Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
RISK FACTORS
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk and uncertainty. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risk described below as well as other information we include or incorporate by reference in this prospectus. The risks and uncertainties we have described are not the only ones facing our company. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial may also affect our business operations. If any of such risks and uncertainties actually occurs, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be severely harmed. This could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Relating to Our Business
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We are dependent on the commercial success of our technologies which may never be successfully commercialized.
All of our product candidates are in early stages of development and subject to the risks of failure inherent in developing drug products. Accordingly, we do not have the ability to generate product revenues in the near term. Successful commercialization will depend on whether we can adequately protect against and effectively respond to any claims by holders of patents and other intellectual property rights that our products infringe their rights, whether any unanticipated adverse effects or unfavorable publicity develops in respect of our products, as well as the emergence of new or existing products as competition, which may be proven to be more clinically effective and cost-effective. If we are unable to successfully complete these tasks, we may not be able to commercialize our products at all, in which case we may be unable to generate sufficient revenues to sustain and grow our business.
We are dependent on the success of our product candidates, which may never receive regulatory approval or be successfully commercialized.
To date, we have expended significant time, resources, and effort on the development of our product candidates. All of our product candidates are in early stages of development and subject to the risks of failure inherent in developing drug products.
The ability to successfully commercialize any of our products candidates will depend on, among other things, the ability to:
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receive marketing approvals from the FDA and similar foreign regulatory authorities;
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produce, through a validated process, sufficiently large quantities of our product candidates to permit successful commercialization;
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establish commercial manufacturing arrangements with third-party manufacturers;
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build and maintain strong sales, distribution and marketing capabilities sufficient to launch commercial sales of our product candidates;
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establish collaborations with third parties for the commercialization of our product candidates in countries outside the United States, and such collaborators' ability to obtain regulatory and reimbursement approvals in such countries;
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secure acceptance of our product candidates from physicians, health care payors, patients and the medical community;
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successfully complete our clinical trials; and
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manage our spending as costs and expenses increase due to commercialization and clinical trials.
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There are no guarantees that we will be successful in completing these tasks. If we are unable to successfully complete these tasks, we may not be able to commercialize any of our product candidates in a timely manner, or at all, in which case we may be unable to generate sufficient revenues to sustain and grow our business. In addition, if we experience unanticipated delays or problems, development costs could substantially increase and our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.
We have limited sales and marketing experience and resources, and we may not be able to effectively market and sell our products or product candidates, if approved, in the United States.
We have limited sales and marketing experience. Further, we could face a number of additional risks in establishing internal sales and marketing capabilities, including:
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we may not be able to attract talented and qualified personnel to build an effective marketing or sales force capability;
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the cost of establishing a marketing and sales force capability may not be justifiable in light of the potential revenues generated by any of our products if they were to receive final approval by the FDA; and
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our direct sales and marketing efforts may not be successful.
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If we are unable to establish adequate sales and marketing capabilities or are unable to do so in a timely manner, we may not be able to generate product revenues and may never become profitable.
The commercial success of our products and product candidates, if approved, depends upon attaining market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and the medical community.
Physicians may not prescribe any of our product candidates if approved by the FDA, in which case we would not generate the revenues we anticipate. Market acceptance of any of our products or product candidates by physicians, patients, third-party payors and the medical community depends on, among other things:
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our ability to provide acceptable evidence of safety and efficacy;
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acceptance by physicians and patients of each product or product candidate as a safe and effective treatment;
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perceived advantages of our products or product candidates over alternative treatments;
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relative convenience and ease of administration of our products or product candidates compared to existing treatments;
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any labeling restrictions placed upon each product or product candidate in connection with its approval;
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the prevalence and severity of the adverse side effects of each of our products or product candidates;
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the clinical indications for which each of our products or product candidates are approved, including any potential additional restrictions placed upon each product or product candidate in connection with its approval;
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prevalence of the disease or condition for which each product or product candidate is approved;
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the cost of treatment in relation to alternative treatments, including generic products;
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the extent to which each product or product candidate is approved for inclusion on formularies of hospitals and managed care organizations;
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any negative publicity related to our or our competitors' products or product candidates, including as a result of any related adverse side effects;
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the effectiveness of our or any current or future collaborators' sales, marketing and distribution strategies;
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pricing and cost effectiveness; and
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the availability of adequate reimbursement by third parties.
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If our product candidates do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, third-party payors and patients, we may not generate sufficient revenues from these products or product candidates to become or remain profitable on a timely basis, if at all.
Final marketing approval of any of our product candidates by the FDA or other regulatory authorities may be delayed, limited, or denied, any of which would adversely affect our ability to generate operating revenues.
Our business depends on the successful development and commercialization of our products and product candidates. We are not permitted to market any of our product candidates in the United States until we receive approval of a new drug application, or NDA, from the FDA, or in any foreign jurisdiction until we receive the requisite approvals from such jurisdiction. Satisfaction of regulatory requirements typically takes many years, is dependent upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product and requires the expenditure of substantial resources. We cannot predict whether or when we will obtain regulatory approval to commercialize our product candidates and we cannot, therefore, predict the timing of any future revenues from these product candidates, if any.
The FDA requires submission of information needed to support any changes to a previously approved drug, such as published data or new studies conducted by the applicant or clinical trials demonstrating safety and effectiveness. The FDA could refuse to file or approve our NDA submissions, request additional information before accepting our submissions for filing or require additional information to sufficiently demonstrate safety and effectiveness. The FDA has substantial discretion in the drug approval process, including the ability to delay, limit or deny approval of a product candidate for many reasons. For example, the FDA:
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could determine that we cannot rely on Section 505(b)(2) for any of our product candidates;
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could determine that the information provided by us was inadequate, contained clinical deficiencies or otherwise failed to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of any of our product candidates for any indication;
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may not find the data from bioequivalence studies and/or clinical trials sufficient to support the submission of an NDA or to obtain marketing approval in the United States, including any findings that the clinical and other benefits of our product candidates outweigh their safety risks;
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may disagree with our trial design or our interpretation of data from preclinical studies, bioequivalence studies and/or clinical trials, or may change the requirements for approval even after it has reviewed and commented on the design for our trials;
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may identify deficiencies in the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we enter into agreements for the supply of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, used in our product candidates;
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may identify deficiencies in the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we enter into agreements for the manufacturing of our product candidates;
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may approve our product candidates for fewer or more limited indications than we request, or may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-approval clinical trials;
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may change its approval policies or adopt new regulations; or
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may not approve the labeling claims that we believe are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates.
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Notwithstanding the approval of many products by the FDA pursuant to Section 505(b)(2), over the last few years, some pharmaceutical companies and others have objected to the FDA's interpretation of Section 505(b)(2). If the FDA changes its interpretation of Section 505(b)(2), or if the FDA's interpretation is successfully challenged in court, this could delay or even prevent the FDA from approving any Section 505(b)(2) application that we submit. Any failure to obtain regulatory approval of our product candidates would significantly limit our ability to generate revenues, and any failure to obtain such approval for all of the indications and labeling claims we deem desirable could reduce our potential revenues.
