The following risk factors and other information included in this
Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q
should be carefully considered. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be harmed by any of these risks. The risks and uncertainties described below are
not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or other factors not perceived by us to present significant risks to our business at this time also may impair our business operations. These risk factors
restate and supersede in their entirety the risk factors previously disclosed in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form
10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2016.
Risks Related to the Discovery and Development of Our Drug Candidates
Our approach to the discovery and development of drug candidates that target complement alternative pathway factor D inhibition is unproven, and we do not
know whether we will be able to develop any products of commercial value.
We are focused on the research and development of our
complement inhibitor platform, pursuant to which we are initially targeting complement factor D, an essential protein of the complement alternative pathway that is a part of the human innate immune system. Our complement inhibitor platform is
focused on advancing small molecule compounds that inhibit the alternative pathway, and have the potential to be used in the treatment of immune-related diseases where the complement pathway plays a critical role. We anticipate that our complement
inhibitor platform may play a role in addressing needs of patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, or PNH, including patients who have suboptimal response to, or who fail to respond to, currently approved treatments for PNH, and C3
glomerulopathy, or C3G, and immune complex membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, or
IC-MPGN,
both kidney diseases, as well as the needs of patients with other complement-mediated diseases where the
alternative pathway may play a significant role, such as geographic atrophy, or GA, an advanced form of dry
age-related
macular degeneration, or AMD.
Our approach to the discovery and development of drug candidates that target the alternative pathway is unproven. We are currently only in the
early clinical testing stages for our most advanced drug candidate under this program with other drug candidates in the discovery and preclinical phases. We may not successfully develop any medicines that target alternative pathway inhibition, and
even if we are successful in early development, any medicines that we develop may not effectively inhibit the alternative pathway, or provide a clinical benefit. Even if we are able to develop a product candidate that effectively inhibits complement
factor D in preclinical studies, we may not succeed in demonstrating safety and efficacy of the product candidate in human clinical trials. For example, although lampalizumab, a product candidate in clinical development that targets complement
factor D inhibition in GA was reported to have demonstrated safety, tolerability and evidence of activity in a phase II trial, the trials sponsor recently announced that its first phase III trial of the product candidate in GA did not meet its
primary endpoint of reducing GA lesions when compared to a sham treatment. Our focus on using our proprietary technology to identify drug candidates targeting the alternative pathway may not result in the discovery and development of commercially
viable medicines to treat human disease.
If we are unable to develop, obtain marketing approval for or successfully commercialize drug candidates,
either alone or through a collaboration, or if we experience significant delays in doing so, our business could be materially harmed.
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We currently have no products approved for sale and are investing substantially all of our
efforts and financial resources on the development of our complement inhibitor platform. Our prospects are substantially dependent on our ability, or that of any future collaborator we may have to develop, obtain marketing approval for, and
successfully commercialize at least one drug candidate in one or more disease indications based upon our programs.
The success of our
complement inhibitor platform, will depend on several factors, including the following:
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initiation, successful enrollment and completion of clinical trials;
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safety, tolerability and efficacy profiles that are satisfactory to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, or any comparable foreign regulatory authority for marketing approval;
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timely receipt of marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities;
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the performance of any future collaborators;
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the extent of any required post-marketing approval commitments to applicable regulatory authorities;
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establishment of supply arrangements with third party raw materials suppliers and manufacturers;
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establishment of arrangements with third party manufacturers to obtain finished drug products that are appropriately packaged for sale;
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obtaining and maintaining patent, trade secret protection and regulatory exclusivity, both in the United States and internationally;
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protection of our rights in our intellectual property portfolio;
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successful commercial launch following any marketing approval;
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a continued acceptable safety profile following any marketing approval; and
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commercial acceptance of our products or those of our collaborators, if and when approved, by patients, the medical community and third party payors;
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The success of our complement inhibitor platform also depends on our ability to compete with other marketed therapies for complement-mediated
disease such as those from Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and other potential therapies in development by Akari Therapeutics PLC, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Amyndas Pharmaceuticals S.A., Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Attune Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bioverativ Inc., ChemoCentryx, Inc., Genentech, Inc., Omeros Corporation and Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc. Additionally, Novartis AG also has intellectual property rights in the complement area.
Many of the factors on which our success is dependent are beyond our control, including clinical development, the regulatory submission
process, potential threats to our intellectual property rights and the manufacturing, marketing and sales efforts of any future collaborators. If we or our collaborators are unable to develop, receive marketing approval for and successfully
commercialize products based on our technologies, or experience delays as a result of any of these factors or otherwise, our business could be substantially harmed.
As a result of the termination of the Janssen Agreement, we will not receive any future milestone-based or royalty payments under the agreement, and it is
unlikely that any of our HCV product candidates will be developed or commercialized in the future.
On September 9, 2017, Janssen
provided us with notice that Janssen was unilaterally terminating the Janssen Agreement in its entirety and discontinuing their development program for JNJ 4178, a three-drug combination regimen that contained one of our HCV product candidates
licensed to Janssen. The termination will become effective on November 8, 2017. We had previously granted Janssen exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize our portfolio of drug candidates for the treatment of HCV infection.
Pursuant to the terms of the Janssen Agreement, we have agreed to coordinate in good faith with Janssen to wind down the development and manufacturing activities that are being conducted under the agreement. As a result of the termination of the
Janssen Agreement, we will not receive any future milestone-based or royalty payments under that agreement. Under the Janssen Agreement, only one of our HCV product candidates was being developed and only as one component of a three-drug combination
regimen. Although pursuant to the Janssen Agreement, Janssen is obligated to return our portfolio of HCV product candidates to us, we cannot assure you that we will seek to further evaluate or advance the HCV program, and we currently have no plans
to advance the program on our own. As such, we may never achieve any further value from the HCV program.
Results of preclinical studies and early
clinical trials may not be predictive of results of future clinical trials.
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The outcome of preclinical studies and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success
of later clinical trials, and interim results of clinical trials do not necessarily predict success in future clinical trials. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage
clinical trials after achieving positive results in earlier development, and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. The design of a clinical trial can determine whether its results will support approval of a product and flaws
in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced. In addition, changes to formulations of drug candidates may result in delays and requirements for additional clinical testing. We have limited
experience in designing clinical trials and may be unable to design and execute a clinical trial to support marketing approval. In addition, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses. Many companies
that believed their drug candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval for the drug candidates. Even if we, or any future collaborators, believe that the results
of clinical trials for our drug candidates warrant marketing approval, the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree and may not grant marketing approval of our drug candidates.
In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same drug
candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, variability of the disease being studied, changes in and adherence to the dosing regimen
and other clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. If we fail to receive positive results in clinical trials of our drug candidates, the development timeline and regulatory approval and commercialization
prospects for our most advanced drug candidates, and, correspondingly, our business and financial prospects would be negatively impacted.
We may
expend our resources to pursue a particular drug candidate or indication and fail to capitalize on drug candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our
spending on current and future research and development programs and drug candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable drug candidates. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a
particular drug candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that drug candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and
commercialization rights to the drug candidate.
Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome.
Clinical testing is expensive, time-consuming and uncertain as to outcome. We cannot guarantee that any clinical trials will be conducted as
planned or completed on schedule, if at all. The clinical development of our drug candidates is susceptible to the risk of failure inherent at any stage of drug development, including failure to demonstrate efficacy in a clinical trial or across a
broad population of patients, the occurrence of adverse events that are severe or medically or commercially unacceptable, failure to comply with protocols or applicable regulatory requirements and determination by the FDA or any comparable foreign
regulatory authority that a drug candidate may not continue development or is not approvable. It is possible that even if one or more of our drug candidates has a beneficial effect, that effect will not be detected during clinical evaluation as a
result of one or more of a variety of factors, including the size, duration, design, measurements, conduct or analysis of any clinical trials. Conversely, as a result of the same factors, any clinical trials may indicate an apparent positive effect
of a drug candidate that is greater than the actual positive effect, if any. Similarly, in any clinical trials we may fail to detect toxicity of or intolerability caused by our drug candidates, or mistakenly believe that our drug candidates are
toxic or not well tolerated when that is not in fact the case.
Additional factors that may negatively impact our clinical development
efforts include:
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delay or failure in obtaining approval by institutional review board or similar reviewing entities to conduct a clinical trial at each site;
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delay or failure in reaching agreement on acceptable terms with prospective contract research organizations, and clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary
significantly among different contract research organizations and trial sites;
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clinical sites and investigators deviating from trial protocol, failing to conduct the trial in accordance with regulatory requirements, or dropping out of a trial;
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slow patient enrollment, particularly in rare diseases being studied;
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delay or failure in having patients complete a trial or return for post-treatment
follow-up;
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disruption of clinical supply or clinical operations at our clinical trial sites;
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adverse medical events or side effects in treated patients, and the threat of legal claims and litigation alleging injuries;
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lack of effectiveness or safety of the product candidate being tested; and
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decisions by regulatory authorities, the institutional review board, ethics committee, or us, or recommendation by a data safety monitoring board, to suspend or terminate clinical trials at any time for safety issues or
for any other reason.
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Our failure to successfully initiate and complete clinical trials of our drug candidates and to
demonstrate the efficacy and safety necessary to obtain regulatory approval to market any of our drug candidates would significantly harm our business.
If clinical trials of our drug candidates fail to satisfactorily demonstrate safety and efficacy to the FDA and other regulators, we, or any future
collaborators, may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of these drug candidates.
We, and any future collaborators, are not permitted to commercialize, market, promote or sell any drug candidate in the United States without
obtaining marketing approval from the FDA. Foreign regulatory authorities, such as the European Medicines Agency, or the EMA, impose similar requirements. We, and any future collaborators, may never receive such approvals. We, and any future
collaborators, must complete extensive preclinical development and clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our drug candidates in humans before we, or they, will be able to obtain these approvals.
Clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and is inherently uncertain as to outcome.
In addition, our interest in developing potential therapies for rare diseases for which there is no currently available treatment, such as C3G, makes the difficulty in study design and outcome more challenging, as the appropriate endpoints for
obtaining approval from regulatory authorities have not been previously defined. Additionally, the clinical course of C3G is highly variable and it may be difficult to identify appropriate patients for clinical studies. PNH and C3G are chronic
conditions and regulatory authorities may require clinical trials for longer periods than anticipated by us. Any inability to successfully complete preclinical and clinical development could result in additional costs to us, or any future
collaborators, and impair our ability to generate revenues from product sales, regulatory and commercialization milestones and royalties. Moreover, if (1) we, or any future collaborators, are required to conduct additional clinical trials or
other testing of our drug candidates beyond the trials and testing that we, or they contemplate, (2) we, or any future collaborators, are unable to successfully complete clinical trials of our drug candidates or other testing, (3) the
results of these trials or tests are unfavorable, uncertain or are only modestly favorable, or (4) there are unacceptable safety concerns associated with our drug candidates, we, or any future collaborators, in addition to incurring additional
costs, may:
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be delayed in obtaining marketing approval for our drug candidates;
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not obtain marketing approval at all;
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obtain approval for indications or patient populations that are not as broad as intended or desired;
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obtain approval with labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or significant safety warnings, including boxed warnings;
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be subject to additional post-marketing testing or other requirements; or
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be required to remove the product from the market after obtaining marketing approval.
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Adverse events or
undesirable side effects caused by, or other unexpected properties of, any of our drug candidates may be identified during development that could delay or prevent their marketing approval or limit their use.
