urgn20221231_10k.htm
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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Form 10-K
(Mark One)
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022
OR
For the transition period from_____________to ________________
Commission file number: 001-38079
UROGEN PHARMA LTD.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:
(646) 768-9780
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class Trading Symbol Name of exchange on which registered
Ordinary Shares, par value NIS 0.01 per share URGN The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC
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 check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☑ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 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. ☐
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 ordinary shares held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2022 totaled approximately $145.1 million based on the closing price for the registrant’s ordinary shares on that day as reported by the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC. Such value excludes ordinary shares held by executive officers, directors and certain entities affiliated with directors as of June 30, 2022.
As of March 20, 2023, there were 23,440,521 of the registrant’s ordinary shares outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Document Description 10-K Part
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Page
PART I. 1
Item 1. Business 3
Item 1A. Risk Factors 23
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 58
Item 2. Properties 58
Item 3. Legal Proceedings 58
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 58
PART II. 59
Item 6. [Reserved] 59
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk 70
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 71
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 92
Item 9B. Other Information 92
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 92
PART III. 93
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 93
Item 11. Executive Compensation 93
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 93
PART IV. 94
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 94
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
Unless otherwise indicated, “UroGen Pharma,” "UroGen," “the Company,” “our Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to UroGen Pharma Ltd. and its subsidiary, UroGen Pharma, Inc.
UroGen RTGel and Jelmyto are trademarks of ours that we use in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this "Annual Report"). This Annual Report also includes trademarks, tradenames, and service marks that are the property of other organizations. Solely for convenience, our trademarks and tradenames referred to in this Annual Report appear without the ® or TM symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights, or the right of the applicable licensor to our trademark and tradenames. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names or trademarks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.
We maintain our books and records in U.S. dollars, and prepare our financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("U.S. GAAP"), as issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB").
The terms “shekel,” “Israeli shekel” and “NIS” refer to New Israeli Shekels, the lawful currency of the State of Israel, and the terms “dollar,” “U.S. dollar” or “$” refer to United States dollars, the lawful currency of the United States. All references to “shares” in this Annual Report refer to ordinary shares of UroGen Pharma Ltd., par value NIS 0.01 per share.
We have made rounding adjustments to some of the figures included in this Annual Report. Accordingly, numerical figures shown as totals in some tables may not be an arithmetic aggregation of the figures that preceded them.
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), which are subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth below under Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report.
We may, in some cases, use words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would” or the negative of those terms, and similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements and are based upon our current expectations, beliefs, estimates and projections, and various assumptions, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Forward-looking statements in this Annual Report include, but are not limited to, statements about:
• the impact of government laws and regulations.
We caution you that the risks, uncertainties and other factors referenced above may not contain all of the risks, uncertainties and other factors that are important to you. In addition, we cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. You should refer to the section of this Annual Report under Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” for a discussion of important factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements. As a result of these factors, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this Annual Report will prove to be accurate. In addition, statements that “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this Annual Report, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain, and investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.
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If our forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame or at all. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this Annual Report speaks only as of the date of this Annual Report or as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
You should read this Annual Report and the documents that we reference in this Annual Report and have filed as exhibits to this Annual Report completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.
This Annual Report may contain market data and industry forecasts that were obtained from industry publications. These data involve a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. We have not independently verified any third-party information. While we believe the market position, market opportunity and market size information included in this Annual Report is generally reliable, such information is inherently imprecise.
RISK FACTOR SUMMARY
Below is a summary of the material factors that make an investment in our ordinary shares speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, and other risks that we face, can be found below under the heading “Risk Factors” and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this Annual Report and our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") before making investment decisions regarding our ordinary shares.
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Item 1. Business
Overview
We are a biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing innovative solutions that treat urothelial and specialty cancers. We have developed RTGel® reverse-thermal hydrogel, a proprietary sustained release, hydrogel-based technology that has the potential to improve therapeutic profiles of existing drugs. Our technology is designed to enable longer exposure of the urinary tract tissue to medications, making local therapy a potentially more effective treatment option. Our approved product Jelmyto® (mitomycin) for pyelocalyceal solution, and our investigational candidate, UGN-102 (mitomycin) for intravesical solution, are designed to ablate tumors by non-surgical means and to treat several forms of non-muscle invasive urothelial cancer, including low-grade upper tract urothelial cancer (“low-grade UTUC”) and low-grade intermediate risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (“low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC”), respectively. In addition, our immuno-uro-oncology pipeline includes UGN-301 (zalifrelimab), an anti-CTLA-4 antibody, which we intend to study as a combination therapy with multiple potential agents.
RTGel: Our Reverse Thermal Hydrogel Technology
RTGel is a novel proprietary polymeric biocompatible, reverse thermal gelation hydrogel technology, which, unlike the general characteristics of most forms of matter, is liquid at lower temperatures and converts into gel form when warmed to body temperature. We believe that these characteristics promote ease of delivery into and retention of drugs in body cavities, including the bladder and the upper urinary tract, forming a transient reservoir of drug that dissolves over time while preventing rapid excretion, providing for increased dwell time. RTGel leverages the physiologic flow of urine to provide a natural exit from the body.
RTGel’s components are polymer-based and are inactive ingredients that are used in FDA-approved Jelmyto. We formulate RTGel with an active drug: mitomycin in the case of Jelmyto and UGN-102. The resulting formulations are instilled intravesically in liquid form directly into the upper urinary tract or bladder using standard instillation methodologies via catheters or nephrostomy tube, and thereafter convert into gel form at body temperature. Subsequently, upon contact with urine, RTGel gradually dissolves and releases the active drug over a period of several hours and is less affected by urine creation and voiding cycles as compared to water formulations.
We believe that RTGel, when formulated with an active drug, may allow for the improved efficacy of treatment of various types of urothelial and specialty cancers and urologic disease without compromising the safety of the patient or interfering with the natural flow of fluids in the urinary tract. RTGel achieves this by:
• maintaining the active drug’s molecular structure and mode of action.
These characteristics of RTGel enable sustained release of mitomycin in the urinary tract for both Jelmyto and UGN-102. Further, RTGel may be particularly effective in the bladder and upper urinary tract where tumor visibility and access are challenging, and where there exists a significant amount of urine flow and voiding. We believe that these characteristics of RTGel may prove useful for the local delivery of active drugs to other bodily cavities in addition to the bladder and upper urinary tract.
Mitomycin—Our Target Active Drug for the Treatment of Low-Grade UTUC and Low-Grade Intermediate Risk NMIBC
Mitomycin is a generic drug currently utilized off-label as an adjuvant chemotherapy for the treatment of low-grade NMIBC after trans-urethral resection of bladder tumor ("TURBT"). Off-label means that while the FDA has not approved mitomycin as adjuvant treatment in the post-TURBT setting for low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC patients, physicians are permitted to utilize it as standard of care for this indication as part of medical practice. In practice in the U.S., adjuvant chemotherapy is only used in 0-30% of the eligible population. Mitomycin, a chemotherapy agent, is administered using a water-based solution, which has a relatively short dwell time in the bladder limited to first voiding. Mitomycin often causes temporary irritation of the urinary tract, including the need to urinate frequently and urgently. In the upper urinary tract, the dwell time is limited to approximately five minutes as urine flows continuously and no active retention by the patient is feasible. Numerous in vitro models, in vivo studies and computer simulations have shown that increased dwell time of mitomycin in the bladder results in increased time to recurrence of urothelial cancer. In one such study, it was shown that mitomycin activity increased with exposure time. Specifically, the MIC90, or mean inhibitory concentration that causes 90% inhibition in cell growth, was 11-fold lower when exposure time was increased from 30 minutes to eight hours.
Mitomycin’s mechanism of action is on the cancer cell’s DNA and has been demonstrated to be most effective when the cancer cell is in its S-phase, or synthesis phase, during which the DNA is replicated. Each cancer cell goes through various phases during the cell cycle. However, the cell cycle is not synchronized in all cancer cells, which means that at any given point in time only a portion of the cancer cells are at their S-phase, or susceptible to the instilled mitomycin in the bladder. Increased dwell time, facilitated by our RTGel preparations Jelmyto and UGN-102, is designed to increase cell killing in vitro when compared to aqueous solutions of mitomycin.
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Our Pipeline
The following chart summarizes the current status of our pipeline:
Jelmyto
Jelmyto is our novel sustained-release RTGel-based formulation of mitomycin that we have developed for the treatment of low-grade UTUC. RTGel is liquid at lower temperatures and converts into gel form at body temperature. This temperature-dependent viscosity characteristic allows for instillation of the chilled Jelmyto in its liquid form to the upper urinary tract via standard urinary procedures utilizing a catheter or nephrostomy tube. Once instilled, Jelmyto converts into gel form at body temperature. Subsequently, upon contact with urine, Jelmyto gradually dissolves and releases the active drug, mitomycin, over a period of four to six hours versus several minutes for mitomycin in its water-based formulation. We believe that this substantial increase in dwell time of mitomycin positions Jelmyto as a chemoablation treatment for low-grade UTUC, potentially sparing patients from repeated tumor resection procedures and potentially reducing the need for upper urinary tract surgeries, including kidney removal.
Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma ("UTUC")
UTUC refers to malignant changes of the urothelium (the epithelial lining) of the upper urinary tract of the calyces, renal pelvis and ureter. Low-grade UTUC managed with endoscopic resection typically exhibits a high rate of local recurrence. High-grade UTUC is associated with renal parenchymal invasion and the development of metastases. UTUC accounts for approximately 5% to 10% of all new cases of urothelial cancer, which together with recurrent cases, results in an estimated annual incidence in the United States of up to 7,000 cases. UTUC is nearly three times more common in men than women and is typically diagnosed in patients in their 60s and 70s. Tumor grade is the key prognostic factor at the time of diagnosis of UTUC and is assigned based upon microscopic examination of tumor tissue. Approximately 40% of the patients diagnosed annually with UTUC in the United States have low-grade UTUC.
1. Upfill-Brown 2018, 2. Cutress 2012, 3. Grasso et al. (2012) BJU International, 4. Yeung et al. (2014) Pharmacoeconomics
RNU = radical nephroureterectomy
Limitations of Other Treatments for Low-Grade Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma
Before the approval of Jelmyto in April 2020, there were no drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of low-grade UTUC, representing a significant unmet medical need. The current standard of care for the treatment of low-grade UTUC is radical nephroureterectomy ("RNU"), which is complete kidney and upper urinary tract removal. Recent advances in resection instrument technology have allowed physicians in some cases to treat patients with low-grade UTUC using endoscopic tumor resection, a kidney-sparing treatment, rather than nephroureterectomy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy, typically mitomycin, treatment. However, the specific anatomy and physiology of the upper urinary tract make the performance of organ-sparing endoscopic tumor resection and instillation of adjuvant chemotherapy challenging, leading to high recurrence rates. Patients often undergo multiple endoscopic resection procedures, which increases the probability of potential complications of resection, including perforation and ureteral stricture, or a narrowing of the ureter. Endoscopic tumor resection, which aims to be a kidney sparing surgical procedure, is conducted only in patients with low-grade disease and with limited tumor burden (unifocal tumor, low grade histology, less than 2 cm in greatest dimension). Ultimately, 70% to 80% of patients with low-grade UTUC undergo an RNU. Treatment is further complicated by the fact that low-grade UTUC is most commonly diagnosed in patients over 70 years of age, who may already have compromised kidney function and other comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and pulmonary disease and may suffer further complications as a result of a major surgery.
Our Solution: Jelmyto (mitomycin) for pyelocalyceal solution
On April 15, 2020, the FDA approved our new drug application (“NDA”) for Jelmyto (mitomycin) for pyelocalyceal solution, formerly known as UGN-101, for the treatment of adult patients with low-grade UTUC. Jelmyto consists of mitomycin, an established chemotherapy, and sterile hydrogel, using our proprietary sustained release RTGel technology. It has been designed to prolong exposure of urinary tract tissue to mitomycin, thereby enabling the treatment of tumors by non-surgical means. New product exclusivity for Jelmyto exists through April 15, 2023, Orphan Drug exclusivity through April 15, 2027 as well as a composition of matter patents. The main patents that protect Jelmyto in the United States are set to expire in January 2031. These patents were listed in the FDA's Orange Book (Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations).
