10-K
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
For the fiscal year endedDecember 31, 2023
OR
For the transition period from to
Commission File Number 000-14656
REPLIGEN CORPORATION
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (781) 250-0111
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share RGEN The Nasdaq Global Select Market
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐.
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒.
Indicate by checkmark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer ☒ Accelerated filer ☐
Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐
Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐ No ☐.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐.
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant's executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒.
The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates as of June 30, 2023, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was $6,931,847,028.
The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of February 16, 2024, was 55,771,075.
Documents Incorporated By Reference
The registrant intends to file a proxy statement pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days of the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. Portions of such proxy statement are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Auditor Firm Id Auditor Name Auditor Location
42 Ernst & Young LLP Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Table of Contents
PAGE
Forward-looking Statements 1
PART I 2
Item 1. Business 2
Item 1A. Risk Factors 18
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 34
Item 1C. Cybersecurity 34
Item 2. Properties 35
Item 3. Legal Proceedings 35
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 35
Item 6. [Reserved] 38
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 55
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 55
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 56
Item 9B. Other Information 59
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 59
PART III 60
Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules 61
SIGNATURES 65
Summary of the Material Risks Associated with Our Business
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that you should be aware of in evaluating our business. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:
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Our product revenue may be negatively impacted by a number of factors, including without limitation, competition in the bioprocessing market, our historical reliance on a limited number of large customers, our ability to develop or acquire additional bioprocessing products in the future, our ability to manufacture our bioprocessing products sufficiently and timely, supply chain issues and/or disruption, and our ability to effectively penetrate the bioprocessing products market.
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We rely on a limited number of suppliers or, for certain of our products, one supplier, and we may not be able to find replacements or immediately transition to alternative suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and reputation.
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The market may not be receptive to our new bioprocessing products upon their introduction.
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If our products do not perform as expected or the reliability of the technology on which our products are based is questioned, we could experience lost revenue, delayed or reduced market acceptance, increased cost and damage to our reputation.
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If we are unable to manufacture our products in sufficient quantities and in a timely manner, our operating results will be harmed, our ability to generate revenue could be diminished and our gross margin may be negatively impacted.
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Our acquisitions expose us to risks that could adversely affect our business, and we may not achieve the anticipated benefits of acquisitions of businesses or technologies.
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Our results of operations could be negatively affected by potential fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.
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Our corporate restructuring and the associated headcount reduction may not result in anticipated savings, could result in total costs and expenses that are greater than expected which could disrupt our business.
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If we are unable to continue to hire and retain skilled personnel, then we will have trouble developing and marketing our products.
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If we are unable to obtain, maintain and protect our intellectual property rights related to our products, we may not be able to succeed commercially.
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Climate change, climate change-related regulation and sustainability concerns could adversely affect our businesses and the operations of our subsidiaries, and any actions we take or fail to take in response to such matters could damage our reputation.
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Natural disasters, geopolitical unrest, war, terrorism, public health issues, the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Palestine, or other catastrophic events could disrupt the supply, delivery or demand of products, which could negatively affect our operations and performance.
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Our internal computer systems, or those of our customers, collaborators or other contractors, may be subject to cyber-attacks or security breaches, which could result in a material disruption of our product development programs.
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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this Form 10-K do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned that express or implied statements in this Form 10-K that are not strictly historical statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding current or future financial performance, potential impairment of future earnings, management’s strategy, plans and objectives for future operations or acquisitions, product development and sales, research and development, selling, general and administrative expenditures, intellectual property and adequacy of capital resources and financing plans constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including, without limitation, the risks identified under the caption “Risk Factors” and other risks detailed in this Form 10-K and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this Form 10-K, except as required by law.
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PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
The following discussion of our business contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. When used in this report, the words “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “plan” and “expect” and similar expressions as they relate to us are included to identify forward-looking statements. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements and are a result of certain factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”).
References throughout this Form 10-K to “Repligen Corporation”, “Repligen”, “we”, “us”, “our”, or the “Company” refer to Repligen Corporation and its subsidiaries, taken as a whole, unless the context otherwise indicates.
Overview
Repligen Corporation is a global life sciences company that develops and commercializes highly innovative bioprocessing technologies and systems that increase efficiencies and flexibility in the process of manufacturing biological drugs.
As the overall market for biologics continues to grow and expand, our primary customers – global biopharmaceutical companies, contract development and manufacturing organizations and other life science companies (integrators) – face critical production cost, capacity, quality and time pressures. Built to address these concerns, our products help set new standards for the way biologics are manufactured. We are committed to inspiring advances in bioprocessing as a trusted partner in the production of critical biologic drugs – including monoclonal antibodies (“mAbs”) and mAb derivatives, recombinant proteins, vaccines, and cell and gene therapies (“C>”) – that are improving human health worldwide. Increasingly, our technologies are being implemented to overcome challenges in processing plasmid DNA (a starting material for the production of mRNA) and gene delivery vectors such as lentivirus and adeno-associated viral vectors.
We currently operate as one bioprocessing business, with a comprehensive suite of products to serve both upstream and downstream processes in biological drug manufacturing. Building on over 40 years of industry expertise, we have developed a broad and diversified product portfolio that reflects our passion for innovation and the customer-first culture that drives our entire organization. We continue to capitalize on opportunities to maximize the value of our product platform through both organic growth initiatives (internal innovation and commercial leverage) and targeted acquisitions.
Our corporate headquarters are located in Waltham, Massachusetts, with additional administrative and manufacturing operations worldwide. The majority of our 19 manufacturing sites and assembly centers are located in the United States (California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Texas). Outside the United States, we have sites in Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. Our primary warehouse and distribution centers are located in Massachusetts and California.
Our Products
Our bioprocessing business is comprised of four main franchises: filtration (including fluid management); chromatography; process analytics; and proteins.
Since 2012, we have purposely built a highly diversified portfolio of products offered under these franchises, developing high-value technologies that enable more efficient drug manufacturing processes for our customers, through internal research and development (“R&D”) programs and strategic acquisitions. We are committed to sustainable innovation and have earned a reputation as an innovation leader in bioprocessing. We have consistently introduced disruptive new products that solve for specific bioprocessing challenges faced by customers. Our growth strategy continues to expand our geographic scope and customer base and broaden the applications of our technologies.
To support our sales goals for these products, we make ongoing investments in our commercial organization, our R&D programs, our business systems and our manufacturing capacity. We regularly evaluate and invest in these areas as needed to ensure timely deliveries and to stay ahead of customer demand for our products.
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The majority of our revenue is derived from consumable and/or single-campaign (“single-use”) product sales, as compared to associated hardware and equipment. The customization, scalability and plug-and-play convenience of these products, and in many cases the closed nature of our technologies, make them ideal for use in biologics manufacturing processes where contamination risk is a critical concern of our customers.
Shifting to Integrated Solutions
Since 2012, we have completed 13 acquisitions across our four franchises, building a base of technology assets that we can improve upon and/or develop next-generation versions of through our internal R&D team. Our acquisition strategy is purposeful, considering the potential for integration with our internally-developed technologies, and across products and franchises.
In 2023, the results of our mergers and acquisitions and R&D efforts are reflected in our ability to offer more integrated solutions across the bioproduction workflow. Our commercial approach is shifting from “individual product” to “whole system” sales that can support entire unit operations, the management of fluids between unit operations, and in-line advanced analytics. For example, providing filtration systems for production and harvest steps (upstream), and connecting those to chromatography and filtration systems for purification and formulation steps (downstream).
Key Products Within Each of Our Franchises
FILTRATION
Filtration is our largest franchise with the broadest product offering covering upstream and downstream technologies. Below is a description of some of our key products:
XCell ATF® Cell Retention Systems
Our filtration products offer a number of advantages to manufacturers of biologic drugs and are used in process development and process scale (clinical and commercial) production. Our XCell ATF systems are used in upstream perfusion (continuous) and N-1 (intensified fed-batch or hybrid perfusion) cell culture processing.
XCell ATF is a cell retention technology. The system is comprised of an advanced hollow fiber (“HF”) filtration device, a low shear pump and a controller. The XCell ATF system is connected to a bioreactor and enables the cell culture to be run continuously, with cells being retained in the bioreactor, fresh nutrients (cell culture media) being fed into the reactor continuously, and clarified biological product and cell waste being removed (harvested) continuously. The cells are maintained in a consistent nutrient-rich environment and can reach cell densities two- and three-times higher than those achieved by standard fed-batch culture. As a result, product yield is increased, which improves facility utilization and can reduce the size of a bioreactor required to manufacture a given volume of biologic drug product. XCell ATF systems are available in a wide range of sizes that can easily scale from laboratory use through full production with bioreactors as large as 5,000 liters.
Through internal innovation, we developed and launched single-use formats of the original stainless steel XCell ATF devices to address increasing industry demand for single-use sterile systems with “plug-and-play” technology. The XCell ATF device is now available to customers in both its original configuration (steel housing and single-use filters) in all sizes (2, 4, 6 and 10), and/or as a single-use device (disposable housing/filter combination) in most sizes (2, 6, and 10). The availability of XCell ATF technology in a single-use format reduces implementation time by eliminating the time intensive workflow associated with autoclaving and enables our customers to accelerate evaluations of the product with a lower initial overall cost of ownership.
In 2023, we introduced next-generation XCell® Large-Scale controllers, enabling increased process intensification through dual-operation of ATF devices from a single controller, and through advance monitoring and control of flow rates with smart sensor
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technology. Our ATF large-scale controllers are designed for scalability from bench top to commercial manufacturing, and for versatility of applications, including perfusion and modified fed-batch (N-1) manufacturing.
Tangential Flow Filtration Consumables
Our TangenX® product portfolio includes flat sheet (“FS”) tangential flow filtration (“TFF”) cassettes that are used primarily in downstream, ultrafiltration processes, e.g., biologic drug concentration, buffer exchange and formulation processes, our single-use SIUS® line, including our reusable PRO line of cassettes, providing customers with a high-performance, cost saving alternative to other companies' TFF cassette offerings and our TangenX SC Device, the industry's first holder-free, self-contained (“SC”) TFF device, which was launched in November 2023.
TFF is a rapid and efficient method for the concentration and formulation of biomolecules that is widely used in many applications in biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing. Our TangenX FS TFF cassettes feature high performing-membrane chemistries that offer superior selectivity for a wide range of applications. A controlled manufacturing process that balances flux and selectivity delivers maximum flux for increased productivity and tight control of the membrane pore size for enhanced selectivity and recovery. Each single-use cassette is delivered pre-sanitized and ready to be equilibrated and used for tangential flow, ultrafiltration and diafiltration applications.
Use of SIUS TFF cassettes eliminates non-value-added steps (cleaning, testing between uses, storage and flushing) that are required with reusable TFF products, providing cost and time savings. For process economics requiring reusable cassettes, TangenX PRO cassettes are available with the same high performance membranes used in SIUS cassettes. Our TangenX cassettes are interchangeable with filter hardware from multiple manufacturers, simplifying customer trial and adoption. In 2020, we introduced SIUS Gamma single-use device, which we engineered to harness the performance and efficiencies of TangenX SIUS membranes and cassettes, while also providing the convenience of a fully assembled, aseptically closed and gamma-irradiated, sterile device. The device is delivered as a single unit composed of the cassette, fluid manifold, clamps, tubing and aseptic connectors. The SIUS Gamma device is ideal for adenovirus C> and other processes where large volumes need to be concentrated in a sterile, closed environment.
Our TangenX® SC Device simplifies and streamlines downstream flat sheet UF/DF processes by reducing set up time by 80%, eliminating holders and torquing requirements which reduces the risk of product loss caused by changes in compression or cassette misalignment during installation, allowing users to seamlessly transition from traditional cassettes and reducing bioburden risk and enhancing safety because it is aseptically closed and gamma irradiated and isolates operators from potentially hazardous materials.
Tangential Flow Filtration Systems: KrosFlo® TFF
Our KrosFlo systems for TFF combine significant configurability with premium quality manufacturing. Our TFF systems are designed for scalability from small to large (up to 5,000 liters) volumes, flexibility between HF and FS filter formats, and the ability to use the same system in different unit operations while deploying ready-to-use application-specific flow paths.