Adverse events or undesirable side effects caused by, or other unexpected properties of, our drug candidates could cause us, any future
collaborators, an institutional review board or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials of one or more of our drug candidates and could result in a more restrictive label or FDA requirement for a risk evaluation and
mitigation strategy, or REMS, or the delay or denial of marketing approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. For example, treatment with complement inhibitors like our factor D inhibitor
ACH-4471
may decrease the bodys ability to fend off infection by certain types of pathogens. Treatment with the marketed complement C5 inhibitor, eculizumab (Soliris), is associated with increased risk
for certain types of infection, including meningococcal infection. For this reason, patients treated with complement inhibitors, including patients treated in our future clinical trials, may be vaccinated for pathogens known to have increased risk
of infection with complement deficiency or inhibition and may also be treated with prophylactic antibiotics in an effort to reduce the risk of an adverse event resulting from an infection. However, there is a risk that vaccination and/or
prophylactic antibiotics will not prevent or reduce the risk of infections, including meningococcal infection.
Other adverse events may
occur. In our phase I multiple ascending dose study of
ACH-4471
in healthy volunteers, two cases of self-limited, ALT elevations (Grade 3 and 4) were observed post-treatment in the two highest dose groups,
with neither subject exhibiting signs or symptoms of liver decompensation. Both subjects ALT levels normalized without intervention during follow up. Further, no treatment-associated fever or infections were observed. ALT is a liver enzyme
measure to see whether a liver is damaged
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or diseased. There is a risk that increases in ALT will be seen in other healthy subjects or patients in our clinical studies dosed with
ACH-4471.
To date,
ACH-4471
has been dosed in patients for limited durations, and there is a risk that in longer dosing durations planned for our clinical trials, patients may experience increases in ALT or other adverse events.
There is also a risk that doses of ACH 4471, which we believe can be safely administered to patients, may not be effective in treating complement mediated diseases such as PNH or C3G.
If any of our drug candidates is associated with adverse events or undesirable side effects or has properties that are unexpected, we, or any
future collaborators, may need to abandon development or limit development of that drug candidate to certain uses or subpopulations in which the undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable
from a risk-benefit perspective. Many compounds that initially showed promise in clinical or earlier stage testing have later been found to cause undesirable or unexpected side effects that prevented further development of the compound.
If we, or any future collaborators, experience any of a number of possible unfavorable events in connection with clinical trials of our drug candidates,
potential marketing approval or commercialization of our drug candidates could be delayed or prevented.
We, or any future
collaborators, may experience numerous unfavorable events during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent marketing approval or commercialization of our drug candidates, including:
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clinical trials of our drug candidates may produce unfavorable or inconclusive results;
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we, or any future collaborators, may decide, or regulators may require us or them, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon product development programs;
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the number of patients required for clinical trials of our drug candidates may be larger than we, or any future collaborators, anticipate, patient enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than we, or any future
collaborators, anticipate or participants may drop out of these clinical trials at a higher rate than we, or any future collaborators, anticipate;
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the cost of planned clinical trials of our drug candidates may be greater than we anticipate;
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our third party contractors or those of any future collaborators, including those manufacturing our drug candidates or components or ingredients thereof or conducting clinical trials on our behalf or on behalf of any
future collaborators, may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us or any future collaborators in a timely manner or at all;
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regulators or institutional review boards may not authorize us, any future collaborators, or our or their investigators to commence a clinical trial or conduct a clinical trial at a prospective trial site;
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we, or any future collaborators, may have delays in reaching or fail to reach agreement on acceptable clinical trial contracts or clinical trial protocols with prospective trial sites;
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patients that enroll in a clinical trial may misrepresent their eligibility to do so or may otherwise not comply with the clinical trial protocol, resulting in the need to drop the patients from the clinical trial,
increase the needed enrollment size for the clinical trial or extend the clinical trials duration;
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we, or any future collaborators, may have to delay, suspend or terminate clinical trials of our drug candidates for various reasons, including a finding that the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health
risks, undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics of the drug candidate;
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regulators or institutional review boards may require that we, or any future collaborators, or our or their investigators suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including noncompliance with
regulatory requirements or their standards of conduct, a finding that the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks, undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics of the drug candidate or findings of undesirable
effects caused by a chemically or mechanistically similar drug or drug candidate;
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the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our, or any future collaborators, clinical trial designs or our or their interpretation of data from preclinical studies and clinical trials;
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the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may fail to approve or subsequently find fault with the manufacturing processes or facilities of third party manufacturers with which we, or any future collaborators,
enter into agreements for clinical and commercial supplies;
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the supply or quality of raw materials or manufactured drug candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of our drug candidates may be insufficient, inadequate or not available at an acceptable
cost, or we may experience interruptions in supply; and
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the approval policies or regulations of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient to obtain marketing approval.
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Product development costs for us, or any future collaborators, will increase if we, or they,
experience delays in testing or pursuing marketing approvals and we, or they, may be required to obtain additional funds to complete clinical trials and prepare for possible commercialization of our drug candidates. We do not know whether any
preclinical tests or clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured, or will be completed on schedule or at all. Significant preclinical or clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we, or any future
collaborators, may have the exclusive right to commercialize our drug candidates or allow our competitors, or the competitors of any future collaborators, to bring products to market before we, or any future collaborators, do and impair our ability,
or the ability of any future collaborators, to successfully commercialize our drug candidates and may harm our business and results of operations. In addition, many of the factors that lead to clinical trial delays may ultimately lead to the denial
of marketing approval of any of our drug candidates.
If we, or any future collaborators, experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of
patients in clinical trials, our or their receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.
We, or any future
collaborators, may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for any of our drug candidates if we, or they, are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in clinical trials. We are investigating
our drug candidate ACH 4471 in PNH, C3G and IC-MPGN, all of which are rare diseases. Recruitment of patients for our clinical trials in these diseases may be very difficult. In addition, other companies are currently investigating their
investigational products in PNH and C3G which may make it more difficult to enroll eligible patients into our clinical trials. Patient enrollment is a significant factor in the timing of clinical trials, and is affected by many factors, including:
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the size and nature of the patient population, particularly for rare diseases such as PNH, C3G and IC-MPGN;
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the severity of the disease under investigation;
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the proximity of patients to clinical sites;
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the eligibility criteria for the trial;
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the design of the clinical trial;
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efforts to facilitate timely enrollment;
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competing clinical trials; and
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clinicians and patients perceptions as to the potential advantages and risks of the drug being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new drugs that may be approved for the
indications we are investigating.
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Our inability, or the inability of any future collaborators, to enroll a sufficient
number of patients for our, or their, clinical trials could result in significant delays or may require us or them to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether. Enrollment delays in our, or their, clinical trials may result in increased
development costs for our drug candidates, delay or halt the development of and approval processes for our drug candidates and jeopardize our, or any future collaborators, ability to commence sales of and generate revenues from our drug
candidates, which could cause the value of our company to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing, if needed.
If any of our drug
candidates receives marketing approval and we, or others, later discover that the drug is less effective than previously believed or causes undesirable side effects that were not previously identified, our ability, or that of any future
collaborators, to market the drug could be compromised.
Clinical trials of our drug candidates are expected to be conducted in
carefully defined subsets of patients who have agreed to enter into clinical trials. Consequently, it is possible that our clinical trials, or those of any future collaborator, may indicate an apparent positive effect of a drug candidate that is
greater than the actual positive effect, if any, or alternatively fail to identify undesirable side effects. If, following approval of a drug candidate, we, or others, discover that the drug is less effective than previously believed or causes
undesirable side effects that were not previously identified, any of the following adverse events could occur:
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regulatory authorities may withdraw their approval of the drug;
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we, or any future collaborators, may be required to recall the drug, change the way the drug is administered or conduct additional clinical trials;
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additional restrictions may be imposed on the marketing of, or the manufacturing processes for, the particular drug;
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we may be subject to fines, injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties;
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regulatory authorities may require the addition of labeling statements, such as a black box warning or a contraindication;
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we, or any future collaborators, may be required to create a Medication Guide outlining the risks of the previously unidentified side effects for distribution to patients;
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we, or any future collaborators, could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients;
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the drug may become less competitive; and
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our reputation may suffer.
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Any of these events could have a material and adverse effect on
our operations and business and could adversely impact our stock price.
Even if one of our drug candidates receives marketing approval, it may fail to
achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third party payors and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success and the market opportunity for the drug candidate may be smaller than we estimate.
We have never commercialized a product. Even if one of our drug candidates is approved by the appropriate regulatory authorities for marketing
and sale, it may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient, or even any, market acceptance by physicians, patients, third party payors, health authorities and others in the medical community. For example, physicians are often reluctant to switch their
patients from existing therapies even when new and potentially more effective or convenient treatments enter the market. Further, patients often acclimate to the therapy that they are currently taking and do not want to switch unless their
physicians recommend switching products or they are required to switch therapies due to lack of reimbursement for existing therapies.
Efforts to educate the medical community and third party payors on the benefits of our drug candidates may require significant resources and
may not be successful. If any of our drug candidates is approved but does not achieve an adequate level of market acceptance, we may not generate significant revenues and we may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of our drug
candidates, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:
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the efficacy and safety of the product;
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the potential advantages of the product compared to alternative treatments;
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the prevalence and severity of any side effects;
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the clinical indications for which the product is approved;
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whether the product is designated under physician treatment guidelines as a first-line therapy or as a second- or third-line therapy;
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limitations or warnings, including distribution or use restrictions, contained in the products approved labeling;
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our ability, or the ability of any future collaborators, to offer the product for sale at competitive prices;
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the products convenience and ease of administration compared to alternative treatments;
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the willingness of the target patient population to try, and of physicians to prescribe, the product;
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the strength of sales, marketing and distribution support;
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the approval of other products for the same indications;
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changes in the standard of care for the targeted indications for the product;
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the timing of market introduction of our approved products as well as competitive products;
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availability and amount of reimbursement from government payors, managed care plans and other third party payors;
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adverse publicity about the product or favorable publicity about competitive products; and
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potential product liability claims.
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If we are unable to establish sales, marketing and distribution
capabilities or enter into sales, marketing and distribution arrangements with third parties, we may not be successful in commercializing any drug candidates that we develop if and when those drug candidates are approved.
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We do not have a sales, marketing or distribution infrastructure and have no experience in the
sale, marketing or distribution of pharmaceutical products. To achieve commercial success for any approved product, we must either develop a sales and marketing organization or outsource these functions to third parties. We plan to use a combination
of focused
in-house
sales and marketing capabilities and third party collaboration, licensing and distribution arrangements to sell any of our products that receive marketing approval.
We generally plan to seek to retain full commercialization rights in the United States for products that we can commercialize with a small
specialized sales force in certain rare diseases. The development of sales, marketing and distribution capabilities will require substantial resources, will be time-consuming and could delay any product launch. If the commercial launch of a drug
candidate for which we recruit a sales force and establish marketing and distribution capabilities is delayed or does not occur for any reason, we could have prematurely or unnecessarily incurred these commercialization costs. This may be costly,
and our investment could be lost if we cannot retain or reposition our sales and marketing personnel. In addition, we may not be able to hire or retain a sales force in the United States that is sufficient in size or has adequate expertise in the
medical markets that we plan to target. If we are unable to establish or retain a sales force and marketing and distribution capabilities, our operating results may be adversely affected. If a potential partner has development or commercialization
expertise that we believe is particularly relevant to one of our products, then we may seek to collaborate with that potential partner even if we believe we could otherwise develop and commercialize the product independently.
We generally plan to collaborate with third parties for commercialization in the United States of any products that we cannot commercialize
with a small sales force and that require a large sales, marketing and product distribution infrastructure. We also plan to commercialize our drug candidates outside the United States through collaboration, licensing and distribution arrangements
with third parties. As a result of entering into arrangements with third parties to perform sales, marketing and distribution services, our product revenues or the profitability of these product revenues may be lower, perhaps substantially lower,
than if we were to directly market and sell products in those markets. Furthermore, we may be unsuccessful in entering into the necessary arrangements with third parties or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us. In addition, we
may have little or no control over such third parties, and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our products effectively.
If we do not establish sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we will not
be successful in commercializing any of our drug candidates that receive marketing approval.
