Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below and the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before making an investment in our common stock. Our business, financial condition, results of operations, or prospects could be materially and adversely affected if any of these risks occurs, and as a result, the market price of our common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. This Annual Report on Form 10-K also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those set forth below.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital
We have a limited operating history and a history of escalating operating losses, which may make it difficult to evaluate the prospects for our future viability.
We are a clinical-stage biotechnology company established in November 2005. Our operations to date have been limited to financing and staffing our Company, developing our technology, and identifying and developing our product candidates. Our prospects must be considered in light of the uncertainties, risks, expenses, and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in their early stages of operations. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to obtain marketing approval, manufacture a commercial scale product, or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Consequently, predictions about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history or a history of successfully developing, obtaining marketing approval for, and commercializing CRS treatments.
In addition, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays, and other known and unknown obstacles. We will eventually need to transition from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We may not be successful in such a transition.
As we continue to build our business, we expect our financial condition and operating results may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Accordingly, you should not rely upon the results of any particular quarterly or annual period as indications of future operating performance.
We have incurred significant losses since inception and expect to incur significant additional losses for the foreseeable future. We may never achieve or maintain profitability.
We have incurred significant operating losses in each year since our inception, including operating losses of approximately $62.7 million and $55.3 million for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively. In addition, we have not commercialized any products and have never generated any revenue from product sales. We have devoted almost all of our financial resources to research and development, including our pre-clinical and clinical development activities.
In addition, we expect to continue to incur significant additional operating losses for the foreseeable future as we seek to advance product candidates through pre-clinical and clinical development, expand our research and development and manufacturing activities, complete pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, seek regulatory approval, and, if we receive FDA approval, commercialize our products. In order to obtain FDA approval of any product candidate, we must submit to the FDA an NDA demonstrating that the product candidate is safe for humans and effective for its intended use. This demonstration requires significant research and animal tests, which are referred to as non-clinical or pre-clinical studies, as well as human tests, which are referred to as clinical trials. Furthermore, the costs of advancing product candidates into each succeeding clinical phase tend to increase substantially over time. The total costs to advance any of our product candidates to marketing approval in even a single jurisdiction would be substantial. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with ENT disease treatment product development, we are unable to accurately predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when, or if, we will be able to begin generating revenue from the commercialization of products or achieve or maintain profitability. Our expenses will also increase substantially if and as we:
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continue the two pivotal Phase 3 ENLIGHTEN clinical trials of our most advanced product candidate, LYR-210;
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continue the clinical development of LYR-220;
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establish manufacturing and supply chain capacity sufficient to provide clinical and commercial quantities of any product candidates for which we may obtain marketing approval;
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seek regulatory and marketing approvals for product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials, if any;
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establish a sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any products for which we may obtain regulatory approval in geographies in which we plan to commercialize our products ourselves;
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maintain, expand, and protect our intellectual property portfolio;
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hire additional staff, including clinical, scientific, technical, manufacturing, regulatory, quality, operational, financial, commercial, and support personnel, to execute our business plan;
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add clinical, scientific operational, financial, and management information systems and personnel to support our product development and potential future commercialization efforts, and as to enable us to operate as a public reporting company;
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utilize external vendors for support with respect to research, development, commercialization, regulatory, pharmacovigilance, and other functions;
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acquire or in-license other commercial products, product candidates, and technologies;
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discover and develop additional product candidates;
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expand internationally;
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make royalty, milestone, or other payments under any future in-license agreements;
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implement additional internal manufacturing capabilities, systems and infrastructure; and
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operate as a public company.
Furthermore, our ability to successfully develop, commercialize, and license our products and generate product revenue is subject to substantial additional risks and uncertainties. Each of our product candidates will require additional pre-clinical and/or clinical development, potential regulatory approval in multiple jurisdictions, the development of or securing of manufacturing supply, capacity, and expertise, the use of external vendors, the building of a manufacturing and commercial organization, substantial investment, and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenue from product sales. As a result, we expect to continue to incur net losses and negative cash flows for the foreseeable future. These net losses and negative cash flows have had, and will continue to have, an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working capital.
The amount of future losses and when, if ever, we will achieve profitability are uncertain. We have no products that have generated any commercial revenue, do not expect to generate revenues from the commercial sale of products in the foreseeable future, and might never generate revenues from the sale of products. Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability will depend on, among other things, successful completion of the clinical development of our product candidates; obtaining necessary regulatory approvals from the FDA and international regulatory agencies; establishing cost-effective manufacturing, generating sales, and achieving market acceptance of our products and marketing infrastructure to commercialize our product candidates for which we obtain approval; and raising sufficient funds to finance our activities. We might not succeed at any of these undertakings. If we are unsuccessful at some or all of these undertakings, our business, prospects, and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.
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Our recurring losses from operations raise substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.
We currently operate with limited resources. We have incurred significant losses since our inception and have never generated revenue or profit, and it is possible we will never generate revenue or profit. Based on our current operating plans, and without additional funding there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. See Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of our expected cash runway. This cash runway estimate is based on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Until such time as the Company can generate significant revenue from product sales, if ever, it plans to finance its operations through a combination of equity or debt financings, collaboration agreements, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements, but there can be no assurances that such financing will continue to be available to us on satisfactory terms, or at all.
Securing additional financing may divert our management from our day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize any of our product candidates. If we are unable to obtain funding, we would be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our research and development programs, which would adversely affect our business prospects. In addition, if we are unable to raise capital, we will also need to implement cost reductions, and any failure to effectively do so will harm our business, results of operations and future prospects. The perception that we may not be able to continue as a going concern may cause others to choose not to deal with us due to concerns about our ability to meet our contractual obligations. If we are unable to continue as a going concern, investors could lose all or part of their investment in our Company.
We will need significant additional funding in order to complete development of, manufacture, and obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates and commercialize our products, if approved. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, we could be forced to delay, reduce, or eliminate our product development programs or commercialization efforts.
We will continue to need additional capital, which we may raise through equity offerings, debt financings, marketing, and distribution arrangements and other collaborations, strategic alliances, and licensing arrangements or other sources. Additional sources of financing might not be available on favorable terms, if at all. If we do not succeed in raising additional funds on acceptable terms, we might be unable to complete planned clinical trials or obtain approval of any of our product candidates from the FDA, or any foreign regulatory authorities, and could be forced to discontinue product development or reduce our operations. In addition, attempting to secure additional financing may divert the time and attention of our management from day-to-day activities and harm our product candidate development efforts.
We will require substantial funds to further develop, manufacture, obtain approval for, and commercialize our product candidates, including LYR-210, for which we initiated two pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials. We will also require substantial funds to further develop, obtain approval for, and commercialize our other product candidate, LYR-220, which has completed a Phase 2 clinical trial.
Our future funding requirements, both near and long-term, will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to:
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the scope and results of our pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, including any unforeseen costs we may incur as a result of pre-clinical study or clinical trial delays due to COVID-19 or other causes;
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the scope and results of our pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, including any unforeseen costs we may incur as a result of pre-clinical study or clinical trial delays;
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the timing of, and the costs involved in, obtaining regulatory approvals for LYR-210 and LYR-220;
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the costs and timing of changes in the regulatory environment and enforcement rules;
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the costs and timing in changes in pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement infrastructure;
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the costs involved in preparing, filing, prosecuting, maintaining, and enforcing patent claims and other patent-related costs, including any litigation costs and the results of such litigation;
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the effect of competing technological and market developments;
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the extent to which we in-license or acquire other products and technologies;
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the cost of establishing sales, marketing, manufacturing, and distribution capabilities for our product candidates in regions where we choose to commercialize our products; and
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the initiation, progress, timing, and results of our commercialization of LYR-210 and LYR-220, if approved for commercial sale.
Depending on our business performance, the economic climate, and market conditions, we may be unable to raise additional funds through any sources. Market volatility could also adversely impact our ability to access capital as and when needed.
We maintain our cash and cash equivalents in accounts with major U.S. and multi-national financial institutions, and U.S. treasury bills and our deposits at these institutions exceed insured limits. Market conditions can impact the viability of these institutions. In the event of failure of any of the financial institutions where we maintain our cash and cash equivalents, there can be no assurance that we would be able to access uninsured funds in a timely manner or at all. Any inability to access or delay in accessing these funds could adversely affect our business and financial position.
Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our stockholders, restrict our operations, or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial revenue, we may finance our cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, marketing, and distribution arrangements and other collaborations, strategic alliances, and licensing arrangements. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations, even if we believe that we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans.
To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interests of our shareholders will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our common stockholders. Debt financing and preferred equity financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our operations and our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures, declaring dividends, redeeming our stock, making certain investments, and engaging in certain merger, consolidation, or asset sale transactions, among other restrictions. If we raise additional funds through additional collaborations, strategic alliances, or marketing, distribution, or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may be required to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, or product candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce, or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.
We have no approved products.
To date, we have no approved product on the market and have generated no product revenues. Unless we receive approval from the FDA or other regulatory authorities for our product candidates, we will not have product revenues. Therefore, for the foreseeable future, we will have to fund all of our operations and capital expenditures from cash on hand and licensing fees and grants, if any.
Our product candidates are in various stages of development.
We are a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of novel integrated drug and drug delivery solutions for the localized treatment of patients with ENT diseases. Our product candidates are in clinical development, and favorable results in early-stage clinical trials may not be predictive of success in later clinical trials and may not lead to commercially viable products for any of several reasons. For example, our product candidates may fail to be safe and effective in current or future clinical trials or pre-clinical studies, or we may have inadequate financial or other resources to pursue discovery and development efforts for new product candidates. Our product candidates will require significant additional development, clinical trials, regulatory authorizations, and additional investment by us before they can be commercialized.
Our business is highly dependent on the success of our most advanced product candidate, LYR-210, which will require additional clinical testing before we can seek regulatory approval and potentially launch our product. If LYR-210 does not
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receive regulatory approval or is not successfully commercialized, or is significantly delayed in doing so, our business will be harmed.