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The FDA evaluated the Jelmyto NDA under Priority Review, which is reserved for medicines that may represent significant improvements in safety or efficacy in treating serious conditions. Jelmyto was also granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA, which was created to expedite the development and review of drugs developed for serious or life-threatening conditions with high unmet need.
The FDA approval was based on results from our Phase 3 OLYMPUS trial showing Jelmyto achieved clinically significant disease eradication in adults with low-grade UTUC. Findings from the final study results include:
In December 2022, we presented new data from the OLYMPUS trial designed to obtain long-term follow-up data on Jelmyto. Based on data available for 16 of the 23 patients who had remained in CR at the end of the OLYMPUS study, the median duration of response was 28.9 months. Thirteen patients remained in CR, two patients had recurrence of low grade-UTUC on the same side as treated in OLYMPUS, and one patient underwent RNU due to ureteral stricture without evidence of UTUC at the time of surgery. No patient had progressed to high-grade disease.
We initiated our commercial launch of Jelmyto in the United States in June 2020. We have staffed, trained and prepared a customer-facing team comprising territory business managers with deep experience in both urology and oncology. These territory business managers are led by seven regional business managers. Each region is additionally supported by one to two clinical nurse educators to provide education and training around instillation, as well as a Field Reimbursement manager to help ensure access and reimbursement for appropriate patients. In addition, our organization includes seven medical science liaisons who appropriately engage with physicians interested in learning more about UroGen, Jelmyto and our technology, both in person and virtually. In total, our customer-facing team comprises approximately 80 representatives.
We are committed to helping patients access Jelmyto. Our market access teams have laid the foundation for coverage and reimbursement, meeting multiple times with payers. The majority of large commercial plans have policies in place, covering over 150 million lives. In addition to reimbursement and access, we have also been focused on ensuring seamless integration into physician practices. We have implemented processes to help make Jelmyto preparation and administration safe and seamless for practitioners and patients, including entering into an agreement with a major national pharmacy under which the pharmacy, following receipt of a patient prescription, prepares and dispenses the Jelmyto admixture on our behalf. In October 2020, a Medicare C-Code was issued for Jelmyto. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services established a permanent and product-specific J-code for Jelmyto that took effect on January 1, 2021 and replaced the C-Code. We are also launching a registry to capture data and evaluate real world outcomes in patients with UTUC that have been or will be treated with Jelmyto. The purpose of the registry is to study the use of Jelmyto in clinical practice in the United States and address specific clinical questions.
Uro-Oncological Indications Targeted by Our Product Candidates
UGN-102 (mitomycin) for intravesical solution
UGN-102 is our sustained-release formulation of mitomycin that we are developing for the treatment of low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC. It is administered locally using standard urinary procedures utilizing a catheter inserted into the bladder, and is designed to persist in the bladder despite urine flow and bladder movement. Once instilled, UGN-102 converts into gel form at body temperature. Subsequently, upon contact with urine, UGN-102 gradually dissolves and releases the active drug, mitomycin, over a period of several hours. In contrast, mitomycin in its current water-based formulation, is released at the time of first voiding, which is often less than an hour. We believe that the resulting significantly increased dwell time of mitomycin in the bladder prolongs exposure of mitomycin to the tumor tissue and therefore has the potential to chemoablate both visible and unseen tumors.
Bladder Cancer
The bladder is a hollow organ in the pelvis with flexible muscular walls. Its main function is to store urine before it leaves the body. Urine is produced by the kidneys and is then carried to the bladder through the upper urinary tract tubes, called ureters. The bladder wall has four main layers. The innermost lining is comprised of cells called urothelial or transitional cells, and this inner layer is called the urothelium or transitional epithelium. Beneath the urothelium, there is a layer called the lamina propria. Next is a thick layer of muscle called the muscularis propria followed by a layer of perivesical fat.
Bladder cancer accounts for approximately 90% to 95% of all new cases of urothelial cancer in the United States (annual US incidence 85,000, prevalence 748,000). Bladder cancer is nearly three to four times more common in men than women, and, is most commonly diagnosed in their 70s. Bladder cancers are described as non-muscle invasive or muscle-invasive based on how far into the wall of the bladder they have invaded. The physical extent and anatomic location of a tumor is described by clinical staging. The American Joint Committee on Cancer has established an accepted staging system called the tumor, nodes, metastasis, or TNM System. NMIBC includes the clinical stages Ta (papillary urothelial cancer confined to the urothelium), T1 (urothelial cancer invading the lamina propria) and CIS (carcinoma in situ, a form of high-grade NMIBC). NMIBC is associated with high rates of relapse following endoscopic surgery and treatment with aqueous adjuvant topical chemo and immunotherapy. Progression rates to muscle invasion approach 30-50% in patients with high-grade T1 disease associated with CIS. Patients with low-grade NMIBC are treated by chronic endoscopic resection of visible lesions, typically over a period of many years. Patients with low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC have frequent recurrences of disease that can be difficult to control using contemporary standards of care. Muscle-invasive bladder cancer ("MIBC") which is described as >T2 in the TNM U.C. system, is treated with systemic chemo- and/or immunotherapy followed by consolidative radiation therapy or bladder removal surgery (radical cystectomy) in patients with clinically organ-confined disease. Patients presenting with advanced/metastatic bladder cancer have a limited life expectancy.
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Low Grade Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer
NMIBC can be characterized as low, intermediate, or high risk and can also be characterized as low- or high-grade. Low-grade, intermediate risk tumors are defined as having one of more of following characteristics: tumor larger than 3 cm, multiple tumors in the bladder and a recurrence in less than one year from the prior tumor. The standard of care for treating low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC patients is TURBT. TURBT is a surgical procedure for tumor removal usually conducted under general anesthesia in a hospital setting and may require an overnight stay. There are known risks associated with the surgical procedure itself, including bleeding, hospitalization and an increased risk of death in patients in their 60s and 70s. Moreover, TURBT’s success is tied to the physician’s ability to overcome challenges in properly identifying, reaching and resecting all tumors. No drugs have been approved by the FDA for the primary treatment of low-grade NMIBC. Efficacy of drug treatments has historically been limited due to challenges presented by bladder physiology, specifically the fact that urine is produced and voided frequently, thus diluting the concentration of the drug almost immediately and causing the excretion of the drug from the bladder at first urine voiding. A subset of low-grade NMIBC patients is at risk for frequent local recurrences. Due to lack of treatment options to reduce recurrences in these patients, they are managed with repeat TURBT for each subsequent recurrence. We estimate based upon a review of peer-reviewed and publicly available data that approximately 20% of the prevalent low-grade NMIBC population in the United States (80,000) may be described as intermediate risk in any given year.
1. SEER, AUA/SUO joint guideline 2. Babjuk et al. European Urology (2019), Simon (2019), 3. Tobert et al Urology (2019), Rhijn et al Nature Urology (2016), 4. Bryan et al Ann R Coll Surg Engl (2010)
*Adjuvant chemotherapy only used in 0-30% of U.S. eligible population
TURBT = trans urethral resection of bladder tumor
Limitations of Current Therapies for Low-Grade Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer
Tumor grade and stage are the most important variables for determining the likelihood of progression from NMIBC to MIBC. The three stages of NMIBC are: Ta (70%), T1 (20%) and CIS (10%). Tumors are graded as low or high, and approximately 70% of NMIBC patients have a tumor that is classified as low-grade. Tumors classified as Ta and CIS are limited to the urothelial layer, and T1 tumors extend to the layer below, which is the lamina propria.
Recurrence, which occurs in approximately 80% of patients, is the primary threat for patients with low-grade NMIBC. Multiplicity, or number of tumors, tumor size and prior recurrence rate are the most important variables in determining the likelihood and potential severity of recurrence. The current standard of care for low-grade NMIBC is TURBT. The most common complications, risks and limitations of TURBT include:
• bleeding at the time of surgery that requires clot irrigation;
• infection of the bladder;
• reimplantation and cell migration;
• complete removal of tumor tissue often not being feasible;
• some tumors not being detectable.
Post-operative adjuvant treatments for low-grade NMIBC, which are given to prevent reimplantation of the cancerous cells, consist primarily of chemotherapy in the case of low-grade tumors and immunotherapy in the case of high-grade tumors, and are administered intravesically via catheter. Adjuvant intravesical chemotherapy is used in low-grade tumors following TURBT in order to try to delay tumor recurrence but is not used as a chemoablation agent. The rationale is to expose tumors to high local drug concentrations while minimizing the systemic exposure, thereby enhancing the treatment effect and reducing the drug toxicity. In practice, in the U.S., adjuvant chemotherapy in this setting is only used in 0-30% of the eligible population.
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No drugs have been approved by the FDA for the primary treatment of low-grade NMIBC. Mitomycin is the drug used most often for intravesical chemotherapy in this patient population. It is used off-label as an adjuvant treatment in the post-operative setting for low-grade tumors with high risk of recurrence. Other drugs that have been used off-label include docetaxel and gemcitabine.
Our Solution: UGN-102 (mitomycin) for intravesical solution
We are evaluating the safety and efficacy of UGN-102, our novel sustained-release formulation of mitomycin for the treatment of low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC.
In October 2021, we reported final data from the Phase 2b OPTIMA II trial. The single-arm, open label trial completed enrollment of 63 patients at clinical sites across the United States and Israel in September 2019. Patients were treated with six weekly instillations of UGN-102 and underwent assessment of CR (the primary endpoint) four to six weeks following the last instillation; 65%, or 41 out of 63 patients, treated with UGN-102 achieved a complete response three months after the start of therapy. In this subset of patients, 39 (95%), 30 (73%), and 25 (61%) remained disease-free at six, nine, and 12 months after treatment initiation, respectively. The probability of durable response nine months after CR (12 months after treatment initiation) was estimated to be 72.5% by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Thirteen patients had documented recurrences. Fifty-seven of 63 (90%) patients completed all six instillations of UGN-102 according to the study protocol. Median duration of response was not reached. The most common adverse events, greater than 10%, were most often reported as mild to moderate in severity and include dysuria, hematuria, urinary frequency, fatigue, urgency and urinary tract infection. The final data was published online in The Journal of Urology in October 2021 and was included in the January 2022 print edition.
In December 2022 we presented new data from the OPTIMA II study designed to obtain long-term follow-up data on UGN-102 that shows median duration of response of 24.4 months based on available data for 15 out of 25 patients. Seven patients remained in CR, six patients had recurrence of low-grade disease, one patient had progression to high-grade disease and one patient withdrew consent but remained in CR at the last evaluation prior to discontinuation. All patients were alive at the last contact, and five patients were known to have had post-study treatment with transurethral resection of the bladder tumors or fulguration.
UGN-102 is administered locally using the standard practice of intravesical instillation directly into the bladder via a catheter. The instillation into the bladder is expected to take place in a physician’s office as a non-operative outpatient treatment, in comparison with TURBT or similar surgical procedures, which are operations conducted under general anesthesia and may require an overnight stay. Complete surgical tumor removal often has limited success due to the inability to properly identify, reach and resect all tumors. We believe that an effective chemoablation agent can potentially provide better eradication of tumors irrespective of the detectability and location of the tumors. In addition, by removing the need for surgery, patients may avoid potential complications associated with surgery.
We initiated the Phase 3 ATLAS trial in December 2020 and until November 2021, were enrolling patients in this trial assessing UGN-102 with or without TURBT compared to standard of care (TURBT). In parallel, we continued to engage in discussions with the FDA and, based on this dialogue, we designed a trial in order to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of UGN-102. This Phase 3 ENVISION trial is a single-arm, multinational, multicenter study evaluating the efficacy and safety of UGN-102 as primary chemoablative therapy in patients with low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC. The design of the Phase 3 ENVISION trial is similar to our Phase 2 OPTIMA II trial in that the patient population has similar clinical characteristics, receives the same investigational treatment regimen and undergoes similar efficacy and safety assessments and qualitative follow-up. Study participants receive six once-weekly intravesical instillations of UGN-102. The primary endpoint will evaluate the complete response rate at three months after the first instillation, and the key secondary endpoint will evaluate durability of response in patients who achieve complete response at the three-month assessment.