Our KrosFlo TFF systems are turnkey solutions for TFF, offered with either TangenX FS cassettes or with our HF filters.
KrosFlo® Flat Sheet TFF Systems
Our 2020 acquisition of ARTeSYN Biosolutions Holdings Ireland Limited (“ARTeSYN”) enabled us to develop and market KrosFlo RS TFF systems that integrate our consumable and equipment offering, providing greater convenience and efficiency for our customers.
We launched our KrosFlo RS 20 series systems in 2022, focusing their use in mRNA and C> therapy applications, where they are used primarily in downstream formulation. These responsive TFF systems completely automate sanitization, concentration and product recovery processes. The combination of injection molded tubing, over-molded connectors and valve blocks significantly lowers product hold-up volume to maximize product recovery. With the same software, hardware, controls and cGMP compliance built into every system, and with pre-assembled flow kits for error-free installation, the KrosFlo RS platform offers operational
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simplicity that can easily be scalable from lab- through production-scale use. KrosFlo FS systems integrate over 10 components with specifications to process volumes between 140 milliliters and 500 liters.
KrosFlo® Hollow Fiber TFF Systems
Our filtration business is strengthened by a leading portfolio of Spectrum® HF filtration solutions, including fully integrated KrosFlo TFF systems with Konduit automated process monitoring and ProConnex® Flow Path single-use assemblies. The KrosFlo family of HF TFF systems integrate multiple components with specifications to process volume between 2 milliliters and 5,000 liters – from lab-scale through commercial manufacturing.
In early 2023 we introduced our RS 30 series of KrosFlo TFF systems, featuring increased automation capabilities. The RS 30 series systems integrate a single-use tulip tank re-circulation vessel, which allows for dynamic control and response to changing fluid levels for maximum product recovery in fed-batch, batch concentration and diafiltration processes. The cGMP compliant, fully automated 1/2 inch single-use TFF system delivers outstanding performance in a small footprint. In alignment with our integrated systems strategy, the system includes ProConnex flow paths to integrate advanced fluid management technologies including overmolded connections, pump heads, tubing filters and sensors in a single-use device. Flow paths easily attach to the system to simplify operation and increase process efficiency.
Tangential Flow Depth Filtration Systems: KrosFlo® TFDF®
We believe our KrosFlo Tangential Flow Depth Filtration (“TFDF”) systems, have the potential to disrupt and displace traditional upstream harvest clarification operations. The KrosFlo TFDF system includes control hardware, novel high throughput tubular depth filters and ProConnex TFDF flow paths. When used for cell culture clarification, single-use KrosFlo TFDF technology delivers unprecedented high flux (>1,000 LMH), high capacity, low turbidity, and minimal dilution, making the technology a high-performance alternative to traditional centrifugation and depth filtration approaches to harvest clarification. TFDF technology also provides benefits such as low hold-up volume, high recovery, small footprint, simple set up and disposal, scalability and reduced process time.
Strengthening our Filtration Franchise through Acquisitions
With our acquisition of Polymem S.A. (“Polymem”) on July 1, 2021, we further expanded our HF membrane and module production capabilities and added core R&D, engineering and production expertise in HF technology for both industrial and bioprocessing markets. The Polymem business complements our Spectrum HF product line, which includes KrosFlo HF TFF systems and ProConnex fluid management. The acquisition of Polymem accelerated our HF manufacturing buildout and added a Europe-based HF manufacturing center of excellence.
With our acquisition of BioFlex Solutions LLC (“BioFlex”) and Newton T&M Corp. (“NTM”) on December 16, 2021, we complemented and expanded our filtration franchise, as both BioFlex and NTM focus on single-use fluid management components, including single-use clamps, adapters, end caps and hose assemblies. These products are essential components in our upstream and downstream product offerings – especially our systems with line-sets and flow paths. These acquisitions streamline and increase our control over many components in our single-use supply chain, which ultimately should drive reduced lead-times for our customers in the coming years.
We acquired FlexBiosys, Inc. (“FlexBiosys”) on April 17, 2023, further complementing and expanding our fluid management portfolio of offerings with its expert design and custom manufacturing of single-use bioprocessing products and a comprehensive range of products that include bioprocessing bags, bottles, and tubing assemblies.
With our acquisition of Metenova Holding AB (“Metenova”) on October 2, 2023, we strengthened our fluid management portfolio with the addition of magnetic mixing and drive train technologies that are widely used by global biopharmaceutical companies and contract development and manufacturing organizations.
The growth of our filtration business has allowed us to substantially increase our direct sales presence in Europe and Asia and diversify our end markets to include all biologic classes, including mAbs, vaccines, recombinant proteins and C>.
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CHROMATOGRAPHY
Our chromatography franchise includes a number of products used in downstream purification, development, manufacturing and quality control of biological drugs. The main driver of growth in this portfolio is our OPUS® pre-packed column (“PPC”) product line.
In addition to OPUS, with our acquisition of ARTeSYN in 2020, we added chromatography systems to our offerings, providing greater flexibility and market opportunity as we scale and expand our systems portfolio.
Additional chromatography products include our affinity capture resins, such as CaptivA® Protein A resins, which are used in a small number of commercial drug processes and our ELISA test kits, used by quality control departments to detect and measure the presence of leached Protein A and/or growth factor in the final product.
OPUS Pre-Packed Columns
Our chromatography franchise features a wide range of OPUS columns, which we deliver to our customers sealed and pre-packed with their choice of resin. These are single-use or campaign-use disposable columns that replace the use of customer-packed glass columns for downstream purification. By designing OPUS columns to be a technologically advanced and flexible option for the purification of biologics from process development through clinical and commercial-scale manufacturing, Repligen has become a leader in the PPC market. Our biomanufacturing customers value the significant cost savings that OPUS columns can deliver by reducing set up time, labor, equipment and facility costs – in addition to delivering product consistency and “plug-and-play” convenience.
We launched our first production scale OPUS columns in 2012 and have since added larger diameter options that scale up to use with 2,000 liter bioreactors. Our OPUS 80R column is the largest available PPC on the market for use in late-stage clinical or commercial purification processes. We offer unique features such as a resin recovery port on our larger columns, which allows our customers to remove and reuse the recovered resin in other applications. We believe the OPUS 5-80R product line is the most flexible product line available in the market, serving the purification needs of customers manufacturing mAbs and other biologics such as vaccines and C>.
In addition to our larger scale OPUS columns, our portfolio includes our smaller-scale OPUS columns, including our RoboColumn®, MiniChrom® and ValiChrom® columns used for process development (“PD”) and validation. These columns are used in high-throughput PD screening, viral clearance validation studies and scale down validation of chromatography processes.
We maintain customer-facing centers in both the United States and Europe for our OPUS column customers, and offer a premier ability to pack any of hundreds of chromatography capture resins available, as per our customers’ choice.
KRMTM Chromatography Systems
Through our acquisition of ARTeSYN in 2020, we gained state-of-the-art, configurable chromatography systems that can integrate a wide range of hardware, components and consumable products to simplify bioprocessing operations for our customers. Our KRM chromatography systems are precision engineered for high product recovery (low hold-up volumes), high bioactivity (less stress on the product of interest) and reduced risk of deviation (simple changeovers and pre-assembled flow kits). The KRM systems contain closed single-use flow paths (less risk of contamination and product loss) and other advanced fluid management technologies (over-molded connectors, pump heads, filters and pressure sensors), intuitive software and our process analytics technology enabled.
PROCESS ANALYTICS
Our process analytics products complement and support our filtration, chromatography and proteins franchises as they allow end-users to make at-line or in-line absorbance measurements allowing for the determination of protein concentration in filtration, chromatography formulation and fill-finish applications.
SoloVPE® Device
Our SoloVPE slope spectroscopy system is the industry standard for offline and at-line absorbance measurements for protein concentration determination in process development, manufacturing and quality control settings.
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FlowVPE® Device
Our FlowVPE slope spectroscopy system enhances the power of slope spectroscopy and provides in-line protein concentration measurement for filtration, chromatography and fill-finish applications. A key benefit of this in-line solution is the ability to monitor a manufacturing process in real time.
FlowVPX® System
FlowVPX slope spectroscopy system is our next-generation FlowVPE launched at the beginning of 2021 and designed to meet the rigors of regulatory GMP requirements. FlowVPX offers reliable real-time results with integrated ease for concentration measurements during every stage of the downstream GMP-compliant production-scale biologics manufacturing.
Use of slope spectroscopy systems delivers multiple process benefits for our biopharmaceutical manufacturing customers, compared to traditional UV-Vis approaches. Key benefits include: the elimination of manual dilutions and sample transfers from process development/manufacturing to labs, rapid time to results (minutes versus hours), improved precision, built-in data quality for improved reporting and validation, and ease of use.
KrosFlo® RPMTM Systems with integrated FlowVPX® Technology
In 2022, we completed the development of a HF system that combines KrosFlo TFF with FlowVPX Real-Time Process Management (“RPM”®) technology, enabling “walk-away automation” of downstream UF/DF processes. Toward the end of 2022, we launched KrosFlo DR2i RPM for low-volume, high concentration applications. This was the first-to-market TFF system to incorporate real-time process monitoring for in-line protein concentration management. By coupling KrosFlo TFF and FlowVPX functionality, customers can benefit from improved process control and efficiency, while reducing process risk by ensuring accurate concentration throughout the TFF process.
KrosFlo RPM systems monitor concentration during UF/DF runs without having to depend on mass inputs and off-line fixed pathlength UV-Vis spectrophotometers. Risk is further mitigated with fully enclosed ProConnex custom flow paths as a part of the automated TFF process.
Since the debut of the KrosFlo KR2i RPM (2 mL-15L) system, we expanded the KrosFlo RPM offering, introducing KrosFlo FS-15 RPM (150mL-15L) toward the end of 2023. The portfolio continues to expand to cover a wide range of volumes from lab-to production-scale requirements. We believe KrosFlo RPM solutions provide key process insights to users to reduce cycling time and minimize batch risks, both highly value attributes for bioprocessing users.
Culpeo® QCL-IR Liquid Analyzer
Pursuant to a 15-year license agreement that we entered into with DRS Daylight Solutions, Inc. (“Daylight”) in September 2022, we obtained the exclusive right to use Daylight's quantum cascade laser technology (“QCL”), including its Culpeo® QCL-IR Liquid Analyzer (“Culpeo”) specifically in the field of bioprocessing. Culpeo is a compact, intelligent spectrometer that uses the power of QCL to analyze and identify chemicals. Our in-licensing of these rights complements our existing process analytics franchise. Adding mid-IR (higher sensitivity QCL-IR) to UV spectroscopy, we believe this will serve to accelerate and expand adoption of off-line and in-line process monitoring in the bioprocessing industry. Additionally, we are focused on expanding the QCL portfolio, with plans to integrate these solutions into our chromatography and filtration systems.
PROTEINS
Our proteins franchise is represented by our Protein A affinity ligands and viral vector affinity ligands and resins. Our proteins franchise also includes cell culture growth factor products, which are a key component of cell culture media used in upstream bioprocessing to increase cell density and improve product yield.
Protein A Affinity Ligands
We are a leading provider of Protein A affinity ligands to other life sciences companies (integrators), whose final products are Protein A resins. Protein A ligands are an essential “binding” component of Protein A affinity chromatography resins used in the purification of virtually all mAb-based drugs on the market or in development. We manufacture multiple forms of Protein A ligands under
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long-term supply agreements with major life sciences companies including Cytiva (a standalone operating company owned by Danaher Corporation), MilliporeSigma and Purolite, an Ecolab Inc. company (“Purolite”), who in turn sell their Protein A chromatography resins to end users (mAb manufacturers). We have two manufacturing sites supporting overall global demand for our Protein A ligands: one in Lund, Sweden and the other in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Protein A chromatography resins are considered the industry “gold standard” for purification of antibody-based therapeutics due to the ability of the Protein A ligand to very selectively bind to or “capture” antibodies from crude protein mixtures. Protein A resins are packed into the first chromatography column of typically three columns used in a mAb purification process. As a result of Protein A’s high affinity for antibodies, the mAb product is highly purified and concentrated within this first capture step before moving to polishing steps.