A substantial portion of our business and future success depends on our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and successfully commercialize our most advanced product candidate, LYR-210. We currently have no products that are approved for commercial sale and have not completed the development of any product candidates, and may never be able to develop marketable products. We expect that a substantial portion of our efforts and expenditures over the next few years will be devoted to LYR-210 and LYR-220, which will each require additional clinical development and potential additional pre-clinical development, management of clinical and medical affairs and manufacturing activities, regulatory approval in multiple jurisdictions, the securing of manufacturing supply, the building of a manufacturing and commercial organization, substantial investment, and significant marketing efforts before we can generate any revenues from any commercial sales. We cannot be certain that LYR-210 and LYR-220 will be successful in ongoing or future clinical trials, receive regulatory approval, or be successfully commercialized even if we receive regulatory approval. Even if we receive approval to market LYR-210 and LYR-220 from the FDA or other regulatory bodies, we cannot be certain that our product candidates will be successfully commercialized, profitable, widely accepted in the marketplace, or more effective than other commercially available alternatives. Nor can we be certain that, if and when approved, the safety and efficacy profile of LYR-210 and LYR-220 will be consistent with the profiles observed in clinical trials.
We advanced LYR-210 through our Phase 2 randomized, controlled, patient blinded LANTERN clinical trial, evaluating the safety and efficacy in surgically-naïve CRS patients who have failed previous medical management. The trial was designed to enroll 99 evaluable patients with the potential to increase to up to 150 patients and was initiated in May 2019 at sites in Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, New Zealand, and Poland. In December 2019, the FDA authorized our investigational new drug application, and, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we planned to enroll patients in the United States. However, in light of developments relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, as described below, we discontinued enrollment at 67 patients in our Phase 2 LANTERN clinical trial and did not enroll any patients in the United States.
On December 7, 2020, we reported top-line results from our Phase 2 LANTERN clinical trial, including that LYR-210 failed to meet the primary endpoint of the trial. We believe this was primarily due to the discontinuation of enrollment related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the decrease in the number of patients enrolled from planned (99 evaluable) to actually enrolled (67) patients in our Phase 2 LANTERN clinical trial, a greater magnitude of change in composite score of the seven-day average of four cardinal symptoms from baseline at week 4 and/or a smaller standard deviation associated with the change from baseline at week 4 was required in order for the trial to achieve statistical significance for the primary endpoint. There can be no assurance that we will achieve the primary endpoint or any other endpoints in the ENLIGHTEN Phase 3 clinical trials we conduct for LYR-210.
If the required regulatory approvals for LYR-210 are not obtained or are significantly delayed, or any approved products are not commercially successful, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be materially harmed.
LYR-210 is our most advanced product candidate, and if we experience regulatory or developmental issues with respect to LYR-210, our development plans and business could be significantly harmed. Moreover, if we experience similar regulatory or developmental issues with LYR-220 or future product candidates, our development plans and business could be significantly harmed. Further, our competitors may be developing products with similar mechanisms of action and may experience problems with their products that could identify problems that would potentially harm our business.
Managing our obligations under our license and other strategic agreements may divert management time and attention, causing delays or disruptions to our business.
We are party to the LianBio License Agreement, as amended. The LianBio License Agreement grants an exclusive license to develop and commercialize LYR-210 in Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand, or the Territory. Furthermore, under the LianBio License Agreement, LianBio has the first right to obtain a license to develop and commercialize LYR-220. We also may in the future enter into license and strategic agreements, which, subject us to various obligations, including diligence obligations, reporting and notification obligations, payment obligations for achievement of certain milestone as well as other material obligations. We may need to devote substantial time and attention to ensuring that we successfully integrate these transactions into our existing operations and are compliant with our obligations under these agreements, which may divert management’s time and attention away from our research and development programs or other day-to-day activities.
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Our license and strategic agreements are also complex and certain provisions in those agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. In the event of any disagreement about the interpretation of these provisions, our management may need to devote a disproportionate amount of its attention to resolving these disagreements. Such disruptions may cause delays in our research and development programs and other business objectives.
If LianBio is unable to find a third party to acquire its rights under the LianBio License Agreement, it may materially harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
LianBio announced that in October 2023 its Board of Directors commenced a comprehensive strategic review of its business. The LianBio Board ultimately concluded that selling off assets and winding down operations was the best way to realize maximum shareholder value. LianBio reported that a substantial portion of the wind down activities, including fulfillment of transition service obligations under its existing agreements and gradual cessation of currently active clinical trials, will be completed by the end of 2024. LianBio announced in 2024 that it was further reducing the size of its workforce to approximately 50 employees with plans to reduce that number further over the course of 2024. LianBio stated it will maintain a core group of employees necessary to implement an orderly wind down and support its efforts to maximize the value of its remaining business and assets including the collaboration with the Company. Due to these developments, the future of the Company’s collaboration with LianBio is uncertain as LianBio continues its wind down, while seeking a third party to acquire LianBio’s rights under the LianBio License Agreement. If LianBio is unable to find a third party to acquire LianBio’s rights under the LianBio License Agreement, it may materially harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our operating activities may be restricted by certain covenants in our license and strategic agreements, which could limit our development and commercial opportunities.
In connection with our license and strategic agreements, we may agree to and be bound by negative covenants which may limit our development and commercial opportunities. For example, pursuant to the LianBio License Agreement, we made certain covenants to not commercialize a competing product anywhere in the Territory, nor collaborate with, enable, or otherwise authorize, license, or grant any right to any third party to commercialize a competing product anywhere in the Territory, subject to certain carve-outs. We also made certain covenants to grant an exclusive option to LianBio for the development and commercialization of LYR-220 in the Territory. These provisions may inhibit our development efforts, prevent us from forming strategic collaborations to develop and potentially commercialize any other product candidates and may materially harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Failure to obtain marketing approval in international jurisdictions would prevent our products from being marketed in such jurisdictions.
In order to market and sell our products in jurisdictions outside of the United States, we or our third-party collaborators must obtain separate marketing approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedure varies among countries and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval may differ substantially from that required to obtain FDA approval. The regulatory approval process outside the United States generally includes all the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. In addition, in many countries outside the United States, it is required that the product be approved for reimbursement before the product can be approved for sale in that country. Additionally, we may be dependent on third-party collaborators to develop and commercialize our product candidates in certain international jurisdictions, such as in the case of our exclusive license agreement with LianBio for the development and commercialization of LYR-210 in the Territory. In the agreement with LianBio, while we have agreed that we must use commercially reasonable efforts to complete a global Phase III clinical trial for LR-210 and seek regulatory approval in the United States, LianBio must also use commercially reasonable efforts to develop, seek regulatory approval for, and commercialize LYR-210 in the Territory. We or these third parties may not obtain approvals from regulatory authorities outside the United States on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one regulatory authority outside the United States does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA. However, the failure to obtain approval in one jurisdiction may negatively impact our ability to obtain approval in other jurisdictions. We and our third-party collaborators may not be able to file for marketing approvals, and even if we do, we may not obtain necessary approvals to commercialize our medicines in any market.
We have entered into a collaboration, and may enter into other collaborations, that place the development and commercialization of our product candidates outside our control, require us to relinquish important rights or may
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otherwise be on terms unfavorable to us, and if our collaborations are not successful, our product candidates may not reach their full market potential.
Our drug development programs and the potential commercialization of our drug candidates will require substantial additional cash to fund expenses. For some of our drug candidates, we may decide to collaborate with additional pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the development and potential commercialization of those drug candidates in selected geographic territories or for selected patient populations. For example, we are party to the LianBio License Agreement to develop and commercialize LYR-210 in the Territory. We face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration or successfully maintain a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed or existing collaboration and the proposed or existing collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the design or results of clinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States, the potential market for the subject drug candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering such drug candidate to patients, the potential of competing therapies, the existence of uncertainty with respect to our ownership of technology, which can exist if there is a challenge to such ownership without regard to the merits of the challenge and industry and market conditions generally. The collaborator may also consider alternative drug candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available to collaborate on and whether such a collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us for our drug candidate. The terms of any existing or additional collaborations or other arrangements that we may establish may not be favorable to us.
We may not be successful in our efforts to identify and successfully commercialize additional product candidates.
Part of our strategy involves identifying novel product candidates. The process by which we identify product candidates may fail to yield product candidates for clinical development for a number of reasons, including those discussed in these risk factors and also:
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we may not be able to assemble sufficient resources to acquire or discover additional product candidates;
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competitors may develop alternatives that render our potential product candidates obsolete or less attractive;
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potential product candidates we develop may nevertheless be covered by third parties’ patents or other exclusive rights;
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potential product candidates may, on further study, be shown to have harmful side effects, toxicities, or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to be products that will receive marketing approval or achieve market acceptance;
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potential product candidates may not be effective in treating their targeted diseases or symptoms;
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the market for a potential product candidate may change so that the continued development of that product candidate is no longer reasonable;
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a potential product candidate may not be capable of being produced in commercial quantities at an acceptable cost, or at all; or
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the regulatory pathway for a potential product candidate is highly complex and difficult to navigate successfully or economically.
In addition, we may choose to focus our efforts and resources on a potential product candidate that ultimately proves to be unsuccessful, or to license or purchase a marketed product that does not meet our financial expectations. As a result, we may fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities, be required to forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or other diseases that may later prove to have greater commercial potential, or relinquish valuable rights to such product candidates through collaboration, licensing, or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights. If we are unable to identify and successfully commercialize additional suitable product candidates, this would adversely impact our business strategy and our financial position.
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We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product candidate or indication and fail to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
Because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we focus on research programs and product candidates that we identify for specific indications. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to timely capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and product candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing, or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate.
Risks Related to Discovery, Development, Clinical Testing, Manufacturing, and Regulatory Approval
Clinical trials required for our product candidates are expensive and time-consuming, their outcome is uncertain, and if our clinical trials do not meet safety or efficacy endpoints in these evaluations, or if we experience significant delays in these trials, our ability to commercialize our product candidates and our financial position will be impaired.
We initiated the pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials for our most advanced product candidate, LYR-210. Additionally, we plan to continue clinical development on our other product candidate, LYR-220. It is impossible to predict when or if either of our product candidates will prove effective and safe in humans or if we will receive regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, and the risk of failure through the development process is high. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of any product candidate, we may need to complete pre-clinical development and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in humans.
Clinical development is a long, expensive, and uncertain process that is subject to significant delays. Due to known or unknown circumstances beyond our control, it may take us several years to complete our testing, and failure can occur at any stage of testing. The outcome of pre-clinical testing and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the results of later clinical trials, and interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. We cannot assure you that any clinical trial that we are conducting, or may conduct in the future, will demonstrate consistent or adequate efficacy and safety to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates. Moreover, pre-clinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analysis, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in pre-clinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their products.