Our trials may fail to demonstrate acceptable levels of safety, efficacy or any other requirements of our product candidates, which could prevent or significantly delay regulatory approval.
We may be unable to sufficiently demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates to obtain regulatory approval. We must demonstrate with substantial evidence gathered in well-controlled studies, and to the satisfaction of the FDA with respect to approval in the United States (and to the satisfaction of similar regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions with respect to approval in those jurisdictions), that each product candidate is safe and effective for use in the target indication. The FDA may require us to conduct or perform additional studies or trials to adequately demonstrate safety and efficacy, which could prevent or significantly delay our receipt of regulatory approval and, ultimately, the commercialization of that product candidate.
In addition, the results from the trials that we have completed for our product candidates may not be replicated in future trials, or we may be unable to demonstrate sufficient safety and efficacy to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals for our product candidates. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced development, even after promising results in earlier trials. If our product candidates are not shown to be safe and effective, our clinical development programs could be delayed or might be terminated.
Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that delay or prevent their regulatory approval or limit their commercial potential.
Undesirable side effects caused by any of our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt development and could result in the denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, and potential products liability claims. Any undesirable side effects that are caused by any of our product candidates could have a material adverse effect upon that product candidate's development program and our business as a whole.
In addition, if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by the product candidate, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
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regulatory authorities may withdraw approvals of the product candidate or otherwise require us to take the approved product off the market;
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regulatory authorities may require additional warnings, or a narrowing of the indication, on the product label;
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we may be required to create a medication guide outlining the risks of such side effects for distribution to patients;
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we may be required to modify the product in some way;
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the FDA may require us to conduct additional clinical trials or costly post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product;
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sales of approved products may decrease significantly;
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we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; and
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our reputation may suffer.
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Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining the commercial success of our products and product candidates and could substantially increase commercialization costs.
Delays or failures in the completion of testing of our product candidates would increase our costs and delay or limit our ability to generate revenues.
Delays or failures in the completion of clinical trials for our product candidates could significantly raise our product development costs. We do not know whether current or planned trials will be completed on schedule, if at all. The commencement and completion of clinical development can be delayed or halted for a number of reasons, including:
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difficulties obtaining regulatory approval to commence a clinical trial or complying with conditions imposed by a regulatory authority regarding the scope or term of a clinical trial;
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delays in reaching or failure to reach agreement on acceptable terms with prospective clinical research organizations, or CROs, and trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;
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insufficient or inadequate supply or quantity of a product candidate for use in trials;
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difficulties obtaining institutional review board or ethics committee approval to conduct a trial at a prospective site;
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challenges recruiting and enrolling patients to participate in clinical trials for a variety of reasons, including competition from other programs for the treatment of similar conditions;
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severe or unexpected drug-related side effects experienced by patients in a clinical trial;
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difficulty retaining patients who have initiated a clinical trial but may be prone to withdraw due to side effects from the therapy, lack of efficacy or personal issues; and
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clinical holds imposed by the FDA.
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Clinical trials may also be delayed as a result of ambiguous or negative interim results. In addition, clinical trials may be suspended or terminated by us, an institutional review board or ethics committee overseeing the clinical trial at a trial site (with respect to that site), the FDA or other regulatory authorities due to a number of factors, including:
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failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or the trial protocols;
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observations during inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial sites by the FDA or other regulatory authorities that ultimately result in the imposition of a clinical hold;
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unforeseen safety issues; or
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lack of adequate funding to continue the trial.
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In addition, failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or the trial protocols may also result in the inability to use the data to support product approval. Changes in regulatory requirements and guidance may occur, and we may need to amend clinical trial protocols to reflect these changes. Amendments may require us to resubmit our clinical trial protocols to institutional review boards or ethics committees for reexamination, which may impact the costs, timing or successful completion of a clinical trial. In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates. If we experience delays in completion of, or if we terminate any of our clinical trials, our ability to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates may be materially harmed, and our commercial prospects and ability to generate product revenues will be diminished.
We expect intense competition and, if our competitors develop or market alternatives for treatments of our target indications, our commercial opportunities will be reduced or eliminated.
The pharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapidly advancing technologies, intense competition and a strong emphasis on proprietary therapeutics. We face competition from a number of sources, some of which may target the same indications as our products and product candidates, including large pharmaceutical companies, smaller pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, academic institutions, government agencies and private and public research institutions. The availability of competing products will limit the demand and the price we are able to charge for any of our products or product candidates that are commercialized unless we are able to differentiate them. We anticipate that we will face intense competition when/if our product candidates are approved by regulatory authorities and we begin the commercialization process for our products.
In addition to already marketed competing products, we believe certain companies are developing other products which could compete with our product candidates should they be approved by regulatory authorities. Further, new developments, including the development of other drug technologies, may render our product candidates obsolete or noncompetitive. As a result, our product candidates may become obsolete before we recover expenses incurred in connection with their development or realize revenues from any commercialized product.
Further, many competitors have substantially greater:
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capital resources;
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research and development resources and experience, including personnel and technology;
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drug development, clinical trial and regulatory resources and experience;
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sales and marketing resources and experience;
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manufacturing and distribution resources and experience;
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name recognition; and
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resources, experience and expertise in prosecution and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
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As a result of these factors, our competitors may obtain regulatory approval of their products more rapidly than we are able to or may obtain patent protection or other intellectual property rights that limit or block us from developing or commercializing our product candidates. Our competitors may also develop drugs that are more effective, more useful, better tolerated, subject to fewer or less severe side effects, more widely prescribed or accepted or less costly than ours and may also be more successful than us in manufacturing and marketing their products. If we are unable to compete effectively with the products of our competitors or if such competitors are successful in developing products that compete with any of our product candidates that are approved, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects may be materially adversely affected. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry may result in even more resources being concentrated at competitors. Competition may increase further as a result of advances made in the commercial applicability of technologies and greater availability of capital for investment.
Our products and our product candidates, if they receive regulatory approval, may be subject to restrictions or withdrawal from the market and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements.
Even if U.S. regulatory approval is obtained, the FDA may still impose significant restrictions on a product's indicated uses or marketing or impose ongoing requirements for potentially costly post-approval studies. Our product candidates would also be, and our approved product and our collaborators' approved products are, subject to ongoing FDA requirements governing the labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, recordkeeping and submission of safety and other post-market information. In addition, manufacturers of drug products and their facilities are subject to continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices, or cGMP regulations. If we, our collaborators or a regulatory authority discovers previously unknown problems with a product, such as side effects of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, a regulatory authority may impose restrictions on that product or the manufacturer, including requiring withdrawal of the product from the market or suspension of manufacturing. If we or our collaborators, or our or our collaborators' approved products or product candidates, or the manufacturing facilities for our or our collaborators' approved products or product candidates fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory authority may:
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issue warning letters or untitled letters;
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impose civil or criminal penalties;
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suspend regulatory approval;
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suspend any ongoing bioequivalence and/or clinical trials;
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refuse to approve pending applications or supplements to applications filed by us;
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impose restrictions on operations, including costly new manufacturing requirements, or suspension of production; or
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seize or detain products or require us to initiate a product recall.