Our Affinity Ligand Collaborations
In June 2018, we entered into an agreement with Navigo Proteins GmbH (“Navigo”) for the exclusive co-development of multiple affinity ligands for which Repligen holds commercialization rights. We manufacture and exclusively supply the first of these ligands, NGL-Impact® A, to Purolite, for use with their Praesto® Jetted A50 Protein A resin product.
In September 2021, the Company and Navigo successfully completed co-development of a novel affinity ligand that addresses aggregation issues associated with pH sensitive antibodies and Fc-fusion proteins. We are manufacturing and supplying this ligand, NGL-Impact® HipH, to Purolite for use in a platform use resin product.
We have a long-term supply agreement with Purolite for NGL-Impact and potential additional affinity ligands that may advance from our Navigo collaboration.
Our Purolite Agreement
In October 2022, we extended our long-term supply agreement with Purolite through 2032 and broadened its scope to include affinity ligands targeting antibody fragments in addition to those targeting mAbs and Fc-fusion proteins. This extension and product line expansion aligns with our Proteins strategy and supports the acceleration in market adoption of the Praesto® affinity resin portfolio. It provides Purolite with exclusive access to mAb fragment ligands developed at Avitide, Inc. (“Avitide”), in addition to the NGL portfolio developed at Navigo. Repligen will continue to receive access to Purolite's leading-edge base bead technology, as we proceed with the development and commercialization of novel affinity resins focused on new modalities and C>.
mAb Fragment Affinity Ligands and Resins from Avitide
Our acquisition of Avitide also led to our development and 2022 launch of AVIPure® CH1, a cross-linked agarose-based resin specifically engineered for the capture of the CH1 region of antigen-binding fragments (“Fabs”) from human immunoglobins (“IgGs”) and mAbs. We believe that the high dynamic binding capacity for Fab and IgG1 even at short residence times position these resins well for market success.
Adeno-Associated Virus Affinity Ligands and Resins from Avitide
In September 2021, we completed our strategic acquisition of Avitide, a market leader in affinity ligand discovery and development. This acquisition was a major step forward in building our proteins franchise, moving Repligen into affinity resin solutions for C> and other emerging modalities.
In February 2022, we launched three advanced affinity chromatography resins for use in gene therapy manufacturing workflows. The resins AVIPure®-AAV9; AVIPure®-AAV8; and AVIPure®-AAV2, were developed by Avitide and are specific to the major adeno-associated virus (“AAV”) C> vectors used today. AAV vectors are the leading platform for gene delivery for the treatment of a variety of human diseases. In 2023, a new affinity resin for AAV5 was also launched, expanding the portfolio.
We are integrating these high performance AVIPure® resins with our OPUS PPC and ARTeSYN chromatography systems to provide our customers with a seamless chromatography solution. Caustic stability has been a challenge that the AVIPure resins are designed to
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overcome without sacrificing high dynamic binding capacity. We believe customers will benefit from superior process economics, including multi-cycle resin capabilities.
Growth Factors
Most biopharmaceuticals are produced through an upstream mammalian cell culture process. In order to stimulate increased cell growth and maximize overall yield from a bioreactor, manufacturers often add growth factors, such as insulin, to their cell culture media. Our cell culture growth factor additives include LONG® R3 IGF 1, our insulin-like growth factor that has been shown to be up to 100 times more biologically potent than insulin (the industry standard), thereby increasing recombinant protein production in cell culture fermentation applications.
Corporate Information
We are a Delaware corporation with our global headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. We were incorporated in 1981 and became a publicly traded company in 1986. Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “RGEN”. We have approximately 1,800 employees and operate globally with offices and manufacturing sites located at multiple locations in the United States, Europe and Asia. Our principal executive offices are located at 41 Seyon Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02453, our website is www.repligen.com and our telephone number is (781) 250-0111.
2023 Acquisitions
Metenova Holding AB
On October 2, 2023, our subsidiary, Repligen Sweden AB, acquired Metenova from the former shareholders of Metenova (the “Metenova Seller”) pursuant to a Share Sale and Purchase Agreement (the “Share Purchase Agreement”), dated as of September 23, 2023 (such acquisition, the “Metenova Acquisition”), by and among Repligen Sweden AB, the Metenova Seller, and us, in our capacity as guarantor of the obligations of Repligen Sweden AB under the Share Purchase Agreement.
Metenova, which is headquartered in Molndal, Sweden, offers magnetic mixing and drive train technologies that are widely used by global biopharmaceutical companies and contract development and manufacturing organizations. The Metenova Acquisition further strengthens our fluid management portfolio with these products.
FlexBiosys, Inc.
On April 17, 2023, we completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding equity interests in FlexBiosys, pursuant to an Equity Purchase Agreement with FlexBiosys, TSAP Holdings Inc. (“NJ Seller”), Gayle Tarry and Stanley Tarry, as individuals (collectively with NJ Seller, the “FlexBiosys Sellers”), and Stanley Tarry, in his capacity as the representative of the FlexBiosys Sellers.
FlexBiosys, which is headquartered in Branchburg, New Jersey, offers expert design of custom manufacturing of single-use bioprocessing products and a comprehensive range of products that include bioprocessing bags, bottles, and tubing assemblies. These products will complement and expand our fluid management portfolio of offerings.
Our Market Opportunity
Bioprocessing Addressable Market
The global addressable market for bioprocessing products is estimated to be approximately $20 billion of which we estimate Repligen’s addressable market to be approximately $12 billion at year end 2023. This market includes bioprocessing products used to manufacture therapeutic antibodies, recombinant proteins and vaccines, as well as C>s.
Monoclonal Antibody Market
Antibody-based biologics alone accounted for approximately $175 billion of global biopharma revenue in 2022. Industry sources project the mAbs market to grow in the range of approximately 10% to 12% annually through 2026, driven by new approvals and expanded clinical uses for marketed antibodies, as well as the emergence of biosimilar versions of originator mAbs. As of December 31, 2023, over 150 mAbs were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) to treat a diverse range of diseases.
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Biological R&D remains robust, with more than 2,000 active mAb clinical trials ongoing to address a wide range of medical conditions.
In addition to investments in the discovery and development of novel biologic drugs, there has been substantial investment in follow-on products (biosimilars) by generic and specialty pharmaceutical as well as large biopharmaceutical companies. Development of follow-on products accelerated as the first major mAbs came off patent in the European Union and United States. Due to the high cost of biologic drugs, many countries in developing and emerging markets have been aggressively investing in biomanufacturing capabilities to supply lower cost biosimilars for the local markets. For both originator and follow-on biologics manufacturing, Repligen products are well-positioned to enable greater manufacturing flexibility, production yields and lower costs through improved process efficiencies.
Cell and Gene Therapy Market
C> has emerged in the past few years to become a rapidly growing area of biological drug development, with an estimated global market of greater than $7 billion in 2022, and over 3,000 active clinical trials underway at year-end 2023 according to industry sources. Statements by the FDA are supported by industry reports that estimate annual revenue growth of over 20% for the C> market over the next several years. This scientifically advanced therapeutic approach has unique manufacturing challenges that many of our products can help address. We believe we are well positioned to participate in C> production, particularly in the manufacture of plasmids and viral vectors. Within the C> market, mRNA-based therapeutic programs have become an area of focus and investment by several large biopharmaceutical companies, following the regulatory approval of mRNA-based vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic, including all subsequent variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (“COVID-19”).
Our Strategy
We are focused on the development, production and commercialization of highly differentiated, technology-leading systems and solutions that address specific pressure points in the biologics manufacturing process and deliver substantial value to our customers. Our products are designed to optimize our customers’ workflow to maximize productivity and we are committed to supporting our customers with strong customer service and applications expertise.
We intend to build on our history of developing market-leading solutions and delivering strong financial performance through the following strategies:
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Continued innovation. We plan to capitalize on our internal technological expertise to develop products that address unmet needs in upstream and downstream bioprocessing. We continue to invest in platform and derivative products to support our proteins, filtration, chromatography and process analytics franchises. We plan to strengthen our existing product lines with complementary products and technologies, including fluid management products, that are designed to allow us to provide customers with an integrated, more automated and more efficient manufacturing process on one or more measures including flexibility, convenience, time savings, cost reduction and product yield.
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Platforming our products. A key strategy for accelerating market adoption of our products is delivery of enabling technologies that become the standard, or “platform,” technology in markets where we compete. We focus our efforts on winning early-stage technology evaluations through direct interaction with the key biomanufacturing decision makers in process development labs. This strategy is designed to establish early adoption of our enabling technologies at key accounts, with opportunity for customers to scale up as the biologic advances to later stages of development and potential commercialization. We believe this approach can accelerate the implementation of our products as platform products, thereby strengthening our competitive advantage and contributing to long-term growth.
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Targeted acquisitions. We intend to continue to selectively pursue acquisitions of innovative technologies and products. We intend to leverage our consolidated balance sheets to acquire technologies and products that improve our overall financial performance by improving our competitiveness in filtration (including fluid management), chromatography or process analytics, or by moving us into adjacent markets with common commercial call points.
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Geographical expansion. We intend to expand our global commercial presence by continuing to selectively build out our global sales, marketing, field applications and services infrastructure.
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Operational efficiency. We seek to expand operating margins through capacity utilization and process optimization strategies designed to increase our manufacturing yields. We plan to invest in systems to support our global operations, optimizing resources across our global footprint to maximize productivity.
Research and Development
Our R&D activities are focused on developing new high-value bioprocessing products across all of our franchises. We strive to continue to introduce truly differentiated products that address specific pain points in the biologics manufacturing process. Our commitment to innovation is core to the Repligen culture and our success as a company.
Sales and Marketing
Our sales and marketing strategy supports our objective of strengthening our position as a leading provider of products and services, addressing upstream, downstream and quality control needs of bioprocessing customers in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Our Commercial Team
To support our sales goals for our direct-to-consumer products, we have invested in our commercial organization. Since 2018, we have significantly expanded our global commercial organization from 103, to a commercial team of 342 employees as of December 31, 2023. This includes 277 people in field positions (sales, field applications and field service), 38 people in customer service and 27 in marketing. Geographically, 173 members of our commercial team are located in North America, 89 in Europe and 80 in Asia-Pacific (“APAC”) regions.
Our bioprocess account managers are supported in each region by bioprocess sales specialists with expertise in filtration, chromatography or process analytics, and by technically trained field applications specialists and field service providers, who can work closely with customers on product demonstrations, implementation and support. We believe that this model helps drive further adoption at our key accounts and also open up new sales opportunities within each region.
Ligand Supply Agreements
For our proteins franchise, we are committed to be a partner of choice for our customers with distributor and supply agreements in place with large life sciences companies such as Cytiva, MilliporeSigma and Purolite. The Cytiva Protein A supply agreement relating to our Waltham, Massachusetts facility was amended in September 2021 and pursuant to its amended terms, runs through 2025. Our Protein A amended supply agreement with Purolite was amended in October 2022 and, pursuant to its amended terms, runs through 2032. Our dual manufacturing capability provides strong business continuity and reduces overall supply risk for our ligand customers.
Significant Customers and Geographic Reporting
Customers for our bioprocessing products include major life sciences companies, contract manufacturing organizations, biopharmaceutical companies, diagnostics companies and laboratory researchers.
The following table represents the Company’s total revenue by geographic area (based on the location of the customer):
For the Years Ended December 31,
Revenue by customers' geographic locations:
There was no revenue from customers that represented 10% or more of the Company's total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022. Revenue from Pfizer Inc. accounted for 10% of total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021.