Delays associated with products for which we are directly conducting pre-clinical studies or clinical trials may cause us to incur additional operating expenses. The commencement and rate of completion of pre-clinical studies or clinical trials may be delayed by, or terminated because of, many factors, including:
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the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities disagreeing as to the design or implementation of our pre-clinical studies or clinical trials;
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failure to obtain regulatory approval to commence a trial;
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failure to reach, or delays in reaching, an agreement on acceptable terms with prospective contract research organizations, or CROs, and clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;
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slower than expected rates of recruitment of patients or failure to recruit a sufficient number of patients;
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modification of pre-clinical studies or clinical trial protocols;
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changes in regulatory requirements for pre-clinical studies or clinical trials;
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the impact of unusual placebo effects;
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the lack of effectiveness during pre-clinical studies or clinical trials;
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the emergence of unforeseen safety issues or undesirable side effects;
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failure to obtain institutional review board, or the IRB, approval at each site;
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delays, suspension, or termination of clinical trials by the IRB responsible for overseeing the trial at a particular trial site;
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failure of patients in completing a trial or returning for post-treatment follow-up;
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clinical sites deviating from trial protocol, dropping out of a trial, or failing to comply with regulatory requirements;
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failure to address patient safety concerns that arise during the course of a trial;
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failure to manufacture sufficient quantities of product candidate for use in clinical trials;
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government, IRB, or other regulatory delays or “clinical holds” requiring suspension or termination of the trials; and
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business interruptions resulting from pandemics.
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We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize our product candidates or significantly increase the cost of such trials, including:
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we may receive feedback from regulatory authorities that requires us to modify the design of our clinical trials;
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clinical trials of our product candidates may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon development programs;
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the number of patients required for clinical trials of our product candidates may be larger than we anticipate, enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate, or participants may drop out of these clinical trials or fail to return for post-treatment follow-up at a higher rate than we anticipate;
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we may be unable to enroll a sufficient number of patients in our clinical trials to ensure adequate statistical power to detect any statistically significant treatment effects;
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our third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all;
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regulators, IRBs, or independent ethics committees, or IECs, may not authorize us or our investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site or may require that we or our investigators suspend or terminate clinical trials of our product candidates for various reasons, including non-compliance with regulatory requirements, a finding that our product candidates have undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics, or a finding that the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;
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we may experience delays in reaching or fail to reach agreement on acceptable pre-clinical study or clinical trial contracts or pre-clinical study or clinical trial protocols with prospective trial sites;
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the cost of pre-clinical studies or clinical trials of our product candidates may be greater than we anticipate and we may not have funds to cover the costs;
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the supply or quality of our product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct pre-clinical studies or clinical trials of our product candidates, or commercialize our products, may be insufficient or inadequate;
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regulators may revise the requirements for approving our product candidates, or such requirements may not be as we anticipate;
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any current or future collaborators that conduct pre-clinical studies or clinical trials may face any of the above issues, and may conduct pre-clinical studies or clinical trials in ways they view as advantageous to them but that are suboptimal for us; and
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any current or future collaborators that conduct pre-clinical studies or clinical trials may face any of the above issues, and may conduct pre-clinical studies or clinical trials in ways they view as advantageous to them but that are suboptimal for us.
If we are required to extend the duration of current pre-clinical studies or clinical trials or to conduct additional pre-clinical studies or clinical trials or other testing of our product candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, if we are unable to successfully complete pre-clinical studies or clinical trials of our product candidates or other testing, if the results of these trials, studies, or tests are not positive or are only modestly positive, if there are safety concerns, or if we determine that the observed safety or efficacy profile would not be competitive in the marketplace, we may:
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incur unplanned costs;
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be delayed in obtaining marketing approval for our product candidates or not obtain marketing approval at all;
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obtain marketing approval in some countries and not in others;
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obtain marketing approval for indications or patient populations that are not as broad as intended or desired;
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obtain marketing approval with labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or safety warnings, including boxed warnings;
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be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements; or
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have the product removed from the market after obtaining marketing approval.
We could encounter delays if a clinical trial is materially modified, suspended, or terminated by us, by the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, or DSMB, for such trial, or by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. Such authorities may impose a material modification, suspension, or termination due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects for our product candidates, or other products or product candidates in the same drug class, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a drug, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions, or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. Furthermore, we may rely on CROs and clinical trial sites to ensure the proper and timely conduct of clinical trials and while we would have agreements governing their committed activities, we would have limited influence over their actual performance, as described in “—Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties.”
Our most advanced product candidate, LYR-210, is in clinical development and will require the completion of clinical testing before we are prepared to submit an NDA for regulatory approval. We cannot predict if or when we might complete the development of LYR-210 and submit an NDA or whether any such NDA will be approved by the FDA. We may also seek feedback from the FDA or other regulatory authorities on our clinical development programs, and the FDA or such regulatory authorities may not provide such feedback on a timely basis, or such feedback may not be favorable, which could further delay our development programs. If the results of ongoing and future clinical trials for LYR-210 are positive, we plan to submit an NDA in the United States. However, no assurance can be given that we will be successful in the near term, obtain regulatory approval, or have any commercial sales of LYR-210.
Any clinical test may fail to produce results satisfactory to the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities. Pre-clinical and clinical data can be interpreted in different ways by different reviewers and regulators, which could delay, limit, or prevent regulatory approval. Drug-related adverse events during a pre-clinical study or clinical trial could cause us to repeat a trial or study, perform an additional trial or study, expand the size and/or duration of a trial or study, terminate a trial or study, or even cancel a pre-clinical or clinical program. The failure of pre-clinical studies or clinical trials to demonstrate
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safety and effectiveness for the desired indications could harm the development of that product candidate and other product candidates. This failure could cause us to abandon a product candidate and could delay development of other product candidates. Any delay in, or termination of, our clinical trials would delay the filing of our NDAs with the FDA and, ultimately, our ability to commercialize our product candidates and generate product revenues. A number of companies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials. Even if our future and ongoing pre-clinical studies and clinical trials are completed as planned, we cannot be certain that their results will support the safety and effectiveness of LYR-210, LYR-220, and/or any future product candidate.
If we experience delays in the commencement or completion of, or have to extend or expand, our pre-clinical studies or clinical trials, or if we terminate a pre-clinical study or clinical trial prior to completion, the commercial prospects of LYR-210, LYR-220, or any future product candidate could be harmed, and our ability to generate revenues from LYR-210, LYR-220, or any future product candidate may be delayed. In addition, any delays in our pre-clinical studies or clinical trials could increase our costs, slow down the development and approval process, and jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenues. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of pre-clinical studies or clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates.
We currently manufacture our clinical products in-house, and expect to continue to do so in the future, and the inability to produce sufficient, high-quality products in-house could cause significant delays, an inability to meet future customer demand and reductions in revenue.
We transitioned most of our clinical manufacturing from a contract manufacturing organization, or CMO, to an in-house manufacturing facility at our Watertown headquarters to produce LYR-210 and LYR-220. We also plan to scale up our in-house manufacturing capabilities in a new facility in Waltham, Massachusetts. We have never completed a technical transfer process to an in-house facility, built, owned or operated a commercial manufacturing facility, and there is no guarantee that we will be successful doing so. We have also never scaled up a manufacturing process in-house, and as such, our efforts carry regulatory, financial and operational risks, which could impact the timing of our future commercial launch. Throughout Item 1A, we refer to manufacturers, CMOs and suppliers interchangeably.
Parts of our manufacturing process are still outsourced and we expect them to remain outsourced. Our CMOs provide multiple different types of services to us. For example, some CMOs provide raw materials for our in-house manufacturing effort; some CMOs perform analytical testing for our starting materials, intermediates, drug product, and stability studies; and some CMOs provide services like sterilizing, packaging, and labeling.
In addition, as we transition from late-stage clinical trials toward approval and commercialization, and as we transition our clinical manufacturing processes from a CMO to our in-house facilities, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods and equipment, are altered along the way in an effort to optimize cost of goods, processes and results. Such changes carry the risk that these manufacturing efforts will not achieve these successfully or in a cost-efficient manner, or that we will be subject to additional requirements by the FDA or other regulatory bodies. Slight deviations resulting from technology transfer, including those affecting quality attributes and stability, may result in unacceptable changes in the product that could result in lot failures or product recalls. Lot failures or product recalls could cause us to delay product launches or clinical trials, which could be costly to us and otherwise harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Problems with our in-house manufacturing process could restrict our ability to meet our clinical and regulatory timelines, and market demand for our products.
We also may encounter problems hiring and retaining the experienced scientific, quality and manufacturing personnel needed to operate our clinical and commercial manufacturing processes, which could result in delays in production or difficulties in maintaining compliance with applicable regulatory requirements.
Any problems in our manufacturing process or facilities, or that of our CMOs, licensees and suppliers, could make us a less attractive collaborator for potential partners, including larger pharmaceutical companies and academic research institutions, which could limit our access to additional capital or capabilities.
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Our pre-clinical studies and clinical trials may fail to demonstrate adequately the safety and efficacy of any of our product candidates and the development of our product candidates may be delayed or unsuccessful, which could prevent or delay regulatory approval and commercialization.
Both of our current product candidates are in clinical development. Notwithstanding the data obtained to date with respect to LYR-210 and LYR-220 in CRS, LYR-210 and LYR-220 will require additional clinical and non-clinical development, regulatory review and approval in multiple jurisdictions, substantial investment, access to sufficient commercial manufacturing capacity, and significant marketing efforts before we can generate any revenue from our product sales. In addition, if we encounter safety or efficacy problems, developmental delays or regulatory issues, delays caused by COVID-19, or other problems, our developmental plans and business could be significantly harmed.
If the development of LYR-210, LYR-220, or any other future product candidate is unsuccessful, our ability to generate revenues will be adversely affected. Our development of current and future product candidates is subject to the risks of failure and delay inherent in the development of new products and product candidates, including:
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delays in product development, pre-clinical, or clinical testing or manufacturing;
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unplanned expenditures in product development, pre-clinical, or clinical testing or manufacturing;
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failure to receive regulatory approvals;
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failure to secure rights from third parties for new technology;
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failure to achieve market acceptance; and
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emergence of superior or equivalent products.
In addition, product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety profiles and efficacy results despite having progressed through pre-clinical studies and initial clinical trials. A number of companies in the biotechnology industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials. Based upon negative or inconclusive results, we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or pre-clinical studies. In addition, data obtained from trials and studies are susceptible to varying interpretations, and regulators may not interpret our data as favorably as we do, which may delay, limit, or prevent regulatory approval.