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In addition, our product labeling, advertising and promotion of our product candidates upon FDA approval, will be subject to regulatory requirements and continuing regulatory review. The FDA strictly regulates the promotional claims that may be made about prescription products. In particular, a product may not be promoted for uses that are not approved by the FDA as reflected in the product's approved labeling. Physicians may nevertheless prescribe our products and, upon receiving FDA approval, our product candidates to their patients in a manner that is inconsistent with the approved label. The FDA and other authorities actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant sanctions. The federal government has levied large civil and criminal fines against companies for alleged improper promotion and has enjoined several companies from engaging in off-label promotion. If we are found to have promoted off-label uses, we may be enjoined from such off-label promotion and become subject to significant liability, which would have an adverse effect on our reputation, business and revenues, if any.
If we fail to produce our products and product candidates in the volumes that we require on a timely basis, or fail to comply with stringent regulations applicable to pharmaceutical drug manufacturers, we may face delays in the development and commercialization of our products and product candidates.
We do not currently own or operate manufacturing facilities for the production of any of our product candidates beyond Phase II clinical trials, nor do we have plans to develop our own manufacturing operations for Phase III clinical materials or commercial products in the foreseeable future. We will currently depend on third-party contract manufacturers for the supply of the APIs for our product candidates, including drug substance for our preclinical research and clinical trials. Any future curtailment in the availability of raw materials could result in production or other delays with consequent adverse effects on us. In addition, because regulatory authorities must generally approve raw material sources for pharmaceutical products, changes in raw material suppliers may result in production delays or higher raw material costs.
The manufacture of pharmaceutical products requires significant expertise and capital investment, including the development of advanced manufacturing techniques and process controls. Pharmaceutical companies often encounter difficulties in manufacturing, particularly in scaling up production of their products. These problems include manufacturing difficulties relating to production costs and yields, quality control, including stability of the product and quality assurance testing, shortages of qualified personnel, as well as compliance with federal, state and foreign regulations. If we are unable to demonstrate stability in accordance with commercial requirements, or if our manufacturers were to encounter difficulties or otherwise fail to comply with their obligations to us, our ability to obtain FDA approval and market our products and product candidates would be jeopardized. In addition, any delay or interruption in the supply of clinical trial supplies could delay or prohibit the completion of our bioequivalence and/or clinical trials, increase the costs associated with conducting our bioequivalence and/or clinical trials and, depending upon the period of delay, require us to commence new trials at significant additional expense or to terminate a trial.
Manufacturers of pharmaceutical products need to comply with cGMP requirements enforced by the FDA through their facilities inspection programs. These requirements include, among other things, quality control, quality assurance and the maintenance of records and documentation. Manufacturers of our products and product candidates may be unable to comply with these cGMP requirements and with other FDA and foreign regulatory requirements. A failure to comply with these requirements may result in fines and civil penalties, suspension of production, suspension or delay in product approval, product seizure or recall, or withdrawal of product approval. If the safety of any of our products or product candidates is compromised due to failure to adhere to applicable laws or for other reasons, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for such product candidate or successfully commercialize such products or product candidates, and we may be held liable for any injuries sustained as a result. Any of these factors could cause a delay in clinical developments, regulatory submissions, approvals or commercialization of our products or product candidates, entail higher costs or result in our being unable to effectively commercialize our product candidates.
We intend to rely on third-party collaborators to market and commercialize our product candidates, who may fail to effectively commercialize our product candidates.
We currently plan to utilize strategic partners or contract sales forces, where appropriate, to assist in the commercialization of our product candidates, if approved. We currently possess limited resources and may not be successful in establishing collaborations or co-promotion arrangements on acceptable terms, if at all. We also face competition in our search for collaborators and co-promoters. By entering into strategic collaborations or similar arrangements, we will rely on third parties for financial resources and for development, commercialization, sales and marketing and regulatory expertise. Our collaborators may fail to develop or effectively commercialize our product candidates because they cannot obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, they lack adequate financial or other resources or they decide to focus on other initiatives. Any failure of our third-party collaborators to successfully market and commercialize our product candidates outside of the United States would diminish our revenues and harm our results of operations.
Limitations on our patent rights relating to our product candidates may limit our ability to prevent third parties from competing against us.
Our success will depend on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection for our proprietary technologies and our product candidates, preserve our trade secrets, prevent third parties from infringing upon our proprietary rights and operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others. To that end, we seek patent protection in the United States and internationally for our product candidates. Our policy is to actively seek to protect our proprietary position by, among other things, filing patent applications in the United States and abroad (including Europe, Canada and certain other countries when appropriate) relating to proprietary technologies that are important to the development of our business.
The strength of patents in the pharmaceutical industry involves complex legal and scientific questions and can be uncertain. Patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time until they are published, and publication of discoveries in scientific or patent literature typically lags actual discoveries by several months or more. As a result, we cannot be certain that we were the first to conceive inventions covered by our patents and pending patent applications or that we were the first to file patent applications for such inventions. In addition, we cannot be certain that our patent applications will be granted, that any issued patents will adequately protect our intellectual property or that such patents will not be challenged, narrowed, invalidated or circumvented.
We also rely upon unpatented trade secrets, unpatented know-how and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our competitive position, which we seek to protect, in part, by confidentiality agreements with our employees and our collaborators and consultants. We also have agreements with our employees and selected consultants that obligate them to assign their inventions to us. It is possible that technology relevant to our business will be independently developed by a person that is not a party to such an agreement. Furthermore, if the employees and consultants that are parties to these agreements breach or violate the terms of these agreements, we may not have adequate remedies, and we could lose our trade secrets through such breaches or violations. Further, our trade secrets could otherwise become known or be independently discovered by our competitors. Any failure to adequately prevent disclosure of our trade secrets and other proprietary information could have a material adverse impact on our business.
In addition, the laws of certain foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent or in the same manner as the United States, and therefore, we may encounter problems in protecting and defending our intellectual property in certain foreign jurisdictions.