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Human Capital
Employees
Repligen performs in a highly competitive industry and recognizes that our continued success hinges upon our ability to attract, develop and retain a diverse team of talented individuals. We place high value on the satisfaction and well-being of our employees and operate with fair labor standards and industry-competitive compensation and benefits globally. As of December 31, 2023, we employed 1,783full-time and part-time employees, a decrease of 242 since December 31, 2022. This total includes 342 employees in our commercial organization (277 field and 65 internal), 235 in engineering and R&D, 643 in manufacturing, 185 in quality, 82 in supply chain roles and 296 in administrative functions. Each of our employees has signed a confidentiality agreement. None of our U.S. employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. We have one collective bargaining agreement with two unions that covers 82 employees in Sweden, comprising approximately 5% of our total workforce. We renewed this collective bargaining agreement in March 2023, and it expires at the end of March 2025. In France, 64 employees are under the relevant national and local collective bargaining agreements for metallurgy, comprising approximately 4% of our total workforce.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
Repligen is committed to conducting business in accordance with the highest ethical standards. This means how we conduct ourselves and our global work is more than just a matter of policy and law; it’s a reflection of our core principles. Our Second Amended and Restated Code of Business Conduct and Ethics reflects Repligen’s five core principles – (1) trustworthiness, (2) respectfulness, (3) responsibility, (4) fairness and (5) corporate citizenship. Our Second Amended and Restated Code of Business Conduct and Ethics applies to all Repligen employees, including those who are integrated into the Company through acquisitions.
Inclusive Workforce
Repligen maintains a resolute commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We have established talent acquisition processes, as well as training and employee engagement resources, including the formation of inclusive workforce initiatives, to drive the principles of diversity and inclusion at all levels of our organization starting with our Board of Directors (“Board”) and our Leadership team.
In our hiring practices, we strive to hire the most qualified person for the job and believe that, over time, this will lead to an increasingly diverse workforce. As part of finding the most qualified candidates, we are committed to ensuring that qualified, diverse slates of applicants are identified and considered for all roles, from the boardroom and C-suite to all levels of the workforce. We believe our focus on talent identification, development, engagement and succession planning has been particularly successful in developing a deep and diverse talent pipeline.
Employee Engagement and Development
Our goal is to develop and maintain a talented, engaged and diverse workforce that has a positive impact on our performance and on our customers. We regularly conduct engagement surveys to gain insight on employee perspectives. Additional channels for employee engagement include Company-wide all-hands meetings led by our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and site town halls ran by site leaders. We are committed to colleague recognition, which includes acknowledging, appreciating and celebrating each other's contributions and achievements. Our CEO-led all-hands meetings serve as a platform for CEO awards and platinum awards, which reward and recognize both teams and individual colleagues who have made significant and notable contributions to Repligen's success. We also offer a range of programs to develop our managers and enhance our leadership across the Company. Our professional development efforts are aimed at increasing organizational talent and capabilities as well as identifying and developing potential successors for key leadership positions.
Health, Safety and Well-Being
We actively promote the safety, health and well-being of our employees and end users of our products. Creating a culture where all employees feel supported and valued is paramount to our corporate mission. Our well-being goals are for employees to physically thrive, flourish mentally and emotionally, be socially connected and achieve financial security. We are proud to provide all of our full time employees in the United States with access to an employee assistance program (“EAP”). Our EAP offers employees and their eligible dependents counseling and well-being resources 24 hours a day, seven days a week by phone, online or via the mobile site.
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Our environmental health and safety policy advances our vision of zero workplace incidents and our efforts to reduce our environmental impacts.
Repligen Performance System
In 2022, we formalized the Repligen Performance System ("RPS"), to provide the tools and a framework for engaging employees across the organization to continuously improve operational performance, with a focus on product quality, customer lead times, material supply, production costs and sustainability. Through a standard implementation network, all teams were empowered to implement just-do-it process improvements, solve priority problems through stand-up meetings and improve key processes through kaizen events. We believe RPS improved our teams' ability to continuously resolve customer challenges, enhance product quality and improve operational efficiencies. The impact of RPS was seen during 2022 and into 2023 in productivity savings, customer lead-time reductions, manufacturing capacity expansions, product quality improvements and significant reductions in manufacturing scrap at several key sites. There are a number of programs setup using RPS over the next twelve months.
Sustainability - Environmental, Social and Governance Matters
Our Commitment to Sustainability
We believe our commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) topics across all our global facilities matters and is an important part of creating long-term business value for all stakeholders. We are deeply committed to corporate responsibility and transparency, and we continue to factor sustainability into our business decisions and integrate its core principles into our daily operations.
In establishing a formal approach to ESG, we joined the United Nations Global Compact in 2020 in support of its Ten Principles related to human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption. The actions we have taken while building and implementing our robust ESG strategy demonstrate our long-term commitment to being a responsible global corporate citizen.
In preparation for our initial sustainability report, published in 2021, we formed a Corporate Responsibility Team (“CRT”) with oversight by our Board. The CRT was headed by a member of our operations leadership team and represented multiple disciplines within the organization. We completed our first materiality assessment gleaning insights from internal and external stakeholders, and we established a financial grade ESG software platform to inform current and future ESG-related reporting and decisions.
Together, we are advancing our ESG initiatives at an ambitious pace and taking bold steps to engage stakeholders throughout our upstream and downstream value chain.
Our Reporting Frameworks
We have become an active participant in the sustainability reporting ecosystem through our alignment with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and membership with the United Nations Global Compact (“UNGC”), the Global Reporting Initiative (“GRI”) and the International Financial Reporting Standards Sustainability Alliance, which now includes the International Sustainability Standards Board standards. Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”) standards and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”) recommendations. In 2023, we completed our first CDP Climate and CDP Water surveys, and submitted our commitment letter to the Science Based Targets Initiative to develop a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan aligned with the latest climate science.
With our 2022 sustainability report, which was published in November 2023 (the “2022 Sustainability Report”), we hope to convey our Progress on Repligen's Integrated Sustainability Management program, which recognizes that an effective sustainability strategy reflects multiple stakeholders' lenses, perspectives on materiality and measurements of success and collaborative engagement. The 2022 Sustainability Report is intended to provide transparency insights into the positive impacts of our ESG programs for all of our stakeholders. To that end, we created reporting indexes for multiple disclosure frameworks including UNGC, SASB, GRI and TCFD.
Oversight of ESG Matters
The Nominating and Corporate Governance (“N&CG”) Committee of our Board oversees our ESG program. The N&CG Committee meets regularly and reviews and advises on ESG strategy and apprises the full Board in order to ensure that our ESG program and
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strategy align with the Company's mission. In addition, the Audit Committee of the Board regularly reviews ESG-related topics such as enterprise risk management, anti-corruption, ethics and compliance, supply chain management, human rights protections, and cybersecurity and data privacy.
The Head of Sustainability, under strategic direction of our CEO and Chief Operating Officer, is responsible for the development and implementation of our expanding ESG program. In collaboration with all key business functions, the mandate of this globally focused role is to consider our existing ESG initiatives, understand stakeholder perspectives, identify business-relevant areas of opportunity to make a positive impact on global ESG efforts, and work collaboratively to drive initiatives designed to accelerate our ESG progress and stretch our ESG ambition.
Our Sustainability Pillars
Our sustainability initiatives are organized around four pillars that reflect our ESG priorities and topics considered material (or potentially material) to the Company and the bioprocessing industry: Principles, People, Product and Planet. Our “4Ps” embody the belief shared by our Board and the executive leadership team that corporate responsibility is essential to sustaining business and economic growth in a manner that can also deliver positive environmental and social impact.
Our ESG pillars are as follows:
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Principles. Our core principles guide how we operate, respecting that our stakeholders depend on us to conduct business honestly, fairly and responsibly.
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People. We recognize that our success as a company depends on the skills and contributions of a diverse group of employees who are engaged as individuals and high-performing teams. We operate in a highly competitive industry and recognize that our continued success and growth hinges upon our ability to attract, develop and retain an all-inclusive team of talented and diverse colleagues.
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Product. Our diversified portfolio of bioprocessing technology solutions unlocks opportunity by enabling our customers to speed the development and manufacture of biological drugs. Our products empower biopharmaceutical manufacturers to generate more product in less space and with less waste, ultimately making a positive impact on overall human health and well-being, which is also Sustainability Development Goal (“SDG”) #3 and our #1 SDG priority.
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Planet. Social and environmental impacts of business are a growing concern for our stakeholders and a priority for us. We continue to actively weave sustainability into our corporate culture, and inspire company-wide action to reduce our climate impact.
During 2022 and 2023, we led and participated in numerous stakeholder communications across the business with key customers, critical suppliers, leading institutional investors, industry associations and employee resource groups to better understand their interests, priorities, targets and challenges through the increasingly relevant lens of sustainability. We remain committed to periodically updating our materiality matrices and reviewing the foundational aspects of our 4Ps to ensure close alignment with our stakeholders' priorities in the bioprocessing industry.
Intellectual Property
We are committed to protecting our intellectual property through a combination of patents, trade secrets, copyrights and trademarks, as well as confidentiality and material transfer agreements. As further described below, we own or have exclusive rights to at least 263 active patent grants and 369 pending patent applications in the United States and other foreign jurisdictions including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Our policy is to require each of our employees, consultants, business partners, potential collaborators and customers to execute confidentiality agreements upon the commencement of an employment, consulting, business relationship, or product related audit or research evaluation. These agreements provide that all confidential information developed or made known to the other party during the course of the relationship with us is to be kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties except in specific circumstances. In the case of employees and consultants, the agreements generally provide that all inventions conceived by the individual in the course of employment or rendering services to Repligen shall be our exclusive property and must be assigned to Repligen.
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Filtration
For our filtration franchise, our patent grants include coverage for, ATF filtration, TFDF and TFF HF and FS systems, membranes, filters, mixers flow paths and single-use technologies. We continually seek to improve upon these technologies and have multiple new patent filings including patents covering next generation TFDF filters, next generation ATF filtration technologies, and proprietary reduced cost system components.
Chromatography
Our patent grants include coverage for certain unique methods and features of our OPUS PPC, including methods of manufacturing column components, systems for removing air using specialized tubing and valve systems, medium recovery systems, methods for packing, as well as systems for testing chromatography columns. We strive to improve upon our chromatography technologies, including developing potentially disruptive technology related to gamma irradiated columns and resin packing methods.
Through the ARTeSYN Acquisition in 2020, our patent portfolio includes exo-technology, valves, integrated sensors and integrated flow path systems. We also have multiple patent grants pertaining to our single-use replacement valves and liners used in combination with our modular configurable encapsulated flow systems to provide sterilized flow paths for various bioprocessing applications.
Process Analytics
Through our 2019 acquisition of C Technologies, Inc. (“C Technologies”), we hold patent grants to various slope spectroscopy instruments, including interactive variable pathlength devices and related methods of use. C Technologies’ scientists are continually developing new analytical tools using our state-of-the-art slope spectroscopy technology, for which we continue to file patent applications.
Proteins
We currently hold a patent grant for “Nucleic Acids Encoding Recombinant Protein A,” which claims sequences that encode a truncated recombinant Protein A but are otherwise identical to the natural Protein A, which is used for bioprocessing applications.
Pursuant to our collaboration with Navigo, we also have multiple patent grants and multiple pending patent applications globally covering Protein A-based affinity ligands through our collaboration with Navigo. These include ligands for antibody purification, as well as ligands for purifying COVID-19 vaccines.
In addition, following the acquisition of Avitide in September 2021, we continue to file multiple patent applications globally covering affinity ligands.
Trademarks
We procure and maintain trademark registrations globally for the Repligen trademark and our various product brands. We prioritize our “housemarks”, (e.g., Repligen, the stylized “R” logo, Spectrum, TangenX, C Technologies, ARTeSYN, Polymem, Avitide, Metenova, etc.), and ensure continued protection globally. We also have trademark registrations for various product lines, including OPUS, XCell, XCell ATF, TFDF, KrosFlo, SIUS, ProConnex, Spectra/Por, NGL-Impact, SoloVPE, FlowVPE, FlowVPX, RPM, XO and AVIPure, that provide valuable company recognition and goodwill with our customers.
We have a comprehensive branding policy that includes trademark usage guidelines to ensure Repligen trademarks are used in accordance with our worldwide registrations and we actively police any unauthorized trademark usage as well as enforce the rights we have under our trademarks.