We face substantial competition from other pharmaceutical
and biotechnology companies, and our operating results may suffer if we fail to compete effectively.
The development and
commercialization of new drug products is highly competitive. We expect that we and our future collaborators, if any, will face significant competition from major pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology
companies worldwide with respect to any of our drug candidates that we, or they, may seek to develop or commercialize in the future. There are a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that currently market and sell products or are
pursuing the development of drug candidates for the treatment of the key complement-mediated disease indications. For example, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.s eculizumab (Soliris
®
) is a
marketed therapy for the treatment of PNH and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, or aHUS. Akari Therapeutics PLC, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Amyndas Pharmaceuticals S.A., Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Attune Pharmaceuticals, Inc., BioCryst
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bioverativ Inc., ChemoCentryx, Inc., Genentech, Inc., Omeros Corporation and Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc. have complement inhibitor therapies in development for other hematologic diseases. Additionally, Novartis AG also has
intellectual property rights in the complement area.
Our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing technologies and
drug products that are more effective, have fewer or more tolerable side effects or are less costly than any drug candidates that we are currently developing or that we may develop, which could render our drug candidates obsolete and noncompetitive.
Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more
effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than any products that we, or any future collaborators, may develop. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other marketing approval for their products
before we, or any future collaborators, are able to obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we, or any future collaborators, are able to enter the market.
Many of our existing and potential future competitors have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and
development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining marketing approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even
more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller or early stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These
competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or
necessary for, our programs.
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If the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities approve generic versions of any of our products that
receive marketing approval, or such authorities do not grant our products appropriate periods of data exclusivity before approving generic versions of our products, the sales of our products could be adversely affected.
Once a new drug application, or NDA, is approved, the product covered thereby becomes a reference-listed drug in the FDAs
publication, Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations. Manufacturers may seek approval of generic versions of reference-listed drugs through submission of abbreviated new drug applications, or ANDAs, in the United
States. In support of an ANDA, a generic manufacturer need not conduct clinical studies. Rather, the applicant generally must show that its product has the same active ingredient(s), dosage form, strength, route of administration and conditions of
use or labeling as the reference-listed drug and that the generic version is bioequivalent to the reference-listed drug, meaning it is absorbed in the body at the same rate and to the same extent. Generic products may be significantly less costly to
bring to market than the reference-listed drug and companies that produce generic products are generally able to offer them at lower prices. Thus, following the introduction of a generic drug, a significant percentage of the sales of any branded
product or reference-listed drug may be typically lost to the generic product.
The FDA may not approve an ANDA for a generic product
until any applicable period of
non-patent
exclusivity for the reference-listed drug has expired. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, provides a period of five years of
non-patent
exclusivity for a new drug containing a new chemical entity, or NCE. Specifically, in cases where such exclusivity has been granted, an ANDA may not be filed with the FDA until the expiration of five
years unless the submission is accompanied by a Paragraph IV certification that a patent covering the reference-listed drug is either invalid or will not be infringed by the generic product, in which case the applicant may submit its application
four years following approval of the reference-listed drug. If any product we develop does not receive five years of NCE exclusivity, the FDA may approve generic versions of such product three years after its date of approval. Manufacturers may seek
to launch these generic products following the expiration of the applicable marketing exclusivity period, even if we still have patent protection for our product.
Competition that our products may face from generic versions of our products could materially and adversely impact our future revenue,
profitability and cash flows and substantially limit our ability to obtain a return on the investments we have made in those drug candidates.
Even if
we, or any future collaborators, are able to commercialize any drug candidate that we, or they, develop, the product may become subject to unfavorable pricing regulations, third party payor reimbursement practices or healthcare reform initiatives
that could harm our business.
The commercial success of our drug candidates will depend substantially, both domestically and abroad,
on the extent to which the costs of our drug candidates will be paid by third party payors, including government health administration authorities and private health coverage insurers. If coverage and reimbursement is not available, or reimbursement
is available only to limited levels, we, or any future collaborators, may not be able to successfully commercialize our drug candidates. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow us, or any
future collaborators, to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realize a sufficient return on our or their investments. In the United States, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for products exists among third party payors and
coverage and reimbursement for products can differ significantly from payor to payor.
There is significant uncertainty related to third
party payor coverage and reimbursement of newly approved drugs. Marketing approvals, pricing and reimbursement for new drug products vary widely from country to country. Some countries require approval of the sale price of a drug before it can be
marketed. In many countries, the pricing review period begins after marketing or product licensing approval is granted. In some foreign markets, prescription pharmaceutical pricing remains subject to continuing governmental control even after
initial approval is granted. As a result, we, or any future collaborators, might obtain marketing approval for a product in a particular country, but then be subject to price regulations that delay commercial launch of the product, possibly for
lengthy time periods, which may negatively impact the revenues we are able to generate from the sale of the product in that country. Adverse pricing limitations may hinder our ability or the ability of any future collaborators to recoup our or their
investment in one or more drug candidates, even if our drug candidates obtain marketing approval.
Patients who are provided medical
treatment for their conditions generally rely on third party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with their treatment. Therefore, our ability, and the ability of any future collaborators, to commercialize any of our drug
candidates will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and reimbursement for these products and related treatments will be available from third party payors. Third party payors decide which medications they will cover and establish
reimbursement levels.
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The healthcare industry is acutely focused on cost containment, both in the United States and elsewhere. Government authorities and other third party payors have attempted to control costs by
limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications, which could affect our ability or that of any future collaborators to sell our drug candidates profitably. These payors may not view our products, if any, as
cost-effective, and coverage and reimbursement may not be available to our customers, or those of any future collaborators, or may not be sufficient to allow our products, if any, to be marketed on a competitive basis. Cost-control initiatives could
cause us, or any future collaborators, to decrease the price we, or they, might establish for products, which could result in lower than anticipated product revenues. If the prices for our products, if any, decrease or if governmental and other
third party payors do not provide coverage or adequate reimbursement, our prospects for revenue and profitability will suffer.
There may
also be delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs, and coverage may be more limited than the indications for which the drug is approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Moreover, eligibility for
reimbursement does not imply that any drug will be paid for in all cases or at a rate that covers our costs, including research, development, manufacture, sale and distribution. Reimbursement rates may vary, by way of example, according to the use
of the drug and the clinical setting in which it is used. Reimbursement rates may also be based on reimbursement levels already set for lower cost drugs or may be incorporated into existing payments for other services.
In addition, increasingly, third party payors are requiring higher levels of evidence of the benefits and clinical outcomes of new
technologies and are challenging the prices charged. We cannot be sure that coverage will be available for any drug candidate that we, or any future collaborator, commercialize and, if available, that the reimbursement rates will be adequate.
Further, the net reimbursement for drug products may be subject to additional reductions if there are changes to laws that presently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the United States. An
inability to promptly obtain coverage and adequate payment rates from both government-funded and private payors for any of our drug candidates for which we, or any future collaborator, obtain marketing approval could significantly harm our operating
results, our ability to raise capital needed to commercialize products and our overall financial condition.
Spurred by examples of large
price increases for certain drugs, political candidates and others have raised media attention to the issue of pharmaceutical price regulation. For example, recently announced plans have included elements such as patient spending caps, requirements
for drug makers to spend a defined portion of their profits on research and development, allowing Americans to import lower-priced drugs from other countries and addressing specialty pharmaceuticals which tend to have higher prices than other drugs.
If greater regulation of pharmaceutical pricing is approved, we may not be able to receive adequate reimbursement for our drug therapies, or may be forced to accept pricing at levels lower than that which would make us profitable. We cannot predict
the political or regulatory climate that may result in enhanced drug pricing regulations.
Product liability lawsuits against us could divert our
resources, cause us to incur substantial liabilities and limit commercialization of any products that we may develop.
We face an
inherent risk of product liability claims as a result of the clinical testing of our drug candidates despite obtaining appropriate informed consents from any clinical trial participants. We will face an even greater risk if we or any future
collaborators commercially sell any product that we may or they may develop. For example, we may be sued if any product we develop allegedly causes injury or is found to be otherwise unsuitable during clinical testing, manufacturing, marketing or
sale. Any such product liability claims may include allegations of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, a failure to warn of dangers inherent in the product, negligence, strict liability or a breach of warranties. Claims could also be
asserted under state consumer protection acts. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit commercialization of our drug candidates. Regardless of the
merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
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decreased demand for our drug candidates or products that we may develop;
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injury to our reputation and significant negative media attention;
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withdrawal of clinical trial participants;
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significant costs to defend resulting litigation;
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substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients;
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reduced resources of our management to pursue our business strategy; and
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the inability to commercialize any products that we may develop.
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Although we maintain general liability insurance and clinical trial liability insurance, this
insurance may not fully cover potential liabilities that we may incur. The cost of any product liability litigation or other proceeding, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. We will need to increase our insurance coverage if and when
we begin selling any drug candidate that receives marketing approval. In addition, insurance coverage is becoming increasingly expensive. If we are unable to obtain or maintain sufficient insurance coverage at an acceptable cost or to otherwise
protect against potential product liability claims, it could prevent or inhibit the development and commercial production and sale of our drug candidates, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and
prospects.
Our business and operations would suffer in the event of system failures or security breaches.
Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems are vulnerable to damage from cyber-attacks, computer viruses,
unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. Any system failure, accident or security breach that causes interruptions in our operations could result in a material disruption of our product
development programs and business operations, in addition to possibly requiring substantial expenditures of resources to remedy. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory
approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach results in a loss or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or
proprietary information, we may incur liabilities and the further development of our drug candidates may be delayed.
Risks Related to our Financial
Position and Need for Additional Capital
We have incurred significant losses since inception, expect to incur significant and increasing losses
for at least the next several years, and we may never achieve or maintain profitability.
We have incurred significant annual net
operating losses since our inception. We expect to continue to incur significant and increasing net operating losses for at least the next several years. Our net losses were $62.0 million and $57.3 million for the nine months ended
September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively. As of September 30, 2017, we had an accumulated deficit of $579.5 million. We have not generated any revenues from product sales, have not completed the development of any drug candidate and
may never have a drug candidate approved for commercialization. We are currently only in the early clinical testing stages for our most advanced drug candidate under our complement inhibitor platform and expect that it will be many years, if ever,
before we have a drug candidate ready for commercialization.
We have devoted substantially all of our financial resources and efforts to
research and development, including preclinical studies and our clinical development programs. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year. Net losses and negative cash flows have had, and will continue to
have, an adverse effect on our stockholders (deficit) equity and working capital.
We anticipate that our expenses will increase
substantially if and as we:
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continue research and initiate preclinical and clinical development efforts for our factor D inhibitor drug candidates, including
ACH-4471
and
ACH-5228;
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seek regulatory and marketing approvals for our drug candidates that successfully complete clinical trials, if any;
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establish sales, marketing, distribution and other commercial infrastructure to commercialize various products for which we may obtain marketing approval, if any;
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contract for the manufacture of larger quantities of drug candidates for preclinical testing, clinical development and potentially commercialization;
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maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio; and
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hire and retain additional personnel, such as clinical, quality control and scientific personnel.
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Our ability to become and remain profitable depends on our ability to generate revenue. We do not expect to generate significant revenue
unless and until we are, or any future collaborator is, able to obtain marketing approval for, and successfully commercialize, products based on our programs. This will require success in a range of challenging activities, including completing
clinical trials of our drug candidates, obtaining marketing approval for these drug candidates, manufacturing, marketing and selling those products for which we, or any future collaborators, may obtain marketing approval, satisfying any
post-marketing requirements and obtaining reimbursement for our products from private insurance or government payors. Because of the uncertainties and risks associated with these activities, we are unable to accurately predict the timing and amount
of increased expenses, and if or when we might achieve profitability. We and any future collaborators may never succeed in these activities and, even if we do, or any future collaborators do, we may never generate revenues that are large enough for
us to achieve profitability. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of our company and
adversely impact our stock price and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, maintain our research and development efforts, diversify our pipeline of drug candidates or continue our operations.