If we are sued for infringing intellectual property rights of third parties, it will be costly and time consuming, and an unfavorable outcome in that litigation would have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our commercial success depends upon our ability and the ability of our collaborators to develop, manufacture, market and sell their approved products and our product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields in which we and our collaborators are developing product candidates. As the pharmaceutical industry expands and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our collaborators' approved products and our product candidates may give rise to claims of infringement of the patent rights of others. There may be issued patents of third parties of which we are currently unaware, that may be infringed by our product candidates, which could prevent us from being able to commercialize any of our product candidates. Because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending applications which may later result in issued patents that our collaborators' approved products or our product candidates may infringe.
We may be exposed to, or threatened with, future litigation by third parties alleging that our collaborators' approved products or our products or product candidates infringe their intellectual property rights. If one of our collaborators' approved products or our products or product candidates is found to infringe the intellectual property rights of a third party, we or our collaborators could be enjoined by a court and required to pay damages and could be unable to commercialize the applicable approved products and product candidates unless we obtain a license to the patent. A license may not be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, during litigation, the patent holder could obtain a preliminary injunction or other equitable relief which could prohibit us from making, using or selling our approved products, pending a trial on the merits, which may not occur for several years.
There is a substantial amount of litigation involving patent and other intellectual property rights in the pharmaceutical industry generally. If a third party claims that we or our collaborators infringe its intellectual property rights, we may face a number of issues, including, but not limited to:
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infringement and other intellectual property claims which, regardless of merit, may be expensive and time-consuming to litigate and may divert our management's attention from our core business;
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substantial damages for infringement, which we may have to pay if a court decides that the product at issue infringes on or violates the third party's rights, and, if the court finds that the infringement was willful, we could be ordered to pay treble damages and the patent owner's attorneys' fees;
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a court prohibiting us from selling Oxtellar XR, Trokendi XR, or any product candidate approved in the future, if any, unless the third party licenses its rights to us, which it is not required to do;
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if a license is available from a third party, we may have to pay substantial royalties, fees or grant cross-licenses to our intellectual property rights; and
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redesigning any of our product candidates so they do not infringe, which may not be possible or may require substantial monetary expenditures and time.
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We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful.
Competitors may infringe our patents. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time consuming. In any infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours is not valid or is unenforceable, or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation or defense proceedings could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and could put our patent application at risk of not issuing.
Interference proceedings brought by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, may be necessary to determine the priority of inventions with respect to our patents and patent applications or those of our collaborators. An unfavorable outcome could require us to cease using the technology or to attempt to license rights to it from the prevailing party. Our business could be harmed if a prevailing party does not offer us a license on terms that are acceptable to us. Litigation or interference proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in substantial costs and distraction of our management and other employees. We may not be able to prevent, alone or with our collaborators, misappropriation of our proprietary rights, particularly in countries where the laws may not protect those rights as fully as in the United States.
Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceeding or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. There can be no assurance that our product candidate will not be subject to same risks.
We rely and will continue to rely on outsourcing arrangements for certain of our activities, including clinical research of our product candidates and manufacturing of our compounds and product candidates beyond Phase II clinical trials.
We rely on outsourcing arrangements for some of our activities, including manufacturing, preclinical and clinical research, data collection and analysis. We may have limited control over these third parties and we cannot guarantee that they will perform their obligations in an effective and timely manner. Our reliance on third parties, including third-party CROs and CMOs entails risks including, but not limited to:
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non-compliance by third parties with regulatory and quality control standards;
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sanctions imposed by regulatory authorities if compounds supplied or manufactured by a third party supplier or manufacturer fail to comply with applicable regulatory standards;
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the possible breach of the agreements by the CROs or CMOs because of factors beyond our control or the insolvency of any of these third parties or other financial difficulties, labor unrest, natural disasters or other factors adversely affecting their ability to conduct their business; and
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termination or non-renewal of an agreement by the third parties, at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us, because of our breach of the manufacturing agreement or based on their own business priorities.
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We do not own or operate manufacturing facilities for the production of any of our product candidates, nor do we have plans to develop our own manufacturing operations for clinical materials or commercial products in the foreseeable future. We currently depend on third-party CMOs for all of our required raw materials and drug substance for our preclinical research and clinical trials. If any of these vendors are unable to perform its obligations to us, including due to violations of the FDA's requirements, our ability to meet regulatory requirements or projected timelines and necessary quality standards for successful manufacture of the various required lots of material for our development and commercialization efforts would be adversely affected. Further, if we were required to change vendors, it could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs. Accordingly, the loss of any of our current or future third-party manufacturers or suppliers could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
We do not have contractual relationships for the manufacture of commercial supplies of all of our product candidates. The number of third-party manufacturers with the expertise, required regulatory approvals and facilities to manufacture drug substance and final drug product on a commercial scale is limited. Therefore, we may not be able to enter into such arrangements with third-party manufacturers in a timely manner, on acceptable terms or at all. Failure to secure such contractual arrangements would harm the commercial prospects for our product candidates, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed.
Even if our product candidates receive regulatory approval in the United States, we or our collaborators may never receive approval to commercialize our product candidates outside of the United States.
In order to market any products outside of the United States, we must establish and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of other jurisdictions regarding safety and efficacy. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve product testing and administrative review periods different from, and greater than those in the United States. The time required to obtain approval in other jurisdictions might differ from that required to obtain FDA approval. The regulatory approval process in other jurisdictions may include all of the risks detailed above regarding FDA approval in the United States as well as other risks. For example, legislation analogous to Section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA in the United States, which relates to the ability of an NDA applicant to use published data not developed by such applicant, may not exist in other countries. In territories where data is not freely available, we may not have the ability to commercialize our products without negotiating rights from third parties to refer to their clinical data in our regulatory applications, which could require the expenditure of significant additional funds.
In addition, regulatory approval in one jurisdiction does not ensure regulatory approval in another, but a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the regulatory processes in others. Failure to obtain regulatory approvals in other jurisdictions or any delay or setback in obtaining such approvals could have the same adverse effects detailed above regarding FDA approval in the United States. As described above, such effects include the risks that any of our product candidates may not be approved for all indications requested, which could limit the uses of our product candidates and have an adverse effect on their commercial potential or require costly post-marketing studies.
Guidelines and recommendations published by various organizations can reduce the use of our products and product candidates.
Government agencies promulgate regulations and guidelines directly applicable to us and to our products and product candidates. In addition, professional societies, practice management groups, private health and science foundations and organizations involved in various diseases from time to time may also publish guidelines or recommendations to the health care and patient communities. Recommendations of government agencies or these other groups or organizations may relate to such matters as usage, dosage, route of administration and use of concomitant therapies. Recommendations or guidelines suggesting the reduced use of our products or product candidates or the use of competitive or alternative products that are followed by patients and health care providers could result in decreased use of our products or product candidates.
We are subject to uncertainty relating to payment or reimbursement policies which, if not favorable for our products or product candidates, could hinder or prevent our commercial success.
