Certain other types of drug applications are also eligible for priority review. Although Fast Track and priority review do not affect the standards for approval, the FDA will attempt to facilitate early and frequent meetings with a sponsor of a Fast Track-designated drug and expedite review of the application for a drug designated for priority review. Accelerated approval provides for an earlier approval for a new drug that is intended to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and that fills an unmet medical need based on a surrogate endpoint. As a condition of approval, the FDA may require that a sponsor of a product candidate receiving accelerated approval perform post-marketing clinical trials to confirm the clinically meaningful outcome as predicted by the surrogate marker trial. In addition to the Fast Track, accelerated approval and priority review programs, the FDA also designates Breakthrough Therapy status to drugs that are intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. Drugs designated as breakthrough therapies are also eligible for accelerated approval. The FDA will seek to ensure the sponsor of a breakthrough therapy product candidate receives intensive guidance on an efficient drug development program, intensive involvement of senior managers and experienced staff on a proactive, collaborative and cross-disciplinary review and rolling review.
Additional programs intended to expedite the development of drug products were included in the 21st Century Cures Act, or the Cures Act. The Cures Act includes various provisions to accelerate the development and delivery of new treatments, such as those intended to expand the types of evidence manufacturers may bring to the FDA to support drug approval, to encourage patient-centered drug development, to liberalize the communication of healthcare economic information to payers, and to create greater transparency with regard to manufacturer expanded access programs. Central to the Cures Act are provisions that enhance and accelerate the FDA’s processes for reviewing and approving new drugs and supplements to approved NDAs, including provisions that:
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•require the FDA to establish a program to evaluate the potential use of real world evidence to help support the approval of a new indication for an approved drug and to help support or satisfy post-approval study requirements;
•provide that the FDA may rely upon qualified data summaries to support the approval of a supplemental application with respect to a qualified indication for an already approved drug;
•require the FDA to issue guidance for purposes of assisting sponsors in incorporating complex adaptive and other novel trial designs into proposed clinical protocols and applications for new drugs; and
•require the FDA to establish a process for the qualification of drug development tools for use in supporting or obtaining FDA approval for or investigational use of a drug.
The Cures Act amends Section 114 of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 to help clarify and facilitate the dissemination of healthcare economic information, including by broadening the definition of healthcare economic information, expressly extending the dissemination of healthcare economic information to payors, and clarifying that healthcare economic information must only relate to an FDA-approved indication rather than directly relate to the indication.
Regulation Outside of the United States
In addition to regulations in the United States, we are subject to the regulations of other countries governing clinical trials and the manufacturing, commercial sales and distribution of our products outside of the United States. Whether or not we obtain FDA approval for a product, we must obtain approval by the comparable regulatory authorities of countries outside of the United States before we can commence clinical trials in such countries and approval of the regulators of such countries or economic areas, such as the European Union, before we may market products in those countries or areas. The approval process and requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary greatly from place to place, and the time may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA approval.
Under European Union regulatory systems, a company may submit marketing authorization applications, or MAAs, either under a centralized or decentralized procedure. Under the centralized procedure, MAAs are submitted to the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, whose Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use reviews the application and issues an opinion on it. The opinion is considered by the European Commission which is responsible for deciding applications. If the application is approved, the European Commission grants a single marketing authorization that is valid for all European Union member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, or the EEA. The national authorization procedures, the decentralized and mutual recognition procedures, as well as national applications, are available for products for which the centralized procedure is not compulsory. The mutual recognition procedure provides for the European Union member states selected by the applicant to mutually recognize a national marketing authorization that has already been granted by the competent authority of another member state, referred to as the Reference Member State, or RMS. The decentralized procedure is used when the product in question has yet to be granted a marketing authorization in any member state. Under this procedure the applicant can select the member state that will act as the RMS. In both the mutual recognition and decentralized procedures, the RMS reviews the application and submits its assessment of the application to the member states where marketing authorizations are being sought, referred to as Concerned Member States or CMS. Within 90 days of receiving the application and assessment report, each CMS must decide whether to recognize the RMS assessment. If a member state does not agree with the assessment and the disputed points cannot be resolved, the matter is eventually referred to the European Commission, whose decision is binding on all member states. If the application is successful, national marketing authorizations will be granted by the competent authorities in each of the member states chosen by the applicant.
Conditional marketing authorizations may be granted for a limited number of medicinal products for human use referenced in European Union law applicable to conditional marketing authorizations where the clinical dataset is not comprehensive, if the risk-benefit balance of the product is positive, it is likely that the applicant will be in a position to provide the required comprehensive clinical trial data, unmet medical needs will be fulfilled and the benefit to public health of the immediate availability on the market of the medicinal product outweighs the risk inherent in the fact that additional data are still required. Specific obligations, such as the completion of ongoing or new studies and obligations relating to the collection of pharmacovigilance data, may be amongst the conditions stipulated in the marketing authorization.
As in the United States, we may apply for designation of a product as an Orphan drug for the treatment of a specific indication in the European Union before the application for marketing authorization is made. In the European Union, orphan designation is available for products in development which are either intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions affecting not more than 5 in 10,000 persons in the European Union, or intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening, seriously debilitating or serious and chronic condition
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in the community and when, without incentives, it is unlikely that sales of the drug in the European Union would be sufficient to justify the necessary investment in developing the medicinal product. Additionally, the sponsor of an application for orphan drug designation must establish that there exists no satisfactory authorized method of diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of the condition or even if such treatment exists, the product will be of significant benefit to those affected by that condition.
Orphan drugs in the European Union enjoy economic and marketing benefits, including up to ten years of market exclusivity for the approved indication unless another applicant can show that its product is safer, more effective or otherwise clinically superior to the orphan-designated product. The period of market exclusivity may be reduced to six years if at the end of the fifth year it is established that the criteria for orphan designation are no longer met, including where it is shown that the product is sufficiently profitable not to justify maintenance of market exclusivity.
Healthcare Regulation
Federal and state healthcare laws, including fraud and abuse and health information privacy and security laws, also apply to our business. If we fail to comply with those laws, we could face substantial penalties and our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects could be adversely affected. The laws that may affect our ability to operate include, but are not limited to: the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits. among other things, soliciting, receiving, offering or paying remuneration, directly or indirectly, to induce, or in return for, the purchase or recommendation of an item or service reimbursable under a federal healthcare program, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs; and federal civil and criminal false claims laws and civil monetary penalty laws, which prohibit, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid, or other third-party payers that are false or fraudulent. Additionally, we are subject to state law equivalents of each of the above federal laws, which may be broader in scope and apply regardless of whether the payer is a federal healthcare program, and many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, further complicate compliance efforts.
Numerous federal and state laws, including state security breach notification laws, state health information privacy laws and federal and state consumer protection laws, govern the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. Other countries also have, or are developing, laws governing the collection, use and transmission of personal information. In addition, most healthcare providers who are expected to prescribe our products and from whom we obtain patient health information, are subject to privacy and security requirements under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended by the Health Information Technology and Clinical Health Act, or HIPAA. Although we are not directly subject to HIPAA, we could be subject to criminal penalties if we knowingly obtain individually identifiable health information from a HIPAA-covered entity, including healthcare providers, in a manner that is not authorized or permitted by HIPAA. The legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy and data protection continues to evolve, and there has been an increasing amount of focus on privacy and data protection issues with the potential to affect our business, including recently enacted laws in a majority of states requiring security breach notification. These laws could create liability for us or increase our cost of doing business. International laws, such as the EU Data Privacy Directive and Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection, regulate the processing of personal data within the European Union and between countries in the European Union and countries outside of the European Union, including the United States. Failure to provide adequate privacy protections and maintain compliance with safe harbor mechanisms could jeopardize business transactions across borders and result in significant penalties.