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We may need additional funding. If we are unable to raise capital when needed, we could be forced to delay,
reduce or eliminate our product development programs or commercialization efforts.
Developing pharmaceutical products, including
conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials, is a very time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete. We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we initiate
clinical trials of, initiate new research and preclinical development efforts for and seek marketing approval for, our drug candidates. In addition, if we obtain marketing approval for any of our drug candidates, we may incur significant
commercialization expenses related to product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution to the extent that such sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution are not the responsibility of a future collaborator. Accordingly, we may need to
obtain additional funding in connection with our continuing operations. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we may be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our research and development programs or any future
commercialization efforts.
We will be required to expend significant funds in order to advance the development of our complement factor D
inhibitor platform. In addition, while we may seek one or more collaborators for future development of our drug candidates, we may not be able to enter into a collaboration for any of our drug candidates on suitable terms or at all. In any event,
our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will not be sufficient to fund all of the efforts that we plan to undertake or to fund the completion of development of any of our drug candidates. Accordingly, we will be required to
obtain further funding through public or private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations and licensing arrangements or other sources. We do not have any committed external source of funds. Adequate additional financing may not be available
to us on acceptable terms, or at all. Our failure to raise capital as and when needed would have a negative impact on our financial condition and our ability to pursue our business strategy. Furthermore, as a result of the termination of the Janssen
Agreement, we will not receive any future milestone-based or royalty payments under that arrangement.
We believe that our existing cash,
cash equivalents and marketable securities as of September 30, 2017, will enable us to fund our current projected operating requirements for at least the next 12 months. Our estimate as to how long we expect our existing cash and cash
equivalents to be able to continue to fund our operations is based on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our available capital resources sooner than we currently expect. Further, changing circumstances, some of which may be
beyond our control, could cause us to consume capital significantly faster than we currently anticipate, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned. Our future funding requirements, both short-term and long-term, will depend on
many factors, including:
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the scope, progress, results and costs of drug discovery, preclinical development, laboratory testing and clinical trials for our drug candidates;
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our ability to enter into and the terms and timing of any collaborations, licensing or other arrangements that we may establish;
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the number of future drug candidates that we pursue and their development requirements;
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the outcome, timing and costs of seeking regulatory approvals;
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the costs of commercialization activities for any of our drug candidates that receive marketing approval to the extent such costs are not the responsibility of any collaborators, including the costs and timing of
establishing product sales, marketing, distribution and manufacturing capabilities;
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subject to receipt of marketing approval, revenue, if any, received from commercial sales of our drug candidates;
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our headcount growth and associated costs as we seek to expand our research and development and establish a commercial infrastructure;
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the costs involved in preparing, filing, prosecuting, maintaining, enforcing and defending patent and other intellectual property rights and defending against intellectual property-related claims;
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our ability to raise debt or equity capital, including any changes in the credit or equity markets that may impact our ability to obtain capital in the future;
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the costs associated with, and the outcome of, lawsuits against us, if any;
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our acquisition and development of new technologies and drug candidates; and
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competing technological and market developments, including those currently unknown to us.
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Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to
relinquish rights to our technologies or drug candidates.
We expect that we will need additional capital in the future to continue
our planned operations. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities, the ownership interests of our stockholders may be materially diluted, and the terms of these
securities could include liquidation or other preferences and anti-dilution protections that could adversely affect the rights of a common stockholder. In February 2017, we entered into a sales agreement with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., or
Cantor, pursuant to which, from time to time, we may offer and sell shares of our common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $75,000,000 through Cantor pursuant to a universal shelf registration statement that we filed with the SEC in
February 2017. Sales of our common stock, if any, under the agreement with Cantor may be made in sales deemed to be an
at-the-market
offering as defined in
Rule 415(a)(4) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Sales of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock or other securities could cause dilution to our stockholders and lower the market price of our common stock.
In addition, debt financing, if available, would result in fixed payment obligations and may involve agreements that include restrictive
covenants that limit our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures, creating liens, redeeming stock or declaring dividends, that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. In
addition, securing financing could require a substantial amount of time and attention from our management and may divert a disproportionate amount of their attention away from
day-to-day
activities, which may adversely affect our managements ability to oversee the development of our drug candidates.
If we raise additional funds through collaborations or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to
relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams or drug candidates or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce
or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market drug candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.
Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.
Under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, if a company undergoes an ownership change, generally
defined as a greater than 50% change (by value) in its equity ownership over a three-year period, the corporations ability to use its
pre-change
net operating loss carryforwards and other
pre-change
tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset its post-change taxable income or taxes may be limited. Changes in our stock ownership, some of which are outside of our control, may have resulted
or could in the future result in an ownership change. For example, we completed a review of our changes in ownership through December 31, 2015, and determined that we had four ownership changes since inception. The changes of ownership will
result in net operating loss and research and development credit carryforwards expiring unutilized. If additional limitations were to apply, utilization of a portion of our net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards could be further limited in
future periods and a portion of the carryforwards could expire before being available to reduce future income tax liabilities.
If the estimates we
make and the assumptions on which we rely in preparing our financial statements prove inaccurate, our actual results may vary significantly.
Our financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation
of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of our assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Such estimates and judgments include revenue recognition, stock-based compensation expense,
the valuation of investments, accrued expenses and deferred tax assets and liabilities. We base our estimates and judgments on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. However,
these estimates and judgments, or the assumptions underlying them, may change over time. Accordingly, our actual financial results may vary significantly from the estimates contained in our financial statements.
Risks Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties
We
may enter into collaborations with third parties for the development and commercialization of our drug candidates. If those collaborations are not successful, we may not be able to capitalize on the market potential of these drug candidates.
We may in the future seek third-party collaborators for the development and commercialization of product candidates based on our
complement inhibitor platform. Our likely collaborators for any collaboration arrangements include large and
mid-size
pharmaceutical companies, regional and national pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology
companies. If we enter into such collaborations, we will have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our collaborators will dedicate to the
31
development or commercialization of our drug candidates. Our ability to generate revenues from any future collaboration or license agreement will depend on the collaborators abilities to
successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements. In addition, any collaborators may have the right to abandon research or development projects and terminate applicable agreements, including any funding obligations, prior to
or upon the expiration of the agreed upon terms. For example, on September 9, 2017, we received notice from Janssen that our exclusive collaboration and license agreement with them, pursuant to which we granted Janssen exclusive worldwide
rights to develop and commercialize our portfolio of HCV drug candidates, would be terminated effective November 8, 2017. As a result of the termination, we will not receive any future milestone-based or royalty payments under the Janssen
Agreement, our HCV drug candidates will not be developed or commercialized by Janssen and our HCV drug candidates may never be developed or commercialized.
Collaborations involving our drug candidates pose a number of risks, including the following:
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collaborators have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to these collaborations;
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collaborators may not perform their obligations as expected;
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collaborators may not pursue development and commercialization of our drug candidates or may elect not to continue or renew development or commercialization programs, based on clinical trial results, changes in the
collaborators strategic focus, changes in the competitive environment, available funding or external factors, such as an acquisition, that divert resources or create competing priorities. For example, pursuant to the notice of termination of
the Janssen Agreement, Janssen informed us that with an increasing number of effective therapies addressing medical need in hepatitis C, Janssen had made a strategic decision to discontinue the development of
JNJ-4178,
a three-drug combination regimen that contained one of our HCV product candidates licensed to Janssen;
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collaborators may delay clinical trials, provide insufficient funding for a clinical trial program, stop a clinical trial or abandon a drug candidate, repeat or conduct new clinical trials or require a new formulation
of a drug candidate for clinical testing;
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a collaborator with marketing and distribution rights to one or more products may not commit sufficient resources to the marketing and distribution of such product or products;
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disagreements with collaborators, including disagreements over proprietary rights, contract interpretation or the preferred course of development, might cause delays or termination of the research, development or
commercialization of drug candidates, might lead to additional responsibilities for us with respect to drug candidates, or might result in litigation or arbitration, any of which would be time-consuming and expensive;
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collaborators may not properly maintain or defend our intellectual property rights or may use our proprietary information in such a way as to invite litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our intellectual
property or proprietary information or expose us to potential litigation;
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collaborators may infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties, which may expose us to litigation and potential liability; and
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collaborations may be terminated and, if terminated, may result in a need for additional capital to pursue further development or commercialization of the applicable drug candidates.
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Collaboration agreements may not lead to development or commercialization of drug candidates in the most efficient manner or at all. If any
future collaborator of ours is involved in a business combination, it could decide to delay, diminish or terminate the development or commercialization of any drug candidate licensed to it by us.
We may seek to establish collaborations and, if we are not able to establish them on commercially reasonable terms, we may have to alter our development
and commercialization plans.
Our drug development programs and the potential commercialization of our drug candidates will require
substantial additional cash to fund expenses. For some of our drug candidates, we may decide to collaborate with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the development and potential commercialization of those drug candidates. We face
significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. Whether we reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborators resources and expertise, the terms and
conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborators evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the potential differentiation of our drug candidate from competing drug candidates, design or results of
clinical trials, the likelihood of approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities and the regulatory pathway for any such approval, the potential market for the drug candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and
delivering the product to patients and the potential of competing products. The collaborator may also consider alternative drug candidates or technologies for similar indications that may be available for collaboration and whether such a
collaboration could be more attractive than the one with us for our drug candidate.
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Collaborations are complex and time-consuming to negotiate and document. Further, there have been
a significant number of recent business combinations among large pharmaceutical companies that have resulted in a reduced number of potential future collaborators. In addition, any collaboration agreements that we enter into in the future may
contain, restrictions on our ability to enter into potential collaborations or to otherwise develop specified compounds.
We may not be
able to negotiate collaborations on a timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to do so, we may have to curtail the development of the drug candidate for which we are seeking to collaborate, reduce or delay its development
program or one or more of our other development programs, delay its potential commercialization or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development or commercialization activities at our
own expense. If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities on our own, we may need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not have
sufficient funds, we may not be able to further develop our drug candidates or bring them to market and generate product revenue.
We have and intend
to continue to rely on third parties to conduct any clinical trials. If they do not perform satisfactorily, our business could be materially harmed.
We have and intend to continue to rely on third parties, such as contract research organizations, clinical data management organizations,
medical institutions and clinical investigators, to conduct clinical trials and expect to rely on these third parties to conduct clinical trials of any drug candidate that we develop. Any of these third parties may terminate their engagements with
us under certain circumstances. We may not be able to enter into alternative arrangements or do so on commercially reasonable terms. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new contract research organization begins work. As a
result, delays would likely occur, which could materially impact our ability to meet our expected clinical development timelines and harm our business, financial condition and prospects.
Further, our reliance on these third parties for clinical development activities limits our control over these activities, but we remain
responsible for ensuring that each of our trials is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards. For example, notwithstanding the obligations of a contract research organization for a trial of one
of our drug candidates, we will remain responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocols for the trial. Moreover, the FDA requires us to comply with standards,
commonly referred to as current Good Clinical Practices, or cGCPs, for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and
confidentiality of trial participants are protected. The FDA enforces these cGCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators, clinical trial sites and institutional review boards. If we or our third-party contractors
fail to comply with applicable cGCPs, the clinical data generated in any clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our drug candidates, which would delay the marketing
approval process. We cannot be certain that, upon inspection, the FDA will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with cGCPs. We are also required to register clinical trials and post the results of completed clinical trials on a
government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within certain timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.