In February 2022, we announced the initiation of the Phase 3 ENVISION trial, targeting enrollment of 220 patients across 90 sites. In December 2022 we completed our target enrollment of the Phase 3 ENVISION trial. Assuming positive findings, we anticipate submitting an NDA for UGN-102 in 2024. As a result of the FDA's acceptance of a single arm approach, we have stopped enrollment of the Phase 3 ATLAS study. However, at the time enrollment was stopped, any patients who had signed an informed consent were able to complete screening, and if eligible were randomized into the trial. Clinical results from these patients are expected to generate additional safety and efficacy data and other insights in our evaluation of UGN-102 as a primary therapy in the treatment of low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC.
We also initiated a Phase 3b study with the objective of demonstrating whether UGN-102 can be administered at home by a qualified home health professional, avoiding the need for repeated visits to a healthcare setting for instillation. As per the study design, patients in this study received six once-weekly intravesical instillations of UGN-102 with the initial treatment visit occurring at the investigative site and instillation performed by a qualified physician. Treatment visits two to six took place at the patient's home and instillation was performed by a properly trained and qualified home health professional. The primary endpoints of the study include safety and tolerability, discontinuations from at home study treatment and feedback from patients, home health professionals and investigators via standardized questionnaires. The study completed enrollment with a total of eight patients across four centers and all study visits for these enrolled patients have been completed. We reported preliminary results in February 2023. The results found that UGN-102 was suitable to administer at home by a visiting nurse under the supervision of a treating physician and resulted in 75% of patients achieving a complete response, defined as no detectable disease three months after starting treatment. Patients, nurses and investigators also completed home instillation feasibility questionnaires. These standardized feasibility questionnaires highlighted that all eight patients preferred at-home to in-office treatment, and five of six patients recommended UGN-102 home instillation instead of TURBT. Home instillation was reported as feasible for visiting nurses, and three of four investigators considered at-home treatment “not different” than in-office treatment. We believe establishing the precedent for a convenient at home solution may facilitate access to care and address quality of life issues that certain patients may face with the current standard of care.
UGN-301 (zalifrelimab) intravesical solution
Our immuno-uro-oncology pipeline includes UGN-301 (zalifrelimab), an anti-CTLA-4 antibody, which we intend to study as a standalone agent and as a combination therapy with multiple potential agents. The first combination we are seeking to investigate clinically involves the sequential use of UGN-201 (imiquimod), a toll-like receptor-7 ("TLR 7") agonist, and UGN-301 in high-grade non-muscle invasive bladder cancer ("high-grade NMIBC"). UGN-301 is delivered using our proprietary RTGel technology, which has been designed to significantly improve the effectiveness of certain intravesical therapies.
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High-Grade Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer
High-grade NMIBC is a highly aggressive form of bladder cancer. TURBT followed by adjuvant intravesical immunotherapy with Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin ("BCG") is the current standard of care therapy for high-grade NMIBC. However, the high rates of recurrence and significant risk of progression to muscle-invasive tumors are particularly dangerous. Radical cystectomy, or bladder removal is strongly advocated in patients with BCG-unresponsive NMIBC (i.e., patients with BCG-refractory and BCG-relapsing tumors in whom further BCG therapy is not recommended) or for patients who cannot tolerate BCG. Drugs such as Keytruda have been recently approved for the BCG refractory population.
1. Nielsen, 2014 analysis of SEER data, 2. UroGen market research
Limitations of Current Therapies for High-Grade NMIBC
Only five drugs have been approved for high-grade NMIBC, all used as adjuvant treatment: Thiotepa, which was approved in 1959, and is no longer used in practice; BCG, which was approved in 1989; Valstar® (valrubicin), which was approved in 1998; Keytruda, which was approved by the FDA in 2020; and Adstiladrin, which was approved by the FDA in 2022 for BCG unresponsive CIS. BCG, an immunotherapy-based drug, is used as an adjuvant treatment for patients with high-grade NMIBC. Upon recurrence, which occurs in approximately 70% of patients, the patients undergo another round of BCG therapy with a response rate of approximately 30%. Radical cystectomy, or surgical removal of the bladder, is also a common treatment option for patients who fail multiple intravesical BCG therapies. However, treatment with BCG is associated with undesirable side effects (including local irritation, systemic symptoms of immune activation and a small but serious risk of systemic absorption leading to mycobacterial sepsis and death), as evidenced by a boxed warning on the label, which is a warning placed on a prescription drug’s label by the FDA and is designed to call attention to serious or life-threatening risks.
Our Solution: UGN-301 (zalifrelimab) intravesical solution
We are exploring the use of immunotherapy for the treatment of high-grade NMIBC, and have pursued a series of nonclinical studies to determine whether our proprietary RTGel technology might provide a method for delivering highly potent immunomodulators directly to the bladder surface thereby avoiding toxicity associated with systemic administration. Our immuno-uro-oncology pipeline includes UGN-301, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody, which we intend to study as a single agent and as a combination therapy with multiple potential agents. The completion of non-human primate toxicity studies supported the initiation of a multi-arm Phase 1 study of UGN-301 in combination with other agents. We believe that this approach leverages our unique drug delivery technology and provides an opportunity to evaluate intravesical delivery of UGN-301 in combination with other immuno-modulators, chemotherapies, gene therapy and innate immune stimulators.
The first combination we are seeking to investigate clinically involves the sequential use of UGN-201 (imiquimod), a TLR 7 agonist, and UGN-301 in high-grade NMIBC. Toll-like receptors are pattern recognition receptors whose importance in stimulating innate and adaptive immunity has been established by recent studies. Toll-like receptors are able to sense microbial components as well as host-derived endogenous molecules released by injured tissues and play a critical role in defending against invading pathogens. Imiquimod, in its topical formulation, is FDA approved for several indications, including superficial basal cell carcinoma. UGN-201 is a liquid formulation of imiquimod for intravesical administration that has been optimized for delivery in the urinary tract. We believe that UGN-201 may elicit an adaptive immune response in the presence of released bladder cancer antigens, which may translate into a long lasting acquired immune response. We acquired UGN-201 from Telormedix SA, a private Swiss-based biotechnology company, in the fourth quarter of 2015. Telormedix conducted all of the previous studies related to UGN-201, including the Phase 1 and Phase 1b studies. We have obtained Orphan Drug Designation for UGN-201 for the treatment of CIS in the bladder. We have an active Investigational New Drug Application ("IND") for UGN-201, which has been effective since 2013.
We believe the combination of UGN-301 and UGN-201 could further increase the adaptive immune response and potentially represent a valid post-TURBT adjuvant treatment of high-grade NMIBC. UGN-301 is delivered using our proprietary RTGel technology, which has been designed to significantly improve the effectiveness of certain intravesical therapy. In November 2019, we entered into a worldwide license agreement with Agenus Inc. ("Agenus") to develop and commercialize zalifrelimab via intravesical delivery in combination with UGN-201 for the treatment of urinary tract cancers, initially in high-grade NMIBC. We believe that the combination treatment makes local therapy a potentially more effective treatment option while minimizing systemic exposure and potential side effects.
In March 2022, we announced FDA clearance of our IND to begin a novel Phase 1 clinical study of UGN-301 in patients with recurrent NMIBC. The novel study design utilizes a Master Protocol that we believe is a more efficient and streamlined approach to development. It will provide more flexibility to add study arms as the trial progresses and is expected to increase efficiency and potentially reduce costs. We expect the Master Protocol will allow us to more quickly evaluate safety, tolerability and dosing of UGN-301 in combination with additional immunomodulators and chemotherapies, with the goal of developing optimized treatment regimens for patients. The multi-arm Phase 1 study, which is expected to support the development of UGN-301 in high-grade NMIBC, was initiated in April 2022 and is actively enrolling.
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Research and Development and License Agreements
Agenus Agreement
In November 2019, we entered into a license agreement with Agenus, pursuant to which Agenus granted us an exclusive, worldwide (not including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and their respective territories and possessions), royalty-bearing, sublicensable license under Agenus’s intellectual property rights to develop, make, use, sell, import, and otherwise commercialize products incorporating a proprietary monoclonal antibody of Agenus known as AGEN1884 (zalifrelimab), an anti-CTLA-4 antagonist, for the treatment of cancers of the urinary tract via intravesical delivery. UGN-301 is a formulation of zalifrelimab administered using RTGel technology that is in Phase 1 clinical development for high-grade NMIBC.
MD Anderson Agreement
In January 2021, we announced that we had entered into a three-year strategic research collaboration agreement with MD Anderson focusing on the sequential use of UGN-201 and UGN-301 as an investigational treatment for high-grade NMIBC. Pursuant to the agreement, as of December 31, 2022 we have made bi-annual payments totaling $2.0 million to MD Anderson to fund the collaboration, recognized evenly over the associated period through research and development expenses. In July 2022, we determined that we had achieved the objectives that we established when the agreement was initiated, and notified MD Anderson that we were exercising our right to conclude the collaboration in 2022 as we did not foresee initiating further development activities as part of the collaboration, although we will continue to collaborate on existing joint projects. As a result of this notification, we are not responsible for any further fixed bi-annual funding payments, although we will be responsible for costs related to existing joint projects that exceed the payments already made to MD Anderson.
Our Competitive Strengths
We believe our approved product and lead product candidates for uro-oncology, which are being developed by leveraging our expertise in drug development and our proprietary formulation technology, have the ability to replace the repetitive, costly, sub-optimal and burdensome tumor resection procedures that represent the current standards of care. Furthermore, we believe our proprietary formulation technology has broad applications and may allow us to develop additional product candidates for indications within and beyond the urinary tract.
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Potential ability to develop additional minimally invasive, drug therapies for uro-oncology. Leveraging our innovative formulation technology, we developed Jelmyto, our first commercial product and UGN-102, our lead product candidate, as potential replacements to treatment for low-grade UTUC and low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC, respectively. Jelmyto is a chemoablation agent designed to overcome the challenges posed by the anatomy of the urinary tract by increasing the dwell time and enhancing the tissue coverage of mitomycin. UGN-102 is also being developed as a chemoablative therapy that may provide a non-invasive durable treatment option for patients. Clinical data generated to date supports our belief that our approved product and lead product candidate may provide new therapeutic options to the current surgical procedures, providing chemoablation treatment that has the potential to better eradicate tumors irrespective of their detectability and location within the urinary tract.
Expertise in developing proprietary formulations of drugs for clinical benefit. We focus on developing proprietary RTGel formulations of previously approved drugs and novel therapeutics which we are investigating, whose efficacy for a particular indication is limited by current formulations or routes of administration. Our expertise has enabled us to develop proprietary RTGel-based formulations for previously approved drugs and drugs in clinical development, including clinical stage proprietary formulations of mitomycin, zalifrelimab and others. Our formulations are designed to significantly increase the dwell time and exposure of the drugs to the target sites and limit the need for urine retention, potentially providing enhanced clinical activity, reduced patient burden and increased patient compliance over existing formulations and modes of administration. We have a strong research and development team to advance our product candidates.
Streamlined development risks and efficiencies for our pipeline product candidates.Jelmyto was approved with the FDA’s 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway, which provides a streamlined, capital efficient pathway when compared to traditional drug development. We also expect to use the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for our second product candidate, UGN-102. Furthermore, Jelmyto and UGN-201 have received Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for the treatment of low-grade UTUC and CIS, respectively, which provides seven years of regulatory exclusivity following FDA approval.
Leverageable proprietary formulation technology. We believe that RTGel has multiple potential applications beyond urology. Our formulation know-how may enable us to develop different drug formulations to facilitate the delivery, retention and sustained release of active drugs to a variety of targeted body cavities. We believe that our proprietary formulation technology can improve the efficacy of locally administered drugs in body cavities that present anatomical and physiological challenges related to frequent wash out, rapid excretion and bodily secretions.
Strong intellectual property position. We have a robust intellectual property portfolio that includes 42 granted patents worldwide and more than 45 pending patent applications filed in the US, Europe, Israel, Japan, Canada, China, Mexico and Australia. In the United States, we currently have 19 granted patents that are directed to protect our approved product, Jelmyto and our lead product candidate, UGN-102, a proprietary RTGel technology, various local compositions comprising different active ingredients, inter alia compositions comprising a Botulinum Toxin, UGN-201, UGN-302 (the sequential use of UGN-201 and UGN-301) and our future product candidates that are under company research. These patents claim methods, combination products and novel compositions for treating different diseases, especially cancer in internal cavities, in particular urinary tract cancer. Our issued patents are set to expire between 2024 and 2037.