In addition, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, or the ACA, created a federal requirement under the federal Open Payments program, that requires certain manufacturers to track and report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, annually certain payments and other transfers of value provided to physicians and certain advanced non-physician health care practitioners and teaching hospitals made in the previous calendar year, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. In addition, there are also an increasing number of state laws that require manufacturers to make reports to states on pricing and marketing information. These laws may affect our sales, marketing, and other promotional activities by imposing administrative and compliance burdens on us. In addition, given the lack of clarity with respect to these laws and their implementation, our reporting actions could be subject to the penalty provisions of the pertinent state and federal authorities.
For those marketed products which are covered in the United States by the Medicaid program, we have various obligations, including government price reporting and rebate requirements, which generally require products be offered at substantial rebates/discounts to Medicaid and certain purchasers. We are also required to discount such products to authorized users of the Federal Supply Schedule of the General Services Administration, under which additional laws and requirements apply. These programs require submission of pricing data and calculation of discounts and rebates pursuant to complex statutory formulas, as well as the entry into government procurement contracts governed by the Federal Acquisition Regulations, and the guidance governing such calculations is not always clear. Compliance with such requirements can require
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significant investment in personnel, systems and resources, but failure to properly calculate our prices, or offer required discounts or rebates could subject us to substantial penalties.
Healthcare Reform
In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and continue to be, several legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of pharmaceutical products, restrict or regulate post-approval activities, and affect the ability to profitably sell pharmaceutical products that obtain marketing approval. 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 drug candidates. Moreover, among policy makers and payors in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and/or expanding access.
For example, the ACA has had a significant impact on the health care industry in the United States. The ACA was designed to expand coverage for the uninsured while at the same time contain overall healthcare costs. With regard to biopharmaceutical products, the ACA, among other things, addressed a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected, increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and extended the rebate program to individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations, established annual fees on manufacturers of certain branded prescription drugs, and created a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program. Additionally, the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act of 2019, or the CREATES Act, aimed to address the concern articulated by both the FDA and others in the industry that some brand manufacturers have improperly restricted the distribution of their products, including by invoking the existence of a risk evaluation and mitigation strategies, or REMS, program for certain products, to deny generic product developers access to samples of brand products. Because generic product developers need samples to conduct certain comparative testing required by the FDA, some have attributed the inability to timely obtain samples as a cause of delay in the entry of generic products. To remedy this concern, the CREATES Act established a private cause of action that permits a generic product developer to sue the brand manufacturer to compel it to furnish the necessary samples on “commercially reasonable, market-based terms.” Whether and how generic product developments will use this new pathway, as well as the likely outcome of any legal challenges to provisions of the CREATES Act, remain highly uncertain and its potential effects on future competition are unknown.
Since its enactment, there have been executive, judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA and we expect there will be additional challenges and amendments to the ACA in the future. Members of the United States Congress have indicated that they may continue to seek to modify, repeal or otherwise invalidate all, or certain provisions of, the ACA. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, among other things, removed penalties for not complying with the ACA’s individual mandate to carry health insurance, commonly referred to as the “individual mandate.” It is unclear how this and other efforts to repeal and replace the ACA will impact the implementation of the ACA, the pharmaceutical industry more generally, and our business.
In addition, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or the Inflation Reduction Act, imposed significant changes to how drugs are covered and paid for under the Medicare program, including the creation of financial penalties for drugs whose prices rise faster than the rate of inflation, redesign of the Medicare Part D program to require manufacturers to bear more of the liability for certain drug benefits, and government price-setting for certain Medicare Part D drugs, starting in 2026, and Medicare Part B drugs starting in 2028. The long-term implications of the Inflation Reduction Act remain uncertain and subject to various factors, including the manner in which the Department of Health and Human Services, or DHHS, decides to implement the statute. Many experts and analysts, both within the industry and outside, have predicted that the law will harm innovation in the pharmaceutical industry and result in fewer new treatments being developed and approved over time.
As another example, the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act incorporated extensive healthcare provisions and amendments to existing laws, including a requirement that all manufacturers of drugs and biological products covered under Medicare Part B report the product’s average sales price to the DHHS, subject to enforcement via civil money penalties.
Moreover, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products. DHHS has solicited feedback on some of various measures intended to lower drug prices and reduce the out of pocket costs of drugs and implemented others under its existing authority. Congress and the executive branch have each indicated that it will
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continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs, making this area subject to ongoing uncertainty.
Individual states in the United States have also increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. In December 2020, the United States Supreme Court held unanimously that federal law does not preempt the states’ ability to regulate pharmaceutical benefit managers and other members of the health care and pharmaceutical supply chain, an important decision that may lead to further and more aggressive efforts by states in this area.
We 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 or abroad. 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.
Environmental and Worker Safety Matters
In addition to the foregoing, our business is subject to regulation under various state and federal environmental and worker safety laws, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act, each as amended from time to time. These and other laws and their implementing regulations govern our manufacture, use, storage, handling, transport and disposal of various biological, chemical, radioactive and other hazardous substances used in our operations and the wastes generated by those activities. We cannot eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or discharge and any resultant injury from these substances. We may face liability for any injury or contamination that results from our use or the use by third parties of those substances, and such liability may exceed our insurance coverage and our total assets. Historically, our environmental and worker safety compliance costs have not had a material adverse effect on our results of operations, but there can be no assurance that such costs will not be material in the future or that such future compliance will not have a material adverse effect on our business and operational results. The trend in environmental and occupational health and safety laws and regulations is to typically place more restrictions and limitations on activities that may adversely affect the environment or expose workers to injury. If existing regulatory requirements or enforcement policies change or new regulatory or enforcement initiatives are developed and implemented in the future, we may be required to make significant, unanticipated capital and operating expenditures.
Patents and Proprietary Rights
We can protect our proprietary rights from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that those rights are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets. Accordingly, patents and other proprietary rights are an essential element of our business. We own or exclusively license patents and patent applications throughout the world that claim our drugs and drug candidates, including:
•issued patents and pending patent applications in Europe, the United States, and other countries throughout the world, including Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, and South Korea, that claim INPEFA, crystalline forms of INPEFA, pharmaceutical compositions comprising INPEFA, and methods of its manufacture and use;
•issued patents and pending patent applications in Europe, the United States, and other countries throughout the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, and South Korea, that claim LX9211, pharmaceutical compositions comprising LX9211, and methods of its use; and
•a pending United States patent application that claims LX9851, pharmaceutical compositions comprising it, and methods of its manufacture and use.