Furthermore, the third parties that we intend to engage to conduct clinical trials on our behalf are not our employees, and except for
remedies available to us under agreements with such contractors, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time, skill and resources to our development programs. These contractors may also have relationships with other commercial
entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials or other drug development activities, which could impede their ability to devote appropriate time to our clinical programs. If these third parties do not
successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct any clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols, we may not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing
approvals for our drug candidates. If that occurs, we will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our drug candidates. In such an event, our financial results and the commercial prospects for any drug
candidates that we seek to develop could be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed, impaired or foreclosed.
We also intend to rely on other third parties to store and distribute drug supplies for any clinical trials. Any performance failure on the
part of our distributors could delay clinical development or marketing approval of our drug candidates or commercialization of any resulting products, producing additional losses and depriving us of potential product revenue.
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We have and intend to continue to contract with third parties for the manufacture and distribution of any drug
candidates for clinical trials in connection with our future development and commercialization efforts. This reliance on third parties
increases
the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our drug candidates or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.
We currently have no manufacturing facilities and limited personnel with manufacturing experience. We have and intend to continue to rely on
contract manufacturers to produce both drug substance and drug product required for any clinical trials. We also intend to rely upon contract manufacturers, and, potentially collaboration partners, to manufacture commercial quantities of our
products, if approved. Reliance on such third party contractors entails risks, including:
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manufacturing delays if our third party contractors give greater priority to the supply of other products over our drug candidates or otherwise do not satisfactorily perform according to the terms of the agreements
between us and them;
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the possible termination or nonrenewal of agreements by our third party contractors at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us;
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the possible breach by the third party contractors of our agreements with them;
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the failure of third party contractors to comply with applicable regulatory requirements;
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the possible mislabeling of clinical supplies, potentially resulting in the wrong dose amounts being supplied or active drug or placebo not being properly identified;
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the possibility of clinical supplies not being delivered to clinical sites on time, leading to clinical trial interruptions, or of drug supplies not being distributed to commercial vendors in a timely manner, resulting
in lost sales; and
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the possible misappropriation of our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and
know-how.
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We currently rely, and expect to continue to rely, on a small number of third party contract manufacturers to supply active pharmaceutical
ingredient and required finished product for our preclinical studies and any clinical trials. We do not have long-term agreements with any of these third parties. If any of our existing manufacturers should become unavailable to us for any reason,
we may incur some delay in identifying or qualifying replacements.
Any manufacturing problem or the loss of a contract manufacturer could
be disruptive to our operations, delay any clinical trials and, if our products are approved for sale, result in lost sales. Additionally, we intend to rely on third parties to supply the raw materials needed to manufacture any drug candidates. Any
reliance on suppliers may involve several risks, including a potential inability to obtain critical materials and reduced control over production costs, delivery schedules, reliability and quality. Any unanticipated disruption to future contract
manufacture caused by problems at suppliers could delay shipment of our drug candidates, increase our cost of goods sold and result in lost sales.
If any of our future drug candidates are approved by any regulatory agency, we plan to enter into agreements with third party contract
manufacturers for the commercial production and distribution of those products. It may be difficult for us to reach agreement with a contract manufacturer on satisfactory terms or in a timely manner. In addition, we may face competition for access
to manufacturing facilities as there are a limited number of contract manufacturers operating under current good manufacturing practices, or cGMPs, that are capable of manufacturing our drug candidates. Consequently, we may not be able to reach
agreement with third party manufacturers on satisfactory terms, which could delay our commercialization efforts.
Third party
manufacturers are required to comply with cGMPs and similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. Facilities used by our third party manufacturers must be approved by the FDA after we submit an NDA and before potential approval of the
drug candidate. Similar regulations apply to manufacturers of our drug candidates for use or sale in foreign countries. We do not control the manufacturing process and are completely dependent on our third party manufacturers for compliance with the
applicable regulatory requirements for the manufacture of our drug candidates. If our manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications or the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA and any applicable
foreign regulatory authority, they will not be able to secure the applicable approval for their manufacturing facilities. If these facilities are not approved for commercial manufacture, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities,
which could result in delays in obtaining approval for the applicable drug candidate.
In addition, our manufacturers are subject to
ongoing periodic inspections by the FDA and corresponding state and foreign agencies for compliance with cGMPs and similar regulatory requirements both prior to and following the receipt of marketing approval for any of our drug candidates. Some of
these inspections may be unannounced. Failure by any of our manufacturers to comply with applicable cGMPs or other regulatory requirements could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays,
suspensions or withdrawals of approvals, operating restrictions, interruptions in supply and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our drug candidates and have a material adverse impact on our
business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our drug
candidates may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any products that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
If our
patent position does not adequately protect our drug candidates, others could compete against us more directly, which would harm our business.
We own or hold exclusive licenses to a number of U.S. issued patents, pending U.S. provisional and
non-provisional
patent applications, as well as pending PCT applications and associated foreign patents and patent applications. Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent
protection both in the United States and in other countries for our drug candidates. Our ability to protect our drug candidates from unauthorized or infringing use by third parties depends in substantial part on our ability to obtain and maintain
valid and enforceable patents. Due to evolving legal standards relating to the patentability, validity and enforceability of patents covering pharmaceutical inventions and the scope of claims made under these patents, our ability to maintain, obtain
and enforce patents is uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions. Accordingly, rights under any issued patents may not provide us with sufficient protection for our drug candidates or provide sufficient protection to afford us a
commercial advantage against competitive products or processes. We cannot guarantee that any patents will issue from any pending or future patent applications owned by or licensed to us.
Patent applications in the United States are maintained in confidence for up to 18 months after their filing. In some cases, however, patent
applications remain confidential in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which we refer to as the U.S. Patent Office, for the entire time prior to issuance as a U.S. patent. Similarly, publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent
literature often lags behind actual discoveries. Consequently, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors or
co-owners
were the first to invent, or the first to file patent applications on, our drug
candidates or their intended uses. Furthermore, we may not have identified all U.S. and foreign patents or published applications that affect our business either by blocking our ability to commercialize our drugs or by covering similar technologies
that affect our drug market or patentability, or all prior art that could be considered relevant to our patent claims.
The claims of the
issued patents that are licensed to us, and the claims of any patents which have already issued or may issue in the future and are owned by us, may not confer on us significant commercial protection against competing products. Additionally, our
patents may be challenged by third parties, resulting in the patent being deemed invalid, unenforceable or narrowed in scope, or the third party may circumvent any such issued patents. The cost of these procedures could be substantial and it is
possible that our efforts would be unsuccessful resulting in a loss of our U.S. patent position. Also, our pending patent applications may not issue, and we may not receive any additional patents. Our patents might not contain claims that are
sufficiently broad to prevent others from utilizing our technologies. For instance, the issued patents relating to our drug candidates may be limited to a particular molecule or a related group of molecules. Consequently, our competitors may
independently develop competing products that do not infringe our patents or other intellectual property. To the extent a competitor can develop similar products using a different molecule, our patents may not prevent others from directly competing
with us.
The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the America Invents Act, was signed into law in September 2011, and many of the
substantive changes became effective in March 2013. The America Invents Act revised United States patent law in part by changing the standard for patent approval from a first to invent standard to a first to file
standard and developing a post-grant review system. This legislation changes United States patent law in a way that may weaken our ability to obtain patent protection in the United States for those applications filed after March 2013. For
example, if we are the first to invent a new drug or its use, but another party is the first to file a patent application on this invention, under the new law the other party may be entitled to the patent rights on the invention.
Further, the America Invents Act created for the first time new procedures to challenge issued patents in the United States, including
post-grant review and inter partes review proceedings, which some third parties have been using to cause the cancellation of selected or all claims of issued patents of competitors. For a patent with a priority date of March 16, 2013 or later,
a petition for post-grant review can be filed by a third party in a nine month window from issuance of the patent. A petition for inter partes review can be filed immediately following the issuance of a patent if the patent was filed prior to
March 16, 2013. A petition for inter partes review can be filed after the nine month period for filing a post-grant review petition has expired for a patent with a priority date of March 16, 2013 or later. Post-grant review proceedings can
be brought on any ground of challenge, whereas inter partes review proceedings can only be brought to raise a challenge based on published prior art. These adversarial actions at the U.S. Patent Office review patent claims without the presumption of
validity afforded to U.S. patents in lawsuits in U.S. federal courts, and use a lower burden of proof than used in litigation in U.S. federal courts. Therefore, it is generally considered easier for a competitor or third party to have a U.S. patent
cancelled in a Patent Office post-grant review or inter partes review proceeding than invalidated in a litigation in a U.S. federal court. If any of our patents are challenged by a third party in such a U.S. patent office proceeding, there is no
guarantee that we or our licensors will be successful in defending the patent, which would result in a loss of the challenged patent right to us.
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The laws of some foreign jurisdictions do not protect intellectual property rights to the same
extent as in the United States and many companies have encountered significant difficulties in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. If we encounter such difficulties in protecting or are otherwise precluded from effectively
protecting our intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions, our business prospects could be substantially harmed. For example, we could become a party to foreign opposition proceedings, such as at the European Patent Office, or patent
litigation and other proceedings in a foreign court. If so, uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of such proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the market place. The cost of foreign
adversarial proceedings can also be substantial, and in many foreign jurisdictions, the losing party must pay the attorney fees of the winning party.
Because of the extensive time required for development, testing and regulatory review of a potential product, it is possible that, before any
of our drug candidates can be commercialized, any related patent may expire or remain in force for only a short period following commercialization of our drug candidates, thereby reducing any advantages of the patent. To the extent our drug
candidates based on that technology are not commercialized significantly ahead of the date of any applicable patent, or to the extent we have no other patent protection on such drug candidates, those drug candidates would not be protected by
patents, and we would then rely solely on other forms of exclusivity, such as regulatory exclusivity provided by the FDCA or trade secret protection.
If we infringe or are alleged to infringe intellectual property rights of third parties, our business could be harmed.
Our research, development or commercialization activities, including any drug candidates or products resulting from these activities, may
infringe or be claimed to infringe patents or other proprietary rights owned by third parties and to which we do not hold licenses or other rights. We may not be aware of third party patents that a third party might assert against us. For example,
there may be third party applications that have been filed but not published that, if issued, could be asserted against us. If a patent infringement suit were brought against us, we could be forced to stop or delay research, development,
manufacturing or sales of the drug or drug candidate that is the subject of the suit. Further, if we are found to have infringed a third-party patent, we could be obligated to pay royalties and/or other payments to the third party for the sale of
our product, which may be substantial, or we could be enjoined from selling our product. We could also incur substantial litigation costs.
Litigation
regarding patents, intellectual property, and other proprietary rights may be expensive and time consuming. If we are involved in such litigation, it could cause delays in bringing drug candidates to market and harm our ability to operate.
Our success will depend in part on our ability to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. Although we are not
currently aware of any litigation or other proceedings or third-party claims of intellectual property infringement against us related to our drug candidates, the pharmaceutical industry is characterized by extensive litigation regarding patents and
other intellectual property rights. Other parties may obtain patents in the future and allege that the use of our technologies infringes these patent claims or that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. Likewise, third
parties may challenge or infringe upon our existing or future patents. Proceedings involving our patents or patent applications or those of others could result in adverse decisions regarding:
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the patentability of our inventions relating to our drug candidates; and/or
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the enforceability, validity or scope of protection offered by our patents relating to our drug candidates.
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Even if we are successful in these proceedings, we may incur substantial costs and divert management time and attention in pursuing these
proceedings, which could have a material adverse effect on us. If we are unable to avoid infringing the patent rights of others, we may be required to seek a license, defend an infringement action or challenge the validity of the patents in court.
Patent litigation is costly and time consuming. We may not have sufficient resources to bring these actions to a successful conclusion. In addition, if we do not obtain a license, develop or obtain
non-infringing
technology, fail to defend an infringement action successfully or have infringed patents declared invalid, we may:
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incur substantial monetary damages;
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encounter significant delays in bringing our drug candidates to market; and/or
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be precluded from participating in the manufacture, use or sale of our drug candidates or methods of treatment requiring licenses.