Experienced and accomplished leadership team with proven track record. We have an experienced management team, with each member possessing deep experience in the biotechnology and related industries. Our President and Chief Executive Officer, Liz Barrett was CEO of Novartis Oncology and a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis. She previously served as Global President of Oncology at Pfizer Inc. At Pfizer, she held numerous leadership positions, including President of Global Innovative Pharma for Europe, President of the Specialty Care Business Unit for North America, and President of United States Oncology. Prior to Pfizer, she was Vice President and General Manager of the Oncology Business Unit at Cephalon Inc. Ms. Barrett also worked at Johnson & Johnson. In addition, our Chairman, Arie Belldegrun, M.D., is a seasoned biotech executive and was the founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Kite Pharma, Inc., which was sold to Gilead Sciences, Inc. Dr. Belldegrun is also a urologist by training. We believe that our leadership team is well-positioned to lead us through clinical development, regulatory approval and commercialization for our product candidates.
Our Growth Strategy
We are a biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercializing innovative solutions that treat urothelial and specialty cancers. Some key growth drivers are as follows:
Establish our approved product, Jelmyto, as standard of care in low-grade UTUC.
We secured FDA approval of Jelmyto in April 2020 and launched in June 2020. Our current priority is to continue our efforts to ensure the successful commercialization of Jelmyto and to establish Jelmyto as standard of care in low-grade UTUC.
Advance our product candidate UGN-102 and establish it as the first primary non-surgical chemoablative therapy in its target indication following regulatory approval.
We submitted an IND for UGN-102 in June 2018. In November 2020 we reported final topline data from an open-label, single-arm Phase 2b clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of UGN-102 for the treatment of patients with low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC. UGN-102 is currently in a Phase 3 trial. We believe that UGN-102 has the potential to be a new therapeutic option for the treatment of low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC patients, if approved.
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Expand our uro-oncology product pipeline.
We believe that UGN-301 in combination with other potential agents could represent an option for the post-TURBT adjuvant treatment of high-grade NMIBC. In November 2019, we entered into a worldwide license agreement with Agenus to develop and commercialize zalifrelimab, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody, via intravesical delivery. We believe that the combination treatment makes local therapy a potentially more effective treatment option while minimizing systemic exposure and potential side effects.
Utilize our proprietary technology to expand our pipeline to other body cavities and indications.
We believe that RTGel may be suitable for multiple additional applications. Our know-how may enable us to develop different drug formulations to facilitate the delivery, retention, increased dwell time and sustained release of active drugs to a variety of targeted body cavities. In the future, we may also choose to develop our RTGel technology in combination with other drugs to treat cancer and other indications endemic to such body cavities.
Evaluate and selectively pursue potential collaborations in specialty oncology, uro-oncology and urology as well as to develop improved formulations and RTGel product life-cycle management strategies.
We are focused on driving growth through business development and geographic footprint expansion focusing on sustained nearer-term revenue growth, innovation, high unmet need and cost-effective value creation. We are seeking potential partnerships with leading academic institutions as well as other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Such collaborations may allow us to obtain financial support and to capitalize on the expertise and resources of our potential partners, which could allow for new and improved versions of approved or clinical stage drugs and could accelerate the development and commercialization of additional product candidates.
Intellectual Property
Our patent estate includes patents and patent applications with claims directed to our approved product, Jelmyto and our lead product candidate, UGN-102, a proprietary RTGel technology, various local compositions comprising different active ingredients, inter alia compositions comprising a Botulinum Toxin, UGN-201, UGN-302 (the sequential use of UGN-201 and UGN-301) and our future product candidates that are under company research.
In the United States, we currently have 19 granted patents that are directed to protect our approved product, Jelmyto and our lead product candidate, UGN-102, a proprietary RTGel technology, various local compositions comprising different active ingredients, inter alia compositions comprising a Botulinum Toxin, UGN-201 and our future product candidates that are under company research. These patents claim methods, combination products and novel compositions for treating different diseases, especially cancer in internal cavities, in particular urinary tract cancer. These issued patents are set to expire between 2024 and 2037. In total, our IP portfolio includes 42 granted patents worldwide, and more than 45 pending patent applications filed in the US, Europe, Israel, Japan, Canada, China, Mexico and Australia that are directed to cover various methods, systems and compositions for treating cancer locally, by intravesical means, utilize various active ingredients and the combinations thereof. These patent applications, if issued, are set to expire between 2031 and 2041.
As noted earlier, companies are required as part of the NDA submission process to list patents with the FDA whose claims cover the applicant’s product. Accordingly, we have listed two patents for Jelmyto in the FDA’s Orange Book upon approval of Jelmyto for commercial sale, as part of the NDA process.
Our worldwide intellectual property portfolio includes patents and patent applications filed in many jurisdictions such as the US, Europe, Israel, Japan, Canada, China and Australia of which are expected to remain in effect until 2037:
• Hydrogel for removal ureteral and renal stones.
In addition to patents, we have filed applications for trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the "USPTO"), as well as certain other international jurisdictions for Jelmyto ®, RTGel ®, UroGen® and Cystoject TMand for certain other tradenames and logos. In addition, we have a registered trademark in the U.S. covering a stylized design of our UroGen Pharmaceutical logo.
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Furthermore, we rely upon trade secrets, know-how and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our competitive position. Preparing and filing patent applications is a joint endeavor of our research and development team and our in-house and external patent attorneys. Our patent attorneys conduct patent prior-art searches and then analyze the data in order to provide our research and development team with recommendations on a routine basis. This results in:
• protecting our product candidates that are under development;
• preventing competitors from attempting to design-around our inventions.
Competition
We are developing products for patients with low-grade UTUC, low-grade NMIBC and high-grade NMIBC.
Prior to Jelmyto, there were no approved drugs used to treat the low-grade UTUC. Tumor resection surgeries are conducted in some cases of low-grade UTUC; however, complete kidney and upper urinary tract removal is the standard of care for recurring UTUC. We are aware of a company called Steba Biotech with an IND granted in December 2020 who has initiated a Phase 3 study of padeliporfin ImPACT for the treatment of adult patients with low-grade and unifocal high-grade UTUC in the first quarter of 2021. In January 2023, SURGE Therapeutics received FDA clearance on an IND to proceed with a Phase 1/2a study of its SURGERx platform with resiquimod for prevention of recurrence and/or progression after TURBT in NMIBC, previously diagnosed with high-grade disease and experience recurrence. We do not know whether other competitors in the NMIBC space are already developing, or plan to develop, UTUC treatments. Competition may increase further as a result of advances in the commercial applicability of technologies and greater availability of capital for investment in this industry. Our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing on an exclusive basis, products that are more effective, easier to administer or less costly than our product candidates.
The standard of care for treating low-grade NMIBC is repeated TURBT procedures. While effective, patients with low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC experience frequent recurrences and repeated surgical procedures. Mitomycin is sometimes used off-label as adjuvant treatment in the post-TURBT setting for low-grade NMIBC patients. However, off-label usage as a standard of care does not change the FDA’s approval criteria and does not suggest that FDA approval is more likely than for other investigational drugs. Companies such as Janssen and Lipac are conducting, or have recently conducted clinical trials for product candidates for the treatment of low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC.
The standard of care for treating high-grade NMIBC patients is the TURBT procedure for papillary tumor resection, followed by post-operative adjuvant BCG. In the case of high-grade disease without papillary tumor (CIS), BCG is used alone as primary therapy. BCG was approved by the FDA in 1989, since its approval, only three other drugs were approved for high-grade NMIBC: Valstar, approved by the FDA in 1998; Keytruda, approved by the FDA in 2020; and Adstiladrin, approved by the FDA in 2022 for BCG unresponsive CIS. Valstar is indicated for patients with CIS that do not respond to BCG treatment and is rarely used. Keytruda was approved for CIS with or without papillary involvement for patients who do not respond to BCG treatment. It remains to be seen whether the broader urology community will adopt a systemic infused immunotherapy into their clinical management of BCG unresponsive NMIBC. In addition to these approved options, off-label intravesical chemotherapy can be used (such as gemcitabine and cisplatin). If the disease can no longer be controlled, patients will typically proceed to cystectomy, or surgical removal of the bladder, to prevent progression to muscle invasive and metastatic disease. There are several products in the development pipeline, most of which are treatments targeted for high-grade NMIBC patients who have failed BCG treatment and are facing cystectomy.
We are aware of several pharmaceutical companies that are developing drugs in the fields of urology and uro-oncology, such as AADi, LLC, Biocancell Ltd., Bristol Myers Squibb, FKD Therapies Oy, GSK, ImmunityBio, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Roche, Samyang biopharma, Seagen Inc., Sesen Bio, Steba Biotech Ltd., SURGE Therapeutics, Viralytics Limited, and Vyriad. Steba Biotech was granted an IND in December 2020, and has initiated a Phase 3 study of padeliporfin ImPACT for the treatment of adult patients with low-grade and unifocal high-grade UTUC in the first quarter of 2021. SURGE Therapeutics received clearance for an IND application in January 2023 to proceed with a Phase 1/2a study of SURGERx with resiquimod, for prevention of recurrence and/or progression after TURBT in NMIBC, previously diagnosed with high-grade disease and experience recurrence. We are also aware that other companies, such as Janssen and Lipac, are conducting, or have recently conducted clinical trials for product candidates for the treatment of low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC. In addition, we face competition from existing standards of treatment, surgical tumor resection procedures. If we are not able to demonstrate that our product candidates are at least as safe and effective as such courses of treatment, medical professionals may not adopt our product candidates in replacement of the existing standard of care.
The biotechnology industry is intensely competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological change. Our potential competitors include large and experienced companies that enjoy significant competitive advantages over us, such as greater financial, research and development, manufacturing, personnel and marketing resources, greater brand recognition, and more experience and expertise in obtaining marketing approvals from the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities. These companies may develop new drugs to treat the indications that we target or seek to have existing drugs approved for use for the treatment of the indications that we target.
These potential competitors may therefore introduce competing products without our prior knowledge and without our ability to take preemptive measures in anticipation of their commercial launch. Competition may increase further as a result of advances in the commercial applicability of technologies and greater availability of capital for investment in this industry. Our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or exclusively licensing products that are more effective, easier to administer or less costly than our product candidates.
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Government Regulation
The FDA and comparable regulatory agencies in state and local jurisdictions and in foreign countries impose substantial requirements upon the clinical development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical products. These agencies and other federal, state and local entities regulate research and development activities and the testing, manufacture, quality control, safety, effectiveness, labeling, storage, packaging, recordkeeping, tracking, approval, import, export, distribution, advertising and promotion of our products.
The process required by the FDA before product candidates may be marketed in the United States generally involves the following:
• submission to the FDA of an NDA;
• satisfactory completion of an FDA advisory committee review, if applicable;
The testing and approval process requires substantial time, effort and financial resources. Nonclinical studies include laboratory evaluation of drug substance chemistry, pharmacology, toxicity and drug product formulation, as well as animal studies to assess potential safety and efficacy. Prior to commencing the first clinical trial with a product candidate, we must submit the results of the nonclinical tests and nonclinical literature, together with manufacturing information, analytical data and any available clinical data or literature, among other things, to the FDA as part of an IND. Some nonclinical studies may continue even after the IND is submitted. The IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless the FDA, within the 30-day time period, raises safety concerns or questions about the conduct of the clinical trial by imposing a clinical hold. In such a case, the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns before the clinical trial can begin. Submission of an IND may not result in FDA authorization to commence a clinical trial. A separate submission to the existing IND must be made for each successive clinical trial conducted during product development, as well as amendments to previously submitted clinical trials. Further, an independent IRB for each study site proposing to conduct the clinical trial must review and approve the plan for any clinical trial, its informed consent form and other communications to study subjects before the clinical trial commences at that site. The IRB must continue to oversee the clinical trial while it is being conducted, including any changes to the study plans. Regulatory authorities, an IRB or the sponsor may suspend or discontinue a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the subjects are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk, the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the FDA’s or the IRB’s requirements, if the drug has been associated with unexpected serious harm to subjects, or based on evolving business objectives or competitive climate. Some studies also include a data safety monitoring board, which receives special access to unblinded data during the clinical trial and may advise us to halt the clinical trial if it determines that there is an unacceptable safety risk for subjects or other grounds, such as no demonstration of efficacy.