Patents extend for varying periods according to the date of patent filing or grant and the legal term of patents in the various countries where patent protection is obtained. The actual protection afforded by a patent, which can vary from country to country, depends on the type of patent, the scope of its coverage and the availability of legal remedies in the country. We have filed patent applications and hold issued patents covering each of our drugs and drug candidates. The earliest normal expiration date of our United States patents that claim INPEFA is 2028, but we have applied for an extension of patent term based on the FDA’s approval of the drug. We expect that upon acceptance of that application, an additional five years will be added to the term of a patent that claims INPEFA itself, pushing its expiration date out to 2033. None of our United States patents that claim LX9211 has a normal expiration date earlier than 2035.
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All of our employees, consultants and advisors are required to execute a proprietary information agreement upon the commencement of employment or consultation. In general, the agreement provides that all inventions conceived by the employee or consultant, and all confidential information developed or made known to the individual during the term of the agreement, shall be our exclusive property and shall be kept confidential, with disclosure to third parties allowed only in specified circumstances. We cannot assure you, however, that these agreements will provide useful protection of our proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of such information.
Our patent and intellectual property rights are subject to certain rights and uncertainties. See “Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property” under “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
Executive Officers
Our executive officers and their ages and positions are listed below.
Name Age Position with the Company
Lonnel Coats 59 Chief Executive Officer and Director
Jeffrey L. Wade 59 President and Chief Financial Officer
Brian T. Crum 51 Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Thomas A. Garner 48 Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer
Wendy E. McDermott 53 Vice President, Human Resources
Kristen L. Alexander 56 Vice President, Finance and Accounting
Lonnel Coats has been our chief executive officer and a director since July 2014.Mr. Coats previously served in a series of executive leadership positions at Eisai Inc. and Eisai Corporation of North America, where he worked for 18 years before joining our company, most recently as chief executive officer from 2010 to 2014.Prior to joining Eisai, Mr. Coats spent eight years with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson, where he held a variety of management and sales positions. Mr. Coats serves as a director of Blueprint Medicines Corporation and Verve Therapeutics, Inc., and holds a B.S. from Oakland University.
Jeffrey L. Wade has been our president and chief financial officer since October 2021, having previously served in a series of finance, corporate development, administrative and legal leadership positions since joining our company in 1999. Before joining Lexicon, Mr. Wade was a partner with the law firm of Andrews & Kurth L.L.P., where he represented companies in the biotechnology, information technology and energy industries in venture capital financings, public offerings and private placements, mergers and acquisitions, collaborations and licensing, and other corporate matters. Mr. Wade is a member of the boards of directors of the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute and BioHouston. He received his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Texas.
Brian T. Crum has been our senior vice president and general counsel since October 2021 and previously served in a series of legal leadership positions since joining our company in 2001. Mr. Crum was previously a corporate securities attorney with the law firms of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP and Andrews & Kurth L.L.P., where he represented companies in the energy and information technology industries. Mr. Crum received his B.B.A. and J.D. from the University of Texas.
Thomas A. Garner has been our senior vice president and chief commercial officer since October 2023. Mr. Garner previously served in a series of commercial leadership positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, where he worked for more than 20 years at local, country and global levels across multiple brands and therapeutic areas before joining our company. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, he most recently served as senior vice president and head of the U.S. cardiovascular and established brand business unit from August 2022 to October 2023 and as vice president and U.S. brand lead for mavacamten from January 2019 to August 2022. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mr. Garner served in various commercial roles with Eli Lilly and Company and Boehringer Ingelheim. Mr. Garner holds a BSc (Honors) degree from the Royal Agricultural University in the United Kingdom and a certification in General Management from INSEAD in France.
Craig B. Granowitz, M.D., Ph.D. has been our senior vice president and chief medical officer since August 2021. Dr. Granowitz previously served as chief medical officer of Amarin Corporation plc since 2016. Prior to joining Amarin, Dr. Granowitz served as senior vice president and head of global medical affairs, global human health of Merck & Co., Inc. and in a
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variety of medical and commercial management positions for Schering-Plough Corporation. Dr. Granowitz received his B.A. from Dartmouth College and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.
Kenneth B. Kassler-Taub, M.D. has been our senior vice president, regulatory affairs and quality assurance since October 2021 and previously served as vice president, clinical operations and in other senior capacities since joining our company in 2014. Dr. Kassler-Taub previously served in various senior clinical and medical leadership positions at Becton Dickinson and Company, where he worked for 12 years, most recently as vice president, corporate clinical development. Prior to joining Becton Dickinson, Dr. Kassler-Taub spent 14 years with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Pharmaceutical Research Institute, where he held a variety of clinical and drug safety positions. Dr. Kassler-Taub received his B.A. from Amherst College and M.D. from the Boston University School of Medicine.
Alan J. Main, Ph.D. has been our executive vice president of innovation and chemical sciences since September 2020 and previously served in a series of manufacturing and scientific leadership positions since joining our company in 2001. Dr. Main was president and chief executive officer of Coelacanth Corporation, a leader in using proprietary chemistry technologies to rapidly discover new chemical entities for drug development, until our acquisition of Coelacanth in 2001. Dr. Main was formerly senior vice president, U.S. Research at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, where he worked for 20 years before joining Coelacanth. Dr. Main holds a B.S. from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Liverpool, England and completed postdoctoral studies at the Woodward Research Institute.
Wendy E. McDermott has been our vice president, human resources since January 2022. Ms. McDermott previously served as chief people officer of Rafael Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since 2019, vice president, human resources of Sanofi from 2017 to 2019 and in a variety of human resources positions with Sanofi, Schering-Plough Corporation and other companies in the tobacco, media and talent and event management industries. Ms. McDermott received her B.A. from State University of New York at Plattsburgh.
Kristen L. Alexander has been our vice president of finance and accounting and principal accounting officer since September 2021 and previously served as controller since joining our company in 2017. Ms. Alexander previously served as controller of Johnson Specialty Tools, LLC and in a variety of finance and accounting management positions for Trican Well Services, L.P., Nabors Industries Ltd. and Ernst & Young, LLP. Ms. Alexander is a certified public accountant and received her B.B.A. from the University of Oklahoma.
Significant Shareholders
We have valuable relationships with Invus, L.P. and its affiliates, which we collectively refer to as Invus. Invus currently owns approximately 50% of the outstanding shares of our common stock.
Human Capital Resources
As of March 21, 2024, we employed 285 persons, of whom 22 hold M.D. or Ph.D. degrees and another 73 hold other advanced degrees. All of our employees are located in the United States. None of our employees are represented by a labor union and we believe that our relationship with our employees is good.
Our company culture is supported by our five core values: innovation, transparency, ownership, respect and integrity. We value a diverse workforce and proudly reflect a company culture developed with a variety of ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, races, religions, military service, sexual preferences and abilities. We are committed to promoting and maintaining an inclusive, high-performing environment where all team members embrace and leverage each other’s talents and backgrounds and nourish innovative thinking in order to achieve their full potential and contribute to our success.
Our most valued resource is the collective talent and time that our employees dedicate to support and advance our mission. Accordingly, we offer our employees a comprehensive compensation and benefits package that is competitive within the industry and make investing in the growth and development of our employees an important priority. Employee development is advanced through talent management, promotions, mentoring, stretch assignments, internships, formal training, speaker series, conferences, continuing education and educational reimbursement.