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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, during the course of this kind of litigation, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other
interim proceedings or developments. If investors perceive these results to be negative, the market price for our common stock could be significantly harmed.
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We may not be able to enforce our intellectual property rights throughout the world.
Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on our drug candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive. The
requirements for patentability may differ in certain countries, particularly in developing countries. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may
export otherwise infringing products to territories where we may obtain patent protection, but where patent enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our products in jurisdictions where we do not have
any issued or licensed patents and any future patent claims or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from so competing.
Moreover, our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights may be adversely affected by changes in foreign intellectual
property laws. Additionally, laws of some countries outside of the United States and Europe do not afford intellectual property protection to the same extent as the laws of the United States and Europe. Many companies have encountered significant
problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in certain foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of some countries, including India, China and other developing countries, may not favor the enforcement of our patents and other
intellectual property rights. This could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or the misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights. A number of foreign countries have stated that they are willing to issue
compulsory licenses to patents held by innovator companies on approved drugs to allow the government or one or more third party companies to sell the approved drug without the permission of the innovator patentee where the foreign government
concludes it is in the public interest. India, for example, has used such a procedure to allow domestic companies to make and sell patented drugs without innovator approval. There is no guarantee that patents covering any of our drugs will not be
subject to a compulsory license in a foreign country, or that we will have any influence over if or how such a compulsory license is granted. Further, in at least Brazil, the country allows its regulatory agency ANVISA to participate in the decision
of whether to grant a drug patent in that country, including based not on whether the patent meets the requirements for a patent but whether such a patent is deemed in the countrys interest. In addition, several other countries have created
laws that make it more difficult to enforce drug patents than patents on other kinds of technologies. Further, under the treaty on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) as interpreted by the Doha Declaration, countries in which
drugs are manufactured are required to allow exportation of the drug to a developing country that lacks adequate manufacturing capability. Therefore, our drug markets in the U.S. or foreign countries may be affected by the influence of current
public policy on patent issuance, enforcement or involuntary licensing in the healthcare area.
We rely on our ability to stop others from competing by
enforcing our patents, however some jurisdictions may require us to grant licenses to third parties. Such compulsory licenses could be extended to include some of our drug candidates, which may limit our potential revenue opportunities.
Many foreign countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner must grant licenses to third parties, in certain
circumstances. For example, compulsory licensing, or the threat of compulsory licensing, of life-saving products and expensive products is becoming increasingly popular in developing countries, either through direct legislation or international
initiatives. Compulsory licenses could be extended to include some of our drug candidates, if they receive marketing approval, which may limit our potential revenue opportunities. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from
practicing our inventions in certain countries outside the United States and Europe. Competitors may also use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export
otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, if our ability to enforce our patents to stop infringing activities is inadequate. These products may compete with our products, and our patents or other intellectual
property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions, whether or not successful, could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and resources
from other aspects of our business. Furthermore, while we intend to protect our intellectual property rights in major markets for our products, we cannot ensure that we will be able to initiate or maintain similar efforts in all jurisdictions in
which we may wish to market our products. Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate.
In addition, some countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the
patent owner may be limited to monetary relief and may be unable to enjoin infringement if a government is the infringer, which could materially diminish the value of the patent.
The rights we rely upon to protect our unpatented trade secrets may be inadequate.
We rely on unpatented trade secrets,
know-how
and technology, which are difficult to protect,
especially in the pharmaceutical industry, where much of the information about a product must be made public during the regulatory approval process. We seek to protect trade secrets, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements with
employees, consultants and others. These parties may breach or terminate these agreements, or may refuse to enter into such agreements with us, and we may not have adequate remedies
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for such breaches. Furthermore, these agreements may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information or result in the effective assignment to us of
intellectual property, and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential information or other breaches of the agreements. Despite our efforts to protect our trade secrets, we or our collaboration
partners, board members, employees, consultants, contractors or scientific and other advisors may unintentionally or willfully disclose our proprietary information to competitors.
If we fail to maintain trade secret protection, our competitive position may be adversely affected. Competitors may also independently
discover our trade secrets. Enforcement of claims that a third party has illegally obtained and is using trade secrets is expensive, time consuming and uncertain. If our competitors independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and
know-how,
we would not be able to assert our trade secrets against them and our business could be harmed.
Confidentiality agreements with employees and others may not adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information and may not
adequately protect our intellectual property.
We rely on trade secrets to protect our technology, especially where we do not believe
patent protection is appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. To protect our proprietary technology and processes, we also rely in part on confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements with our
corporate partners, employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators and sponsored researchers and other advisors. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information nor result in the effective assignment to
us of intellectual property, and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information or other breaches of the agreements. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and
proprietary information, and in such case we could not assert any trade secret rights against such party. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally obtained and is using our trade secrets is difficult, expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is
unpredictable. In addition, courts outside the United States may be less willing to protect trade secrets. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to seek to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to
obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.
Risks Related to Employee Matters and Managing
Growth
If we are not able to attract and retain key management, scientific personnel and advisors, we may not successfully develop our drug
candidates or achieve our other business objectives.
We depend upon our senior management and scientific staff for our business
success. All of our employment agreements with our senior management employees are terminable without notice by the employee. The loss of the service of any of the key members of our senior management may significantly delay or prevent the
achievement of drug development and other business objectives. Our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, consultants and advisors is critical to our success. We face intense competition for qualified individuals, particularly those
experienced in discovering and developing complement inhibitor drug candidates, from numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities, governmental entities and other research institutions. We may be unable to attract and retain
these individuals, and our failure to do so would adversely affect our business.
If we acquire or license technologies, resources or drug candidates,
we will incur a variety of costs and may never realize benefits from the transaction.
If appropriate opportunities become available,
we may license or acquire technologies, resources, drugs or drug candidates. We may never realize the anticipated benefits of such a transaction. In particular, due to the risks inherent in drug development, we may not successfully develop or obtain
marketing approval for the drug candidates we acquire. Future licenses or acquisitions could result in potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, the incurrence of debt, the creation of contingent liabilities, material impairment expenses
related to goodwill, and impairment or amortization expenses related to other intangible assets, which could harm our financial condition.
We expect
to grow our organization, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, which could disrupt our operations.
Over time, we expect to experience significant growth in the number of our employees and the scope of our operations, particularly in the
areas of drug manufacturing, regulatory affairs and sales, marketing and distribution. To manage these growth activities, we must continue to implement and improve our managerial, operational and financial systems, expand our facilities and continue
to recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Our management may need to devote a disproportionate amount of its attention to managing these growth activities. We may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations or
identify, recruit and train additional qualified personnel. Our inability to manage the expansion of our operations effectively may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, give rise to operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss
of employees and reduced
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productivity among remaining employees. Our expected growth could also require significant capital expenditures and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of
additional drug candidates. If we are unable to effectively manage our expected growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate revenues could be reduced and we may not be able to implement our business strategy,
including the successful commercialization of our drug candidates.
Risks Related to Regulatory Approval and Marketing of Our Drug Candidates and Other
Legal Compliance Matters
Even if we complete the necessary preclinical studies and clinical trials, the marketing approval process is expensive,
time-consuming and uncertain and may prevent us from obtaining approvals for the commercialization of some or all of our drug candidates. If we or any future collaborators are not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required
regulatory approvals, we or they will not be able to commercialize our drug candidates, and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.
Our drug candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their design, testing, manufacture,
safety, efficacy, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale and distribution, export and import, are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the United States and by the European
Medicines Agency and comparable regulatory authorities in other countries. Failure to obtain marketing approval for a drug candidate will prevent us from commercializing the drug candidate. We have not received approval to market any of our drug
candidates from regulatory authorities in any jurisdiction. We have only limited experience in filing and supporting the applications necessary to gain marketing approvals and expect to rely on third-party contract research organizations to assist
us in this process.
Securing marketing approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting
information to the various regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the drug candidates safety and efficacy. Securing regulatory approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing
process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the relevant regulatory authority. Our drug candidates may not be effective, may be only moderately effective or may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other
characteristics that may preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use.
The process of obtaining marketing
approvals, both in the United States and abroad, is expensive, may take many years if additional clinical trials are required, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon a variety of factors, including the type, complexity
and novelty of the drug candidates involved. Changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment of additional statutes or regulations, or changes in regulatory review for each submitted product
application, may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application. The FDA and comparable authorities in other countries have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our
data is insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other studies. In addition, varying interpretations of the data obtained from preclinical and clinical testing could delay, limit or prevent marketing approval of a
drug candidate. Any marketing approval we, or any future collaborators, ultimately obtain may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable.
Accordingly, if we or any future collaborators experience delays in obtaining approval or if we or they fail to obtain approval of our drug
candidates, the commercial prospects for our drug candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenues will be materially impaired.
Failure
to obtain marketing approval in foreign jurisdictions would prevent our drug candidates from being marketed in such jurisdictions.
In
order to market and sell our medicines in the European Union and many other jurisdictions, we or any future collaborators must obtain separate marketing approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedure
varies among countries and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval may differ substantially from that required to obtain FDA approval. The regulatory approval process outside the United States generally includes all of
the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. In addition, in many countries outside the United States, a product must be approved for reimbursement before the product can be approved for sale in that country. We or any future collaborators may
not obtain approvals from regulatory authorities outside the United States on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one regulatory
authority outside the United States does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA. We may not be able to file for marketing approvals and may not receive necessary approvals to commercialize our
products in any market.
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Additionally, on June 23, 2016, the electorate in the United Kingdom voted in favor of
leaving the European Union, commonly referred to as Brexit. On March 29, 2017, the country formally notified the European Union of its intention to withdraw pursuant to Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Since a significant proportion of the
regulatory framework in the United Kingdom is derived from European Union directives and regulations, the referendum could materially impact the regulatory regime with respect to the approval of our product candidates in the United Kingdom or the
European Union. Any delay in obtaining, or an inability to obtain, any marketing approvals, as a result of Brexit or otherwise, would prevent us from commercializing our product candidates in the United Kingdom and/or the European Union and restrict
our ability to generate revenue and achieve and sustain profitability. If any of these outcomes occur, we may be forced to restrict or delay efforts to seek regulatory approval in the United Kingdom and/or European Union for our product candidates,
which could significantly and materially harm our business.
We, or any future collaborators, may not be able to obtain orphan drug designation or
orphan drug exclusivity for our drug candidates in United States, European Union or other markets and, even if we do, that exclusivity may not prevent the FDA, EMA or other regulatory authorities from approving other competing products.
Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and Europe, may designate drugs for relatively small patient
populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product as an orphan drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000
individuals annually in the United States. We, or any future collaborators, may seek orphan drug designations for other drug candidates and may be unable to obtain such designations.
Even if we, or any future collaborators, obtain orphan drug designation for a drug candidate, we, or they, may not be able to obtain orphan
drug exclusivity for that drug candidate. Generally, a product with orphan drug designation only becomes entitled to orphan drug exclusivity if it receives the first marketing approval for the indication for which it has such designation, in which
case the FDA or the EMA will be precluded from approving another marketing application for the same drug for that indication for the applicable exclusivity period. The applicable exclusivity period is seven years in the United States and ten years
in Europe. The European exclusivity period can be reduced to six years if a drug no longer meets the criteria for orphan drug designation or if the drug is sufficiently profitable so that market exclusivity is no longer justified. Additionally, in
the European Union, the orphan designation for a drug is reevaluated at the time of request for marketing authorization to verify whether it can maintain its status as an orphan drug and there is a risk that any orphan designation may not be
maintained. Orphan drug exclusivity may be lost if the FDA or the EMA determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the drug to meet the needs of patients with
the rare disease or condition.