In general, for purposes of NDA approval, human clinical trials are typically conducted in three sequential phases that may overlap.
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The FDA may require, or companies may pursue, additional clinical trials after a product is approved. These so-called Phase 4 studies may be made a condition to be satisfied after approval. The results of Phase 4 studies can confirm the effectiveness of a product candidate and can provide important safety information.
Clinical trials must be conducted under the supervision of qualified investigators in accordance with GCP requirements, which includes the requirements that all research subjects provide their informed consent in writing for their participation in any clinical trial, and the review and approval of the study by an IRB. Investigators must also provide information to the clinical trial sponsors to allow the sponsors to make specified financial disclosures to the FDA. Clinical trials are conducted under protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the trial, the trial procedures, the parameters to be used in monitoring safety and the efficacy criteria to be evaluated and a statistical analysis plan. Information about some clinical trials, including a description of the trial and trial results, must be submitted within specific timeframes to the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, for public dissemination on their ClinicalTrials.gov website.
The manufacture of investigational drugs for the conduct of human clinical trials is subject to cGMP requirements. Investigational drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients imported into the United States are also subject to regulation by the FDA relating to their labeling and distribution. Further, the export of investigational drug products outside of the United States is subject to regulatory requirements of the receiving country as well as U.S. export requirements under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act ("FDCA"). Progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials must be submitted at least annually to the FDA and the IRB and more frequently if serious adverse events ("SAEs") occur.
Concurrent with clinical trials, companies usually complete additional animal studies and must also develop additional information about the chemistry and physical characteristics of the product candidate as well as finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with cGMP requirements. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the product candidate and, among other things, must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality and purity of the final product. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested, and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that the product candidate does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf life.
505(b)(2) Regulatory Approval Process
Section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA ("505(b)(2)"), provides an alternate regulatory pathway to FDA approval for new or improved formulations or new uses of previously approved drug products. Specifically, 505(b)(2) permits the filing of an NDA where at least some of the information required for approval comes from studies not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference or use from the person by or for whom the investigations were conducted. The applicant may rely upon the FDA’s prior findings of safety and efficacy for an approved product that acts as the reference listed drug for purposes of a 505(b)(2) NDA. The FDA may also require 505(b)(2) applicants to perform additional studies or measurements to support any changes from the reference listed drug. The FDA may then approve the new product candidate for all or some of the labeled indications for which the referenced product has been approved, as well as for any new indication sought by the 505(b)(2) applicant.
Orange Book Listing
Section 505 of the FDCA describes three types of marketing applications that may be submitted to the FDA to request marketing authorization for a new drug. A Section 505(b)(1) NDA is an application that contains full reports of investigations of safety and efficacy. A 505(b)(2) NDA is an application that contains full reports of investigations of safety and efficacy, but where at least some of the information required for approval comes from investigations that were not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference or use from the person by or for whom the investigations were conducted. This regulatory pathway enables the applicant to rely, in part, on the FDA’s prior findings of safety and efficacy for an existing product, or published literature, in support of its application. Section 505(j) establishes an abbreviated approval process for a generic version of approved drug products through the submission of an abbreviated new drug application ("ANDA"). An ANDA provides for marketing of a generic drug product that has the same active ingredients, dosage form, strength, route of administration, labeling, performance characteristics and intended use, among other things, to a previously approved product. ANDAs are termed “abbreviated” because they are generally not required to include nonclinical and clinical data to establish safety and efficacy. Instead, generic applicants must scientifically demonstrate that their product is bioequivalent to, or performs in the same manner as, the innovator drug through in vitro, in vivo or other testing. The generic version must deliver the same amount of active ingredients into a subject’s bloodstream in the same amount of time as the innovator drug and under Part D, can often be substituted by pharmacists under prescriptions written for the reference listed drug.
In seeking approval for a drug through an NDA, including a 505(b)(2) NDA, applicants are required to list patents with the FDA which claims cover the applicant’s product. The patents chosen as part of this submission do not reflect the entire patent estate or set of product protections associated with this product, which may provide various protections beyond the patents submitted in the NDA application. Upon approval of an NDA, each of the patents listed in the application for the drug is then published in Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations, also known as the Orange Book. These products may be cited by potential competitors in support of approval of an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA.
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Any applicant who submits an ANDA seeking approval of a generic equivalent version of a drug listed in the Orange Book or a 505(b)(2) NDA referencing a drug listed in the Orange Book must certify to the FDA that (1) no patent information on the drug product that is the subject of the application has been submitted to the FDA; (2) such patent has expired; (3) the date on which such patent expires; or (4) such patent is invalid or will not be infringed upon by the manufacture, use or sale of the drug product for which the application is submitted. This last certification is known as a Paragraph IV certification. Generally, the ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA cannot be approved until all listed patents have expired, except where the ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA applicant challenges a listed patent through a Paragraph IV certification. If the applicant does not challenge the listed patents or does not indicate that it is not seeking approval of a patented method of use, the ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA application will not be approved until all of the listed patents claiming the referenced product have expired.
If the competitor has provided a Paragraph IV certification to the FDA, the competitor must also send notice of the Paragraph IV certification to the holder of the NDA for the reference listed drug and the patent owner once the application has been accepted for filing by the FDA. The NDA holder or patent owner may then initiate a patent infringement lawsuit in response to the notice of the Paragraph IV certification. The filing of a patent infringement lawsuit within 45 days of the receipt of a Paragraph IV certification prevents the FDA from approving the application until the earlier of 30 months from the date of the lawsuit, expiration of the patent, settlement of the lawsuit, a decision in the infringement case that is favorable to the applicant, or such shorter or longer period as may be ordered by a court. This prohibition is generally referred to as the 30-month stay. In instances where an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA applicant files a Paragraph IV certification, the NDA holder or patent owner regularly takes action to trigger the 30-month stay, recognizing that the related patent litigation may take many months or years to resolve. Thus, approval of an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA could be delayed for a significant period of time depending on the patent certification the applicant makes and the reference drug sponsor’s decision to initiate patent litigation. The applicant may also elect to submit a statement certifying that its proposed label does not contain, or carves out, any language regarding the patented method-of-use rather than certify to a listed method-of-use patent.
Exclusivity
The FDA provides periods of regulatory exclusivity, which provides the holder of an approved NDA limited protection from new competition in the marketplace for the innovation represented by its approved drug for a period of three or five years following the FDA’s approval of the NDA. Five years of exclusivity are available to New Chemical Entities ("NCEs"). An NCE is a drug that contains no active moiety that has been approved by the FDA in any other NDA. An active moiety is the molecule or ion, excluding those appended portions of the molecule that cause the drug to be an ester, salt, including a salt with hydrogen or coordination bonds, or other noncovalent, or not involving the sharing of electron pairs between atoms, derivatives, such as a complex (i.e., formed by the chemical interaction of two compounds), chelate (i.e., a chemical compound), or clathrate (i.e., a polymer framework that traps molecules), of the molecule, responsible for the therapeutic activity of the drug substance. During the exclusivity period, the FDA may not accept for review or approve an ANDA or a 505(b)(2) NDA submitted by another company that contains the previously approved active moiety. An ANDA or 505(b)(2) application, however, may be submitted one year before NCE exclusivity expires if a Paragraph IV certification is filed.
If a product is not eligible for the NCE exclusivity, it may be eligible for three years of exclusivity. Three-year exclusivity is available to the holder of an NDA, including a 505(b)(2) NDA, for a particular condition of approval, or change to a marketed product, such as a new formulation for a previously approved product, if one or more new clinical trials, other than bioavailability or bioequivalence trials, was essential to the approval of the application and was conducted or sponsored by the applicant. This three-year exclusivity period protects against FDA approval of ANDAs and 505(b)(2) NDAs for the condition of the new drug’s approval. As a general matter, three-year exclusivity does not prohibit the FDA from approving ANDAs or 505(b)(2) NDAs for generic versions of the original, unmodified drug product. Five-year and three-year exclusivity will not delay the submission or approval of a full NDA; however, an applicant submitting a full NDA would be required to conduct or obtain a right of reference to all of the nonclinical studies and adequate and well-controlled clinical trials necessary to demonstrate safety and efficacy.
The Orphan Drug Act
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant Orphan Drug Designation to drugs intended to treat a rare disease or condition—generally a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States. Orphan Drug Designation must be requested before submitting an NDA. After the FDA grants Orphan Drug Designation, the generic identity of the drug and its potential orphan use are disclosed publicly by the FDA. Orphan Drug Designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process. The first NDA applicant to receive FDA approval for a particular active ingredient to treat a particular disease with FDA Orphan Drug Designation is entitled to a seven-year exclusive marketing period in the United States for that product, for that indication. During the seven-year exclusivity period, the FDA may not approve any other applications to market the same drug for the same disease, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity. Orphan drug exclusivity does not prevent FDA from approving a different drug for the same disease or condition, or the same drug for a different disease or condition. Among the other benefits of Orphan Drug Designation are tax credits for certain research and a waiver of the NDA application user fee.
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Expedited Development and Review Programs
The FDA is required to facilitate the development and expedite the review of drugs that are intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition for which there is no effective treatment, and which demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for the condition. Under the Fast Track program, the sponsor of a new product candidate may request the FDA to designate the product for a specific indication as a Fast Track product concurrent with or after the submission of the IND for the product candidate. The FDA must determine if the product candidate qualifies for Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy designations within 60 days after receipt of the sponsor’s request.
For Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy products, the sponsor may have more frequent interactions with the FDA and the FDA may initiate review of sections of a Fast Track or Breakthrough Therapy product’s NDA before the application is complete. This rolling review is available if the applicant provides and the FDA approves a schedule for the submission of the remaining information and the applicant pays applicable user fees. However, the FDA’s time period goal for reviewing a Fast Track or Breakthrough Therapy application does not begin until the last section of the NDA is submitted. In addition, the Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy designations may be withdrawn by the FDA if the FDA believes that the designation is no longer supported by data emerging in the clinical trial process. A Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy designated product candidate would ordinarily meet the FDA’s criteria for priority review.
Drug products studied for their safety and effectiveness in treating serious or life-threatening illnesses and that provide meaningful therapeutic benefit over existing treatments may receive accelerated approval, which means that they may be approved on the basis of adequate and well-controlled clinical trials establishing that the product has an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict a clinical benefit, or on the basis of an effect on an intermediate clinical endpoint other than survival or irreversible morbidity, taking into account the severity, rarity, or prevalence of the condition and the availability or lack of alternative treatments. As a condition of approval, the FDA generally requires that a sponsor of a drug product receiving accelerated approval perform adequate and well-controlled post-marketing clinical trials to verify the clinical benefit in relationship to the surrogate endpoint or ultimate outcome in relationship to the clinical benefit. In addition, the FDA currently requires as a condition for accelerated approval pre-approval of promotional materials, which could adversely impact the timing of the commercial launch of the product. The FDA may withdraw approval of a drug or indication approved under accelerated approval if, for example, the confirmatory trial fails to verify the predicted clinical benefit of the product.
NDA Submission and Review by the FDA
Assuming successful completion of the required clinical and nonclinical testing, among other items, the results of product development, including chemistry, manufacture and controls, nonclinical studies and clinical trials are submitted to the FDA, along with proposed labeling, as part of an NDA. The submission of an NDA requires payment of a substantial user fee to the FDA. These user fees must be paid at the time of the first submission of the application, even if the application is being submitted on a rolling basis. Fee waivers or reductions are available in some circumstances. One basis for a waiver of the application user fee is if the applicant employs fewer than 500 employees, including employees of affiliates, the applicant does not have an approved marketing application for a product that has been introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce, and the applicant, including its affiliates, is submitting its first marketing application.
In addition, under the Pediatric Research Equity Act ("PREA"), an NDA or supplement to an NDA for a new active ingredient, indication, dosage form, dosage regimen or route of administration must contain data that are adequate to assess the safety and efficacy of the drug for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations, and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product is safe and effective. The FDA may, on its own initiative or at the request of the applicant, grant deferrals for submission of some or all pediatric data until after approval of the product for use in adults or full or partial waivers from the pediatric data requirements.