Additionally, we have not conducted, nor do we believe we are required to conduct, any head-to-head trials comparing LYR-210 to other approved or experimental treatments for CRS. Any such head-to-head trial, if conducted, may show that LYR-210 is not more effective than any of such other drugs. Material adverse differences in the relative efficacy of LYR-210 could significantly harm the adoption of LYR-210 and our business prospects.
Because of these risks, our research and development efforts may not result in any commercially viable products. If a significant portion of these development efforts are not successfully completed, required regulatory approvals are not obtained, or any approved products are not commercially successful, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be materially harmed.
Success in pre-clinical or earlier clinical trials may not be indicative of results in future clinical trials.
Success in pre-clinical studies and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will generate the same results or otherwise provide adequate data to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of a product candidate. Pre-clinical studies and Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials are primarily designed to test safety, study pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and understand the side effects of product candidates at various doses and schedules. Success in pre-clinical studies and early clinical trials does not ensure that later, large-scale efficacy trials will be successful nor does it predict final results. Our product candidates may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in clinical development despite positive results in pre-clinical studies or having successfully advanced through initial clinical trials.
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In addition, the design of a clinical trial can determine whether its results will support approval of a product, and flaws in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced, or later. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in pre-clinical studies and earlier-stage clinical trials. Data obtained from pre-clinical and clinical activities are subject to varying interpretations, which may delay, limit, or prevent regulatory approval. In addition, we may experience regulatory delays or rejections as a result of many factors, including changes in regulatory policy during the period of our product candidate development. Any such delays could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
If the FDA does not conclude that certain of our product candidates satisfy the requirements for the Section 505(b)(2) regulatory approval pathway, or if the requirements for such product candidates under Section 505(b)(2) are not as we expect, the approval pathway for those product candidates may take significantly longer, cost significantly more, and entail significantly greater complications and risks than anticipated, and in either case may not be successful.
We intend to seek FDA approval for our current product candidates, LYR-210 and LYR-220, and we may seek FDA approval for future product candidates, through the Section 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway. The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, also known as the Hatch-Waxman Amendments, added Section 505(b)(2) to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA. Section 505(b)(2) permits the filing of an NDA where at least some of the information required for approval comes from trials that were not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference. Section 505(b)(2), if applicable to us under the FDCA, would allow an NDA we submit to the FDA to rely in part on data in the public domain or the FDA’s prior conclusions regarding the safety and effectiveness of approved drugs, which could expedite the development program for our product candidates by potentially decreasing the amount of clinical data that we would need to generate in order to obtain FDA approval. If the FDA does not allow us to pursue the Section 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway as we anticipate, we may need to conduct additional clinical trials, provide additional data and information, and meet additional standards for regulatory approval. If this were to occur, the time and financial resources required to obtain FDA approval for our product candidates, and complications and risks associated with the development of our product candidates, would likely substantially increase. Moreover, inability to pursue the Section 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway could result in competitive products reaching the market before our product candidates, which could impact our competitive position and prospects. Even if we are allowed to pursue the Section 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway, we cannot assure you that our product candidates will receive the requisite approvals for commercialization, or that a competitor would not obtain approval first along with subsequent market exclusivity from the FDA, thereby delaying potential approval of our product.
In addition, the pharmaceutical industry is highly competitive, and Section 505(b)(2) NDAs are subject to special requirements designed to protect the patent rights of sponsors of previously approved drugs that are referenced in a Section 505(b)(2) NDA. These requirements may give rise to patent litigation and mandatory delays in approval of our NDAs for up to 30 months or longer depending on the outcome of any litigation. It is not uncommon for a manufacturer of an approved product to file a citizen petition with the FDA seeking to delay approval of, or impose additional approval requirements for, pending competing products. If successful, such petitions can significantly delay, or even prevent, the approval of the new product. However, even if the FDA ultimately denies such a petition, the FDA may substantially delay approval while it considers and responds to the petition. In addition, even if we are able to utilize the Section 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway, there is no guarantee this would ultimately lead to accelerated product development or earlier approval.
Moreover, even if our product candidates are approved under Section 505(b)(2), the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the products may be marketed or to other conditions of approval, or may contain requirements for costly post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the products.
We have conducted, are conducting, and, in the future, may conduct clinical trials for our product candidates in sites outside the United States, and the FDA may not accept data from trials conducted in foreign locations.
We have conducted and are conducting clinical trials for LYR-210 outside the United States, primarily in Europe, and we may in the future choose to conduct other clinical trials outside the United States for LYR-210, LYR-220, or any of our other future product candidates. Although the FDA may accept data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States, acceptance of this data is subject to certain conditions imposed by the FDA. For example, the clinical trial must be well designed and conducted and performed by qualified investigators in accordance with GCP, including review and approval by an IEC and receipt of informed consent from subjects. In general, the patient population for any clinical trials conducted outside of the United States must be representative of the population for which we intend to seek approval
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for the product in the United States. In addition, while these clinical trials are subject to the applicable local laws, FDA acceptance of the data will be dependent upon its determination that the trials also complied with all applicable U.S. laws and regulations. There can be no assurance the FDA will accept data from trials conducted outside of the United States. If the FDA does not accept the data from our clinical trials of our product candidates, it would likely result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and delay or permanently halt our development of our product candidates.
In addition, there are risks inherent in conducting clinical trials in multiple jurisdictions, inside and outside of the United States, such as:
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regulatory and administrative requirements of the jurisdiction where the trial is conducted that could burden or limit our ability to conduct our clinical trials;
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foreign exchange fluctuations;
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manufacturing, customs, shipment, and storage requirements;
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cultural differences in medical practice and clinical research; and
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the risk that the patient populations in such trials are not considered representative as compared to the patient population in the target markets where approval is being sought.
Interim and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available and are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.
From time to time, we may publish interim or preliminary data from our clinical trials. Interim data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Interim or preliminary data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, interim and preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Differences between interim or preliminary data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects.
LYR-210 and LYR-220 are drug-device combinations, which may result in additional regulatory and other risks.
LYR-210 and LYR-220 are drug-device combination products. We may experience delays in obtaining regulatory approval of these product candidates given the increased complexity of the review process when approval of a drug and a delivery device is sought under a single marketing application. Both LYR-210 and LYR-220 will be regulated as drug-device combination products, which require coordination within the FDA and similar foreign regulatory agencies for review of the product candidates’ device and drug components. The determination whether a combination product requires a single marketing application or two separate marketing applications for each component is made by the FDA on a case-by-case basis. Although we believe a single marketing application for the approval of a combination product would be successful, there can be no assurance that the FDA will not determine that separate marketing applications are necessary. This determination could significantly increase the resources and time required to bring a particular combination product to market. Although the FDA and similar foreign regulatory agencies have systems in place for the review and approval of combination products such as ours, we may experience delays in the development and commercialization of our product candidates due to regulatory timing constraints and uncertainties in the product development and approval process, as well as coordination between two different centers within FDA responsible for review of the different components of the combination product.
On November 8, 2022, we announced a pause in enrollment of ENLIGHTEN II to align with internal manufacturing timelines for clinical trial supply. We re-started the trial in April of 2023 following a successful internal manufacturing campaign. We believe that focusing on our internal manufacturing capabilities reduces risk associated with technology transfer to third parties and increases our control over the process and associated costs.
Failure to successfully develop or supply the device component, delays in or failure of the studies conducted by us, our collaborators, or third-party providers, or failure of our Company, our collaborators, or third-party providers to obtain or maintain regulatory approval or clearance of the device component of LYR-210 or LYR-220, as appropriate, could result
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in increased development costs, delays in or failure to obtain regulatory approval, and associated delays in these product candidates reaching the market. Further, failure to successfully develop or supply the device, or to gain or maintain its approval, could adversely affect sales of LYR-210 and LYR-220.
If we fail to obtain the necessary U.S. regulatory approvals to commercialize any product candidate, we will not be able to generate revenue in the U.S. market.
We cannot assure you that we will receive the approvals necessary to commercialize our product candidates, or any product candidate we acquire or develop in the future. We will need FDA approval to commercialize our product candidates in the United States and approvals from equivalent regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions to commercialize our product candidates in those jurisdictions. Satisfaction of the FDA’s regulatory requirements typically takes many years, depends upon the type, complexity, and novelty of the product candidate, and requires substantial resources for research, development, and testing. We cannot predict whether our research and clinical efforts will result in drugs that the FDA will determine are safe for humans and effective for their intended uses. The FDA has substantial discretion in the drug approval process and may require us to conduct additional pre-clinical and clinical testing, perform post-marketing studies, address manufacturing concerns, or otherwise limit or impose conditions on any approval we obtain. The approval process may also be delayed by changes in government regulation, the impact of COVID-19, future legislation or administrative action, or changes in FDA policy that occur prior to or during our regulatory review. Delays in obtaining regulatory approvals may:
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delay commercialization of, and our ability to derive product revenues from, our product candidates;
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impose costly procedures on us; and
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diminish any competitive advantages that we may otherwise enjoy.
Even if we receive approval of an NDA or comparable foreign regulatory filing for our product candidates, the FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory body may approve our product candidates for a more limited indication than we originally requested, and the FDA may not approve the labeling that we believe is necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates.
Even if we comply with all FDA requests, the FDA may ultimately reject one or more of our NDAs. We cannot be sure that we will ever obtain regulatory clearance for our product candidates. Failure to obtain FDA approval of our product candidates will severely undermine our business by leaving us without a commercially available product, and therefore without any source of revenues, until another product candidate can be developed or obtained and ultimately approved. There is no guarantee that we will ever be able to develop or acquire another product candidate or that we will be able to obtain FDA approval to commercialize such product candidate.
Even if we obtain FDA approval for our product candidates in the United States, we may never obtain approval for or commercialize them in any other jurisdiction, which would limit our ability to realize their full market potential.
We intend, either on our own or through collaborations or partnerships, to market our products in international markets. In order to market any products in the European Union and many other foreign jurisdictions, we must establish and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements on a country-by-country basis regarding safety and efficacy. Approval by the FDA in the United States does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions. However, the failure to obtain approval in one jurisdiction may negatively impact our ability to obtain approval elsewhere. In addition, clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not guarantee regulatory approval in any other country.
Approval processes vary among countries and can involve additional product testing and validation and additional administrative review periods. Seeking foreign regulatory approval could result in difficulties and increased costs for us and require additional pre-clinical studies or clinical trials which could be costly and time consuming. Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in those countries. We do not have any product candidates approved for sale in any jurisdiction, including in international markets, and we do not have experience in obtaining regulatory approval in international markets. If we fail to comply with regulatory requirements in international markets or to obtain and maintain required approvals, or if regulatory approvals in international
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markets are delayed, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of any product we develop will be unrealized.