Research and Development Expenses
In 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, we incurred expenses of $58.9 million, $52.8 million and $55.0 million in company-sponsored as well as collaborative research and development activities, including $5.1 million, $4.3 million and $4.3 million of stock-based compensation expense in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
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Item 1A. Risk Factors
The following risks and uncertainties are important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements. The factors described below are not the only ones we face and additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations.
Risk Factor Summary
Below is a summary of the material risks to our business, operations and the investment in our common stock. This summary does not include all of the risks we face and you should carefully review and consider the full discussion of our risk factors below, together with the other information in this annual report on Form 10-K.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
•We depend heavily on the commercial success of INPEFA in heart failure. If we do not achieve commercial success with INPEFA, our business will suffer and our stock price will likely decline.
•We depend heavily on our ability to obtain regulatory approval in the United States for sotagliflozin in patients with type 1 diabetes and CKD. If we fail to obtain such regulatory approval, our business will suffer and our stock price will likely decline.
•We depend heavily on our ability to successfully complete and obtain positive results from our PROGRESS Phase 2b clinical trial of LX9211 in DPNP. If we fail to successfully complete and obtain positive results from the PROGRESS clinical trial on our expected timeline, our business will suffer and our stock price will likely decline.
•Clinical testing of our drug candidates in humans is an inherently risky and time-consuming process that may fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy, which could result in the delay, limitation or prevention of regulatory approval.
•Our drug candidates are subject to a lengthy and uncertain regulatory process that may not result in the necessary regulatory approvals, which could adversely affect our and our collaborators’ ability to commercialize products.
•We are subject to certain healthcare laws, regulation and enforcement; our failure to comply with those laws could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
•Our competitors may develop products that impair the value of any products that we or our collaborators may develop.
Risks Related to Our Capital Requirements and Financial Results
•We will need additional capital in the future and, if it is unavailable, we will be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our research and development programs.
•We may not have sufficient capital to support Phase 3 development of LX9211. If we are unable to establish a strategic collaboration or other arrangement for that purpose, our capital needs will be substantially higher and we may be unable to obtain financing sufficient to fund Phase 3 development of LX9211 on acceptable terms, or at all, and may be required to forego or reduce the scope of any such Phase 3 development program.
•We have a history of net losses, and we expect to continue to incur net losses and may not achieve or maintain profitability.
Risks Related to Our Relationships with Third Parties
•We depend on our ability to establish collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the development and commercialization of our other drug candidates. If we are unable to establish such collaborations, or if pharmaceutical products are not successfully and timely developed and commercialized under such collaborations, our opportunities to generate revenues from our other drug candidates will be greatly reduced.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
•If we are unable to adequately protect our intellectual property, third parties may be able to use our products and technologies, which could adversely affect our ability to compete in the market.
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Risks Related to Our Employees and Facilities
•The loss of key personnel or the inability to attract and retain additional personnel could impair our ability to operate and expand our operations.
Risks Related to Environmental and Product Liability
•Our business has a substantial risk of product liability and we face potential product liability exposure far in excess of our limited insurance coverage.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
•Invus, L.P. and its affiliates own a substantial interest in our outstanding common stock and may have interests which conflict with those of our other stockholders.
•Invus has additional rights under its stockholders’ agreement relating to the membership of our board of directors and under our certificate of incorporation relating to preemptive and consent rights, which provide Invus with substantial influence over significant corporate matters.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We depend heavily on the commercial success of INPEFA in heart failure. If we do not achieve commercial success with INPEFA, our business will suffer and our stock price will likely decline.
We expect that a significant portion of our total revenues for the next several years will be attributable to sales of INPEFA for heart failure in the United States, but we cannot be certain that INPEFA will be commercially successful. Our future sales of INPEFA will depend on numerous factors, including:
•the number of patients suffering from heart failure;
•competition from dapagliflozin, empagliflozin and, to some extent, other classes of drugs used in the treatment of heart failure, such as the combination drug sacubitril/valsartan;
•the effectiveness of our commercial strategy for marketing INPEFA and our execution of that strategy, in particular the effectiveness of our efforts to obtain and maintain adequate third-party reimbursement;
•the safety profile of INPEFA, including whether previously unknown side effects or increased incidence or severity of known side effects as compared to those seen during development are identified with the commercial use of INPEFA;
•the acceptance of INPEFA by patients, the medical community and third-party payers; and
•our ability to meet the demand for commercial supplies of INPEFA and to maintain and successfully monitor commercial manufacturing arrangements for INPEFA with third-party manufacturers to ensure they meet our standards and those of the FDA, which extensively regulates and monitors pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities.
While we believe that INPEFA has a competitive commercial profile, our current estimates of the revenues that INPEFA could generate in future periods may change based upon the above factors, and could prove to be incorrect. If our revenues, market share or other indicators of market acceptance of INPEFA fail to meet the expectations of investors or public market analysts, the market price of our common stock could decline. In addition, if one or more of the factors above negatively affects INPEFA sales, our business and financial condition could be materially harmed and we may be more heavily dependent on the success of our other drug programs.
We depend heavily on our ability to obtain regulatory approval in the United States for sotagliflozin in patients with type 1 diabetes and CKD. If we fail to obtain such regulatory approval, our business will suffer and our stock price will likely decline.
We are currently preparing to resubmit our NDA for sotagliflozin as an adjunct to insulin therapy for patients with type 1 diabetes and CKD. We cannot offer any assurances that the FDA will grant marketing approval for sotagliflozin in that patient population, on acceptable timelines or at all. Furthermore, regulatory approval in the United States for sotagliflozin, even if obtained, may further limit the types of patients in which sotagliflozin may be used or otherwise require specific
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warning or labeling language, such as with respect to the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis, any of which may reduce the commercial potential of sotagliflozin in type 1 diabetes. Should we fail to obtain regulatory approval in the United States or obtain regulatory approval with limits that disadvantage us as compared to competitive products, our business and financial condition could be materially harmed and we may be more heavily dependent on the success of our other drug programs.
We depend heavily on our ability to successfully complete and obtain positive results from our ongoing PROGRESS Phase 2b clinical trial of LX9211 in DPNP. If we fail to successfully complete and obtain positive results from such clinical trial, or if the progress of such clinical trial is delayed beyond our expected timelines, our business will suffer and our stock price will likely decline.
We are conducting the PROGRESS Phase 2b clinical trial of LX9211 in DPNP. We cannot offer any assurances or predict with any certainty that the PROGRESS clinical trial will be successfully completed, generate positive clinical data or demonstrate a competitive commercial profile for LX9211, in any such case on our expected timeline. Should we fail to obtain positive results from the PROGRESS clinical trial, or if the PROGRESS clinical trial is not completed on our expected timeline due to delays in planned patient enrollment or otherwise, our opportunity to establish a strategic collaboration or other arrangement for the further development and commercialization of LX9211 would be negatively affected, our business and financial condition could be materially harmed and we may be more heavily dependent on the success of our other drug programs.
Clinical testing of our drug candidates in humans is an inherently risky and time-consuming process that may fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy, which could result in the delay, limitation or prevention of regulatory approval.
In order to obtain regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any products that we or our collaborators may develop, we or our collaborators are required to complete extensive clinical trials in humans to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our drug candidates. We or our collaborators may not be able to obtain authority from the FDA, or other equivalent foreign regulatory agencies, to initiate or complete any clinical trials. In addition, we have limited internal resources for making regulatory filings and interacting with regulatory authorities.