The FDA may refer applications for drugs that contain active ingredients that have not previously been approved by the FDA or drugs which present difficult questions of safety, purity or potency to an advisory committee. An advisory committee is typically a panel that includes clinicians and other experts who review, evaluate and make a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions. The FDA is not bound by the recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations carefully when making decisions.
The FDA reviews applications to determine, among other things, whether a product is safe and effective for its intended use and whether the manufacturing controls are adequate to assure and preserve the product’s identity, strength, quality and purity. Before approving an NDA, the FDA will inspect the facility or facilities where the product is manufactured. The FDA will not approve an application unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities, including contract manufacturers and subcontracts, are in compliance with cGMP requirements and adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. Additionally, before approving an NDA, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical trial sites to assure compliance with GCPs.
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Once the FDA receives an application, it has 60 days to review the NDA to determine if it is substantially complete to permit a substantive review, before it accepts the application for filing. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an in-depth review of the NDA. The FDA’s NDA review times may differ based on whether the application is a standard review or priority review application. The FDA may give a priority review designation to drugs that are intended to treat serious conditions and provide significant improvements in the safety or effectiveness of the treatment, diagnosis, or prevention of serious conditions. Under the goals and policies agreed to by the FDA under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act ("PDUFA"), the FDA has set the review goal of 10 months from the 60-day filing date to complete its initial review of a standard NDA for a New Molecular Entity ("NME") and make a decision on the application. For non-NME standard applications, the FDA has set the review goal of 10 months from the submission date to complete its initial review and to make a decision on the application. For priority review applications, the FDA has set the review goal of reviewing NME NDAs within six months of the 60-day filing date and non-NME applications within six months of the submission date. Such deadlines are referred to as the PDUFA date. The PDUFA date is only a goal and the FDA does not always meet its PDUFA dates. The review process and the PDUFA date may also be extended if the FDA requests or the NDA sponsor otherwise provides additional information or clarification regarding the submission.
Once the FDA’s review of the application is complete, the FDA will issue either a Complete Response Letter ("CRL"), or approval letter. A CRL indicates that the review cycle of the application is complete, and the application is not ready for approval. A CRL generally contains a statement of specific conditions that must be met in order to secure final approval of the NDA and may require additional clinical or nonclinical testing, or other information or analyses in order for the FDA to reconsider the application. The FDA has the goal of reviewing 90% of application resubmissions in either two or six months of the resubmission date, depending on the kind of resubmission. Even with the submission of additional information, the FDA ultimately may decide that the application does not satisfy the regulatory criteria for approval. If and when those conditions have been met to the FDA’s satisfaction, the FDA may issue an approval letter. An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the drug with specific prescribing information for specific indications.
The FDA may delay or refuse approval of an NDA if applicable regulatory criteria are not satisfied, require additional testing or information and/or require post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor safety or efficacy of a product, or impose other conditions, including distribution restrictions or other risk management mechanisms. For example, the FDA may require a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy ("REMS"), as a condition of approval or following approval to mitigate any identified or suspected serious risks and ensure safe use of the drug. The FDA may prevent or limit further marketing of a product, or impose additional post-marketing requirements, based on the results of post-marketing studies or surveillance programs. After approval, some types of changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications, manufacturing changes and additional labeling claims, are subject to further testing requirements, FDA notification and FDA review and approval. Further, should new safety information arise, additional testing, product labeling or FDA notification may be required.
If regulatory approval of a product is granted, such approval may entail limitations on the indicated uses for which such product may be marketed or may include contraindications, warnings or precautions in the product labeling, which has resulted in a boxed warning. The FDA also may not approve the inclusion of labeling claims necessary for successful marketing. Once approved, the FDA may withdraw the product approval if compliance with pre- and post-marketing regulatory standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the marketplace. In addition, the FDA may require Phase 4 post-marketing studies to monitor the effect of approved products and may limit further marketing of the product based on the results of these post-marketing studies.
Post-approval Requirements
Any products manufactured or distributed by us pursuant to FDA approvals are subject to continuing regulation by the FDA, including manufacturing, periodic reporting, product sampling and distribution, advertising, promotion, drug shortage reporting, compliance with any post-approval requirements imposed as a conditional of approval such as Phase 4 clinical trials, REMS and surveillance, recordkeeping and reporting requirements, including adverse experiences.
After approval, most changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications or other labeling claims are subject to prior FDA review and approval. There also are continuing annual program user fee requirements for any approved products, as well as new application fees for supplemental applications with clinical data. Drug manufacturers and their subcontractors are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies and to list their drug products and are subject to periodic announced and unannounced inspections by the FDA and these state agencies for compliance with cGMPs and other requirements, which impose procedural and documentation requirements upon us and our third-party manufacturers. We cannot be certain that we or our present or future suppliers will be able to comply with the cGMP regulations and other FDA regulatory requirements.
Changes to the manufacturing process are strictly regulated and often require prior FDA approval before being implemented, or FDA notification. FDA regulations also require investigation and correction of any deviations from cGMPs and specifications and impose reporting and documentation requirements upon the sponsor and any third-party manufacturers that the sponsor may decide to use. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain cGMP compliance.
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Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in withdrawal of marketing approval, mandatory revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information or other limitations, imposition of post-market studies or clinical trials to assess new safety risks or imposition of distribution or other restrictions under a REMS program, among other consequences.
The FDA closely regulates the marketing and promotion of drugs. A company can make only those claims relating to safety and efficacy, purity and potency that are approved by the FDA. Physicians, in their independent professional medical judgement, may prescribe legally available products for uses that are not described in the product’s labeling and that differ from those tested by us and approved by the FDA. We, however, are prohibited from marketing or promoting drugs for uses outside of the approved labeling but may share truthful and not misleading information that is otherwise consistent with the product’s approved labeling.
In addition, the distribution of prescription pharmaceutical products, including samples, is subject to the Prescription Drug Marketing Act ("PDMA"), which regulates the distribution of drugs and drug samples at the federal level, and sets minimum standards for the registration and regulation of drug distributors by the states. Both the PDMA and state laws limit the distribution of prescription pharmaceutical product samples and impose requirements to ensure accountability in distribution. The Drug Supply Chain Security Act also imposes obligations on manufacturers of pharmaceutical products related to product tracking and tracing.
Failure to comply with any of the FDA’s requirements could result in significant adverse enforcement actions. These include a variety of administrative or judicial sanctions, such as refusal to approve pending applications, license suspension or revocation, withdrawal of an approval, imposition of a clinical hold or termination of clinical trials, warning letters, untitled letters, cyber letters, modification of promotional materials or labeling, product recalls, product seizures or detentions, refusal to allow imports or exports, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, debarment, injunctions, fines, consent decrees, corporate integrity agreements, refusals of government contracts and new orders under existing contracts, exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs, restitution, disgorgement or civil or criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment. Any of these sanctions could result in adverse publicity, among other adverse consequences.
Other Healthcare Regulations
Our business activities, including but not limited to, research, sales, promotion, distribution, medical education and other activities following product approval will be subject to regulation by numerous regulatory and law enforcement authorities in the United States in addition to the FDA, including potentially the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), and its various divisions, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS"), and the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense and state and local governments. Our business activities must comply with numerous federal, state, and foreign healthcare laws and regulations, including those described below.
The federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits, among other things, any person or entity from knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting or receiving any remuneration, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward, or in return for, the referral of an individual for, or purchasing, leasing, ordering, or arranging for the purchase, lease or order of, any good, facility, item or service reimbursable, in whole or in part, by Medicare, Medicaid or other federal healthcare programs. The term remuneration has been interpreted broadly to include anything of value, including unlawful financial inducements paid to prescribers and beneficiaries, as well as impermissible promotional practices. There are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting some common activities from prosecution, but the exceptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly. Failure to meet all of the requirements of a particular applicable statutory exception or regulatory safe harbor does not make the conduct per se illegal under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Instead, the legality of the arrangement will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis based on a cumulative review of all of its facts and circumstances. Additionally, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively the "ACA"), amended the intent requirement of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute so that a person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, or the specific intent to violate it, to have violated the statute. The ACA also provided that a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute is grounds for the government or a whistleblower to assert that a claim for payment of items or services resulting from such violation constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the federal civil False Claims Act.
The federal civil and criminal false claims laws, including the federal civil False Claims Act, prohibit, among other things, any person or entity from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, a false claim for payment to, or for approval by, the federal government, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs, or knowingly making, using, or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government.
The civil monetary penalties statute imposes penalties against any person or entity who, among other things, is determined to have presented or caused to be presented a claim to a federal health program that the person knows or should know is for an item or service that was not provided as claimed or is false or fraudulent.
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As a condition of receiving Medicaid coverage for prescription drugs, the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program requires manufacturers to calculate and report to CMS their Average Manufacturer Price ("AMP"), which is used to determine rebate payments shared between the states and the federal government and, for some multiple source drugs, Medicaid payment rates for the drug, and for drugs paid under Medicare Part B, to also calculate and report their average sales price, which is used to determine the Medicare Part B payment rate for the drug. In January 2016, CMS issued a final rule regarding the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, effective April 1, 2016, that, among other things, revises the manner in which the AMP is to be calculated by manufacturers participating in the program and implements certain amendments to the Medicaid rebate statute created under the ACA. On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law, which eliminates the statutory Medicaid drug rebate cap, currently set at 100% of a drug’s AMP for single source and innovator multiple source drugs beginning January 1, 2024. Drugs that are approved under a biologics license application ("BLA"), or an NDA, including a 505(b)(2) NDA, are subject to an additional requirement to calculate and report the manufacturer’s best price for the drug and inflation penalties which can substantially increase rebate payments. For BLA and NDA drugs, the Veterans Health Care Act requires manufacturers to calculate and report to the Department of Veterans Affairs a different price called the Non-Federal AMP, offer the drugs for sale on the Federal Supply Schedule, and charge the government no more than a statutory price referred to as the Federal Ceiling Price, which includes an inflation penalty. A separate law requires manufacturers to pay rebates on these drugs when paid by the Department of Defense under its TRICARE Retail Pharmacy Program. Knowingly submitting false pricing information to the government could result in significant penalties and creates potential federal civil False Claims Act liability.
The Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"), created additional federal civil and criminal statutes that prohibit knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program, including public and private payors, or obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises, any of the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any healthcare benefit program, regardless of whether the payor is public or private, knowingly and willfully embezzling or stealing from a health care benefit program, willfully obstructing a criminal investigation of a health care offense and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up by any trick or device a material fact or making any materially false statements in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, healthcare benefits, items or services relating to healthcare matters. The ACA amended the federal health care fraud criminal statute implemented under HIPAA so that a person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of the statute, or the specific intent to violate it, to have violated the statute.
Additionally, the federal Open Payments program pursuant to the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, created under Section 6002 of the ACA and its implementing regulations, require some manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with specified exceptions) to report annually information related to specified payments or other transfers of value provided to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors), certain other healthcare professionals (such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners), and teaching hospitals, or to entities or individuals at the request of, or designated on behalf of, such professionals and teaching hospitals and to report annually specified ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members.
In addition, we may be subject to data privacy and security regulation by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act ("HITECH"), and their implementing regulations, impose requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information on HIPAA covered entities, which include certain healthcare providers, health plans and healthcare clearinghouses, and their business associates as well as their covered subcontractors, including mandatory contractual terms and the implementation of certain safeguards of such information. Among other things, HITECH makes HIPAA’s security standards directly applicable to business associates, independent contractors or agents of covered entities that receive or obtain protected health information in connection with providing a service on behalf of a covered entity. HITECH also created four new tiers of civil monetary penalties, amended HIPAA to make civil and criminal penalties directly applicable to business associates, and gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions for damages or injunctions in federal courts to enforce the federal HIPAA laws and seek attorneys’ fees and costs associated with pursuing federal civil actions. In addition, state laws govern the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways, may not have the same effect and may not be preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.
Many states have also adopted laws similar to each of the above federal laws, which may be broader in scope and apply to items or services reimbursed by any payor, including commercial insurers. In addition, we may be subject to certain analogous foreign healthcare laws. We may also be subject to state laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government, and/or state laws that require drug manufacturers to report information related to marketing expenditures or payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers, and drug pricing. Certain state and local laws also require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives.