Licensing Agreements
We have entered into multiple licensing and collaboration relationships with third-party business partners in an effort to fully exploit our technology and advance our bioprocessing business strategy. For example, we entered into a 15-year exclusive License Agreement with Daylight (the “Daylight Agreement”), giving us exclusive license and commercialization rights to use certain technology and
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intellectual property subject to conditions set forth in the Daylight Agreement. See Note 13, “Commitments and Contingencies” to our consolidated financial statements included in this report for more information on this license agreement.
Competition
Our bioprocessing products compete on the basis of value proposition, performance, quality, cost effectiveness, and application suitability with numerous established technologies. Additional products using new technologies that may be competitive with our products may also be introduced. Many of the companies selling or developing competitive products have greater financial and human resources, and greater R&D, manufacturing and marketing experience than we do. They may undertake their own development of products that are substantially similar to or compete with our products and they may succeed in developing products that are more effective or less costly than any that we may develop. These competitors may also prove to be more successful in their production, marketing and commercialization activities. We cannot be certain that the research, development and commercialization efforts of our competitors will not render any of our existing or potential products obsolete.
Manufacturing
A majority of our 19 manufacturing sites are located in the United States (California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York and Texas). Outside the United States, we have manufacturing sites in Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden.
The proteins products we provide are manufactured at our sites in Waltham, Massachusetts and Lund, Sweden. Native Protein A ligands and our growth factor products are manufactured in Lund, while recombinant Protein A ligands are manufactured in both Waltham and Lund. Our primary chromatography assembly and manufacturing sites are located in Waltham, Massachusetts, Ravensburg, Germany and Breda, the Netherlands. Our primary filtration manufacturing sites, including manufacturing of fluid management systems, products and consumables, are located in Marlborough, Massachusetts; Rancho Dominguez, California; Clifton Park, New York; Auburn, Massachusetts; Waterford, Ireland; Tallinn, Estonia and Toulouse, France. Our facility in Marlborough, is focused on XCell ATF and FS TFF products, while in Rancho Dominguez the focus is on Spectrum HF, TFDF and ProConnex products. Our process analytics products are manufactured in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Our operating room products are manufactured in Irving, Texas. As part of our capacity expansion activities, we have added a site in Hopkinton, Massachusetts that serves as an assembly center for single-use products and will also have the capacity to manufacture our protein products when the current buildout is completed. With our five acquisitions since the beginning of 2021, we gained manufacturing sites in Molndal, Sweden (Metenova), Branchburg, New Jersey (FlexBiosys), Toulouse, France (Polymem) and Lebanon, New Hampshire (Avitide). We undertook restructuring activities in 2023 that included consolidating a portion of our manufacturing operations between certain U.S. locations, discontinuing the sale of certain product SKUs, and evaluating the fair value of finished goods and raw materials secured during the 2020-2022 COVID-19 pandemic period. As a result of these activities, we closed manufacturing sites in Newton, New Jersey and Oceanside, California.
We utilize our facilities in Waltham, Massachusetts and Lund, Sweden to carry out fermentation and recovery operations, and purification, immobilization, packaging and quality control testing of our protein-based bioprocessing products. Our facilities located in Waltham, Massachusetts; Marlborough, Massachusetts; Lund, Sweden; Ravensburg, Germany; Bridgewater, New Jersey; Clifton Park, New York; and Rancho Dominguez, California among other sites, are ISO® 9001:2015 certified and maintain formal quality systems to maintain process control, traceability, and product conformance. Additionally, our facilities in Irving, Texas and Auburn, Massachusetts are ISO® 13485:2016 certified. We practice continuous improvement initiatives based on routine internal audits as well as external feedback and audits performed by our partners and customers. In addition, we maintain a business continuity management system that focuses on key areas such as contingency planning, security stocks and off-site storage of raw materials and finished goods to ensure continuous supply of our products.
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Available Information
We maintain a website with the address www.repligen.com. We are not including the information contained on our website as a part of, or incorporating it by reference into, this Form 10-K. We make available free of charge through our website our Form 10-Ks, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, including exhibits and amendments to these reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such materials with, or furnish such materials to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We also provide corporate governance, such as our Second Amended and Restated Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and other information, including our 2022 Sustainability Report, free of charge, through our website.
Our filings with the SEC may be accessed through the SEC’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system at www.sec.gov.
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Investors should carefully consider the risk factors described below before making an investment decision.
If any of the events described in the following risk factors occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially harmed. In that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline and investors may lose all or part of their investment. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of or that we currently deem immaterial may also become important factors that affect Repligen.
This Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) contains forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks faced by us described below and elsewhere in this Form 10-K.
Risks Related to Our Business
We compete with life sciences, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies who are capable of developing new approaches that could make our products and technology obsolete.
The bioprocessing market is intensely competitive, subject to rapid change and significantly affected by new product introductions and other market activities of industry participants.
We compete with several medium and small companies in each of our product categories as well as several large companies, including Danaher Corporation (Pall Corporation and Cytiva), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., MilliporeSigma and Sartorius. Many of our competitors are large, well-capitalized companies that may have greater financial, manufacturing, marketing, research and development (“R&D”) resources than we have, as well as stronger name recognition, longer operating histories and benefits derived from greater economies of scale. As a consequence, they are able to spend more aggressively on product development, marketing, sales and other product initiatives than we can, and may have additional lines of products and the ability to bundle products.
These factors, among others, may enable our competitors to market their products at lower prices or on terms more advantageous to customers than what we can offer. Competition may result in price reduction, reduced gross margins and loss of market share, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our current and future competitors, including certain of our customers, may at any time develop additional products that compete with our products. If any company develops products that compete with or are superior to our products, our revenue may decline. Additionally, new approaches by these competitors may make our products and technologies obsolete or noncompetitive.
If we are unable to continue to hire and retain skilled personnel, then we will have trouble developing and marketing our products.
Our success depends largely upon the continued service of our management and scientific staff and our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled technical, scientific, management and marketing personnel. We also face significant competition in the hiring and retention of such personnel from other companies, research and academic institutions, government and other organizations who have superior funding and resources. The loss of key personnel or our inability to hire and retain skilled personnel could materially adversely affect our product development efforts and our business.
Despite our increasingly diversified client base, we have historically depended on a limited number of customers for a high percentage of our revenues.
The loss of, or a significant reduction in orders from, any of our large customers, including following any termination or failure to renew a long-term supply contract, would significantly reduce our revenues and harm our results of operations. If a large customer purchases fewer of our products, defers orders or fails to place additional orders with us for any reason, including for business continuity purposes, our revenue could decline, and our operating results may not meet market expectations.
In addition, if our customers order our products, but fail to pay on time or at all, our liquidity and operating results could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, if any of our current or future products compete with those of any of our largest customers, these
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customers may place fewer orders with us or cease placing orders with us, which would negatively affect our revenues and operating results.
Certain of our products are used by customers in the production of gene therapies, which represent a relatively new and still-developing mode of treatment. Unforeseen adverse events, negative clinical outcomes, or increased regulatory scrutiny of cell and gene therapy (“C>”) and its financial cost may damage public perception of the safety, utility, or efficacy of gene therapies and may harm our customers’ ability to conduct their business. Such events may negatively impact our revenues and have an adverse effect on our performance.
C> remains a relatively new and developing treatment method, with only a limited number of gene therapies approved to date by regulatory authorities. Public perception may be influenced by claims that C> is unsafe or ineffective, and C> may not gain the acceptance of the public or the medical community. In addition, ethical, social, legal, and financial concerns about C> and genetic testing could result in additional regulations, limitations or even prohibitions on certain C>s or C>-related products. More restrictive regulations or negative public perception could reduce certain of our customers’ use of our products, which could negatively affect our revenue and performance.
Risks Related to Product Development and Acquisitions
If we are unable to expand our product portfolio, our ability to generate revenue could be adversely affected.
We are increasingly seeking to develop and commercialize our portfolio of products. Our future financial performance will depend, in part, on our ability to successfully develop and acquire additional bioprocessing products. There is no guarantee that we will be able to successfully acquire or develop additional bioprocessing products, and our financial performance will likely suffer if we are unable to do so.
Our acquisitions expose us to risks that could adversely affect our business, and we may not achieve the anticipated benefits of acquisitions of businesses or technologies.
As a part of our growth strategy, we may make selected acquisitions of complementary products and/or businesses, such as our most recent acquisitions of Metenova Holding AB and FlexBiosys, Inc. Any acquisition involves numerous risks and operational, financial, and managerial challenges, including the following, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations:
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difficulties in integrating new operations, technologies, products, and personnel;
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problems maintaining uniform procedures, controls and policies with respect to our financial accounting systems;
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lack of synergies or the inability to realize expected synergies and cost-savings;
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difficulties in managing geographically dispersed operations, including risks associated with entering foreign markets in which we have no or limited prior experience;
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underperformance of any acquired technology, product, or business relative to our expectations and the price we paid;
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negative near-term impacts on financial results after an acquisition, including acquisition-related earnings charges;
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the potential loss of key employees, customers, and strategic partners of acquired companies;
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claims by terminated employees and shareholders of acquired companies or other third parties related to the transaction;
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the assumption or incurrence of additional debt obligations or expenses, or use of substantial portions of our cash;
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the issuance of equity securities to finance or as consideration for any acquisitions that dilute the ownership of our stockholders;
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the issuance of equity securities to finance or as consideration for any acquisitions may not be an option if the price of our common stock is low or volatile which could preclude us from completing any such acquisitions;
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any collaboration, strategic alliance and licensing arrangement may require us to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies or product candidates, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us;
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diversion of management’s attention and company resources from existing operations of the business;
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inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures, and policies;
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assumption of, or exposure to, historical liabilities of the acquired business, including unknown contingent or similar liabilities that are difficult to identify or accurately quantify; and
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risks associated with acquiring intellectual property, including potential disputes regarding acquired companies’ intellectual property.
In addition, the successful integration of acquired businesses requires significant efforts and expense across all operational areas, including sales and marketing, R&D, manufacturing, finance, legal, and information technologies. There can be no assurance that any of the acquisitions we may make will be successful or will be, or will remain, profitable. Our failure to successfully address the foregoing risks may prevent us from achieving the anticipated benefits from any acquisition in a reasonable time frame, or at all.
If intangible assets and goodwill that we recorded in connection with our acquisitions become impaired, we may have to take significant charges against earnings.
In connection with the accounting for our completed acquisitions, we recorded a significant amount of intangible assets, including developed technology and customer relationships relating to the acquired product lines, and goodwill. Under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, we must assess, at least annually and potentially more frequently, whether the value of intangible assets and goodwill has been impaired. Intangible assets and goodwill will be assessed for impairment in the event of an impairment indicator. Any reduction or impairment of the value of intangible assets and goodwill will result in a charge against earnings, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations and shareholders’ equity in future periods.
Risks Related to Manufacturing and Supply
If we are unable to manufacture our products in sufficient quantities and in a timely manner, our operating results will be harmed, our ability to generate revenue could be diminished and our gross margin may be negatively impacted.
Our revenues and other operating results will depend in large part on our ability to manufacture and assemble our products in sufficient quantities and in a timely manner. Any interruptions we experience in the manufacturing or shipping of our products could delay our ability to recognize revenues in a particular quarter. Manufacturing problems can and do arise, and as demand for our products increases, any such problems could have an increasingly significant impact on our operating results. While we have not generally experienced problems with, or delays in, our production capabilities that resulted in delays in our ability to ship finished products, there can be no assurance that we will not encounter such problems in the future. We may not be able to quickly ship products and recognize anticipated revenues for a given period if we experience significant delays in the manufacturing process. In addition, we must maintain sufficient production capacity in order to meet anticipated customer demand, which carries fixed costs that we may not be able to offset if orders were to slow, which would adversely affect our operating margins. If we are unable to manufacture our products consistently, in sufficient quantities, and on a timely basis, our bioprocessing revenue, gross margins and our other operating results will be materially and adversely affected.
We rely on a limited number of suppliers or, for certain of our products, one supplier, and we may not be able to find replacements or immediately transition to alternative suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and reputation.