Clinical trials are inherently risky and the results from preclinical testing of a drug candidate that is under development may not be predictive of results that will be obtained in human clinical trials. In addition, the results of early human clinical trials may not be predictive of results that will be obtained in larger-scale, advanced stage clinical trials. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after achieving positive results in earlier trials. Negative or inconclusive results from a preclinical study or a clinical trial could cause us, our collaborators or the FDA or other equivalent foreign regulatory agencies to terminate a preclinical study or clinical trial or require that we or our collaborators repeat or modify it. Furthermore, we, one of our collaborators or a regulatory agency with jurisdiction over the trials may suspend clinical trials at any time if the subjects or patients participating in such trials are being exposed to unacceptable health risks or for other reasons.
Any preclinical or clinical test may fail to produce results satisfactory to the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities. Preclinical and clinical data can be interpreted in different ways, which could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. The FDA or institutional review boards at the medical institutions and healthcare facilities where we or our collaborators sponsor clinical trials may suspend any trial indefinitely if they find deficiencies in the conduct of these trials. Clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with the FDA’s cGCP requirements. The FDA and these institutional review boards have authority to oversee our and our collaborators’ clinical trials, and the FDA may require large numbers of subjects or patients. In addition, we or our collaborators must manufacture, or contract for the manufacture of, the drug candidates that we use in our clinical trials under the FDA’s cGMP requirements.
The rate of completion of clinical trials is dependent, in part, upon the rate of enrollment of patients. Patient accrual is a function of many factors, including the size of the patient population, the proximity of patients to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the study, the nature of the study, the existence of competitive clinical trials and the availability of alternative treatments. Delays in planned patient enrollment may result in increased costs and prolonged clinical development, which in turn could allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do and impair our ability to commercialize our products or potential products.
We or our collaborators may not be able to successfully complete any clinical trial of a drug candidate within any specified time period. In some cases, we or our collaborators may not be able to complete the trial at all. Moreover, clinical trials may not show our drug candidates to be both safe and effective. Thus, the FDA and other regulatory authorities may not approve any drug candidates that we develop for any indication or may limit the approved indications or impose other conditions.
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Our drug candidates are subject to a lengthy and uncertain regulatory process that may not result in the necessary regulatory approvals, which could adversely affect our and our collaborators’ ability to commercialize products.
Our drug candidates, as well as the activities associated with their research, development and commercialization, are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the United States and by comparable authorities in other countries. Failure to obtain regulatory approval for any drug candidate would prevent us from commercializing that drug candidate. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals is expensive, and often takes many years, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon the type, complexity and novelty of the drug candidates involved. Before a new drug application can be filed with the FDA, the drug candidate must undergo extensive clinical trials, which can take many years and may require substantial expenditures. Any clinical trial may fail to produce results satisfactory to the FDA. For example, the FDA could determine that the design of a clinical trial is inadequate to produce reliable results. Furthermore, prior to approving a new drug, the FDA typically requires that the efficacy of the drug be demonstrated in two double-blind, controlled studies. The regulatory process also requires preclinical testing, and data obtained from preclinical and clinical activities are susceptible to varying interpretations, which could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. In addition, delays or rejections may be encountered based upon changes in regulatory policy for product approval during the period of product development and regulatory agency review. Changes in regulatory approval policy, regulations or statutes or the process for regulatory review during the development or approval periods of our drug candidates may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application. Even if the FDA or a comparable authority in another country approves a drug candidate, the approval may impose significant restrictions on the indicated uses, conditions for use, labeling, advertising, promotion, marketing and/or production of such product and may impose ongoing requirements for post-approval studies, including additional research and development and clinical trials. These agencies also may impose various civil or criminal sanctions for failure to comply with regulatory requirements, including withdrawal of product approval.
The commercial success of any products that we or our collaborators may develop will depend upon the degree of market acceptance among physicians, patients, health care payers and the medical community.
Our or our collaborators’ ability to commercialize any products that we or they may develop will be highly dependent upon the extent to which such products gain market acceptance among physicians, patients, health care payers, such as commercial health insurers, Medicare and Medicaid, and the medical community. If such products do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate adequate product revenues and we may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of such products will depend upon a number of factors, including:
•the effectiveness, or perceived effectiveness, of our products in comparison to competing products;
•the existence of any significant side effects, as well as their severity in comparison to any competing products;
•potential advantages or disadvantages in relation to alternative treatments;
•current and future indications for which our products may be approved;
•the ability to offer our products for sale at competitive prices;
•relative convenience and ease of administration;
•the strength of marketing and distribution support; and
•sufficient third-party coverage or reimbursement.
If we are unable to maintain an effective sales force, marketing infrastructure and distribution capabilities, we will not be able to successfully commercialize any products that we or our collaborators may develop.
In order to successfully commercialize any product that we or our collaborators may develop, we or they must establish or maintain an effective commercialization infrastructure supporting such product, including sales force, marketing organization and distribution capabilities. Factors that may hinder efforts to effectively establish, manage and maintain such infrastructure for products that we or our collaborators may develop include:
•inability to recruit, retain and effectively manage adequate numbers of effective sales and marketing personnel;
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•inability to maintain relationships with third-party logistics providers, pharmacies, third-party manufacturers and other third parties instrumental in the commercial manufacture and distribution of such products;
•inability to establish or implement internal controls and procedures required in connection with sales of such products;
•inability of sales personnel to obtain access to or convince adequate numbers of physicians to prescribe such products; and
•potential lack of complementary products to be offered by sales personnel, which may put us or our collaborators at a competitive disadvantage relative to companies with more extensive product lines.
If we or our collaborators are unable to sustain our or their sales force, marketing infrastructure and distribution capability for such products, we may not be able to generate any product revenue, may generate increased expenses and may never become profitable.
We or our collaborators will need to expend significant time and resources to train our sales forces to be credible, persuasive and compliant in discussing such products with the physicians treating the patients indicated under the label. We or our collaborators will also need to continue to train our sales forces to ensure that a consistent and appropriate message about such products is being delivered to potential customers. If we or our collaborators are unable to effectively train our sales forces and equip them with effective materials, including medical and sales literature to help them inform and educate potential customers about the benefits and risks of such products and their proper administration, our and their ability to successfully commercialize such products could be diminished, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, stock price and operations.
If we are unable to establish adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payers for any products that we or our collaborators may develop, our revenues and prospects for profitability will suffer.
Our ability to successfully commercialize any products that we or our collaborators may develop is highly dependent on the extent to which coverage and reimbursement for such products are available from third-party payers, including governmental payers, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and private health insurers, including managed care organizations and group purchasing organizations. Many patients are not capable of paying themselves for the products that we or our collaborators may develop, and rely on third-party payers to pay for, or subsidize, their medical needs. If third-party payers do not provide coverage or reimbursement for such products, our revenues and prospects for profitability will suffer. In addition, even if third-party payers provide some coverage or reimbursement for such products, the availability of such coverage or reimbursement for prescription drugs under private health insurance and managed care plans often varies based on the type of contract or plan purchased.