Even if we, or any future collaborators, obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity
may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs can be approved for the same condition. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve the same drug for the same condition if the FDA
concludes that the later drug is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care.
On August 3, 2017, the Congress passed the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017, or FDARA. FDARA, among other things, codified the FDAs
pre-existing
regulatory interpretation, to require that a drug sponsor demonstrate the clinical superiority of an orphan drug that is otherwise the same as a previously approved drug for the same rare disease in
order to receive orphan drug exclusivity. The new legislation reverses prior precedent holding that the Orphan Drug Act unambiguously requires that the FDA recognize the orphan exclusivity period regardless of a showing of clinical superiority. The
FDA may further reevaluate the Orphan Drug Act and its regulations and policies. We do not know if, when, or how the FDA may change the orphan drug regulations and policies in the future, and it is uncertain how any changes might affect our
business. Depending on what changes the FDA may make to its orphan drug regulations and policies, our business could be adversely impacted.
Fast track
designation by the FDA or other regulatory acceleration options may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process and does not assure approval.
If a drug is intended for the treatment of a serious or life threatening condition and the drug demonstrates the potential to address unmet
medical need for this condition, the drug sponsor may apply for FDA fast track designation. However, fast track designation does not ensure that the drug sponsor will receive marketing approval or that approval will be granted within any particular
timeframe. We may seek fast track designation for one or more of our drug candidates. If we do seek fast track designation, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. In addition,
the FDA may withdraw fast track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program. Fast track designation alone does not guarantee qualification for the FDAs priority review
procedures.
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Priority review designation by the FDA or similar classifications by other regulatory authorities may not lead
to a faster regulatory review or approval process and, in any event, does not assure approval.
If the FDA determines that a drug
candidate offers major advances in treatment or provides a treatment where no adequate therapy exists, the FDA may designate the drug candidate for priority review. For all new molecular entity (NME) new drug applications, a priority review
designation means that the goal for the FDA to act on the NDA is 8 months from the date of submission, rather than the standard 12 months. For subsequent applications (e.g., sNDAs), a priority review designation means that the goal for the FDA
to review an application is six months, rather than the standard review period of ten months. We may request priority review for our drug candidates. The FDA has broad discretion with respect to whether or not to grant priority review status to a
drug candidate, so even if we believe a particular drug candidate is eligible for such designation or status, the FDA may decide not to grant it. Moreover, a priority review designation does not necessarily mean a faster regulatory review process or
necessarily confer any advantage with respect to approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. Receiving priority review from the FDA does not guarantee approval within the eight-month or
six-month
clock
or thereafter.
Even if we, or any future collaborators, obtain marketing approvals for our drug candidates, the terms of approvals and ongoing
regulation of our products may limit how we, or they, manufacture and market our products, which could materially impair our ability to generate revenue.
Once marketing approval has been granted, an approved product and its manufacturer and marketer are subject to ongoing review and extensive
regulation. We, and any future collaborators, must therefore comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for any of our drug candidates for which we or they obtain marketing approval. Promotional communications with respect to
prescription drugs are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the products approved labeling. Thus, we and any future collaborators will not be able to promote any products we
develop for indications or uses for which they are not approved.
In addition, manufacturers of approved products and those
manufacturers facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMPs, which include requirements relating to quality control and quality
assurance as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation and reporting requirements. We, our contract manufacturers, any future collaborators and their contract manufacturers could be subject to periodic unannounced
inspections by the FDA to monitor and ensure compliance with cGMPs.
Accordingly, assuming we, or any future collaborators, receive
marketing approval for one or more of our drug candidates, we, and any future collaborators, and our and their contract manufacturers will continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing,
production, product surveillance and quality control.
If we, and any future collaborators, are not able to comply with post-approval
regulatory requirements, we, and any future collaborators, could have the marketing approvals for our products withdrawn by regulatory authorities and our, or any future collaborators, ability to market any products could be limited, which
could adversely affect our ability to achieve or sustain profitability. Further, the cost of compliance with post-approval regulations may have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition.
Any drug candidate for which we or any future collaborators obtain marketing approval could be subject to restrictions or withdrawal from the market and we
may be subject to substantial penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or if we experience unanticipated problems with our drug candidates, when and if any of them are approved.
Any drug candidate for which we or any future collaborators obtain marketing approval, along with the manufacturing processes, post-approval
clinical data, labeling, advertising and promotional activities for such product, will be subject to continual requirements of and review by the FDA and other regulatory authorities. These requirements include submissions of safety and other
post-marketing information and reports, registration and listing requirements, cGMP requirements relating to quality control and manufacturing, quality assurance and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, and requirements regarding the
distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping. Even if marketing approval of a drug candidate is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of
approval, or contain requirements for costly post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the medicine, including the requirement to implement a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy.
The FDA and other agencies, including the Department of Justice, or the DOJ, closely regulate and monitor the post-approval marketing and
promotion of products to ensure that they are marketed and distributed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling. The FDA and DOJ impose stringent restrictions on manufacturers
communications regarding
off-label
use and if we do not market our products for their approved indications, we may be subject to enforcement action for
off-label
marketing. Violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other statutes, including the False Claims Act, relating to the promotion and advertising of prescription drugs may lead to investigations and enforcement actions alleging
violations of federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws, as well as state consumer protection laws.
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In addition, later discovery of previously unknown adverse events or other problems with our
products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may yield various results, including:
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restrictions on such products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes;
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restrictions on the labeling or marketing of a product;
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restrictions on distribution or use of a product;
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requirements to conduct post-marketing studies or clinical trials;
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warning letters or untitled letters;
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withdrawal of the products from the market;
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refusal to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications that we submit;
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damage to relationships with any potential collaborators;
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unfavorable press coverage and damage to our reputation;
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fines, restitution or disgorgement of profits or revenues;
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suspension or withdrawal of marketing approvals;
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refusal to permit the import or export of our products;
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injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties; and
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litigation involving patients using our products.
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Non-compliance
with U.S. and European Union requirements regarding safety monitoring or
pharmacovigilance, and with requirements related to the development of products for the pediatric population, can also result in significant financial penalties. Similarly, failure to comply with the European Unions requirements regarding the
protection of personal information can also lead to significant penalties and sanctions.
Under the CURES Act and the Trump Administrations
regulatory reform initiatives, the FDAs policies, regulations and guidance may be revised or revoked and that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates, which would impact our ability to generate revenue.
In December 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act, or Cures Act, was signed into law. The Cures Act, among other things, is intended to
modernize the regulation of drugs and spur innovation, but its ultimate implementation is unclear. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to
maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
We also cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or
executive action, either in the United States or abroad. For example, certain policies of the Trump administration may impact our business and industry. Namely, the Trump administration has taken several executive actions, including the issuance of
a number of Executive Orders, that could impose significant burdens on, or otherwise materially delay, the FDAs ability to engage in routine regulatory and oversight activities such as implementing statutes through rulemaking, issuance of
guidance, and review and approval of marketing applications. An under-staffed FDA could result in delays in the FDAs responsiveness or in its ability to review submissions or applications, issue regulations or guidance, or implement or enforce
regulatory requirements in a timely fashion or at all. Moreover, on January 30, 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order, applicable to all executive agencies, including the FDA, which requires that for each notice of proposed rulemaking
or final regulation to be issued in fiscal year 2017, the agency shall identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed, unless prohibited by law. These requirements are referred to as the
two-for-one
provisions. This Executive Order includes a budget neutrality provision that requires the total incremental cost of all new regulations in the 2017 fiscal year, including repealed
regulations, to be no greater than zero, except in limited circumstances. For fiscal years 2018 and beyond, the Executive Order requires agencies to identify regulations to offset any incremental cost of a new regulation and approximate the total
costs or savings associated with each new regulation or repealed regulation. In interim guidance issued by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within OMB on February 2, 2017, the administration indicates that the
two-for-one
provisions may apply not only to agency regulations, but also to significant agency guidance documents. In addition, on February 24, 2017,
President Trump issued an executive order directing each affected agency to designate an agency official as a
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Regulatory Reform Officer and establish a Regulatory Reform Task Force to implement the
two-for-one
provisions and other previously issued executive orders relating to the review of federal regulations, however it is difficult to predict how these
requirements will be implemented, and the extent to which they will impact the FDAs ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If these executive actions impose constraints on the FDAs ability to engage in oversight and implementation
activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted.
Our relationships with healthcare providers, physicians and third party
payors will be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which, in the event of a violation, could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm and
diminished profits and future earnings.
Healthcare providers, physicians and third party payors will play a primary role in the
recommendation and prescription of any drug candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our future arrangements with healthcare providers, physicians and third party payors may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other
healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell and distribute any products for which we obtain marketing approval. Restrictions under applicable federal and
state healthcare laws and regulations include the following:
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the federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or
reward, or in return for, either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation or arranging of, any good or service, for which payment may be made under a federal healthcare program such as Medicare and Medicaid;
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the federal False Claims Act imposes criminal and civil penalties, including through civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, against individuals or entities for, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to
be presented, false or fraudulent claims for payment by a federal healthcare program or making a false statement or record material to payment of a false claim or avoiding, decreasing or concealing an obligation to pay money to the federal
government, with potential liability including mandatory treble damages and significant
per-claim
penalties, currently set at $10,781 to $21,563 per false claim;
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the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, imposes criminal and civil liability for executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or making false statements
relating to healthcare matters;
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HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and its implementing regulations, also imposes obligations, including mandatory contractual terms, with respect to safeguarding
the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information;
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the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires applicable manufacturers of covered drugs to annually report to CMS (i) payments and other transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals, and
(ii) certain physician ownership or investment interests; and
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analogous state and foreign laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws and transparency statutes, may apply to sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or
services reimbursed by third party payors, including private insurers.
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Some state laws require pharmaceutical companies to
comply with the pharmaceutical industrys voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government and may require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other
transfers of value to other healthcare providers and healthcare entities, or marketing expenditures. State and foreign laws also govern the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in
significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.
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, individual imprisonment, integrity obligations, and the
curtailment or restructuring of our operations. Any penalties, damages, fines, individual imprisonment, integrity obligations, exclusion from funded healthcare programs, or curtailment or restructuring of our operations could adversely affect our
financial results. We are developing and implementing a corporate compliance program designed to ensure that we will market and sell any future products that we successfully develop from our drug candidates in compliance with all applicable laws and
regulations, but we cannot guarantee that this program will protect us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted
against us and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.
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Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable
healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud
and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative
penalties, damages, fines, individual imprisonment, integrity obligations, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any of the physicians or other
healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business is found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusion from government funded healthcare
programs.
Current and future legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us and any future collaborators to obtain marketing approval of our
other drug candidates and affect the prices we, or they, may obtain.
In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have
been a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could, among other things, prevent or delay marketing approval of our drug candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and
affect our ability, or the ability of any collaborators, to profitably sell any products for which we, or they, obtain marketing approval. We expect that current laws, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future,
may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we, or any future collaborators, may receive for any approved products.
In March 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education
Reconciliation Act, or collectively the ACA. Among the provisions of the ACA of potential importance to our business and our product candidates are the following:
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an annual,
non-deductible
fee on any entity that manufactures or imports specified branded prescription drugs and biologic agents;
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an increase in the statutory minimum rebates a manufacturer must pay under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program;
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expansion of healthcare fraud and abuse laws, including the civil False Claims Act and the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, new government investigative powers and enhanced penalties for noncompliance;
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a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program, in which manufacturers must agree to offer 50%
point-of-sale
discounts off negotiated
prices;
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extension of manufacturers Medicaid rebate liability;
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expansion of eligibility criteria for Medicaid programs;
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expansion of the entities eligible for discounts under the Public Health Service pharmaceutical pricing program;
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new requirements to report certain financial arrangements with physicians and teaching hospitals;
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a new requirement to annually report drug samples that manufacturers and distributors provide to physicians; and
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a new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in, and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research.