There are only a limited number of suppliers of materials for certain of our products. An interruption in operations of the business related to these products could occur if we encounter delays or difficulties in securing the required materials, or if we cannot then obtain an acceptable substitute. Any such interruption could significantly affect the business related to these products and our financial condition, results of operations and reputation. For example, we believe that only a small number of suppliers are currently qualified to supply materials for the XCell ATF® systems. The use of materials furnished by these replacement suppliers would require us to alter our operations related to the XCell ATF systems. Transitioning to a new supplier for our products would be time-consuming and expensive, may result in interruptions in our operations, could affect the performance specifications of our product lines or could require that we revalidate the materials.
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There can be no assurance that we will be able to secure alternative materials and bring such materials online and revalidate them without experiencing interruptions in our workflow. If we should encounter delays or difficulties in securing, reconfiguring or revalidating the materials required for our products, our business related to these products and our financial condition, results of operations and reputation could be adversely affected.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital
Servicing our debt will require a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to make payments on our debt and we may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle for cash conversions of our Notes or to repurchase the Notes for cash upon a fundamental change, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
In December 2023, we incurred significant indebtedness with the issuance of $600.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 1.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2028 (the “2023 Notes”) where $309.9 million principal amount of the 2023 Notes were issued in exchange for $217.7 million principal amount of our 0.375% Convertible Senior Notes due 2024 (the “2019 Notes”, and together with the 2023 Notes, the “Notes”) and $290.1 million principal amount of the 2023 Notes were issued for $290.1 million in cash. As of December 31, 2023, $69.7 million in aggregate principal amount of the 2019 Notes remain outstanding. Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on, or to refinance our indebtedness, including the Notes, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors that may be beyond our control. Our business may not continue to generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations, including the Notes.
In addition, holders of the Notes have the right, subject to certain conditions, to require us to repurchase all or any portion of their Notes upon the occurrence of a “fundamental change” (as defined in the indentures governing the Notes) at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, but excluding the fundamental change repurchase date. Upon any conversion of Notes, we will also be required to make cash payments for each $1,000 principal amount of 2023 Notes converted of at least the lesser of $1,000 and the sum of the “daily conversion values” (as defined in the indenture governing the 2023 Notes). However, we may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of Notes surrendered therefor or pay cash with respect to Notes being converted. In addition, our ability to repurchase the Notes or to pay cash upon conversions of the Notes may be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements governing our future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase Notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the applicable indenture or to pay any cash payable on future conversions of the Notes as required by the applicable indenture would constitute a default under such indenture. A default under either indenture governing the Notes or the fundamental change itself could also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness. If the repayment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the Notes or make cash payments upon conversions thereof.
In addition, our significant indebtedness, combined with our other financial obligations and contractual commitments, could have other important consequences. For example, it could:
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make us more vulnerable to adverse changes in general U.S. and worldwide economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation;
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limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and our industry;
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place us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors who have less debt; and
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limit our ability to borrow additional amounts for working capital and other general corporate purposes, including to fund possible acquisitions of, or investments in, complementary businesses, products, services and technologies.
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Any of these factors could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if we incur additional indebtedness, the risks related to our business and our ability to service or repay our indebtedness would increase.
The conditional conversion feature of the Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and liquidity.
In the event the conditional conversion feature of the Notes is triggered, holders of Notes will be entitled to convert the Notes at any time during specified periods at their option, as described in the indentures governing the Notes. If one or more holders elect to convert their Notes, we would be required to settle any converted principal through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital. As a result of the satisfaction of one of the conversion triggers, the 2019 Notes are convertible at the option of the holders thereof during the calendar quarter ending March 31, 2024. Because the 2019 Notes mature within one year of the report date, the Company classifies the carrying value of the 2019 Notes of $69.5 million as current liabilities on the Company's consolidated balance sheets at December 31, 2023.
Future strategic transactions or acquisitions may require us to seek additional financing, which we may not be able to secure on favorable terms, if at all.
We plan to continue a strategy of growth and development for our bioprocessing business, and we actively evaluate various strategic transactions on an ongoing basis, including licensing or acquiring complementary products, technologies or businesses that would complement our existing portfolio of development programs. In order to complete such strategic transactions, we may need to seek additional financing to fund these investments and acquisitions. Should we need to do so, we may not be able to secure such financing, or obtain such financing on favorable terms because of the volatile nature of the biotechnology marketplace. In addition, future acquisitions may require the issuance or sale of additional equity or debt securities, which may result in additional dilution to our stockholders.
Our corporate restructuring and the associated headcount reduction may not result in anticipated savings, could result in total costs and expenses that are greater than expected and could disrupt our business.
In July 2023, our Board of Directors (“Board”) authorized the Company's management team to undertake restructuring activities to simplify and streamline our organization and strengthen the overall effectiveness of our operations (the “Restructuring Plan”). As part of the Restructuring Plan, we consolidated a portion of our manufacturing business between certain U.S. locations and reduced our headcount. We may not realize, in full or in part, the anticipated benefits, savings and improvements in our cost structure from our restructuring efforts due to unforeseen difficulties, delays or unexpected costs. If we are unable to realize the expected operational efficiencies and cost savings from the restructuring, our operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected. Furthermore, the Restructuring Plan may be disruptive to our operations. For example, our headcount reductions could yield unanticipated consequences, such as increased difficulties in implementing our business strategy, including retention of our remaining employees.
Our exposure to political, economic and other risks that arise from operating a multinational business has and may continue to increase.
We operate on a global basis with offices or activities in Japan, South Korea, China, India, Europe and North America. Our operations and sales outside of the United States have increased as a result of our strategic acquisitions and the continued expansion of our commercial organization. Risks related to these increased foreign operations include:
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fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which may affect the costs incurred in international operations and foreign acquisitions and could harm our results of operations and financial condition;
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changes in general economic and political conditions in countries where we operate, particularly as a result of ongoing economic instability within foreign jurisdictions;
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the occurrence of a trade war, or other governmental action related to tariffs or trade agreements;
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differing protection of intellectual property, technology and data in foreign jurisdictions;
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difficulty in staffing and managing widespread operations;
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being subject to complex and restrictive employment and labor laws and regulations, as well as union and works council restrictions;
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changes in tax laws or rulings in the United States or other foreign jurisdictions that may have an adverse impact on our effective tax rate;
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being subject to burdensome foreign laws and regulations, including regulations that may place an increased tax burden on our operations;
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being subject to longer payment cycles from customers and experiencing greater difficulties in timely accounts receivable collections; and
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required compliance with a variety of foreign laws and regulations, such as data privacy requirements, real estate and property laws, anti-competition regulations, import and trade restrictions, export requirements, U.S. laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (the “FCPA”) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Export Administration Regulations, and other U.S. federal laws and regulations established by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, local laws such as the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010 or other local laws that prohibit corrupt payments to governmental officials or certain payments or remunerations to customers.
Our business success depends in part on our ability to anticipate and effectively manage these and other related factors. We cannot assure you that these and other related factors will not materially adversely affect our international operations or business as a whole.
In addition, a deterioration in diplomatic relations between the United States and any country where we conduct business could adversely affect our future operations and lead to a decline in profitability.
We may be unable to efficiently manage our growth as a larger and more geographically diverse organization.
Our strategic acquisitions, the continued expansion of our commercial sales operations, and our organic growth have increased the scope and complexity of our business. As a result, we will face challenges inherent in efficiently managing a more complex business with an increased number of employees over large geographic distances, including the need to implement appropriate systems, policies, benefits and compliance programs. Our inability to manage successfully the geographically and culturally diverse, and substantially larger combined organization could materially adversely affect our operating results and, as a result, the market price of our common stock.
Our results of operations could be negatively affected by potential fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.
We conduct a large portion of our business in international markets. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, 38.5% of our revenues were denominated in foreign currencies with the primary foreign currency exposures being the Swedish krona, Euro and Chinese yuan. We are exposed to the risk of an increase or decrease in the value of the foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar, which could decrease the value of our revenue and increase the value of our expenses and costs when measured in U.S. dollars. These fluctuations could also adversely affect the demand for products and services provided by us. As a result, our results of operation may be influenced by the effects of future exchange rate fluctuations and such effects may have an adverse impact on our common stock price.
Natural disasters, geopolitical unrest, war, terrorism, public health issues or other catastrophic events could disrupt the supply, delivery or demand of products, which could negatively affect our operations and performance.
We are subject to the risk of disruption by earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters, fire, power shortages, geopolitical unrest, war, terrorist attacks and other hostile acts, public health issues, epidemics or pandemics and other events beyond our control and the control of the third parties on which we depend. Any of these catastrophic events may have a strong negative impact on our employees, facilities, partners, suppliers, distributors or customers, and could decrease demand for our products, create delays and inefficiencies in our supply chain and make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver products to our customers.
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In addition, a catastrophic event that results in the destruction or disruption of our data centers or our critical business or information technology systems would severely affect our ability to conduct normal business operations and, as a result, our operating results would be adversely affected.
Our business, financial condition and results from operations could be adversely affected by disruptions in the global economy caused by geopolitical events, such as the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Palestine.
Global conflicts could increase costs and limit availability of fuel, energy, and other resources we depend upon for our business operations. For example, while we do not operate in Russia or Ukraine, the increasing tensions between the United States and Russia and the other effects of the ongoing conflict of Ukraine, have resulted in many broader economic impacts such as the United States and European Union imposing sanctions and bans against Russia and Russian products imported into the United States and Europe, respectively. Such sanctions and bans have impacted and may continue to impact commodity pricing such as fuel and energy costs, making it more expensive for us and our partners to deliver products to our customers. Further sanctions, bans or other economic actions in response to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine or in response to any other global conflict such as the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, could result in, among other things, cyber-attacks, supply disruptions, lower consumer demand, and changes to foreign exchange rates and financial markets, any of which may adversely affect our business and supply chain. In addition, the effects of the ongoing conflict could heighten many of our known risks described in this section.
Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults, or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties, could adversely affect our current and projected business operations and our financial condition and results of operations.
Actual events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds or other similar risks, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) as receiver. Similarly, on March 12, 2023, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital Corp. were each swept into receivership. If any of our lenders or counterparties to any such instruments were to be placed into receivership, we may be unable to access such funds. We have a banking relationship with SVB and hold cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $0.1 million as of December 31, 2023 in SVB depository accounts to cover short-term operational payments. While we have not experienced any losses in such accounts, the recent failure of SVB caused us to utilize our accounts at other financial institutions in order to mitigate potential operational risks stemming from the temporary inability to access funds in our SVB operating accounts. In addition, if any of our customers, suppliers or other parties with whom we conduct business are unable to access funds pursuant to such instruments or lending arrangements with such a financial institution, such parties’ ability to pay their obligations to us or to enter into new commercial arrangements requiring additional payments to us could be adversely affected.
Inflation and rapid increases in interest rates have led to a decline in the trading value of previously issued government securities with interest rates below current market interest rates. Although the U.S. Department of Treasury, FDIC and Federal Reserve Board have announced a program to provide up to $25 billion of loans to financial institutions secured by certain of such government securities held by financial institutions to mitigate the risk of potential losses on the sale of such instruments, widespread demands for customer withdrawals or other liquidity needs of financial institutions for immediately liquidity may exceed the capacity of such program. Additionally, there is no guarantee that the U.S. Department of Treasury, FDIC and Federal Reserve Board will provide access to uninsured funds in the future in the event of the closure of other banks or financial institutions, or that they would do so in a timely fashion.