Our ability or our collaborators' ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates, will depend in part on the coverage and reimbursement levels set by governmental authorities, private health insurers, managed care organizations and other third-party payors. As a threshold for coverage and reimbursement, third-party payors generally require that drug products have been approved for marketing by the FDA. Third-party payors also are increasingly challenging the effectiveness of and prices charged for medical products and services. Government authorities and these third-party payors have attempted to control costs, in some instances, by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications or encouraging the use of lower-cost generic AEDs. We cannot be sure that reimbursement will be available for any of the products that we develop and, if reimbursement is available, the level of reimbursement. Reduced or partial payment or reimbursement coverage could make our product candidates, less attractive to patients and prescribing physicians. We also may be required to sell our products or product candidates at a discount, which would adversely affect our ability to realize an appropriate return on our investment in our products or product candidates or compete on price.
We expect that private insurers and managed care organizations will consider the efficacy, cost effectiveness and safety of our product candidates, in determining whether to approve reimbursement for such products or product candidates and at what level. Because each third-party payor individually approves payment or reimbursement, obtaining these approvals can be a time consuming and expensive process that could require us to provide scientific or clinical support for the use of each of our products or product candidates separately to each third-party payor. In some cases, it could take several months or years before a particular private insurer or managed care organization reviews a particular product, and we may ultimately be unsuccessful in obtaining coverage. Our competitors generally have larger organizations, as well as existing business relationships with third-party payors relating to their products. Our business would be materially adversely affected if we do not receive approval for reimbursement of our products or product candidates from private insurers on a timely or satisfactory basis. Our products and product candidates, may not be considered cost-effective, and coverage and reimbursement may not be available or sufficient to allow us to sell our products or product candidates on a profitable basis. Our business would also be adversely affected if private insurers, managed care organizations, the Medicare program or other reimbursing bodies or payors limit the indications for which our products or product candidates will be reimbursed to a smaller set than we believe they are effective in treating.
In some foreign countries, particularly Canada and the countries of Europe, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to strict governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take six to 12 months or longer after the receipt of regulatory approval and product launch. To obtain favorable reimbursement for the indications sought or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our products or product candidates to other available therapies. If reimbursement for our products or product candidates is unavailable in any country in which reimbursement is sought, limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business could be materially harmed.
In addition, many managed care organizations negotiate the price of products and develop formularies which establish pricing and reimbursement levels. Exclusion of a product from a formulary can lead to its sharply reduced usage in the managed care organization's patient population. If our products or product candidates are not included within an adequate number of formularies or adequate payment or reimbursement levels are not provided, or if those policies increasingly favor generic products, our market share and gross margins could be negatively affected, which would have a material adverse effect on our overall business and financial condition.
We expect to experience pricing pressures due to the potential healthcare reforms discussed elsewhere in this prospectus, as well as the trend toward programs aimed at reducing health care costs, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative proposals.
We face potential product liability exposure, and, if successful claims are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities.
The use of our product candidates in clinical trials and the sale of any of our products will expose us to the risk of product liability claims. Product liability claims might be brought against us by consumers, healthcare providers or others selling or otherwise coming into contact with our products and product candidates. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we could incur substantial liabilities. In addition, product liability claims may result in:
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decreased demand for any product or product candidate that has received approval and is being commercialized;
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impairment of our business reputation and exposure to adverse publicity;
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withdrawal of bioequivalence and/or clinical trial participants;
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initiation of investigations by regulators;
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costs of related litigation;
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distraction of management's attention from our primary business;
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substantial monetary awards to patients or other claimants;
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loss of revenues; and
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the inability to commercialize any of our product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval.
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Insurance coverage is becoming increasingly expensive, and we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses. We intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products prior to the commercialization of our products. On occasion, large judgments have been awarded in class action lawsuits based on drugs that had unanticipated side effects. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us could cause our stock price to decline and, if judgments exceed our insurance coverage, could decrease our cash and adversely affect our business.
Our failure to successfully develop and market product candidates would impair our ability to grow.
As part of our growth strategy, we intend to develop and market product candidates. We are pursuing various therapeutic opportunities through our pipeline. We may spend several years completing our development of any particular current or future internal product candidate, and failure can occur at any stage. The product candidates to which we allocate our resources may not end up being successful. In addition, because our internal research capabilities are limited, we may be dependent upon pharmaceutical companies, academic scientists and other researchers to sell or license products or technology to us. The success of this strategy depends partly upon our ability to identify, select, discover and acquire promising pharmaceutical product candidates and products.
The process of proposing, negotiating and implementing a license or acquisition of a product candidate or approved product is lengthy and complex. Other companies, including some with substantially greater financial, marketing and sales resources, may compete with us for the license or acquisition of product candidates and approved products. We have limited resources to identify and execute the acquisition or in-licensing of third-party products, businesses and technologies and integrate them into our current infrastructure. Moreover, we may devote resources to potential acquisitions or in-licensing opportunities that are never completed, or we may fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such efforts. We may not be able to acquire the rights to additional product candidates on terms that we find acceptable, or at all.
In addition, future acquisitions may entail numerous operational and financial risks, including:
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exposure to unknown liabilities;
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disruption of our business and diversion of our management's time and attention to develop acquired products or technologies;
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incurrence of substantial debt, dilutive issuances of securities or depletion of cash to pay for acquisitions;
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higher than expected acquisition and integration costs;
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difficulty in combining the operations and personnel of any acquired businesses with our operations and personnel;
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increased amortization expenses;
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impairment of relationships with key suppliers or customers of any acquired businesses due to changes in management and ownership; and
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inability to motivate key employees of any acquired businesses.
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Further, any product candidate that we acquire may require additional development efforts prior to commercial sale, including extensive clinical testing and approval by the FDA and applicable foreign regulatory authorities. All product candidates are prone to risks of failure typical of pharmaceutical product development, including the possibility that a product candidate will not be shown to be sufficiently safe and effective for approval by regulatory authorities.
Healthcare reform measures could hinder or prevent our product candidates' commercial success.
The U.S. government and other governments have shown significant interest in pursuing healthcare reform. Government-adopted reform measures could adversely impact the pricing of healthcare products and services in the United States or internationally and the amount of reimbursement available from governmental agencies or other third-party payors. The continuing efforts of the U.S. and foreign governments, insurance companies, managed care organizations and other payors of health care services to contain or reduce healthcare costs may adversely affect our ability to set prices for any approved product candidate which we believe are fair, and our ability to generate revenues and achieve and maintain profitability.