The regulatory approval processes of the FDA and comparable foreign authorities are lengthy, costly, time-consuming, and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our business will be substantially harmed. We cannot predict when or if, and in which territories, we, or any of our potential future collaborators, will obtain marketing approval to commercialize a product candidate.
The time required to obtain approval by the FDA and comparable foreign authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including substantial discretion of regulatory authorities. In addition, approval policies, regulations, or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions. We have not obtained regulatory approval for any product candidate and it is possible that neither LYR-210, LYR-220, nor any future product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval. Neither we nor any future collaborator is permitted to market any of our product candidates in the United States until we receive regulatory approval of an NDA from the FDA. It is possible that the FDA may refuse to accept for substantive review any NDAs that we submit for our product candidates or may conclude after review of our data that our application is insufficient to obtain marketing approval of our product candidates.
Prior to obtaining approval to commercialize a product candidate in the United States or abroad, we or our collaborators must demonstrate with substantial evidence from well-controlled clinical trials, and to the satisfaction of the FDA or foreign regulatory agencies, that such product candidates are safe and effective for their intended uses in patients. Results from non-clinical studies and clinical trials can be interpreted in different ways. Even if we believe the non-clinical or clinical data for our product candidates are promising, such data may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA and other regulatory authorities. The FDA may also require us to conduct additional pre-clinical studies or clinical trials for our product candidates either prior to or post-approval, or it may object to elements of our clinical development program. Depending on the extent of these or any other FDA-required studies, approval of any NDA or other application that we submit may be delayed by several years, or may require us to expend significantly more resources than we have available.
Of the large number of potential products in development, only a small percentage successfully complete the FDA or foreign regulatory approval processes and are commercialized. The lengthy and costly approval process as well as the unpredictability of future clinical trial results may result in our failing to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates, which would significantly harm our business, results of operations, and prospects.
Moreover, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and receive compensation in connection with such services. Under certain circumstances, we may be required to report some of these relationships to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may conclude that a financial relationship between us and a principal investigator has created a conflict of interest or otherwise affected interpretation of the study. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may therefore question the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized. This could result in a delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, as the case may be, and may ultimately lead to the denial of marketing approval of one or more of our product candidates.
Separately, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic the FDA postponed most inspections of domestic and foreign manufacturing facilities at various points. Even though the FDA has since resumed standard inspection operations of domestic facilities where feasible, the FDA has continued to monitor and implement changes to its inspectional activities to ensure the safety of its employees and those of the firms it regulates as it adapts any resurgence of the virus or emergence of new variants may lead to further inspectional delays. Regulatory authorities outside the United States may adopt similar restrictions or other policy measures in response to future COVID-19 related concerns, including providing guidance regarding the conduct of clinical trials. If global health concerns continue to prevent the FDA or other regulatory authorities from conducting their regular inspections, reviews, or other regulatory activities, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA or other regulatory authorities to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
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If we encounter delays or difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities and receipt of regulatory approvals could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.
The timely completion of clinical trials in accordance with their protocols depends, among other things, on our ability to enroll a sufficient number of patients who remain in the trial until its conclusion. For example, we were unable to enroll patients in our Phase 2 LANTERN clinical trial in the United States from whom we intended to collect certain additional pharmacokinetic data due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and, as a result, we initiated a separate characterization study in September 2020 as a follow-on to our Phase 2 LANTERN clinical trial in order to collect such data. Trials may be subject to delays as a result of patient enrollment taking longer than anticipated or patient withdrawal. We may encounter delays in enrolling, or be unable to enroll, a sufficient number of patients to complete any of our clinical trials, and even once enrolled we may be unable to retain a sufficient number of patients to complete any of our trials. We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our product candidates if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in these trials as required by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. We cannot predict how successful we will be at enrolling subjects in future clinical trials. The enrollment of patients depends on many factors, including:
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the patient eligibility criteria defined in the protocol;
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the size of the patient population required for analysis of the trial’s primary endpoints;
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the proximity of patients to trial sites;
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the design of the trial;
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our ability to recruit clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and experience;
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clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new products that may be approved for the indications we are investigating;
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the perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate in the trial;
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the availability of alternative therapies;
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our ability to obtain and maintain patient consents;
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the risk that patients enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of the trials before completion; and
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the impact of geopolitical events or other events such as the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, our clinical trials will compete with other clinical trials for product candidates that are in the same therapeutic areas as our product candidates, and this competition will reduce the number and types of patients available to us, because some patients who might have opted to enroll in our trials may instead opt to enroll in a trial being conducted by one of our competitors. Since the number of qualified clinical investigators is limited, we expect to conduct some of our clinical trials at the same clinical trial sites that some of our competitors use, which will reduce the number of patients who are available for our clinical trials in such clinical trial site.
Delays or failures in planned patient enrollment or retention may result in increased costs, program delays, or both, which could have a harmful effect on our ability to develop LYR-210, LYR-220, and/or any other future product candidates, or could render further development impossible.
Our product candidates may cause serious adverse events or undesirable side effects including injury and death or have other properties which may delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit the commercial profile of an approved label, or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval. If any of our product candidates receives marketing approval and we, or others, later discover that the drug is less effective than previously believed or causes
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undesirable side effects that were not previously identified, our ability, or that of any potential future collaborators, to market the drug could be compromised.
Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex, and expensive pre-clinical testing and clinical trials that our product candidates are both safe and effective for use in each target indication, and failures can occur at any stage of testing. Clinical trials often fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy of the product candidate studied for the target indication. Serious adverse events, or SAEs, or undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay, or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or other comparable foreign authorities. Results of our clinical trials or pre-clinical studies could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects, toxicities, or unexpected characteristics, including death. For example, in our Phase 1 clinical trial for our most advanced product candidate, LYR-210, there was one SAE in the active group (acute myocardial infarction), which was considered not related to LYR-210. For more information, see “Business—LYR-210 for the Treatment of CRS—Overview of Our Clinical Development for LYR-210" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
In addition, subjects treated with LYR-210 have experienced adverse events, including epistaxis, rhinitis, rhinorrhea, facial pain, nasopharyngitis, sinusitis, upper respiratory tract infection, procedural headache, nasal discomfort, and nasal odor, among others. In our Phase 2 LANTERN clinical trial, treatment-related adverse events were reported in 16 patients, and all treatment-related adverse events except one (increased viscosity of upper respiratory secretion) were mild or moderate in nature. In addition, there was one patient in the LYR-210 (2,500 μg) group who had a serious adverse event of acarodermatitis in our Phase 2 LANTERN clinical trial, which was deemed to be not related to treatment.
If unacceptable side effects arise in the development of our product candidates, we, the FDA, the IRBs at the institutions in which our studies are conducted, could materially modify, suspend, or terminate our clinical trials or the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease pre-clinical studies or clinical trials, require us to conduct additional animal or human studies regarding the safety and efficacy of our product candidates which we have not planned or anticipated, or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. Many product candidates that initially showed promise in early-stage testing have later been found to cause side effects that prevented further development of the product candidate. Treatment-related side effects could also affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. In addition, these side effects may not be appropriately recognized or managed by the treating medical staff. We currently train and expect to have to train medical personnel using our product candidates to understand the side effect profiles for our clinical trials and upon any commercialization of any of our product candidates. Inadequate training in recognizing or managing the potential side effects of our product candidates could result in patient injury or death. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition, and prospects significantly.
If any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by any such product, including during any long-term follow-up observation period recommended or required for patients who receive treatment using our products, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
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regulatory authorities may withdraw approvals of such product;
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we may be required to recall a product or change the way such product is administered to patients;
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additional restrictions may be imposed on the marketing of the particular product or the manufacturing processes for the product;
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regulatory authorities may require additional warnings on the label, such as a “black box” warning or contraindication;
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regulatory authorities may require long-term patient registries for the product;
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we may be required to implement a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, or create a medication guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients;
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the product could become less competitive;
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we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; and
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our reputation may suffer.
There can be no assurance that we will resolve any issues related to any product-related adverse events to the satisfaction of the FDA or any regulatory agency in a timely manner or at all. Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product candidate, if approved, and could significantly harm our business, results of operations, and prospects.
Changes in methods of product candidate manufacturing or formulation may result in additional costs or delay.
As product candidates proceed through pre-clinical studies to late-stage clinical trials towards potential approval and commercialization, it is common that various aspects of the development program, such as manufacturing methods and formulation, are altered along the way in an effort to optimize processes and results or in the process of conducting technology transfer with contract manufacturers. In addition, we brought our clinical manufacturing process in-house, which required the purchase of new equipment, raw materials and other materials to ensure we could manufacture our products in accordance with cGMPs. Such changes carry the risk that they will not achieve these intended objectives. Any of these changes could cause our product candidates to perform differently and affect the results of planned clinical trials or other future clinical trials conducted with the altered materials. Such changes may also require additional testing or validation, FDA notification or FDA approval. This could delay completion of clinical trials, require the conduct of bridging clinical trials or the repetition of one or more clinical trials, increase clinical trial costs, delay approval of our product candidates and jeopardize our ability to commence sales and generate revenue.
Our employees and independent contractors, including principal investigators, CROs, consultants, vendors, and any third parties we may engage in connection with research, development, regulatory, manufacturing, quality assurance, and other pharmaceutical functions and commercialization may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Misconduct by our employees and independent contractors, including principal investigators, CROs, consultants, vendors, and any third parties we may engage in connection with research, development, regulatory, manufacturing, quality assurance, and other pharmaceutical functions and commercialization, could include intentional, reckless, or negligent conduct or unauthorized activities that violate: (i) the laws and regulations of the FDA, the European Medicines Agency, or the EMA, and other similar regulatory authorities, including those laws that require the reporting of true, complete, and accurate information to such authorities; (ii) manufacturing standards; or (iii) data privacy, security, fraud and abuse, and other healthcare laws and regulations. Specifically, sales, marketing, and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, misconduct, kickbacks, self-dealing, and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs, and other business arrangements. Activities subject to these laws could also involve the improper use or misrepresentation of information obtained in the course of pre-clinical studies or clinical trials, creation of fraudulent data in pre-clinical studies or clinical trials, or illegal misappropriation of drug product, which could result in regulatory sanctions and cause serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by employees and other third parties, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with such laws or regulations. Additionally, we are subject to the risk that a person or government could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business and results of operations, including the imposition of significant civil, criminal, and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, disgorgements, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid, other U.S. federal healthcare programs or healthcare programs in other jurisdictions, integrity oversight and reporting obligations to resolve allegations of non-compliance, individual imprisonment, other sanctions, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, and curtailment of our operations.