In addition, in some foreign countries, particularly the countries in the European Union, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, price negotiations with governmental authorities can take six to 12 months or longer after the receipt of regulatory marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement and/or pricing approval in some countries, we or our collaborators may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost effectiveness of our drug candidates or products to other available therapies. The conduct of such a clinical trial could be expensive and result in delays in the commercialization of our drug candidates. Third-party payers are challenging the prices charged for medical products and services, and many third-party payers limit reimbursement for newly approved health care products. In particular, third-party payers may limit the indications for which they will reimburse patients who use any products that we or our collaborators may develop. Cost-control initiatives could decrease prices we or our collaborators might establish for products that may be developed, which would result in lower product revenues to us.
We may not be able to manufacture products that we or our collaborators may develop in commercial quantities, which would impair our ability to commercialize such products.
Our drug candidates other than INPEFA have been manufactured in relatively small quantities for preclinical and clinical trials. If any of these drug candidates are approved by the FDA or other regulatory agencies for commercial sale, we or our collaborators will need to manufacture them in larger quantities. We may not be able to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity, whether in collaboration with third-party manufacturers or on our own, for any approved product in a timely or economic manner, or at all. Significant scale-up of manufacturing may require additional validation studies, which the FDA must review and approve. If we or our collaborators are unable to successfully increase the manufacturing capacity for any such product, the regulatory approval or commercial launch of that product may be delayed or there may be a shortage in supply. Pharmaceutical products typically require precise, high-quality manufacturing. The failure to achieve and maintain these high manufacturing standards, including the incidence of manufacturing errors, could result in patient injury or death,
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product recalls or withdrawals, delays or failures in product testing or delivery, cost overruns or other problems that could seriously hurt our business.
We and our collaborators are subject to extensive and rigorous ongoing regulation relating to any products that we or our collaborators may develop.
We and our collaborators are subject to extensive and rigorous ongoing domestic and foreign government regulation of, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, labeling, promotion, advertising, distribution and marketing of any products which receive regulatory approvals from the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities. The failure to comply with these requirements or the identification of safety problems during commercial marketing could lead to the need for product marketing restrictions, product withdrawal or recall or other voluntary or regulatory action, which could delay further marketing until the product is brought into compliance. The failure to comply with these requirements may also subject us or our collaborators to stringent penalties.
We are subject to certain healthcare laws, regulation and enforcement; our failure to comply with those laws could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
We are subject to certain healthcare laws and regulations and enforcement by the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. The laws that may affect our ability to operate include, without limitation:
•the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which constrains our marketing practices, educational programs, pricing policies, relationships with healthcare providers or other entities, and other business activities, by prohibiting, among other things, persons and entities from knowingly and willfully soliciting, receiving, offering or paying remuneration, directly or indirectly, in exchange for or to induce either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation of, any good or service for which payment may be made under federal healthcare programs such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs;
•federal civil and criminal false claims laws and civil monetary penalty laws, which prohibit, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid, or other third-party payers that are false or fraudulent;
•federal criminal laws that prohibit executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or making false statements relating to healthcare matters;
•state law equivalents of each of the above federal laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws which may apply to items or services reimbursed by any third-party payer, including commercial insurers, and state laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts;
•the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a United States law which regulates certain financial relationships with foreign government officials (which could include, for example, certain medical professionals);
•federal and state consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers;
•state and federal government price reporting laws that require us to calculate and report complex pricing metrics to government programs, where such reported price may be used in the calculation of reimbursement and/or discounts on our marketed drugs (participation in these programs and compliance with the applicable requirements may subject us to potentially significant discounts on our products, increased infrastructure costs, and potentially limit our ability to offer certain marketplace discounts); and
•state and federal expenditure tracking and reporting laws, which generally require certain types of expenditures in the United States to be tracked and reported. For example, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, among other things, imposes reporting requirements on certain manufacturers to annually report to CMS information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and certain advanced non-physician health care practitioners and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. Compliance with such requirements may require investment in infrastructure to ensure that tracking is performed properly, and some of these laws result in the public disclosure of various types of payments and relationships, which could potentially have a negative effect on our business and/or increase enforcement scrutiny of our activities.
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In addition, certain marketing practices, including off-label promotion, may also violate certain federal and state health regulatory fraud and abuse laws as well as false claims laws, including the civil False Claims Act. Suits filed under the civil False Claims Act, known as “qui tam” actions, can be brought by any individual on behalf of the government and such individuals, commonly known as “whistleblowers,” may share in any amounts paid by the entity to the government in fines or settlement. The filing of qui tam actions has caused a number of pharmaceutical, medical device and other healthcare companies to defend a civil False Claims Act action. When an entity is determined to have violated the civil False Claims Act, it may be required to pay up to three times the actual damages sustained by the government, plus civil penalties for each separate false claim.
If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other governmental regulations that apply to us, we, or our officers or employees, may be subject to penalties, including administrative civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, withdrawal of regulatory approval, the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, the exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and state healthcare programs, individual imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, any of which could adversely affect our ability to sell our products or operate our business and also adversely affect our financial results. Defending against any such actions can be costly, time-consuming and may require significant financial and 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.
Numerous federal and state laws, including state security breach notification laws, state health information privacy laws and federal and state consumer protection laws, govern the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. Other countries also have, or are developing, laws governing the collection, use and transmission of personal information. In addition, most healthcare providers who may be expected to prescribe our products and from whom we may obtain patient health information are subject to privacy and security requirements under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA. Although we are not directly subject to HIPAA, we could be subject to criminal penalties if we knowingly obtain individually identifiable health information from a HIPAA-covered entity in a manner that is not authorized or permitted by HIPAA. The legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy and data protection continues to evolve, and there has been an increasing amount of focus on privacy and data protection issues with the potential to affect our business, including recently enacted laws in a majority of states requiring security breach notification. These laws could create liability for us or increase our cost of doing business. International laws, such as the EU Data Privacy Directive and Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection, regulate the processing of personal data within Europe and between European countries and the United States. Failure to provide adequate privacy protections and maintain compliance with safe harbor mechanisms could jeopardize business transactions across borders and result in significant penalties.
Current healthcare laws and regulations and future legislative or regulatory reforms to the healthcare system may negatively affect our revenues and prospects for profitability.
In the United States and some foreign countries, there have been, and continue to be, several legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of pharmaceutical products, restrict or regulate post-approval activities, and affect the ability to profitably sell pharmaceutical products that obtain marketing approval. 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 drug 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 otherwise may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability. Moreover, complying with any new legislation or regulatory changes could be time-intensive and expensive, resulting in a material adverse effect on our business.
For example, the Inflation Reduction Act imposed significant changes to how drugs are covered and paid for under the Medicare program, including the creation of financial penalties for drugs whose prices rise faster than the rate of inflation, redesign of the Medicare Part D program to require manufacturers to bear more of the liability for certain drug benefits, and government price-setting for certain Medicare Part D drugs, starting in 2026, and Medicare Part B drugs starting in 2028. The long-term implications of the Inflation Reduction Act remain uncertain and subject to various factors, including the manner in which the DHHS decides to implement the statute.