In both the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory proposals and initiatives to change the health care system in ways that could affect our ability to sell any approved product profitably. Some of these proposed and implemented reforms could result in reduced reimbursement rates for our products, which would adversely affect our business strategy, operations and financial results. For example, in March 2010, President Obama signed into law a legislative overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended by the Healthcare and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010. This law, which we refer to as the PPACA, may have far reaching consequences for biopharmaceutical companies like us. As a result of this new legislation, substantial changes could be made to the current system for paying for healthcare in the United States, including changes made in order to extend medical benefits to those who currently lack insurance coverage. Extending coverage to a large population could substantially change the structure of the health insurance system and the methodology for reimbursing medical services and drugs. These structural changes could entail modifications to the existing system of private payors and government programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, creation of a government-sponsored healthcare insurance source, or some combination of both, as well as other changes. Restructuring the coverage of medical care in the United States could impact the reimbursement for prescribed drugs, including our products and product candidates. If reimbursement for our approved products is substantially less than we expect in the future, or rebate obligations associated with them are substantially increased, our business could be materially and adversely impacted.
In September 2007, the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 was enacted, giving the FDA enhanced post-marketing authority, including the authority to require post-marketing studies and clinical trials, labeling changes based on new safety information, and compliance with risk evaluations and mitigation strategies approved by the FDA. In July 2012, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act was enacted, expanding drug supply chain requirements and strengthening FDA's response to drug shortages, among other things. The FDA's exercise of this authority could result in delays or increased costs during product development, clinical trials and regulatory review, increased costs to assure compliance with post-approval regulatory requirements, and potential restrictions on the sale and/or distribution of any approved product candidates.
Future federal and state proposals and health care reforms could limit the prices that can be charged for the product candidates that we develop and may further limit our commercial opportunity. Our results of operations could be materially adversely affected by the PPACA by reducing the amounts that private insurers will pay and by other health care reforms that may be enacted or adopted in the future.
We will need to increase the size of our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing growth.
We will need to manage our anticipated growth and increased operational activity. Our personnel, systems and facilities currently in place will not be adequate to support this future growth. Our future financial performance and our ability to compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth. Our need to effectively execute our growth strategy requires that we:
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manage our regulatory approvals and clinical trials effectively;
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manage our internal development efforts effectively while complying with our contractual obligations to licensors, licensees, contractors, collaborators and other third parties;
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develop internal sales and marketing capabilities;
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commercialize our product candidates;
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improve our operational, financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures; and
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attract and motivate sufficient numbers of talented employees.
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This future growth could place a strain on our administrative and operational infrastructure and may require our management to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from our day-to-day activities. We may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations or recruit and train additional qualified personnel, which may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, give rise to operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. We may not be able to make improvements to our management information and control systems in an efficient or timely manner and may discover deficiencies in existing systems and controls. If our management is unable to effectively manage our expected growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate or increase our revenues could be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy.
We may not be able to manage our business effectively if we are unable to attract and motivate key members or if we lose key members of our current management team.
We may not be able to attract or motivate qualified management and scientific and clinical personnel in the future due to the intense competition for qualified personnel among biotechnology, pharmaceutical and other businesses. Our industry has experienced a high rate of turnover of management personnel in recent years. If we are not able to attract and motivate necessary personnel to accomplish our business objectives, we may experience constraints that will significantly impede the achievement of our objectives.
We are highly dependent on the development, regulatory, commercial and financial expertise of our management. We do not have any employment agreements with any member of our management team except Mr. Grunewald. If we lose key members of our management team, we may not be able to find suitable replacements in a timely fashion, if at all. We cannot be certain that future management transitions will not disrupt our operations and generate concern among employees and those with whom we do business.
We also have scientific and clinical advisors who assist us in formulating our product development and clinical strategies. These advisors are not our employees and may have commitments to, or consulting or advisory contracts with, other entities that may limit their availability to us, or may have arrangements with other companies to assist in the development of products that may compete with ours.
If we fail to comply with healthcare regulations, we could face substantial penalties and our business, operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Certain federal and state healthcare laws and regulations pertaining to fraud and abuse and patients' rights are and will be applicable to our business. We could be subject to healthcare fraud and abuse and patient privacy regulation by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. The regulations include:
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the federal healthcare program anti-kickback law, which prohibits, among other things, persons from soliciting, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, to induce either the referral of an individual, for an item or service or the purchasing or ordering of a good or service, for which payment may be made under federal healthcare programs such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs;
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federal false claims laws which prohibit, among other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid, or other third-party payors that are false or fraudulent, and which may apply to entities like us which provide coding and billing advice to customers;
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the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which prohibits executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or making false statements relating to healthcare matters and which also imposes certain requirements relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information;
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the federal transparency requirements under the PPACA requires manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics, and medical supplies to report to the Department of Health and Human Services information related to physician payments and other transfers of value and physician ownership and investment interests;
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the FDCA, which among other things, strictly regulates drug product marketing, prohibits manufacturers from marketing drug products for off-label use and regulates the distribution of drug samples; and
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state law equivalents of each of the above federal laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws which may apply to items or services reimbursed by any third-party payor, including commercial insurers, and state laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by federal laws, thus complicating compliance efforts.
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Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations could be costly. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws described above or any governmental regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to penalties, including civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. Any penalties, damages, fines, curtailment or restructuring of our operations could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results. Although compliance programs can mitigate the risk of investigation and prosecution for violations of these laws, the risks cannot be entirely eliminated. Any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our management's attention from the operation of our business. Moreover, achieving and sustaining compliance with applicable federal and state privacy, security and fraud laws may prove costly.
Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.
The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other provisions during the patent process. There are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would otherwise have been the case.
We may be subject to claims that our employees have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their former employers.
We employ individuals who were previously employed at other pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors and, as such, we may be subject to claims that we or these employees have used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.
Our business and operations would suffer in the event of system failures.
Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. Such an event could cause interruption of our operations. For example, the loss of data from completed or ongoing bioequivalence and/or clinical trials for our product candidates could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of or damage to our data, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the development of our product candidates could be delayed.
We will need to obtain FDA approval of any proposed product names, and any failure or delay associated with such approval may adversely impact our business.
Any name we intend to use for our product candidates will require approval from the FDA regardless of whether we have secured a formal trademark registration from the USPTO. The FDA typically conducts a review of proposed product names, including an evaluation of potential for confusion with other product names. The FDA may object to any product name we submit if it believes the name inappropriately implies medical claims. We have in the past been required to change a proposed product name. If the FDA objects to any of our proposed product names, we may be required to adopt an alternative name for our product candidates. If we adopt an alternative name, we would lose the benefit of our existing trademark applications for such product candidate, and may be required to expend significant additional resources in an effort to identify a suitable product name that would qualify under applicable trademark laws, not infringe the existing rights of third parties and be acceptable to the FDA. We may be unable to build a successful brand identity for a new trademark in a timely manner or at all, which would limit our ability to commercialize our product candidates.
Risks Related to Our Finances and Capital Requirements
We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and anticipate that we will incur continued losses for the foreseeable future.