Our business and operations would suffer in the event of system failures.
Our computer systems, as well as those of our CROs and other contractors, vendors, suppliers, and consultants, are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters (including the impacts of climate change), international terrorism and conflicts, and telecommunication and electrical failures. If such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our product candidate development programs and our business. For example, the loss of pre-clinical studies or clinical trial data from completed, ongoing, or
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planned trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of personal, confidential, or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the further development of LYR-210, LYR-220, or any other product candidate could be delayed.
In the ordinary course of our business, we directly or indirectly collect and store sensitive data, including intellectual property, confidential information, pre-clinical and clinical trial data, proprietary business information, personal data, and personally identifiable health information of our clinical trial subjects and employees, in our data centers and on our networks, or on those of third parties. The secure processing, maintenance, and transmission of this information is critical to our operations. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure has been and, from time to time, may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or internal bad actors, or breached due to employee error, a technical vulnerability, malfeasance, or other disruptions. For example, companies have experienced an increase in phishing and social engineering attacks from third parties in connection with COVID-19. Although, to our knowledge, we have not experienced any material security breach, any such breach could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost, or stolen. Any such access, disclosure, or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings (including class actions), liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, or significant regulatory penalties, and such an event could disrupt our operations, damage our reputation, and cause a loss of confidence in us and our ability to conduct clinical trials, which could adversely affect our business reputation and delay our clinical development of our product candidates.
Risks Related to Healthcare Laws and Other Legal Compliance Matters
We will be subject to extensive and costly government regulation.
Product candidates employing our technology will be subject to extensive and rigorous domestic government regulation including regulation by the FDA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, other divisions of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the United States Department of Justice, state and local governments, and their respective equivalents outside of the United States. The FDA regulates the research, development, pre-clinical and clinical testing, manufacture, safety, effectiveness, record-keeping, reporting, labeling, packaging, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale, distribution, import, and export of pharmaceutical products. If products employing our technologies are marketed abroad, they will also be subject to extensive regulation by foreign governments, whether or not they have obtained FDA approval for a given product and its uses. Such foreign regulation may be equally or more demanding than corresponding United States regulation.
Government regulation substantially increases the cost and risk of researching, developing, manufacturing, and selling our products. The regulatory review and approval process, which includes pre-clinical testing and clinical trials of each product candidate, is lengthy, expensive, and uncertain. We or our collaborators must obtain and maintain regulatory authorization to conduct pre-clinical studies and clinical trials. We or our collaborators must obtain regulatory approval for each product we intend to market, and the manufacturing facilities used for the products must be inspected and meet legal requirements. Securing regulatory approval requires the submission of extensive pre-clinical and clinical data and other supporting information for each proposed therapeutic indication in order to establish the product’s safety and efficacy, potency, and purity, for each intended use. The development and approval process takes many years, requires substantial resources, and may never lead to the approval of a product.
Even if we are able to obtain regulatory approval for a particular product, the approval may limit the indicated medical uses for the product, may otherwise limit our ability to promote, sell, and distribute the product, may require that we conduct costly post-marketing surveillance, and/or may require that we conduct ongoing post-marketing studies. Material changes to an approved product, such as, for example, manufacturing changes or revised labeling, may require further regulatory review and approval. Once obtained, any approvals may be withdrawn, including, for example, if there is a later discovery of previously unknown problems with the product, such as a previously unknown safety issue.
If we, our collaborators, consultants, contract manufacturers, CROs, or other vendors fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements at any stage during the regulatory process, such noncompliance could result in, among other things, delays in the approval of applications or supplements to approved applications; refusal of a regulatory authority, including the FDA, to review pending market approval applications or supplements to approved applications; warning letters; fines; import and/or export restrictions; product recalls or seizures; injunctions; total or partial suspension of production; civil penalties; withdrawals of previously approved marketing applications or licenses; recommendations by the FDA or other regulatory authorities against governmental contracts; and/or criminal prosecutions.
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Enacted and future healthcare legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize our product candidates and could adversely affect our business.
In the United States, the EU, and other jurisdictions, there have been, and we expect there will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes to the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of our products in development, restrict or regulate post-approval activities involving any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval, impact pricing and reimbursement, and impact our ability to sell any such products profitably. In particular, there have been and continue to be a number of initiatives at the U.S. federal and state levels that seek to reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of healthcare. In addition, new regulations are frequently adopted and interpretations of existing healthcare statutes may change over time.
For instance, in August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or IRA, was signed into law. The IRA includes several provisions that may impact our business to varying degrees, including provisions that establish a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for Medicare Part D beneficiaries, impose new manufacturer financial liability on many drugs reimbursed under Medicare Part D, allow the U.S. government to negotiate Medicare Part B and Part D pricing for certain high-cost drugs and biologics without generic or biosimilar competition, and require companies to pay rebates to Medicare for drug prices that increase faster than inflation. The IRA permits the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to implement many of these provisions through guidance, as opposed to regulation, for the initial years. HHS has and will continue to issue and update guidance as these programs are implemented. On August 29, 2023, HHS announced the list of the first ten drugs that will be subject to price negotiations, although the Medicare drug price negotiation program is currently subject to legal challenges. For that and other reasons, it is currently unclear how the IRA will be effectuated. In addition, in response to the Biden administration’s October 2022 executive order, on February 14, 2023, HHS released a report outlining three new models for testing by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) Innovation Center which will be evaluated on their ability to lower the cost of drugs, promote accessibility, and improve quality of care. It is unclear whether the models will be utilized in any health reform measures in the future.
In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or collectively the ACA, was enacted, which substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers. Among the provisions of the ACA, those of greatest importance to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries include the following:
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an annual, non-deductible fee payable by any entity that manufactures or imports certain branded prescription drugs and biologic agents (other than those designated as orphan drugs), which is apportioned among these entities according to their market share in certain government healthcare programs;
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a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program, in which manufacturers must agree to offer point-of-sale discounts off negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs to eligible beneficiaries during their coverage gap period, as a condition for the manufacturer’s outpatient drugs to be covered under Medicare Part D;
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new requirements to report certain financial arrangements with physicians and teaching hospitals, including reporting “transfers of value” made or distributed to prescribers and other healthcare providers and reporting investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members;
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an increase in the statutory minimum rebates a manufacturer must pay under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to 23.1% and 13.0% of the average manufacturer price for branded and generic drugs, respectively;
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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;
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extension of a manufacturer’s Medicaid rebate liability to covered drugs dispensed to individuals who are enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations;
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expansion of eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs by, among other things, allowing states to offer Medicaid coverage to certain individuals with income at or below 133% of the federal poverty level, thereby potentially increasing a manufacturer’s Medicaid rebate liability;
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a new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in, and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research; and
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establishment of a Center for Medicare Innovation at CMS to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending, potentially including prescription drug spending.
Since its enactment, there have been 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. On March 2, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petitions for writs of certiorari to review the constitutionality of the ACA, although it is unclear when or how the Supreme Court will rule. It is also unclear how other efforts to challenge, repeal, or replace the ACA will impact the law and may impact our business or financial condition.
In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. In August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011 resulted in aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect in April 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, will remain in effect through 2030, unless additional action is taken by Congress. In January 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers, including hospitals, imaging centers, and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. These new laws or any other similar laws introduced in the future may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, which could negatively affect our customers and accordingly, our financial operations.
Moreover, payment methodologies may be subject to changes in healthcare legislation and regulatory initiatives. For example, CMS may develop new payment and delivery models, such as bundled payment models. In addition, recently there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under Medicare, and review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs. While any proposed measures will require authorization through additional legislation to become effective, Congress has indicated that it will continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs. We expect that additional U.S. federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that the U.S. federal government will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our product candidates or additional pricing pressures.
Individual states in the United States have also increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access, and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Legally-mandated price controls on payment amounts by third-party payors or other restrictions could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects. In addition, regional healthcare authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other healthcare programs. This could reduce the ultimate demand for our product candidates or put pressure on our product pricing.
In the EU, similar political, economic, and regulatory developments may affect our ability to profitably commercialize our product candidates, if approved. In addition to continuing pressure on prices and cost containment measures, legislative developments at the EU or member state level may result in significant additional requirements or obstacles that may increase our operating costs. The delivery of healthcare in the EU, including the establishment and operation of health services and the pricing and reimbursement of medicines, is almost exclusively a matter for national, rather than EU, law and policy. National governments and health service providers have different priorities and approaches to the delivery of healthcare and the pricing and reimbursement of products in that context. In general, however, the healthcare budgetary constraints in most EU member states have resulted in restrictions on the pricing and reimbursement of medicines by relevant health service providers. Coupled with ever-increasing EU and national regulatory burdens on those wishing to develop and market products, this could prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities, and affect our ability to commercialize our product candidates, if approved.
In markets outside of the United States and the EU, reimbursement and healthcare payment systems vary significantly by country, and many countries have instituted price ceilings on specific products and therapies.
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In addition, legislative and regulatory proposals have been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for pharmaceutical products. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether the FDA’s regulations, guidance, or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our product candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by the U.S. Congress of the FDA’s approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us to more stringent product labeling and post-marketing testing and other requirements.
We cannot predict the likelihood, nature, or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action in the United States, the EU, or any other jurisdiction. If we or any third parties we may engage are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we or such third parties are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, our product candidates may lose any regulatory approval that may have been obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.
Even if we receive regulatory approval of our product candidates, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense, and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates.
Any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval, along with the manufacturing processes, post-approval clinical data, labeling, packaging, distribution, adverse event reporting, storage, recordkeeping, export, import, and advertising and promotional activities for such product, among other things, will be subject to extensive and ongoing requirements of and review by the FDA, the EMA, and other regulatory authorities. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, establishment registration and drug listing requirements, continued compliance with cGMP requirements relating to manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance, and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians, and recordkeeping and GCP requirements for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval. In addition, the sponsor of an approved NDA is subject to periodic inspections and other FDA monitoring and reporting obligations, including obligations to monitor and report adverse events and other information such as the failure of a product to meet the specifications in the NDA. NDA sponsors must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain FDA approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling, or manufacturing process. Application holders must also submit advertising and other promotional material to the FDA and report on ongoing clinical trials. The FDA may require changes in the labeling of already approved drug products and require that sponsors conduct post-marketing studies. Accordingly, we and others with whom we work must continue to expend time, money, and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production, and quality.