Although we assess our banking and customer relationships as we believe necessary or appropriate, our access to funding sources and other credit arrangements in amounts adequate to finance or capitalize our current and projected future business operations could be significantly impaired by factors that affect the Company, the financial institutions with which the Company has credit agreements or arrangements directly, or the financial services industry or economy in general. These factors could include, among others, events such as liquidity constraints or failures, the ability to perform obligations under various types of financial, credit or liquidity agreements or arrangements, disruptions or instability in the financial services industry or financial markets, or concerns or negative expectations about the prospects for companies in the financial services industry. These factors could involve financial institutions or
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financial services industry companies with which the Company has financial or business relationships, but could also include factors involving financial markets or the financial services industry generally. The results of events or concerns that involve one or more of these factors could include a variety of material and adverse impacts on our current and projected business operations and our financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, investor concerns regarding the U.S. or international financial systems could result in less favorable commercial financing terms, including higher interest rates or costs and tighter financial and operating covenants, or systemic limitations on access to credit and liquidity sources, thereby making it more difficult for us to acquire financing on acceptable terms or at all. Any decline in available funding or access to our cash and liquidity resources could, among other risks, adversely impact our ability to meet our operating expenses, financial obligations or fulfill our other obligations, result in breaches of our financial and/or contractual obligations or result in violations of federal or state wage and hour laws. Any of these impacts, or any other impacts resulting from the factors described above or other related or similar factors not described above, could have material adverse impacts on our liquidity and our current and/or projected business operations and financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, any further deterioration in the macroeconomic economy or financial services industry, could lead to losses or defaults by our suppliers, which in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our current and/or projected business operations and results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
Risks Related to Investment in Our Securities
Our operating results may fluctuate significantly, our customers’ future purchases are difficult to predict and any failure to meet financial expectations may result in a decline in our stock price.
Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate in the future due to many factors, such as the impact of seasonal spending patterns, changes in overall spending levels in the life sciences industry, the inability of some of our customers to consummate anticipated purchases of our products due to changes in end-user demand, and other unpredictable factors that may affect ordering patterns. Because our revenue and operating results are difficult to predict, we believe that our past results of operations are not necessarily a good indicator of our future performance. Additionally, if revenue declines in a quarter, whether due to a delay in recognizing expected revenue, adverse economic conditions or otherwise, our results of operations will be harmed because many of our expenses are relatively fixed. In particular, a large portion of our manufacturing costs, our R&D, sales and marketing and general and administrative expenses are not significantly affected by variations in revenue. Further, our gross margins are dependent on product mix. A shift in sales away from our higher-margin products to lower margin products will adversely affect our gross margins. If our quarterly operating results fail to meet investor expectations, the price of our common stock may decline.
Securities or industry analysts may not publish favorable research or reports about our business or may publish no information, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.
The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us and our business. We do not have any control over these analysts, and we cannot provide any assurance that analysts will cover us or provide favorable coverage. If any of the analysts who cover us issue an adverse opinion regarding our stock price, our business or stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports covering us, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.
Our stock price could be volatile, which could cause shareholders to lose part or all of their investment.
The market price of our common stock, like that of the common stock of many other companies with similar market capitalizations, is highly volatile. The stock market in general, and the market for life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of specific companies, the conflict in Ukraine and Israel, and rising inflation and interest rates in the United States, which have resulted in decreased stock prices for many companies notwithstanding the lack of a fundamental change in their underlying business models or prospects. Broad market and industry factors, including potentially worsening economic conditions, may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance.
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If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may not be able to accurately report financial results or prevent fraud. If we identify a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, our ability to meet our reporting obligations and the trading price of our stock could be negatively affected.
Effective internal controls are necessary to provide reliable financial reports and to assist in the effective prevention of fraud. Any inability to provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud could harm our business. We regularly review and update our internal controls, disclosure controls and procedures, and corporate governance policies. In addition, we are required under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to report annually on our internal control over financial reporting. Any system of internal controls, however well designed and operated, is based in part on certain assumptions and can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurances that the objectives of the system are met, including objectives that may involve our reliance on third-party advisors and professionals. If we, or our independent registered public accounting firm, determine that our internal control over financial reporting are not effective, discover areas that need improvement in the future or discover a material weakness, these shortcomings could have an adverse effect on our business and financial results, and the price of our common stock could be negatively affected. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Accordingly, a material weakness increases the risk that the financial information we report contains material errors.
If we cannot conclude that we have effective internal control over our financial reporting, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to provide an unqualified opinion regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, investors could lose confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which could lead to a decline in our stock price. Failure to comply with reporting requirements could also subject us to sanctions and/or investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Nasdaq Global Select Market or other regulatory authorities.
We have previously implemented several significant enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) modules and expect to implement additional ERP modules in the future. The implementation of the ERP system represents a change in our internal control over financial reporting. Although we continue to monitor and assess our internal controls in the new ERP system environment as changes are made and new modules are implemented, and we have taken additional steps to modify and enhance the design and effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, there is a risk that deficiencies may occur that could aggregate to a material weakness.
As discussed below in Part II, Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures,” of this report, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the accounting for deferred income taxes on the December 2023 exchange of a portion of our 2019 Notes and issuance of our 2023 Notes. As a result of this material weakness, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2023.
We have designed and are implementing a remediation plan for the material weakness. However, we may not be successful in remediating this material weakness in the near-term, or at all, particularly in light of the infrequency with which we are likely to undertake the types of transactions that could test our remediation efforts, or be able to identify and remediate any additional control deficiency, including any material weakness, that may arise in the future. If we fail to remediate the material weakness or any future deficiencies or fail to otherwise maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, we could be subject to regulatory scrutiny, civil or criminal penalties or shareholder litigation. In addition, failure to maintain adequate internal controls could result in financial statements that do not accurately reflect our operating results or financial condition and could prevent us from preparing and filing financial statements within required time periods.
Risks Related to Our Charter and Bylaws
Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents, certain of our contracts with third parties, and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us, even one that may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.
Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and by-laws may delay or prevent an acquisition of us or a change in our management. These provisions include the ability of our Board to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval. In addition, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which limits the ability of stockholders owning in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock to merge or combine with us. Although we
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believe these provisions collectively provide for an opportunity to obtain greater value for stockholders by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with the Board, they would apply even if an offer rejected by our board was considered beneficial by some stockholders. Additionally, certain of our contracts with third parties allow for termination upon specified change of control transactions. Anti-takeover provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of the Board, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management, and anti-takeover or change of control contract termination rights may frustrate or prevent any attempts by a third-party to acquire or attempt to acquire us.
Risks Related to Tax Matters
The enactment of legislation implementing changes in taxation of international business activities, the adoption of other corporate tax reform policies, or changes in tax legislation or policies, or interpretations thereof, could materially impact our financial position and results of operations.
Corporate tax reform, base-erosion efforts and tax transparency continue to be high priorities in many tax jurisdictions where we have business operations. As a result, policies regarding corporate income and other taxes in numerous jurisdictions are under heightened scrutiny and tax reform legislation is being proposed or enacted in a number of jurisdictions. There is no assurance that our actual income tax liability will not be materially different than what is reflected in our income tax provisions and accruals as a result of changes in tax laws.
In addition, many countries are beginning to implement legislation and other guidance to align their international tax rules with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting recommendations and action plan that aim to standardize and modernize global corporate tax policy, including changes to cross-border tax, transfer pricing documentation rules, and nexus-based tax incentive practices. Because of the heightened scrutiny of corporate taxation policies, prior decisions by tax authorities regarding treatments and positions of corporate income taxes could be subject to enforcement activities, and legislative investigation and inquiry, which could also result in changes in tax policies or prior tax rulings. Any such changes in policies or rulings may also result in the taxes we previously paid being subject to change.
Due to the large scale of our international business activities, any substantial changes in international corporate tax policies, enforcement activities or legislative initiatives may materially adversely affect our business, the amount of taxes we are required to pay and our financial condition and results of operations generally.
Our ability to use net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses to reduce future tax payments is limited by provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, and it is possible that certain transactions or a combination of certain transactions may result in material additional limitations on our ability to use our net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards.
Section 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, contain rules that limit the ability of a company that undergoes an ownership change, which is generally any change in ownership of more than 50 percentage points of its stock over a three-year period, to utilize its net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses recognized in years after the ownership change. These rules generally operate by focusing on ownership changes involving stockholders owning directly or indirectly 5% or more of the stock of a company and any change in ownership arising from a new issuance of stock by the company. Generally, if an ownership change occurs, the yearly taxable income limitation on the use of net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses is equal to the product of the applicable long-term, tax-exempt rate and the value of the company’s stock immediately before the ownership change. We may be unable to offset our taxable income with losses, or our tax liability with credits, before such losses and credits expire and therefore would incur larger federal income tax liability. Federal net operating losses generated after December 31, 2017, are not subject to expiration and generally may not be carried back to prior taxable years except that, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, net operating losses generated in 2018, 2019 and 2020 may be carried back five taxable years. Additionally, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020, the deductibility of such deferral net operating losses is limited to 80% of our taxable income in any future taxable year.
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Risks Related to Government Regulation
Risks Related to Regulations and Compliance
We are subject to export and import control laws and regulations that could impair our ability to compete in international markets or subject us to liability if we violate such laws and regulations.
We are subject to U.S. export controls and sanctions regulations that restrict the shipment or provision of certain products and services to certain countries, governments, and persons. While we take precautions to prevent our products and services from being exported in violation of these laws, we cannot guarantee that the precautions we take will prevent violations of export control and sanctions laws. We believe that, in the past, we and our subsidiaries may have exported certain products without a required export license in apparent violation of U.S. export control laws. As a result, we have submitted to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security various notices of voluntary self-disclosure concerning potential violations. If we are found to be in violation of U.S. sanctions or export control laws, it could result in substantial fines and penalties for us and for the individuals working for us. We may also be adversely affected through other penalties, reputational harm, loss of access to certain markets, or otherwise.
Complying with export control and sanctions regulations may be time-consuming and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities or impose other costs. Any change in export or import regulations, economic sanctions or related legislation, or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such regulations, could result in our decreased ability to export or sell certain products to existing or potential customers in affected jurisdictions.
Our business is subject to a number of environmental risks.
Our manufacturing business involves the controlled use of hazardous materials and chemicals and is therefore subject to numerous environmental and safety laws and regulations and periodic inspections for possible violations of these laws and regulations. In addition to these hazardous materials and chemicals, our facility in Sweden also uses Staphylococcus aureus and toxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus in some of its manufacturing processes. Staphylococcus aureus and the toxins it produces, particularly enterotoxins, can cause severe illness in humans. The costs of compliance with environmental and safety laws and regulations are significant. Any violations, even if inadvertent or accidental, of current or future environmental and safety laws or regulations and the cost of compliance with any resulting order or fine could adversely affect our operations.
Climate change, climate change-related regulation and sustainability concerns could adversely affect our businesses and the operations of our subsidiaries, and any actions we take or fail to take in response to such matters could damage our reputation.
Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, investment funds, other market participants and other stakeholders have focused increasingly on the Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) practices of companies, including those associated with climate change. These parties have placed increased importance on the importance on the implications of the social cost of their investments. If our ESG practices do not meet investor or other industry stakeholder expectations and standards, which continue to evolve, our reputation and associate retention may be negatively impacted based on an assessment of our ESG practices. Any sustainability disclosures we make may include our policies and practices on a variety of social and ethical matters, including corporate governance, environmental compliance, employee health and safety practices, human capital management, product quality, supply chain management, and workforce inclusion and diversity. It is possible that stakeholders may not be satisfied with our ESG practices or the speed of their adoption, or that we may not sufficiently communicate our ESG practices sufficiently to stakeholders. We could also incur additional costs and require additional resources to monitor, report, and comply with various ESG practices. In addition, investors may decide to refrain from investing in us as a result of their assessment of our approach to and consideration of the ESG factors.
In addition, we face physical risks associated with climate change. These physical risks include risks to our manufacturing and supply chain from flooding, severe storms, wildfires, droughts or extreme temperatures, all of which could increase costs and impair our ability to meet customer demands in a timely manner. To date, we have not experienced material losses or disruptions to our operations related to climate change, and we do not anticipate that these risks will have a material impact to our Company in the near term.
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Health care reform measures could adversely affect our business.
The efforts of governmental and third-party payors to contain or reduce the costs of health care may adversely affect the business and financial condition of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including ours. Specifically, in both the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change the health care system in ways that could affect our ability to sell our products profitably. For the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (together, the “ACA”), substantially changed the way health care is financed by both governmental and private insurers. The ACA and other federal and state proposals and health care reforms could limit the prices that can be charged for the products we develop and may limit our commercial opportunity.