A primary trend in the United States and some foreign countries is toward reform and cost containment in the health care industry. The United States and some foreign jurisdictions are considering or have enacted a number of legislative and regulatory proposals, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, that may have the effect of reducing the prices that we are able to
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charge for products we or our collaborators may develop. Healthcare reform measures which may be adopted in the future in the United States and foreign jurisdictions may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and significant downward pressure on the prices drug manufacturers may charge. As a result, our revenues and prospects for profitability could be significantly harmed.
As a result of the overall trend towards cost-effectiveness criteria and managed healthcare in the United States, third-party payers are increasingly attempting to contain healthcare costs by limiting both coverage and the level of reimbursement of new drugs. They may use tiered reimbursement and may adversely affect demand for products we or our collaborators may develop by placing them in an expensive tier. They may also refuse to provide any coverage of uses of approved products for medical indications other than those for which the FDA has granted market approvals. As a result, significant uncertainty exists as to whether and how much third-party payers will reimburse for newly approved drugs, which in turn will put pressure on the pricing of drugs. Further, we do not have experience in ensuring approval by applicable third-party payers outside of the United States for coverage and reimbursement of pharmaceutical products. We also anticipate pricing pressures in connection with the sale of products we or our collaborators may develop due to the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative proposals.
Our competitors may develop products that impair the value of any products that we or our collaborators may develop.
The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are highly diversified and are characterized by rapid technological change. We and our collaborators face, and will continue to face, intense competition from biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, as well as academic research institutions, clinical reference laboratories and government agencies that are pursuing research and development activities similar to ours. In addition, significant delays in the development of our drug candidates could allow our competitors to bring products to market before us, which would impair our or our collaborators’ ability to commercialize our drug candidates. INPEFA competes and any additional products that we or our collaborators develop will compete in highly competitive markets. Further, our competitors may be more effective at using their technologies to develop commercial products. Many of the organizations competing with us have greater capital resources, larger research and development staff and facilities, more experience in obtaining regulatory approvals and more extensive product manufacturing and marketing capabilities. As a result, our competitors may be able to more easily develop and commercialize products that would render INPEFA and any other products that we or our collaborators develop obsolete and noncompetitive.
For example, dapagliflozin and empagliflozin were being marketed by AstraZeneca and through an alliance between Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly, respectively, for the treatment of heart failure and certain other indications for a lengthy period in advance of INPEFA’s approval. Each of those products act through SGLT2, one of the targets of INPEFA. Our principal competition for INPEFA for the treatment of heart failure includes such selective SGLT2 inhibitors which have already received or may gain regulatory approval for the treatment of heart failure, as well as other classes of drugs used in the treatment of heart failure, such as the combination drug sacubitril/valsartan, currently marketed for the treatment of heart failure by Novartis, and vericiguat, currently marketed for the treatment of heart failure by Merck. In addition, there may also be drug candidates of which we are not aware at an earlier stage of development that may compete with our drugs and drug candidates.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, had an adverse impact on our business operations and clinical trials and another novel coronavirus could adversely affect our business in the future.
Our business was disrupted and adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergence of any new, more virulent SARS-CoV-2 variants could negatively affect the health and availability of our workforce and cause new disruptions to our business operations. Any such disruptions could negatively impact productivity and delay our ongoing commercialization of INPEFA and research and development efforts with respect to our drug candidates.
The emergence of new, more infectious and virulent variants may also negatively impact future clinical trials by impeding our ability to effectively recruit and retain patients, principal investigators and site staff due to concerns for patient safety and prioritization of healthcare resources. In addition, significant disruption in the operations of third party manufacturers and research and development organizations upon whom we rely may occur and, as a result, our business operations could be severely impacted. These and similar, and perhaps more severe, disruptions in our operations due to the emergence of a novel coronavirus could negatively impact our business, operating results and financial condition.
The pandemic also resulted in the disruption of global financial markets and supply chains. Any disruption could make it more difficult for us to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity, and effectively manage the clinical and commercial supply of our products. In addition, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of a novel coronavirus could materially affect our business and the value of our common stock. The ultimate impact of a health pandemic or epidemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. These effects could have a material impact on our operations.
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Risks Related to Our Capital Requirements and Financial Results
We will need additional capital in the future and, if it is unavailable, we will be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our research and development programs. If additional capital is not available on reasonable terms, we will be forced to obtain funds, if at all, by entering into financing agreements on unattractive terms.
As of December 31, 2023, we had $170.0 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments. In March 2024, we entered into an agreement with certain accredited investors in a private placement of convertible preferred stock in which we received net proceeds of approximately $242 million (please refer to Note 13 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further details). We anticipate that our existing capital resources and revenues will enable us to fund our currently planned operations for at least the next 12 months from the date of this report. However, we caution you that we may generate less cash and revenues or incur expenses more rapidly than we currently anticipate. Our currently planned operations for the next twelve months include the continued commercialization of INPEFA for the treatment of heart failure, preparations for the potential commercial launch of sotagliflozin for patients with type 1 diabetes and CKD and the continued research and development of sotagliflozin, LX9211, LX9851 and our other drug candidates.
Although difficult to accurately predict, the amount of our future capital requirements will be substantial and will depend on many factors, including:
•the success of our commercialization of INPEFA for the treatment of heart failure;
•the success of our commercial launch of sotagliflozin for patients with type 1 diabetes and CKD, if approved;
•the timing, progress and results of our research and development efforts for sotagliflozin, LX9211, LX9851 and our other drug candidates and our ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals based on clinical trials of those drug candidates;
•our success in establishing new collaborations and licenses;
•the amount and timing of our research, development and commercialization expenditures;
•the effect of competing programs and products, and of technological and market developments; and
•the filing, maintenance, prosecution, defense and enforcement of patent claims and other intellectual property rights.
If our capital resources are insufficient to meet future capital requirements, we will need to raise additional funds to continue our currently planned operations. Our ability to raise additional capital is dependent on a number of factors, including the market demand for our securities, which itself is subject to a number of pharmaceutical development and business risks and uncertainties, as well as uncertainty that we would be able to raise such additional capital at a price or on terms that are favorable to us. If we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our then-existing stockholders will experience dilution and the terms of any new equity securities may have preferences over our common stock. The affirmative and restrictive covenants and the pledge of all of our assets as collateral under our existing term loans with Oxford Finance LLC, or the Oxford Term Loans, restrict our ability to raise additional capital by issuing debt securities. We cannot be certain that additional financing, whether debt or equity, will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. We may be unable to raise sufficient additional capital on reasonable terms, and if so, we will be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our clinical development programs or commercialization efforts or obtain funds, if at all, by entering into financing agreements on unattractive terms.
We may not have sufficient capital to support Phase 3 development of LX9211 in DPNP and do not have sufficient capital to support Phase 3 development of LX9211 in neuropathic pain broadly. If we are unable to establish a strategic collaboration or other arrangement for that purpose, our capital needs will be substantially higher and we may be unable to obtain financing sufficient to fund Phase 3 development of LX9211 on acceptable terms, or at all, and may be required to forego or reduce the scope of any such Phase 3 development program.