Even if marketing approval of a product candidate is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, including the requirement to implement a REMS, which could include requirements for a medication guide, physician communication plans, or additional elements to ensure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries, and other risk mitigation tools. If any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, the accompanying label may limit the approved use of our product, which could limit sales of the product.
The FDA may also impose requirements for costly post-marketing studies or clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of our approved products. In addition, advertising and promotional materials must comply with FDA rules in addition to other potentially applicable federal and state laws. The FDA closely regulates the post-approval marketing and promotion of drugs to ensure they are marketed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling. The FDA imposes stringent restrictions on manufacturers’ communications regarding off-label use, and if we market our products outside of their approved indications, we may be subject to enforcement action for off-label marketing. Violations of the FDA’s restrictions relating to the promotion of prescription products may also lead to investigations alleging violations of federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws, as well as state consumer protection laws.
The distribution of product samples to physicians must comply with the requirements of the FDCA. NDA sponsors must obtain FDA approval for product, manufacturing, and labeling changes, depending on the nature of the change. Depending on the circumstances, failure to meet these post-approval requirements can result in criminal prosecution, fines, injunctions, consent decrees of permanent injunction, recall or seizure of products, total or partial suspension of production, denial or withdrawal of pre-marketing product approvals, or refusal to allow us to enter into supply contracts, including government contracts.
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In addition, later discovery of previously unknown adverse events or other problems with our products, or manufacturing processes, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may yield various results, including:
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restrictions on manufacturing such products;
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restrictions on the labeling or marketing of a product;
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restrictions on product distribution or use;
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requirements to conduct post-marketing studies or clinical trials;
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warning letters or holds on clinical trials;
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withdrawal of the products from the market;
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refusal to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications that we submit;
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recall of products;
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fines, restitution, or disgorgement of profits or revenues;
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suspension or withdrawal of marketing approvals;
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refusal to permit the import or export of our products;
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product seizure or detention; or
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injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response, and could generate negative publicity. Any failure to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize and generate revenues. If regulatory sanctions are applied or if regulatory approval is withheld or withdrawn, the value of our Company and our operating results will be adversely affected.
The FDA’s policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit, or delay regulatory approval of LYR-210, LYR-220, and/or any other future product candidate. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained which would adversely affect our business, prospects, and ability to achieve or sustain profitability.
Changes in funding for the FDA and other government agencies could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, or otherwise prevent new products and services from being developed, approved, or commercialized in a timely manner, or at all, which could negatively impact our business.
The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes, and other events that may otherwise affect the government agency’s ability to perform routine functions. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.
Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, have had to furlough critical employees and stop critical activities.
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If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, or if global health concerns prevent the FDA or other regulatory authorities from conducting their regular inspections, reviews, or other regulatory activities, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA or other regulatory authorities to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Further, future government shutdowns or delays could impact our ability to access the public markets and obtain necessary capital in order to properly capitalize and continue our operations.
Our business operations and current and future relationships with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, third-party payors, patient organizations, and customers will be subject to applicable healthcare regulatory laws, which could expose us to penalties.
Our business operations and current and future arrangements with investigators, healthcare professionals, consultants, third-party payors, patient organizations, and customers, may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations. These laws may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we conduct our operations, including how we research, market, sell, and distribute our product candidates, if approved. Such laws include:
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the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons or entities from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving, or providing any remuneration (including any kickback, bribe, or certain rebate), directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward, or in return for, either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, lease, order, or recommendation of, any good, facility, item, or service, for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under U.S. federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. A person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation;
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the U.S. federal civil and criminal false claims laws, including the civil False Claims Act, which, among other things, impose criminal and civil penalties, including through civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, against individuals or entities for knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, to the U.S. federal government, claims for payment or approval that are false or fraudulent, knowingly making, using, or causing to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim, or from knowingly making a false statement to avoid, decrease, or conceal an obligation to pay money to the U.S. federal government. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items and services resulting from a violation of the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act;
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the federal civil monetary penalties laws, which impose civil fines for, among other things, the offering or transfer of remuneration to a Medicare or state healthcare program beneficiary if the person knows or should know it is likely to influence the beneficiary’s selection of a particular provider, practitioner, or supplier of services reimbursable by Medicare or a state healthcare program, unless an exception applies;
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the U.S. federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, which imposes criminal and civil liability for, among other things, knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, or knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing, or covering up a material fact or making any materially false statement, in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, healthcare benefits, items, or services; similar to the U.S. federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation;
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the FDCA, which prohibits, among other things, the adulteration or misbranding of drugs, biologics, and medical devices;
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the U.S. Physician Payments Sunshine Act and its implementing regulations, which requires certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics, and medical supplies that are reimbursable under Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program to report annually to the government information related to certain payments and other transfers of value to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists, and chiropractors) and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by the physicians described above and their immediate family members. Such obligations
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include payments and other transfers of value provided in the previous year to certain other healthcare professionals, including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse midwives;
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federal consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers;
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analogous U.S. state laws and regulations, including: state anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may apply to our business practices, including but not limited to, research, distribution, sales, and marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by any third-party payor, including private insurers; state laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the U.S. federal government, or otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers and other potential referral sources; state laws and regulations that require drug manufacturers to file reports relating to pricing and marketing information, which requires tracking gifts and other remuneration and items of value provided to healthcare professionals and entities; and state and local laws that require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives; and
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similar healthcare laws and regulations in the EU and other jurisdictions, including reporting requirements detailing interactions with and payments to healthcare providers.
Ensuring that our internal operations and future business arrangements with third parties comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices, including our relationships with physicians and other healthcare providers, some of whom are compensated in the form of stock options for consulting services provided, may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, agency guidance, or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any other governmental laws and regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant penalties, including civil, criminal, and administrative penalties, damages, fines, exclusion from government-funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid or similar programs in other countries or jurisdictions, integrity oversight and reporting obligations to resolve allegations of non-compliance, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any of the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found to not be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil, or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs and imprisonment, which could affect our ability to operate our business. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly, time-consuming, and may require significant personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired.
Our business, financial condition, and results of operations may suffer in the event of information technology system failures, cyberattacks, data security incidents or deficiencies in our cybersecurity.
We rely on our information technology systems and those of our third-party service providers for both internal and external operations that are critical to our business. We face numerous and evolving cybersecurity risks that threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our information technology systems and data we and our third-party providers maintain, including personal information, clinical trial data, and confidential and proprietary intellectual property, financial information, trade secrets, and other business information. Our information technology systems and data, and those of our third-party service providers, contractors and consultants are vulnerable to attack, interruption and damage from computer viruses and malware (e.g. ransomware), bugs, misconfigurations, malicious code, natural disasters, terrorism, war, telecommunication and electrical failures, hacking, cyberattacks, phishing attacks and other social engineering schemes, employee theft or misuse, human error, fraud, denial or degradation of service attacks, sophisticated nation-state and nation-state-supported actors or unauthorized access or use by persons inside our organization, or persons with access to systems inside our organization. Attacks upon information technology systems and data are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity - including attacks conducted using artificial intelligence - and are being conducted by sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise. Furthermore, because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to, or to sabotage, systems and data change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. We may also experience security incidents that may remain undetected for an extended period. Even
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if identified, we may be unable to adequately investigate or remediate incidents due to attackers increasingly using tools and techniques that are designed to circumvent controls, to avoid detection, and to remove or obfuscate forensic evidence.
There can also be no assurance that our cybersecurity risk management program and processes, including our policies, controls or procedures, will be fully implemented, complied with, or effective in protecting our information technology systems and data. While we do not believe that we have experienced any material system failure or incident, from time to time, we and our third party providers have been the target of cybersecurity attacks, and we expect them to continue as cybersecurity threats have been rapidly evolving in sophistication and number. While we do not believe that any incidents have had a material impact on our operations or financial results to date, we cannot guarantee that material incidents will not occur in the future. If such an incident were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our programs. For example, the loss of clinical trial data for our product candidates could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. We could also incur liabilities and the further development of our product candidates could be delayed. Further, any adverse impact to the availability, integrity or confidentiality of our information technology systems or data could expose us to legal claims or proceedings (including class actions), enforcement actions and investigations by regulatory authorities, and potentially result in penalties, fines and significant legal liability. We could also experience negative reputational impacts that cause an erosion of trust, and/or significant incident response, system restoration or remediation and future compliance costs. Any or all of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Finally, cyber insurance we maintain may not be sufficient to cover the financial, legal, business or reputational losses that may result from an incident, and we cannot guarantee that applicable insurance will be available to us in the future on economically reasonable terms or at all.
We are subject to governmental regulation and other legal obligations, particularly related to privacy, data protection, and information security, and we are subject to consumer protection laws that regulate our marketing practices and prohibit unfair or deceptive acts or practices. Our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business.
We, and third parties on our behalf, receive, store, handle, transmit, use and otherwise process business information and information related to individuals, including from and about trial patients as well as our employees, business contacts, and service providers. We and our partners are subject to diverse state, federal, and international laws and regulations relating to data privacy and security, including, in the United States, the California Consumer Privacy Act, or the CCPA, and, in the EU and the European Economic Area, or EEA, the General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR. New privacy rules are being enacted in the United States and globally, and existing ones are being updated and strengthened, creating an ever evolving patchwork of privacy laws. For example, the CCPA creates individual privacy rights for California consumers and increases the privacy and security obligations of entities handling certain personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for certain data breaches. Complying with these numerous, complex, and often changing laws and regulations is expensive and difficult, and failure or perceived failure to comply with any privacy laws or data security laws or any security incident or breach involving the misappropriation, loss, or other unauthorized use or disclosure of personal information, whether by us or another third-party, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations, including but not limited to: damage to our reputation, an erosion of trust, and negative media attention; investigation costs; material fines and penalties; compensatory, special, punitive, and statutory damages; litigation; consent orders regarding our privacy and security practices; requirements that we provide notices, credit monitoring services, and/or credit restoration services or other relevant services to impacted individuals; adverse actions against our licenses to do business; and injunctive relief.