In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”) was signed into law. The IRA includes several provisions that will impact our business to varying degrees, including provisions that create a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for Medicare Part D beneficiaries, impose new manufacturer financial liability on all drugs in 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, require companies to pay rebates to Medicare for drug prices that increase faster than inflation, and delay the rebate rule that would require pass through of pharmacy benefit manager rebates to beneficiaries. The implementation of the IRA is currently subject to ongoing litigation challenging the constitutionality of the IRA's Medicare drug price negotiation program. The effect of IRA on our business and the healthcare industry in general is not yet known.
Additionally, the federal government and individual states in the United States have also become increasingly active in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. President Biden has issued multiple executive orders that have sought to reduce prescription drug costs. In February 2023, HHS also issued a proposal in response to an October 2022 executive order from President Biden that includes a proposed prescription drug pricing model that will test whether targeted Medicare payment adjustments will sufficiently incentivize manufacturers to complete confirmatory trials for drugs approved through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA's”) accelerated approval pathway. Although a number of these and other proposed measures may require authorization through additional legislation to become effective, and the Biden administration may reverse or otherwise change these measures, both the Biden administration and Congress have indicated that they will continue to seek new legislation measures to control drug costs.
Legally mandated price controls on payment amounts by third-party payors or other restrictions could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations 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 products or put pressure on drug pricing, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future.
We may be exposed to liabilities under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and any determination that we violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We are subject to the FCPA and other laws that prohibit improper payments or offers of payments to foreign governments and their officials and political parties by U.S. persons and issuers as defined by the statute for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. We have operations and agreements with third parties and make sales in jurisdictions outside of the United States, which may experience corruption. Our activities in jurisdictions outside of the United States create the risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by one of our employees, consultants, sales agents or distributors, because these parties are not always subject to our control. These risks have increased following our recent acquisitions of overseas operations and facilities. It is our policy to implement safeguards to discourage these practices by our employees. However, our existing safeguards and any future improvements may prove to be less than effective, and the employees, consultants, sales agents or distributors of Repligen may engage in conduct for which we might be held responsible. Violations of the FCPA may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could negatively affect our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, the government may seek to hold us liable for successor liability FCPA violations committed by any companies in which we invest or that we acquire.
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Changes in accounting standards and subjective assumptions, estimates, and judgments by management related to complex accounting matters could significantly affect our financial results or financial condition.
Generally accepted accounting principles and related accounting pronouncements, implementation guidelines, and interpretations with regard to a wide range of matters that are relevant to our business, such as revenue recognition, asset impairment and fair value determinations, inventories, business combinations and intangible asset valuations, leases, and litigation, are highly complex and involve many subjective assumptions, estimates, and judgments. Changes in these rules or their interpretation or changes in underlying assumptions, estimates, or judgments could significantly change our reported or expected financial performance or financial condition.
Risks Related to Data and Privacy
Our internal computer systems, or those of our customers, collaborators or other contractors, may be subject to cyber-attacks or security breaches, which could result in a material disruption of our product development programs.
Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our customers, collaborators cloud-based platform service providers, and other contractors are vulnerable to damage from unauthorized access and from cyber-attacks, such as computer viruses, malware, ransomware, phishing denial-of-service attacks, social engineering and other means to affect service reliability and threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. A material cyber-attack or security breach could cause interruptions in our operations and could result in a material disruption of our business operations, damage to our reputation or a loss of revenues.
In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store sensitive data, including, among other things, personally identifiable information about our employees, intellectual property, and proprietary business information. In addition, we could be subject to risks caused by misappropriation, misuse, leakage, falsification or intentional or accidental release or loss of information maintained in the information systems and networks of our company and our vendors, including personal information of our employees, and company and vendor confidential data. Like other companies, we have on occasion experienced, and believe we will continue to experience, data security incidents involving access to company data threats to our data and systems. If a material breach of our information technology systems or those of our vendors occurs, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed and our reputation and credibility could be damaged.
We could be required to expend significant amounts of money and other resources to respond to these threats or breaches, and to repair or replace information systems or networks and could suffer financial loss or the loss of valuable confidential information. In addition, we could be subject to regulatory actions and/or claims made by individuals and groups in private litigation involving privacy issues related to data collection and use practices and other data privacy laws and regulations, including claims for misuse or inappropriate disclosure of data, as well as unfair or deceptive practices. Moreover, despite our efforts, the possibility of these events occurring cannot be eliminated entirely and there can be no assurance that any measures we take will prevent cyber-attacks or security breaches that could adversely affect our business.
Changes in laws and regulations governing the privacy and protection of data and personal information could adversely affect our business.
We are subject to data privacy and protection laws and regulations that apply to the collection, transmission, storage and use of proprietary information and personally-identifying information, which among other things, imposes certain requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of certain individually identifiable information. In addition, numerous other federal and state laws, including state security breach notification laws, state health information privacy laws and federal and state consumer protection laws, govern the collection, use, disclosure and security of personal information. These laws continue to change and evolve and are increasing in breadth and impact.
For example, the European Union's and United Kingdom’s General Data Protection Regulations impose significant requirements on how we collect, process and transfer personal data, as well as significant regulatory penalties and legal liability for non-compliance. Complying with these laws may impose significant costs or otherwise require us to divert resources or implement changes to our business processes, and any actual or perceived non-compliance could result in significant penalties, claims and reputational damage.
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Additionally, we face risks from evolving and uncertain privacy standards in our industry. For example, the California Privacy Rights Act imposes additional obligations on companies covered by the legislation and will significantly modify the California Consumer Privacy Act by expanding consumers’ rights with respect to certain sensitive personal information. The law also created a new regulatory agency in California and that agency’s finalized and proposed regulations are continuing to change the standard of privacy protection we are required to meet. More than a dozen other states, including Virginia, Colorado and Connecticut, have passed similar privacy laws that are or will be implemented and enforced by various state regulators.
In addition, federal and state legislators and regulators are imposing new and heightened protections for health and other sensitive information that could impact our business. For example, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has imposed stringent requirements on the collection and disclosure of sensitive categories of personal information, including health information, and has expanded the application of its Health Breach Notification Rule. Washington’s My Health My Data Act requires regulated entities to obtain consent to collect health information, grants consumers certain rights, including to request deletion, and provides for robust enforcement mechanisms, including enforcement by the state attorney-general and by litigants through a private right of action for consumer claims. These current and future data privacy laws and regulations may require us to modify our data collection or processing practices and policies, incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply and increase our potential exposure to regulatory enforcement, reputational damage, and/or litigation.
Also, our customers may be subject to different privacy laws, rules and legislation, which may mean that they require us to be bound by varying contractual requirements applicable to certain other jurisdictions. Adherence to such contractual requirements may impact our collection, use, processing, storage, sharing and disclosure of information. As we expand our customer base, these requirements may vary from customer to customer, further increasing the cost of compliance and doing business.
Risks Related to Our Products and Technology
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
If we are unable to obtain or maintain our intellectual property, we may not be able to succeed commercially.
We endeavor to obtain and maintain trade secrets and pursue strategic patent protection in order to protect our products and processes from unauthorized use, and to produce a financial return consistent with the significant time and expense required to bring our products to market and continue to be competitive in our technical fields. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to:
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preserve our trade secrets, know-how and confidential information;
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operate without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties;
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obtain and maintain patent protection for our products and processes; and
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secure any necessary licenses from others on acceptable terms.
We consider trade secrets, know-how and other forms of market protection to be among the most important elements of our proprietary position, in particular, as it relates to many of the products that currently account for a majority of our revenue. We also own or have exclusive rights to U.S. patents and U.S. pending patent applications as well as corresponding foreign patents and patent applications. We continue to actively and selectively pursue patent protection and seek to expand our patent estate, particularly for our products currently in development, and we cannot be sure that any patent applications that we will file in the future or that any currently pending applications will issue on a timely basis, if ever. We cannot be certain that we were the first to conceive the invention(s) described by each of our pending patent applications or that we were the first to file patent applications for such invention(s). Even if patents are issued, the degree of protection afforded by such patents will depend upon the:
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scope of the patent claims;
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validity and enforceability of the claims obtained in such patents; and
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our willingness and financial ability to enforce and/or defend them.
Patents that may be granted to us in certain foreign countries may be subject to opposition proceedings brought by third parties or result in suits by us, which may be costly and result in adverse consequences for us.
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In some cases, litigation or other proceedings may be necessary to assert claims of infringement, to enforce patents issued to us or our licensors, to protect trade secrets, know-how or other intellectual property rights we own or to determine the scope and validity of the proprietary rights of third parties. Such litigation could result in substantial costs to us and diversion of our resources. An adverse outcome in any such litigation or proceeding could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If our competitors prepare and file patent applications that claim technology also claimed by us, we may be required to participate in interference proceedings declared by Patent Offices to determine priority of invention, which would result in substantial costs to us.
While we continue to obtain patent grants directed towards Protein A, other patent grants directed towards Protein A have expired, and as a result, we may face increased competition, which could harm our results of operations, financial condition, cash flow and future prospects.
Other companies could begin manufacturing and selling native or some of the commercial forms of recombinant Protein A in the United States and may directly compete with us on certain Protein A products. This may induce us to sell Protein A at lower prices and may erode our market share, which could adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, cash flow and future prospects.
Our freedom to develop our products may be challenged by others, and we may have to engage in litigation to determine the scope and validity of competitors’ patents and proprietary rights, which, if we do not prevail, could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flow and future prospects.
There has been substantial litigation and other proceedings regarding the complex patent and other intellectual property rights in the life sciences industry. We have been a party to, and in the future may become a party to, patent litigation or other proceedings regarding intellectual property rights.
We may become involved in patent litigation or other intellectual property proceedings, including the following situations:
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We may initiate litigation or other proceedings against third parties to seek to invalidate the patents held by such third parties or to obtain a judgment that our products or services do not infringe on such third parties’ patents.
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We may initiate litigation or other proceedings against third parties to seek to enforce our patents against infringers.
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If our competitors file patent applications that claim technology also claimed by us, we may participate in interference or opposition proceedings to determine the priority of invention.
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If third parties initiate litigation claiming that our processes or products infringe their patent or other intellectual property rights, we will need to defend against such claims.
The cost to us of any patent litigation or other proceeding, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the cost of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their substantially greater financial resources. If a patent litigation or other intellectual property proceeding is resolved in a way that is unfavorable to us, we or our collaborative or strategic partners may be enjoined from manufacturing or selling our products and services without a license from the other party and be held liable for significant damages. The failure to obtain any required license on commercially acceptable terms or at all may harm our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flow and future prospects.
Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace. Patent litigation and other proceedings may also absorb significant management time, attention and resources.
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Risks Related to Our Products
The market may not be receptive to our new bioprocessing products upon their introduction.
We expect a portion of our future revenue growth to come from introducing new bioprocessing products, including line extensions and new features for our OPUS® disposable chromatography columns, our XCell ATF system, our SIUS® tangential flow filtration (“TFF”) cassettes, our Spectrum® hollow fiber modules TFF line of cassettes, our process analytics products and our growth factors. The commercial success of all of our products will depend upon their acceptance by the life science and biopharmaceutical industries. Many of the bioprocessing products that we are developing are based upon new technologies or approaches. As a result, there can be no assurance that these new products, even if successfully developed and introduced, will be accepted by customers. If customers do not adopt our new products and technologies, our results of operations may suffer and, as a result, the market price of our common stock may decline.
Our products are subject to quality control requirements.
Whether a product is produced by us or purchased from outside suppliers, it is subjected to quality control procedures, including the verification of porosity and with certain products, the complete validation for good manufacturing practices, FDA, CE and ISO® compliance, prior to final packaging. Quality control is performed by a staff of technicians utilizing calibrated equipment. In the event we, or our manufacturers, produce products that fail to comply with required quality standards, it may incur delays in fulfilling orders, write-downs, damage to our reputation and damages resulting from product liability claims.
If our products do not perform as expected or the reliability of the technology on which our products are based is questioned, we could experience lost revenue, delayed or reduced market acceptance of our products, increased costs and damage to our reputation.