Our existing resources may be insufficient to support Phase 3 development of LX9211 in DPNP and will be insufficient to support Phase 3 development of LX9211 in neuropathic pain broadly. Although we seek to collaborate with another pharmaceutical or biotechnology company or strategic partner under terms which would enable reliance on their resources, in whole or in part, and provide additional funding for such Phase 3 development program, we may be unable to successfully enter into any such collaboration or other arrangement on reasonable terms, or at all. In such event, our capital needs will be substantially higher and we will be reliant on obtaining financing in support of any such Phase 3 development program from alternative sources. We cannot be certain that such financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable
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to us, if at all. If we are unable to secure such financing, we may be required to forego or reduce the scope of any such Phase 3 development program.
We have a history of net losses, and we expect to continue to incur net losses and may not achieve or maintain profitability.
We have incurred aggregate net losses since our inception, including an aggregate net loss of $366.8 million for the three years ended December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2023, we had an accumulated deficit of $1.8 billion. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with successfully developing and commercializing drug products, we are unable to predict the extent of any future losses or whether or when we will become profitable, if at all. The size of our net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of decline or growth in our revenues and on the amount of our expenses. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses over the next several years as we expect to continue making significant investments in the commercialization of INPEFA for the treatment of heart failure, preparations for the potential commercial launch of sotagliflozin for patients with type 1 diabetes and CKD and the continued research and development of sotagliflozin, LX9211, LX9851 and our other drug candidates.
We have derived a substantial portion of our revenues from strategic collaborations and other research and development collaborations and technology licenses. Future revenues from our existing collaborations are uncertain because they depend, to a large degree, on the achievement of milestones and payment of royalties we earn from any products developed or commercialized under the collaborations. Our ability to secure future revenue-generating agreements will depend upon our ability to address the needs of our potential future collaborators and licensees, and to negotiate agreements that we believe are in our long-term best interests. We may determine that our interests are better served by retaining rights to our discoveries and advancing our therapeutic programs to a later stage, which could limit our near-term revenues and increase expenses. Because of these and other factors, our operating results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to do so in the future, and we do not believe that period-to-period comparisons of our operating results are a good indication of our future performance.
We have spent and expect to continue spending significant amounts to fund our commercialization of INPEFA for the treatment of heart failure, preparations for our potential commercial launch of sotagliflozin for patients with type 1 diabetes and CKD and our continued research and development of sotagliflozin, LX9211, LX9851 and our other drug candidates. As a result, we will need to generate substantial additional revenues to achieve profitability in future periods. Even if we do achieve profitability in future periods, we may not be able to sustain or increase such profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.
Our operating results have fluctuated and likely will continue to fluctuate, and we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our operating results are not a good indication of our future performance.
Our operating results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. A number of factors, many of which we cannot control, could subject our operating results to volatility, including:
•the success of our commercialization of INPEFA for the treatment of heart failure;
•the success of our ongoing research and development efforts and our ability to obtain regulatory approval of our drug candidates as a result of such efforts;
•the timing and amount of expenses incurred with respect to our research, development and commercialization efforts;
•our success in establishing new collaborations and technology licenses and the timing and financial terms of such arrangements;
•the timing and willingness of our collaborators to commercialize pharmaceutical products that would result in milestone payments and royalties;
•disputes or other developments relating to proprietary rights, including patents, litigation matters and our ability to obtain patent protection for our products and technologies; and
•general and industry-specific economic conditions, which may affect our and our collaborators’ research and development expenditures.
Because of these and other factors, including the risks and uncertainties described in this section, our operating results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to do so in the future. Due to the likelihood of fluctuations in our revenues and
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expenses, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our operating results are not a good indication of our future performance.
We have substantial indebtedness that may limit cash flow available to invest in the ongoing needs of our business.
We have incurred $99.5 million of indebtedness. Although the affirmative and restrictive covenants and the pledge of substantially all of our assets as collateral under the Oxford Term Loans restrict our ability to obtain additional debtfinancing, we could in the future incur additional indebtedness beyond such amount. Our substantial debt combined with our other financial obligations and contractual commitments could have significant adverse consequences, including:
•requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of cash flow from operations to the payment of interest on, and principal of, our debt, which will reduce the amounts available to fund working capital, capital expenditures, product commercialization and development efforts and other general corporate purposes;
•increasing our vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and market conditions;
•limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we compete; and
•placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt or better debt servicing options.
We intend to satisfy our current and future debt service obligations with our existing cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities and funds from external sources. However, we may not have sufficient funds or may be unable to arrange for additional financing to pay the amounts due under our existing debt. Funds from external sources may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, a failure to comply with the covenants under our existing debt instruments could result in an event of default under those instruments. In the event of an acceleration of amounts due under our debt instruments as a result of an event of default, including upon the occurrence of an event that would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, properties, assets or condition or a failure to pay any amount due, we may not have sufficient funds or may be unable to arrange for additional financing to repay our indebtedness or to make any accelerated payments, and the lenders could seek to enforce their security interests in the collateral securing such indebtedness.
If we do not effectively manage our affirmative and restrictive covenants under the Oxford Term Loans, our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Our obligations under the Oxford Term Loans are secured by a first lien security interest in substantially all of our assets. In addition, the Oxford Term Loans require that we comply with certain affirmative and restrictive covenants, including financial covenants relating to net sales of INPEFA and minimum cash balance requirements and additional covenants restricting dispositions, fundamental changes in our business, mergers or acquisitions, indebtedness, encumbrances, distributions, investments, transactions with affiliates and subordinated debt, any of which could restrict our business and operations, particularly our ability to respond to changes in our business or to take specified actions to take advantage of certain business opportunities that may be presented to us. Our failure to comply with any of these covenants could result in a default under the Oxford Term Loans, which could permit the lenders to declare all or part of any outstanding borrowings to be immediately due and payable. If we are unable to repay those amounts, the lenders could enforce the security interest granted to them to secure that debt, which would seriously harm our business.
Risks Related to Our Relationships with Third Parties
We depend on our ability to establish collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the development and commercialization of our other drug candidates. If we are unable to establish such collaborations, or if pharmaceutical products are not successfully and timely developed and commercialized under such collaborations, our opportunities to generate revenues from our other drug candidates will be greatly reduced.
We have derived a substantial majority of our revenues to date from collaborative arrangements with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the research, development and commercialization of our drug candidates and other research and development collaborations and technology licenses. Future revenues from our existing and future collaborations depend upon the achievement of milestones and payment of royalties we earn from any future products developed under those arrangements. If our relationship terminates with any collaborator, our reputation in the business and scientific community may suffer and revenues will be negatively impacted to the extent such losses are not offset by additional collaborations or strategic alliances. If milestones are not achieved or our collaborators are unable to successfully develop and
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commercialize products from which milestones and royalties are payable, we will not earn the revenues contemplated by those arrangements.
We have limited or no control over the resources that any third party may devote to the development and commercialization of products under our collaborations. Any of our present or future collaborators may not perform their obligations as expected. Our collaborators may breach or terminate their agreements with us or otherwise fail to conduct research, development or commercialization activities successfully or in a timely manner. Further, our collaborators may elect not to develop pharmaceutical products arising out of our arrangements or may not devote sufficient resources to the development, regulatory approval, manufacture, marketing or sale of these products. If any of these events occurs, we may not receive revenue or otherwise realize anticipated benefits from such collaborations, our product development efforts may be delayed and our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Conflicts with our collaborators could jeopardize the success of our collaborative agreements and harm our product development efforts.