In recent years, we have focused primarily on developing our current product candidates, with the goal of commercializing these products and supporting regulatory approval for these product candidates. We have financed our operations primarily through private placements of convertible securities, our collaboration and license arrangements, and the monetization of certain future royalty streams under our existing licenses. We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception. We incurred net losses of approximately $4,569,311 for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, $8.0 million and $3.6 million, in the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. As of September 30, 2016, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $23.2 million. Substantially all of our operating losses resulted from costs incurred in connection with our development programs and from selling, general and administrative and interest costs associated with our operations. We expect our research and development costs to continue to be substantial and to increase with respect to our product candidates as we advance those product candidates through preclinical studies, clinical trials, manufacturing scale-up and other pre-approval activities. We expect to incur significant and increasing marketing and selling costs prior to and during the commercial launch of our current products. As a result, we expect to continue to incur significant and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing pharmaceutical products, we are unable to predict the extent of any future losses or when, or if, we will become profitable.
Our prior losses, combined with expected future losses, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders' equity and working capital. As a result, we expect to continue to incur significant and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. In this regard, the report of our independent registered public accounting firm with respect to our consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2015 contains an explanatory paragraph stating that there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. In addition, we will need to obtain additional funds to develop and commercialize our other product candidates. The inclusion of a going concern statement by our auditors, our lack of cash resources and our potential inability to continue as a going concern may materially adversely affect our share price and our ability to raise new capital or to enter into critical contractual relations with third parties.
We will need additional funding and may be unable to raise capital when needed, which would force us to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development programs or commercialization efforts.
Developing product candidates, conducting clinical trials, establishing manufacturing relationships and marketing drugs are expensive and uncertain processes. We will need to obtain additional capital through equity offerings, debt financing, payments under new or existing licensing and research and development collaboration agreements, or any combination thereof, in order to become cash flow positive and to develop and commercialize additional product candidates. If sufficient funds on acceptable terms are not available when needed, we could be required to significantly reduce operating expenses and delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate one or more of our development programs, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
In addition, unforeseen circumstances may arise, or our strategic imperatives could change, causing us to consume capital significantly faster than we currently anticipate, requiring us to seek to raise additional funds sooner than expected. We have no committed external sources of funds.
The amount and timing of our future funding requirements will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to:
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the rate of progress and cost of our trials and other product development programs for our product candidates;
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the costs and timing of in-licensing additional product candidates or acquiring other complementary companies;
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the timing of any regulatory approvals of our product candidates;
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our ability to successfully launch our products and to continue to increase the level of sales in the marketplace;
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the actions of our competitors and their success in selling competitive product offerings;
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the costs of establishing sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution capabilities for our products; and
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the status, terms and timing of any collaborative, licensing, co-promotion or other arrangements.
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Additional financing may not be available when we need it or may not be available on terms that are favorable to us. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations, even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. If adequate funds are not available to us on a timely basis, or at all, we may be required to delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more of our development programs or our commercialization efforts.
We have never generated any revenues from our own sales of our products, and we may never achieve or maintain profitability.
Our ability to become profitable depends upon our ability to generate revenues from sales of our products and our product candidates. To date, we have not generated any revenues from our sales of our product candidates and have incurred significant operating losses. Our ability to generate product revenues is dependent on our ability to receive regulatory approval of our product candidates, and to successfully commercialize these products. Our ability to successfully commercialize our products depends on, among other things:
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our successful completion of clinical trials for our product candidates; and
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our obtaining regulatory approvals for our product candidates.
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After our product candidates are approved for commercial sale, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with commercialization. It is possible that we will never have sufficient product sales revenues to achieve profitability.
Our operating results may fluctuate significantly.
We expect our operating results to be subject to quarterly and annual fluctuations. Prior to commercializing any of our product candidates, we expect that any revenues we generate will fluctuate from quarter to quarter and year to year as a result of the timing and amount of development milestones and royalty revenues received under our collaboration license agreements, as our revenues from these arrangements are principally based on the achievement of clinical and commercial milestones outside of our control.
Once we commercialize one or more of our products, our net loss and other operating results will be affected by numerous factors, including:
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variations in the level of expenses related to our development programs;
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the success of our bioequivalence and clinical trials through all phases of clinical development;
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any delays in regulatory review and approval of product candidates in clinical development;
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potential side effects of our future products that could delay or prevent commercialization or cause an approved drug to be taken off the market;
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any intellectual property infringement lawsuit in which we may become involved;
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our ability to establish an effective sales and marketing infrastructure;
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our dependency on third-party manufacturers to supply or manufacture our product candidates;
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competition from existing products or new products that may emerge;
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regulatory developments affecting our products and product candidates;
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our execution of any collaborative, licensing or similar arrangements, and the timing of payments we may make or receive under these arrangements;
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the achievement and timing of milestone payments under our existing collaboration and license agreements; and
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the level of market acceptance for any approved product candidates and underlying demand for that product and wholesalers' buying patterns.
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Due to the various factors mentioned above, and others, the results of any prior quarterly period should not be relied upon as an indication of our future operating performance. If our quarterly operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Furthermore, any quarterly fluctuations in our operating results may, in turn, cause the price of our stock to fluctuate substantially.
We have limited experience operating as a public company and complying with public company obligations. Complying with these requirements has increased our costs and requires additional management resources, and we still may fail to meet all of these obligations.
We face increased legal, accounting, administrative and other costs and expenses as a public company. Compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, as well as rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Nasdaq, for example, has resulted in significant cost to us as well as ongoing increases in our legal, audit and financial compliance costs, particularly after we are no longer an "emerging growth company." The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition. Our board of directors, management and other personnel need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and require us to incur substantial costs to maintain the same or similar coverage.
As a public company, we are subject to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act relating to internal controls over financial reporting and we expect to incur significant expense and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with Section 404. We currently do not have an internal audit group, and we will need to hire additional accounting and financial staff with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge. Implementing any appropriate changes to our internal controls may require specific compliance training for our directors, officers and employees, entail substantial costs to modify our existing accounting systems, and take a significant period of time to complete. Such changes may not, however, be effective in maintaining the adequacy of our internal controls, and any failure to maintain that adequacy, or consequent inability to produce accurate consolidated financial statements or other reports on a timely basis, could increase our operating costs and could materially impair our ability to operate our business. We cannot assure you that our internal controls over financial reporting will prove to be effective.
If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, stockholders could lose confidence in our financial and other public reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our common stock.
Effective internal controls over financial reporting are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are designed to prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. In addition, any testing by us conducted in connection with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or the subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm after we no longer qualify as an "emerging growth company," may reveal deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses or that may require prospective or retroactive changes to our consolidated financial statements or identify other areas for further attention or improvement. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.
We are required to disclose changes made in our internal control procedures on a quarterly basis and our management is required to assess the effectiveness of these controls annually. However, for as long as we are an "emerging growth company" under the recently enacted JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404. We could be an "emerging growth company" for up to five years. See "Summary — Implications of being an Emerging Growth Company." An independent assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls could detect problems that our management's assessment might not. Undetected material weaknesses in our internal controls could lead to financial statement restatements and require us to incur the expense of remediation.