Enforcement actions can be brought by federal or state governments or, in some cases, as “qui tam” actions brought by individual whistleblowers in the name of the government. Depending on the circumstances, failure to comply with these laws can result in significant penalties, including criminal, civil and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, debarment from government contracts, imprisonment, additional reporting requirements and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, exclusion from government programs, refusal to allow us to enter into supply contracts, including government contracts, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our business.
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Coverage and Reimbursement
Our ability to commercialize any products successfully, including Jelmyto, UGN-102 and our other product candidates, if approved, also will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement for our products, once approved, and related treatments will be available from third-party payors, such as government health administration authorities, private health insurers and managed care organizations. Third-party payors determine which medications they will cover and separately establish reimbursement levels. Even if we obtain coverage for a given product by a third-party payor, the third-party payor’s reimbursement rates may not be adequate to make the product affordable to patients or profitable to us, or the third-party payors may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high. Patients who are prescribed medications for the treatment of their conditions, and their prescribing physicians, generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with their prescription drugs. Patients are unlikely to use our products unless coverage is provided, and reimbursement is adequate to cover all or a significant portion of the cost of our products. Therefore, coverage and adequate reimbursement is critical to new product acceptance. Coverage decisions may depend upon clinical and economic standards that disfavor new drug products when more established or lower cost therapeutic alternatives are already available or subsequently become available. Additionally, reimbursement by a third-party payor may depend upon a number of factors including the third-party payor’s determination that use of a product is:
• a covered benefit under its health plan;
• safe, effective and medically necessary;
• appropriate for the specific patient;
• cost-effective; and
• neither experimental nor investigational.
Obtaining and maintaining coverage and reimbursement approval for a product from a government or other third-party payor is a time-consuming and costly process that could require us to provide supporting scientific, clinical and cost effectiveness data for the use of our products to the payor.
Further, no uniform policy requirement for coverage and reimbursement for drug products exists among third-party payors in the United States. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for drug products can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the coverage determination process may require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our products to
each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance.
In the United States, decisions about reimbursement for new medicines under Medicare are made by CMS, as the administrator for the Medicare program. Private third-party payors often use CMS as a model for their coverage and reimbursement decisions,but also have their own methods and approval process apart from CMS’s determinations. Our experience to date has demonstrated coverage with CMS and commercial payors for Jelmyto, and we have established written policies with certain commercial providers. For example, in October 2020, a Medicare C-Code was issued for Jelmyto and we obtained pass-through status, which expires in 2023. We continue to engage with CMS in relation to ongoing pass-through status. CMS has established a permanent and product-specific J-code for Jelmyto that took effect on January 1, 2021.
Additionally, coverage policies and reimbursement rates may change at any time. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement status is attained for any of our products or product candidates that receive regulatory approval, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future. Government authorities and other third-party payors are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs, such as by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications. Increasingly, third-party payors are requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices as a condition of coverage, are using restrictive formularies and preferred drug lists to leverage greater discounts in competitive classes and are challenging the prices charged for medical products. Further, no uniform policy for determining coverage and reimbursement for drug products exists among third-party payors in the United States. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for drug products can differ significantly from payor to payor. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that will require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our products to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance.
We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for any product that we commercialize and, if reimbursement is available, that the level of reimbursement will be adequate. Coverage and reimbursement may impact the demand for, or the price of, any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval. If coverage and reimbursement are not available, or if reimbursement is available only to limited levels, we may not successfully commercialize any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval.
Healthcare Reform Measures
The United States and some foreign jurisdictions are considering or have enacted a number of legislative and regulatory proposals designed to change the healthcare system in ways that could affect our ability to sell our products profitably. Among policy makers and payors in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and/or expanding access. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of these efforts and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives.
For example, in March 2010, the ACA was passed, which has changed health care financing by both governmental and private insurers and significantly affected the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. The ACA, among other things, subjected manufacturers to new annual fees and taxes for specified branded prescription drugs, increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by most manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, expanded health care fraud and abuse laws, revised the methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers to the state and federal government for covered outpatient drugs under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated, imposed an additional rebate similar to an inflation penalty on new formulations of drugs, extended the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to Medicaid managed care organizations, expanded the 340B program, which caps the price at which manufacturers can sell covered outpatient pharmaceuticals to specified hospitals, clinics and community health centers, and provided incentives to programs that increase the federal government’s comparative effectiveness research.
There have been judicial and Congressional challenges, as well as efforts by the Trump Administration to repeal or replace certain aspects of the ACA. For example, on June 17, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a challenge on procedural grounds that argued the ACA is unconstitutional in its entirety because the individual mandate was repealed by Congress. On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) into law, which among other things, extends enhanced subsidies for individuals purchasing health insurance coverage in ACA marketplaces through plan year 2025. The IRA also eliminates the “donut hole” under the Medicare Part D program beginning in 2025 by significantly lowering the beneficiary maximum out-of-pocket cost and creating a newly established manufacturer discount program. It is possible that the ACA will be subject to judicial or Congressional challenges in the future. It is unclear how any such challenges and the healthcare reform measures of the Biden administration will impact the ACA.
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Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. In August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, created measures for spending reductions by Congress. A Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with recommending a targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, was unable to reach required goals, thereby triggering the legislation’s automatic reduction to several government programs. This includes aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers up to 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect in April 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute will remain in effect until 2031 unless additional U.S. Congressional action is taken. Under current legislation, the actual reduction in Medicare payments will vary from 1% in 2022 to up to 4% in the final fiscal year of this sequester. In addition, in January 2013, President Obama signed into law the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which, among other things, reduced Medicare payments to several categories of healthcare providers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years.
Further, there has been increasing legislative and enforcement interest in the United States with respect to specialty drug pricing practices. Specifically, there have been several U.S. Presidential executive orders. Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted legislation at the federal and state levels designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, reduce the cost of drugs under Medicare, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drugs. At the federal level, in July 2021, the Biden administration released an executive order, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” with multiple provisions aimed at prescription drugs. In response to Biden’s executive order, on September 9, 2021, HHS released a Comprehensive Plan for Addressing High Drug Prices that outlines principles for drug pricing reform and sets out a variety of potential legislative policies that Congress could pursue as well as potential administrative actions HHS can take to advance these principles. Further, on November 15, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Beginning on January 1, 2023, manufacturers will be required to pay quarterly refunds to CMS for discarded amounts of certain single-dose container and single-use package drugs payable under part B of the Medicare program. Refunds are based on the discarded volume above 10% of the total allowed amount. However, in unique circumstances, CMS will increase the applicable threshold to 35%. At this time, CMS has determined that Jelmyto fits within this unique circumstance classification. In addition, the IRA, among other things, (1) directs HHS to negotiate the price of certain single-source drugs and biologics covered under Medicare and (2) imposes rebates under Medicare Part B and Medicare Part D to penalize price increases that outpace inflation. These provisions will take effect progressively starting in fiscal year 2023, although they may be subject to legal challenges. It is currently unclear how the IRA will be implemented but is likely to have a significant impact on the pharmaceutical industry. On October 14, 2022, the Biden administration released an additional executive order directing HHS to report on how the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation can be further leveraged to test new models for lowering drug costs for Medicare and Medicaid. At the state level, legislatures have increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Additional health reform measures may continue and affect our business in unknown ways.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"), prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering or authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with accounting provisions requiring the companies to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the companies, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations.
Foreign Regulation
In addition to regulations in the United States, we will be subject to a variety of foreign regulations governing clinical trials and commercial sales and distribution of our products to the extent we choose to develop or sell any products outside of the United States. The approval process varies from country to country and the time may be longer or shorter than that required to obtain FDA approval. The requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary greatly from country to country.
Manufacturing, Supply and Production
We do not own or operate manufacturing facilities for the production of our product candidates, nor do we have plans to develop our own manufacturing operations in the foreseeable future. We currently rely on third-party contract manufacturers for all of our required raw materials, active ingredients and finished products for our nonclinical research and clinical trials. We have signed commercial supply agreements for Jelmyto with its primary third-party vendors. We are in the process of negotiating commercial supply agreements for product candidate UGN-102 with its primary third-party vendors. We anticipate that these agreements will be executed in advance of the potential FDA approval of UGN-102. We also intend to negotiate, and have negotiated in certain instances, back-up supply agreements with other third-party manufacturers for the commercial production of any approved products, including Jelmyto, and UGN-102 if approved.
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Development and commercial quantities of any products that we develop will need to be manufactured in facilities, and by processes, that comply with the requirements of the FDA and the regulatory agencies of other jurisdictions in which we are seeking approval. We currently employ internal resources to manage our manufacturing contractors. The relevant manufacturers of our drug products for our current nonclinical and clinical trials have advised us that they are compliant with both current good laboratory practice ("cGLP"), and cGMP.
Our future product candidates, if approved, may not be producible in sufficient commercial quantities, in compliance with regulatory requirements or at an acceptable cost. We and our contract manufacturers are, and will be, subject to extensive governmental regulation in connection with the manufacture of any pharmaceutical products or medical devices. We and our contract manufacturers must ensure that all of the processes, methods and equipment are compliant with cGMP and cGLP for drugs on an ongoing basis, as mandated by the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities, and conduct extensive audits of vendors, contract laboratories and suppliers.
Marketing, Sales and Distribution
Our U.S. subsidiary, UroGen Pharma, Inc., was formed to support our U.S. development and potential commercialization efforts. Our commercial management team is comprised of experienced professionals in sales, sales operations, market access, marketing and medical affairs. In addition, we have established a customer-facing team that includes territory business managers with deep experience in both urology and oncology. These territory business managers are led by seven regional business directors, who are in turn supported by three regional operations managers. Each region is additionally supported by one to two clinical nurse educators to provide education and training around instillation, as well as a field reimbursement manager to help ensure access and reimbursement for appropriate patients. In addition, our organization currently includes several medical science liaisons who appropriately engage with physicians interested in learning more about UroGen, Jelmyto and our technology, both in person and virtually. In total, our customer-facing team comprises approximately 80 colleagues.
Our sales force is focused on promoting Jelmyto, and educating potential prescribers to identify patients, activate accounts and gain formulary access, as applicable. In the event that we receive regulatory approvals for our products in markets outside of the United States, we intend, where appropriate, to pursue commercialization relationships, including strategic alliances and licensing, with pharmaceutical companies and other strategic partners, which are equipped to market or sell our products through their well-developed sales, marketing and distribution organizations in such countries.
In addition, we may out-license some or all of our worldwide patent rights to more than one party to achieve the fullest development, marketing and distribution of any products we develop.
Employees
As of January 31, 2023, we had 200 employees worldwide, 158 in the United States and 42 in Israel, many of whom hold advanced degrees. None of our employees are subject to a collective bargaining agreement. We have never experienced any employment-related work stoppages and consider our relationships with our employees are good.
Israeli labor laws govern the length of the workday and workweek, minimum wages for employees, procedures for hiring and dismissing employees, determination of severance pay, annual leave, sick days, advance notice of termination, payments to the National Insurance Institute, and other conditions of employment and include equal opportunity and anti-discrimination laws. While none of our employees is party to any collective bargaining agreements, certain provisions of the collective bargaining agreements between the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) and the Coordination Bureau of Economic Organizations (including the Industrialists’ Associations) are applicable to our employees in Israel by order of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry. These provisions primarily concern pension fund benefits for all employees, insurance for work-related accidents, recuperation pay and travel expenses. We generally provide our employees with benefits and working conditions beyond the required minimums.
Corporate Information
Our legal and commercial name is UroGen Pharma Ltd, with registered offices at 9 Ha'Ta'asiya St., Ra'anana 4365007, Israel. We are a company organized under the laws of State of Israel. We were formed in 2004 with an indefinite duration. We are registered with the Israeli Registrar of Companies. Our principal executive offices are located at 400 Alexander Park Drive, 4th Floor, Princeton, NJ 08540. Our telephone number is (646)768-9780. Investors should contact us for any inquiries through the address and telephone number of our principal executive office. We maintain a web site at http://www.urogen.com. The reference to our website is an inactive textual reference only and the information contained in, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated into this Annual Report.
We file Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other information with the SEC. Our filings with the SEC are available free of charge on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and on our website under the “Investors & Media” tab as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC.
Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this Annual Report to “UroGen Pharma,” “UroGen,” “the Company,” “our Company,” “we,” “us”, and “our” and “UroGen” refer to UroGen Pharma Ltd. and its subsidiary.
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Item 1A. Risk Factors
RISK FACTORS
An investment in our ordinary shares involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider all of the information set forth in this Annual Report and in our other filings with the SEC, including the following risk factors which we face. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks. This Annual Report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our results could materially differ from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, as a result of certain factors including the risks described below and elsewhere in this Annual Report. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” above.
Risks Related to Our Limited Operating History, Financial Condition and Capital Requirements
We have a limited operating history and have incurred significant losses and negative cash flows since our inception, and we anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses and negative cash flows for the foreseeable future, which makes it difficult to assess our future viability.
We are a biotechnology company with a limited operating history upon which you can evaluate our business and prospects. We are not profitable and have incurred net losses in each period since we commenced operations in 2004, including net losses of $110.2 million and $110.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $577.1 million. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future. Our ability to ultimately achieve recurring revenues and profitability is dependent upon our ability to successfully complete the development of our product candidates and obtain necessary regulatory approvals for and successfully manufacture, market and commercialize our products.
We believe that we will continue to expend substantial resources in the foreseeable future for the clinical development of our current product candidates or any additional product candidates and indications that we may choose to pursue in the future. These expenditures will include costs associated with research and development, conducting nonclinical studies and clinical trials, and payments for third-party manufacturing and supply, as well as sales and marketing of any of our product candidates that are approved for sale by regulatory agencies. Because the outcome of any clinical trial is highly uncertain, we cannot reasonably estimate the actual amounts necessary to successfully complete the development and commercialization of our clinical stage and nonclinical drug candidates and any other drug candidates that we may develop in the future. Other unanticipated costs may also arise.
Our future capital requirements depend on many factors, including:
• our degree of success in commercializing Jelmyto;
• the extent and rate of market acceptance of any approved products;
• the expenses needed to attract and retain skilled personnel;
• the costs associated with being a public company;
• the repayment of outstanding debt;
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In addition, we have limited experience and have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the biotechnology industry. Drug development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. To date, we have not obtained regulatory approval for or commercialized any product except Jelmyto.
We will require additional financing to fund our operations and achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this capital when needed and on acceptable terms, or at all, could force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development, commercialization efforts or other operations.
We are not profitable and have had negative cash flow from operations since our inception. Since our inception, almost all our resources have been dedicated to the nonclinical and clinical development of our first commercial product, Jelmyto, and our lead product candidate UGN-102. As of December 31, 2022, we had cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities of approximately $100.0 million. To fund our operations and develop our product candidates and commercialize Jelmyto, we have relied primarily on equity and debt financings and, following the launch of Jelmyto in June 2020, revenue generated from sales of Jelmyto. In March 2021, we announced a transaction with RTW Investments ("RTW") totaling $75 million in funding for our company, which was received in May 2021, to support the launch of Jelmyto and the development of UGN-102. In return for the upfront cash payment, RTW is entitled to receive tiered future payments based on global annual net product sales of Jelmyto and UGN-102, if approved. In addition, in March 2022, we entered into the Loan Agreement, pursuant to which the Lenders agreed to make the Term Loans to Borrower in an aggregate principal amount of up to $100 million to be funded in two tranches. The first tranche of $75.0 million ($72.6 million of proceeds were received, $70.8 million net of additional transaction costs) was funded in March 2022, and the second tranche of $25.0 million was funded in December 2022.
We cannot be certain that our existing resources and anticipated revenues will be sufficient to fund our planned operations and expenditures for at least the next 12 months from the date of issuance of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report. These circumstances raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. We will require additional capital to complete clinical trials, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize our product candidates, and otherwise fund our operations. Our operating plan may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private equity financings, convertible debt or debt financings, third-party funding, marketing and distribution arrangements, as well as other collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements, or a combination of these approaches. In any event, we will require additional capital to pursue nonclinical and clinical activities, and pursue regulatory approval for, and to commercialize, our pipeline product candidates.
Any additional fundraising efforts may divert the attention of our management from day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates. In addition, we cannot guarantee that future financing will be available in sufficient amounts or on favorable terms, if at all. Moreover, the terms of any financing may negatively impact the holdings or the rights of our shareholders, and the issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, by us or the possibility of such issuance may cause the market price of our shares to decline. The incurrence of indebtedness could result in increased fixed payment obligations and we may be required to agree to certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire, sell or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. We could also be required to seek funds through arrangements with collaborative partners or otherwise at an earlier stage than would be desirable and we may be required to relinquish rights to some of our technologies, intellectual property or product candidates or otherwise agree to terms unfavorable to us, any of which may harm our business, financial condition, cash flows, operating results and prospects.
If adequate funds are not available to us on a timely basis, we may be required or choose to:
We may also be unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities, as desired, which could harm our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.
Our indebtedness resulting from our Loan Agreement could adversely affect our financial condition or restrict our future operations.
On March 7, 2022, UroGen Pharma Ltd., UroGen Pharma, Inc., as the borrower (“Borrower”), and certain direct and indirect subsidiaries of the Company party thereto from time to time, as guarantors (“Guarantors”) and, collectively with UroGen Pharma Ltd. and Borrower (“Credit Parties”) entered into a loan agreement (“Loan Agreement”) with funds managed by Pharmakon Advisors, L.P., including BPCR Limited Partnership (as a “Lender”), BioPharma Credit Investments V (Master) LP (as a “Lender”), and BioPharma Credit PLC, as collateral agent for the Lenders (in such capacity, “Collateral Agent), pursuant to which the Lenders agreed to make term loans to the Borrower in an aggregate principal amount of up to $100 million ("Term Loans"), to be funded in two tranches: (i) the first tranche (“Tranche A Loan”) was advanced in the amount of $75 million, in March 2022 (“Tranche A Closing Date”) and (ii) the second tranche (“Tranche B Loan”) of $25 million was advanced in December 2022.
The obligations of the Borrower under the Loan Agreement are guaranteed on a full and unconditional basis by UroGen Pharma Ltd. and the other Guarantor and are secured by substantially all of the respective Credit Parties’ tangible and intangible assets and property, including intellectual property, subject to certain exceptions.
The Loan Agreement contains negative covenants that, among other things and subject to certain exceptions, restrict our ability to:
• sell or dispose of assets, including certain intellectual property;
• amend, modify or waive certain agreements or organizational documents;
• consummate certain change in control transactions;
• incur certain additional indebtedness;
• incur any non-permitted lien or other encumbrance on the Credit Parties’ assets;
• pay dividends or make any distribution or payment on or redeem, retire or purchase any equity interests; and
• make payments of certain subordinated indebtedness.
In addition, we are required under the Loan Agreement to comply with various operating covenants and default clauses that may restrict our ability to finance our operations, engage in business activities or expand or fully pursue our business strategies. A breach of any of these covenants or clauses could result in a default under the Loan Agreement, which could cause all of the outstanding indebtedness under the facility to become immediately due and payable, including a make whole amount and prepayment premium.
If we are unable to generate sufficient cash to repay our debt obligations when they become due and payable, we may not be able to obtain additional debt or equity financing on favorable terms, if at all, which may negatively affect our business operations and financial condition.
Covenants under our Prepaid Forward Contract with RTW restrict our ability to borrow additional capital.
In March 2021, we entered into a Prepaid Forward Contract (the “Forward Contract”) with RTW, pursuant to which we are obligated to make tiered cash payments to RTW, based on the worldwide annual net product sales of Jelmyto and, subject to FDA approval, UGN-102 (together, the “Products”), subject to an aggregate revenue cap of $300 million.
Until the earlier of such time that (i) our aggregate worldwide annual net product sales of the Products reach a certain threshold or (ii) our market capitalization reaches a certain threshold, (a) we have granted RTW a security interest in the Products and the regulatory approvals, intellectual property, material agreements, proceeds and accounts receivable related to the Products (the “Product Collateral”), (b) we are subject to a negative pledge in respect of the Product Collateral and (c) we may not incur additional indebtedness secured by Product Collateral without such secured debt provider entering into a intercreditor agreement with RTW. Upon the occurrence of an insolvency event, as defined in the Forward Contract, any remaining payment obligations under the Forward Contract will be automatically accelerated.
The Forward Contract requires us to use a significant portion of our cash flow to make payments to RTW, limits our ability to borrow additional funds for working capital, capital expenditures or other general business purposes, limits our flexibility to plan for, or react to, changes in our business and industry, places us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors not subject to similar restrictions and increases our vulnerability to the impact of adverse economic industry conditions.
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Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our shareholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates.
Until such time, if ever, as we can generate substantial product revenues, we expect to finance our cash needs through equity, convertible debt or debt financings, as well as selectively continuing to enter into collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing arrangements. We do not currently have any committed external source of funds. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, including pursuant to the ATM Sales Agreement, your ownership interest will be diluted, and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as an ordinary shareholder. Debt financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring and distributing dividends, and may be secured by all or a portion of our assets.
If we raise funds by selectively continuing to enter into additional collaborations, strategic alliances or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish additional valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates or to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity, convertible debt or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves. If we are unable to raise additional funds through other collaborations, strategic alliances or licensing arrangements, we may be required to terminate product development or future commercialization efforts or to cease operations altogether.
Risks Related to Our Business and Strategy
We are highly dependent on the successful commercialization of our only approved product, Jelmyto.
Jelmyto is our first product, which we commercially launched in the United States in June 2020. We have not commercialized any other product candidates. We have invested significant efforts and financial resources in the research and development of Jelmyto, our first and only product approved for commercial sale. We are focusing a significant portion of our activities and resources on Jelmyto, and we believe our prospects are highly dependent on, and a significant portion of the value of our company relates to, our ability to successfully commercialize Jelmyto in the United States.
Successful commercialization of Jelmyto is subject to many risks. We initiated our commercial launch of Jelmyto in June 2020, and prior to that, we had never, as an organization, launched or commercialized any product. There is no guarantee that our ongoing commercial launch of Jelmyto or our future commercialization efforts will be successful, or that we will be able to successfully launch and commercialize any other product candidates that receive regulatory approval. There are numerous examples of unsuccessful product launches and failures to meet high expectations of market potential, including by pharmaceutical companies with more experience and resources than us. While we have established our commercial team and have hired our U.S. sales force, we will need to maintain, further train and develop our team in order to be prepared to successfully coordinate the ongoing launch and commercialization of Jelmyto. Even if we are successful in maintaining and further developing our commercial team, there are many factors that could cause the ongoing launch and commercialization of Jelmyto to be unsuccessful, including a number of factors that are outside our control. We must also properly educate physicians and nurses on the skillful preparation and administration of Jelmyto, and develop a broad experiential knowledge base of aggregated clinician feedback from which we can refine appropriate procedures for product administration, without which there could be a risk of adverse events.
Because no drug has previously been approved by the FDA for the treatment of low-grade UTUC, it is especially difficult to estimate Jelmyto’s market potential. The commercial success of Jelmyto depends on the extent to which patients and physicians accept and adopt Jelmyto as a treatment for low-grade UTUC, and we do not know whether our or others’ estimates in this regard will be accurate. For example, if the patient population suffering from low-grade UTUC is smaller than we estimate or if physicians are unwilling to prescribe or patients are unwilling to be treated with Jelmyto due to label warnings, adverse events associated with product administration or other reasons, the commercial potential of Jelmyto will be limited. Physicians may not prescribe Jelmyto and patients may be unwilling to be treated with Jelmyto if coverage is not provided or reimbursement is inadequate to cover a significant portion of the cost. Additionally, any negative development for Jelmyto in our post-marketing commitments, or in regulatory processes in other jurisdictions, may adversely impact the commercial results and potential of Jelmyto. Thus, significant uncertainty remains regarding the commercial potential of Jelmyto.
In addition, our ongoing commercial launch of Jelmyto and subsequent commercialization efforts could be hindered by a resurgence of COVID-19 or other pandemics, epidemics or public health emergencies, although we are currently not able to predict or quantify any such potential impact with any degree of certainty.
If the launch or commercialization of Jelmyto is unsuccessful or perceived as disappointing, our share price could decline significantly and the long-term success of the product and our company could be harmed.