In Europe, the GDPR requires us, among other things, to make detailed disclosures to data subjects, to disclose the legal basis on which we can process personal data, to obtain valid consent for processing, to appoint data protection officers when sensitive personal data, such as health data, is processed on a large scale, and provides robust rights for data subjects, introduces mandatory data breach notification, imposes additional obligations on us when contracting with service providers, and requires us to adopt appropriate privacy governance including policies, procedures, training, and data audit. In addition, the GDPR increases the scrutiny of transfers of personal data from clinical trial sites located in the EEA to the United States and other jurisdictions that the European Commission does not recognize as having “adequate” data protection laws, which could increase our costs and our ability to efficiently process personal data from the EEA. If we do not comply with our obligations under the GDPR, we could be exposed to fines of up to the greater of €20 million or up to 4% of our total global annual revenue in the event of a significant breach. In addition, we may be the subject of litigation and/or adverse publicity, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Additionally, following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EEA and the EU, companies have to comply with the GDPR and the GDPR as
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incorporated into United Kingdom national law, the latter regime having the ability to separately fine up to the greater of £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover.
We cannot assure you that our third-party service providers with access to our or our customers’, suppliers’, trial patients’, and employees’ personal information and other sensitive or confidential information will not breach contractual obligations imposed by us, or that they will not experience data security breaches or attempts thereof, which could have a corresponding effect on our business, including putting us in breach of our obligations under privacy laws and regulations and/or which could in turn adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We cannot assure you that our contractual measures and our own privacy and security-related safeguards will protect us from the risks associated with the third-party processing, storage, and transmission of such information.
We face potential liability related to the privacy of health information we obtain from clinical trials sponsored by us.
Most healthcare providers, including research institutions from which we obtain patient health information, are subject to privacy and security regulations promulgated under HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or the HITECH Act. We are not currently classified as a covered entity or business associate under HIPAA. However, any person may be prosecuted under HIPAA’s criminal provisions either directly or under aiding-and-abetting or conspiracy principles. Consequently, depending on the facts and circumstances, we could face substantial criminal penalties if we knowingly receive individually identifiable health information from a HIPAA-covered healthcare provider or research institution that has not satisfied HIPAA’s requirements for disclosure of individually identifiable health information. In addition, we may maintain sensitive personally identifiable information, including health information, that we receive throughout the clinical trial process, in the course of our research collaborations, and directly from individuals (or their healthcare providers) who enroll in our patient assistance programs. As such, we may be subject to state laws requiring notification of affected individuals and state regulators in the event of a breach of personal information, which is a broader class of information than the health information protected by HIPAA. Our clinical trial programs outside the United States may implicate international data protection laws, including the GDPR and legislation of the EU and EEA member states implementing it.
Our activities outside the United States impose additional compliance requirements and generate additional risks of enforcement for noncompliance. Failure by our CROs and other third-party contractors to comply with the strict rules on the transfer of personal data outside of the European Union into the United States may result in the imposition of criminal and administrative sanctions on such collaborators, which could adversely affect our business. Furthermore, certain health privacy laws, data breach notification laws, consumer protection laws, and genetic testing laws may apply directly to our operations and/or those of our collaborators and may impose restrictions on our collection, use, and dissemination of individuals’ health information. The GDPR provides that EU and EEA member states may establish their own laws and regulations limiting the processing of personal data, including genetic, biometric, or health data, which could limit our ability to use and share personal data or could cause our costs to increase. Moreover, patients about whom we or our collaborators obtain health information, as well as the providers who share this information with us, may have statutory or contractual rights that limit our ability to use and disclose the information. We may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to ensure ongoing compliance with applicable privacy and data security laws. Claims that we have violated individuals’ privacy rights or breached our contractual obligations, even if we are not found liable, could be expensive and time-consuming to defend and could result in adverse publicity that could harm our business.
If we, our CROs, or other contractors or consultants fail to comply with applicable federal, state, or local regulatory requirements, we could be subject to a range of regulatory actions that could affect our or our contractors’ ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates and could harm or prevent sales of any affected products that we are able to commercialize, or could substantially increase the costs and expenses of developing, commercializing, and marketing our products. Any threatened or actual government enforcement action could also generate adverse publicity and require that we devote substantial resources that could otherwise be used in other aspects of our business. Increasing use of social media could give rise to liability, breaches of data security, or reputational damage.
We are subject to environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations, and we may become exposed to liability and substantial expenses in connection with environmental compliance or remediation activities.
Our operations, including our development, testing, and manufacturing activities, are subject to numerous environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations. These laws and regulations govern, among other things, the controlled use, handling, release, and disposal of and the maintenance of a registry for, hazardous materials and biological materials, such as chemical solvents, human cells, carcinogenic compounds, mutagenic compounds, and compounds that
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have a toxic effect on reproduction, laboratory procedures, and exposure to blood-borne pathogens. If we fail to comply with such laws and regulations, we could be subject to fines or other sanctions.
As with other companies engaged in activities similar to ours, we face a risk of environmental liability inherent in our current and historical activities, including liability relating to releases of or exposure to hazardous or biological materials. Moreover, certain environmental laws may impose liability without regard to fault or legality of the action at the time of its occurrence. Environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations are becoming more stringent. We may be required to incur substantial expenses in connection with future environmental compliance or remediation activities, in which case, our in-house manufacturing efforts or our development efforts may be interrupted or delayed.
We and our employees are increasingly utilizing social media tools as a means of communication both internally and externally.
Despite our efforts to monitor evolving social media communication guidelines and comply with applicable rules, there is risk that the use of social media by us or our employees to communicate about our product candidates or business may cause us to be found in violation of applicable requirements. In addition, our employees may knowingly or inadvertently make use of social media in ways that may not comply with our policies and other legal or contractual requirements, which may give rise to liability, lead to the loss of trade secrets or other intellectual property, or result in public exposure of personal information of our employees, clinical trial patients, customers, and others. Furthermore, negative posts or comments about us or our product candidates in social media could seriously damage our reputation, brand image, and goodwill, regardless of the truthfulness of such posts. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition and could adversely affect the price of our common stock.
Risks Related to Commercialization
Developments by competitors may render our products or technologies obsolete or non-competitive or may reduce the size of our markets.
Our industry has been characterized by extensive research and development efforts, rapid developments in technologies, intense competition, and a strong emphasis on proprietary products. We face potential competition from many different sources, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and specialty pharmaceutical companies either marketing or developing therapeutics to treat CRS. Academic research institutions, governmental agencies, as well as public and private institutions are also potential sources of competitive products and technologies. Our competitors may have or may develop superior technologies or approaches, which may provide them with competitive advantages. Our potential products may not compete successfully. If these competitors access the marketplace before we do with better or less expensive therapeutics, our product candidates, if approved for commercialization, may not be profitable to sell or worthwhile to continue to develop. Technology in the pharmaceutical industry has undergone rapid and significant change, and we expect that it will continue to do so. Any compounds, products, or processes that we develop may become obsolete or uneconomical before we recover any expenses incurred in connection with their development. The success of our product candidates will depend upon factors such as product efficacy, safety, reliability, availability, timing, scope of regulatory approval, acceptance, and price, among other things. Other important factors to our success include speed in developing product candidates, completing clinical development and laboratory testing, obtaining regulatory approvals, and manufacturing and selling commercial quantities of potential products.
Our product candidates are intended to compete directly or indirectly with existing products and treatments. Even if approved and commercialized, our product candidates may fail to achieve market acceptance with hospitals, physicians, or patients. Hospitals, physicians, or patients may conclude that our potential products are less safe or effective or otherwise less attractive than these existing treatments. If our product candidates do not receive market acceptance for any reason, our revenue potential would be diminished, which would materially adversely affect our ability to become profitable. In addition, physicians may prefer to treat patients with CRS by performing ethmoid sinus surgeries which may reduce demand for our product candidates, once approved.
There are a number of companies developing or marketing therapies for the treatment and management of CRS that may compete with our current product candidates, including many major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. These companies include, among others: Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Regeneron, Optinose, Medtronic, Genentech and Novartis.
Most of our competitors, including many of those listed above, have substantially greater capital resources, robust product candidate pipelines, established presence in the market, and expertise in research and development,
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manufacturing, pre-clinical and clinical testing, obtaining regulatory approvals and reimbursement, and marketing approved products than we do. As a result, our competitors may achieve product commercialization or patent protection earlier than we can. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified clinical, regulatory, scientific, sales, marketing, and management personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient, or are less expensive than any products that we may develop or that would render any products that we may develop obsolete or noncompetitive.
The successful commercialization of our product candidates will depend in part on the extent to which governmental authorities and health insurers establish coverage, adequate reimbursement levels, and pricing policies. Failure to obtain or maintain coverage and adequate reimbursement for our product candidates, if approved, could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue.
The availability of coverage and adequacy of reimbursement by governmental healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, private health insurers, and other third-party payors are essential for most patients to be able to afford medical services and pharmaceutical products such as our product candidates, assuming FDA approval. Our ability to achieve acceptable levels of coverage and reimbursement for our products or procedures using our products by governmental authorities, private health insurers, and other organizations will have an effect on our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates. Obtaining coverage and adequate reimbursement for our products may be particularly difficult because of the higher prices often associated with drugs administered under the supervision of a physician. Separate reimbursement for the product itself or the treatment or procedure in which our product is used may not be available. A decision by a third-party payor not to cover or separately reimburse for our products or procedures using our products could reduce physician utilization of our products once approved. Assuming there is coverage for our product candidates or procedures using our product candidates by a third-party payor, the resulting reimbursement payment rates may not be adequate or may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high. Patients are unlikely to use our product candidates unless coverage is provided and reimbursement is adequate to cover a significant portion of the cost of our product candidates.
Similarly, our product candidates are physician-administered treatments and as such, separate reimbursement for the product itself may or may not be available. Instead, the hospital or administering physician may be reimbursed only for providing the treatment or procedure in which our product is used. To the extent separate coverage and reimbursement should become available for LYR-210, we anticipate that it will be sold to physicians on a “buy and bill” basis. Buy and bill products must be purchased by healthcare providers before they can be administered to patients. Healthcare providers subsequently must seek reimbursement for the product from the applicable third-party payor, such as Medicare or a health insurance company. Healthcare providers may be reluctant to administer our product candidates, if approved, because they would have to fund the purchase of the product and then seek reimbursement, which may be lower than their purchase price, or because they do not want the additional administrative burden required to obtain reimbursement for the product. We do not know if, or at what level, physicians may receive reimbursement for treating patients with CRS with our product candidates, or for performing the procedure to insert our product candidates, or if such reimbursement will be deemed adequate by such physicians.