Our ability to use net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses to reduce future tax payments is limited by provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, and may be subject to further limitation as a result of the transactions contemplated by this offering.
Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, contain rules that limit the ability of a company that undergoes an ownership change, which is generally any change in ownership of more than 50% of its stock over a three-year period, to utilize its net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses recognized in years after the ownership change. These rules generally operate by focusing on ownership changes involving stockholders owning directly or indirectly 5% or more of the stock of a company and any change in ownership arising from a new issuance of stock by the company. Generally, if an ownership change occurs, the yearly taxable income limitation on the use of net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards and certain built-in losses is equal to the product of the applicable long term tax exempt rate and the value of the company's stock immediately before the ownership change. We may be unable to offset our taxable income with losses, or our tax liability with credits, before such losses and credits expire and therefore would incur larger federal income tax liability.
In addition, it is possible that the transactions described in this offering, either on a standalone basis or when combined with future transactions, including issuances of new shares of our common stock, will cause us to undergo one or more additional ownership changes. In that event, we generally would not be able to use our pre-change loss or credit carryovers or certain built-in losses prior to such ownership change to offset future taxable income in excess of the annual limitations imposed by Sections 382 and 383 and those attributes already subject to limitations as a result of our prior ownership changes may be subject to more stringent limitations. As of December 31, 2015, we had approximately $16 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards. These federal and state net operating loss and federal and state tax credit carryforwards will begin to expire at various dates beginning in 2025, if not utilized. Our ability to utilize the aforementioned carryforwards and tax credits may be limited. As a result, we may not be able to take full advantage of these carryforwards or tax credits for federal and state tax purposes.
Risks Related to Our Indebtedness
Our level of indebtedness and debt service obligations could adversely affect our financial condition, and may make it more difficult for us to fund our operations.
In 2014, we entered into two lines of credit with the Denver Savings Bank for an aggregate amount of $1,000,000. Through September 30, 2016, we drew down $1,003,300 of the two lines of credit with the Denver Savings Bank. This debt financing may create additional financial risk for us, particularly if our business or prevailing financial market conditions are not conducive to paying off or refinancing our outstanding debt obligations at maturity. This indebtedness could also have important negative consequences, including:
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we will need to repay our debt under the two lines of credit with the Denver Savings Bank by making periodic payments of interest at the rate of 4.25%, including a final payment of $1,003,300 due in 2017, which will reduce the amount of money available to finance our operations, our research and development efforts and other general corporate activities;
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we may have difficulty obtaining financing in the future for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other purposes; and
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our failure to comply with the restrictive covenants in our loan and security agreement could result in an event of default that, if not cured or waived, would accelerate our obligation to repay this indebtedness, and the lenders could seek to enforce their security interests in the assets securing such indebtedness.
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To the extent additional debt is added to our current debt levels, the risks described above would increase.
We may not have cash available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to make interest or principal payments on our indebtedness when due.
Since our inception, we have generated no revenue from product sales and have incurred significant operating losses. As of September 30, 2016, we had an accumulated deficit of $23,171,473. We expect to continue to incur net losses and have negative cash flow from operating activities for the foreseeable future as we continue to develop and seek marketing approval for our product candidates. As a result, we may not have sufficient funds, or may be unable to arrange for additional financing, to pay the amounts due on our outstanding indebtedness under lines of credit. Further, funds from external sources may not be available on economically acceptable terms, if at all. For example, if we raise additional funds through collaboration, licensing or other similar arrangements, it may be necessary to relinquish potentially valuable rights to our product candidates or technologies, or to grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If adequate funds are not available when and if needed, our ability to make interest or principal payments on our debt obligations would be significantly limited, and we may be required to delay, significantly curtail or eliminate one or more of our programs.
Failure to satisfy our current and future debt obligations under our secured credit facility could result in an event of default and, as a result, our lenders could accelerate all of the amounts due. In the event of an acceleration of amounts due under our secured credit facility as a result of an event of default, we may not have sufficient funds or may be unable to arrange for additional financing to repay our indebtedness. In addition, our lenders could seek to enforce their security interests in the collateral securing such indebtedness.
Risks Related to Securities Markets and Investment in Our Stock
We have never paid dividends on our capital stock, and because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be your sole source of gain on an investment in our common stock.
We have paid no cash dividends on any of our classes of capital stock to date, and we currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be your sole source of gain for the foreseeable future. There is no guarantee that shares of our common stock will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which our stockholders have purchased their shares.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports or publish unfavorable research or reports about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. We currently have very limited research coverage by securities and industry analysts. If securities or industry analysts presently covering our business do not continue such coverage or if additional securities or industry analysts do not commence coverage of our Company, the trading price for our stock would be negatively impacted. In the event we obtain securities or industry analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our stock, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases to cover us or fails to regularly publish reports on us, interest in our stock could decrease, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.
The concentration of our capital stock ownership with our directors and their affiliated entities and our executive officers will limit your ability to influence certain corporate matters.
Our directors and their affiliated entities, and our executive officers will beneficially own, in the aggregate, approximately 54.6% of our outstanding common stock. As a result, these stockholders are collectively able to significantly influence or control all matters requiring approval of our stockholders, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions such as mergers, consolidations or the sale of all or substantially all of our assets. The concentration of ownership may delay, prevent or deter a change in control of our Company even when such a change may be in the best interests of some stockholders, impede a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving us, or could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their common stock as part of a sale of our Company or our assets and might adversely affect the prevailing market price of our common stock.
The price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially.
The market price for our common stock is likely to be volatile, in part because our common stock has been previously traded publicly for only a short time. In addition, the market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to a number of factors, including:
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the commercial performance of any of our product candidates that receive marketing approval;
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plans for, progress in and results from clinical trials of our product candidates generally;
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FDA or international regulatory actions, including actions on regulatory applications for any of our product candidates;
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announcements of new products, services or technologies, commercial relationships, acquisitions or other events by us or our competitors;
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market conditions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors;
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fluctuations in stock market prices and trading volumes of similar companies;
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variations in our quarterly operating results;
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changes in accounting principles;
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litigation or public concern about the safety of our potential products;
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actual and anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly operating results;
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deviations in our operating results from the estimates of securities analysts;
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additions or departures of key personnel;
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sales of large blocks of our common stock, including sales by our executive officers, directors and significant stockholders;
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any third-party coverage and reimbursement policies for our product candidates, and
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discussion of us or our stock price in the financial or scientific press or in online investor communities.
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The realization of any of the risks described in these "Risk Factors" could have a dramatic and material adverse impact on the market price of our common stock. In addition, class action litigation has often been instituted against companies whose securities have experienced periods of volatility. Any such litigation brought against us could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management attention, which could hurt our business, operating results and financial condition.