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In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the ACA was enacted. These changes include the Budget Control Act
of 2011, which, among other things, led to aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of up to 2% per fiscal year that started in 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, will stay in effect through 2025 unless
additional congressional action is taken, and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which, among other things, reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover
overpayments to providers from three to five years. These new laws may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and otherwise affect the prices we may obtain for any of our product candidates for which we may obtain
regulatory approval or the frequency with which any such product candidate is prescribed or used. Further, there have been several recent U.S. congressional inquiries and proposed state and federal legislation designed to, among other things, bring
more transparency to drug pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, reduce the costs of drugs under Medicare and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products.
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We expect that these healthcare reforms, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be
adopted in the future, may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, more rigorous coverage criteria, new payment methodologies and additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product
and/or the level of reimbursement physicians receive for administering any approved product we might bring to market. Reductions in reimbursement levels may negatively impact the prices we receive or the frequency with which our products are
prescribed or administered. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors.
Since enactment of the ACA, there have been numerous legal challenges and Congressional actions to repeal and replace provisions of the law.
In May 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation known as the American Health Care Act of 2017. Thereafter, the Senate Republicans introduced and then updated a bill to replace the ACA known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act of
2017. The Senate Republicans also introduced legislation to repeal the ACA without companion legislation to replace it, and a skinny version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. In addition, the U.S. Senate considered proposed
healthcare reform legislation known as the Graham-Cassidy bill. None of these measures was passed by the U.S. Senate.
The Trump
Administration has also taken executive actions to undermine or delay implementation of the ACA. In January 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing federal agencies with authorities and responsibilities under the ACA to waive,
defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision of the ACA that would impose a fiscal or regulatory burden on states, individuals, healthcare providers, health insurers, or manufacturers of pharmaceuticals or medical
devices. In October 2017, the President signed a second Executive Order allowing for the use of association health plans and short-term health insurance, which may provide fewer health benefits than the plans sold through the ACA exchanges. At the
same time, the Administration announced that it will discontinue the payment of cost-sharing reduction, or CSR, payments to insurance companies until Congress approves the appropriation of funds for such CSR payments. The loss of the CSR payments is
expected to increase premiums on certain policies issued by qualified health plans under the ACA.
A bipartisan bill to appropriate funds
for CSR payments was introduced in the U.S. Senate, but the future of that bill is uncertain. Further, each chamber of the Congress has put forth multiple bills designed to repeal or repeal and replace portions of the ACA. Although none of these
measures has been enacted by Congress to date, Congress may consider other legislation to repeal and replace elements of the ACA. The Congress will likely consider other legislation to replace elements of the ACA, during the next Congressional
session. We will continue to evaluate the effect that the ACA and its possible repeal and replacement could have on our business.
The
costs of prescription pharmaceuticals in the United States has also been the subject of considerable discussion in the United States, and members of Congress and the Trump Administration have stated that they will address such costs through new
legislative and administrative measures. The pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is also subject to governmental control outside the United States. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time
after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost effectiveness of our product candidates to other available
therapies. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our ability to generate revenues and become profitable could be impaired.
Finally, legislative and regulatory proposals have also been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional
activities for pharmaceutical products. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether the FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing
approvals of our product candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by the U.S. Congress of the FDAs approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us and any future collaborators to
more stringent product labeling and post-marketing testing and other requirements.
Laws and regulations governing any international operations we may
have in the future may preclude us from developing, manufacturing and selling certain products outside of the United States and require us to develop and implement costly compliance programs.
If we expand our operations outside of the United States, we must dedicate additional resources to comply with numerous laws and regulations
in each jurisdiction in which we plan to operate. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any
foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose
securities are listed in the United States to comply with certain accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international
subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations.
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Compliance with the FCPA is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which
corruption is a recognized problem. In addition, the FCPA presents particular challenges in the pharmaceutical industry, because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other hospital employees are considered
foreign officials. Certain payments to hospitals in connection with clinical trials and other work have been deemed to be improper payments to government officials and have led to FCPA enforcement actions.
Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with
certain
non-U.S.
nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. If we expand our presence outside of the United
States, it will require us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing, or selling certain products and drug candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our
growth potential and increase our development costs.
The failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may
result in substantial civil and criminal penalties and suspension or debarment from government contracting. The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of
the FCPAs accounting provisions.
If we fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to
fines or penalties or incur costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We are subject to numerous
environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes. From time to time and in the future, our operations may
involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological materials, and may also produce hazardous waste products. Even if we contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and waste products, we
cannot completely eliminate the risk of contamination or injury resulting from these materials. In the event of contamination or injury resulting from the use or disposal of our hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages,
and any liability could exceed our resources. We also could incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties for failure to comply with such laws and regulations.
We maintain workers compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting
from the use of hazardous materials, but this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. However, we do not maintain insurance for environmental liability or toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us.
In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations.
Current or future environmental laws and regulations may impair our research, development or production efforts, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects. In addition, failure to comply with
these laws and regulations may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.
Governments outside the United States tend to impose strict
price controls, which may adversely affect our revenues, if any.
In some countries, such as the countries of the European Union, the
pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control and access. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain
reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we, or any future collaborators, may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our product to other available therapies. If reimbursement of our products is
unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business could be materially harmed.
Our employees may
engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including
non-compliance
with regulatory standards and requirements, which could cause significant liability for us and harm our reputation.
We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct, including intentional failures to comply with FDA regulations or similar
regulations of comparable
non-U.S.
regulatory authorities, provide accurate information to the FDA or comparable
non-U.S.
regulatory authorities, comply with
manufacturing standards we have established, comply with federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations and similar laws and regulations established and enforced by comparable
non-U.S.
regulatory authorities, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result
in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to
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detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits
stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws, standards or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant
impact on our business and results of operations, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
Our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders have the ability to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval,
which could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us and entrenching our management or board of directors.
As of October 27, 2017, our directors, executive officers and stockholders who own more than 5% of our outstanding common stock, together with
their affiliates and related persons, beneficially owned, in the aggregate, greater than approximately 55% of our outstanding common stock. As a result, if these stockholders were to choose to act together, they would be able to control all matters
submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election and removal of directors and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets or similar transaction, as well as our management and affairs. The interests of
this group of stockholders may not always coincide with our corporate interests or the interest of other stockholders, and they may act in a manner with which you may not agree or that may not be in the best interests of other stockholders. This
concentration of voting power may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of our company on terms that other stockholders may desire and entrenching our management or board or directors.
Our stock price has been and may in the future be volatile, and the market price of our common stock may decline in value in the future.
The market price of our common stock has fluctuated in the past and is likely to fluctuate in the future. During the period from
January 1, 2009 to September 30, 2017, our stock price has ranged from a low of $0.70 to a high of $16.87. Market prices for securities of early stage pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life sciences companies have historically been
particularly volatile. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:
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the results of current and planned clinical trials of our drug candidates including our complement factor D drug candidates;
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the results of clinical trials conducted by others on drugs that would compete with our drug candidates;
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the announcements of those data, particularly at high profile medical meetings, and the investment communitys perception of and reaction to those data;
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the entry into, modification of, or termination of collaborations and other key agreements;
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market expectations about the timeliness of our entry into, failure to enter to, or termination of, collaboration arrangements with third parties;
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the results of regulatory reviews and actions relating to the approval of our drug candidates;
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our failure to obtain patent protection for any of our drug candidates or the issuance of third-party patents that cover our drug candidates;
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the initiation of, material developments in, or conclusion of litigation;
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failure of any of our drug candidates, if approved, to achieve commercial success;
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general and industry-specific economic conditions that may affect our business, financial condition and operations, including without limitation research and development expenditures;
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the launch of drugs by others that would compete with our drug candidates;
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the failure or discontinuation of any of our research programs;
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issues in manufacturing our drug candidates or any approved products;
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the introduction of technological innovations or new commercial products by us or our competitors;
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changes in estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, if any, who cover our common stock;
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future sales, or the anticipation of future sales, of our common stock by us, our insiders or other stockholders;
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changes in the structure of health care payment systems;
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period-to-period
fluctuations in our financial results;
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low trading volume of our common stock; and
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the other factors described in this Risk Factors section.
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In addition, if we fail
to reach an important research, development or commercialization milestone or result by a publicly expected deadline, even if by only a small margin, there could be significant impact on the market price of our common stock. Additionally, as we
approach the announcement of important clinical data or other significant information and as we announce such results and information, we expect the price of our common stock to be particularly volatile, and negative results would have a substantial
negative impact on the price of our common stock.
The stock markets in general have experienced substantial volatility that has often
been unrelated to the operating performance of individual companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a companys
securities, stockholders have often instituted class action securities litigation against those companies. Such litigation, if instituted, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management attention and resources, which could
significantly harm our business operations and reputation. For example, we, and certain of our current and former officers, were named as defendants in a consolidated class action lawsuit following our announcements regarding the FDAs clinical
hold related to sovaprevir, our clinical-stage drug candidate for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C viral infection. On May 5, 2014, without any settlement payment by us, any individual defendant or any third party on their behalf, the lead
plaintiffs in the consolidated class action lawsuit voluntarily dismissed all of their claims without prejudice.
Sales of a substantial number of
shares of our common stock in the public market could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly.
Certain
stockholders hold a substantial number of shares of our common stock. If such stockholders sell, or indicate an intention to sell, substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, the trading price of our common stock could decline.
JJDC, which owns, as of October 27, 2017, approximately 13% of our common stock, has the right, until July 1, 2023, to require us, under specified conditions, to file a registration statement in order to register all or a portion of the shares
held by JJDC. We have also agreed to provide JJDC with certain piggyback registration rights such that at any time prior to July 1, 2023, subject to specified conditions, whenever we propose to register shares of our common stock
for our own account, JJDC will have the right to include some or all of its shares in such registration. In February 2017, we filed a registration statement with the SEC to register all of the shares of our common stock held by JJDC. We have entered
into a
lock-up
agreement with JJDC pursuant to which JJDC has agreed that, subject to certain exceptions, it will not, and will also cause its affiliates not to, without our prior approval, sell, transfer or
otherwise dispose of the shares of our common stock owned by it until the earlier of (1) January 31, 2018, or (2) such date that is 60 days after the first public announcement of
top-line
clinical results from Janssens
on-going
OMEGA-1
phase 2b clinical trial. Any waiver by us of the restrictions set forth in this
lock-up
agreement; any sales of our common stock by JJDC after this
lock-up
agreement lapses; or any other sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock by
any of our other stockholders, none of whom are subject to a
lock-up
agreement, could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock.
Unstable market and economic conditions may have serious adverse consequences on our business.
Our general business strategy may be adversely affected by economic downturns and volatile business environments and continued unpredictable
and unstable market conditions. If the current equity and credit markets deteriorate further, or do not improve, it may make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult, more costly, and more dilutive. Failure to secure any necessary
financing in a timely manner and on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our growth strategy, financial performance and stock price and could require us to delay or abandon clinical development plans. In addition, there is a risk
that one or more of our current service providers, manufacturers and other partners may not survive these difficult economic times, which would directly affect our ability to attain our operating goals on schedule and on budget.
Our management is required to devote substantial time and incur additional expense to comply with public company regulations. Our failure to comply with
such regulations could subject us to public investigations, fines, enforcement actions and other sanctions by regulatory agencies and authorities and, as a result, our stock price could decline in value.
As a public company, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the related rules and regulations of the SEC, as well as the rules of the NASDAQ
Global Select Market, have required us to implement additional corporate governance practices and adhere to a variety of reporting requirements and complex accounting rules. Compliance with these public company obligations places significant
additional demands on our limited number of finance and accounting staff and on our financial, accounting and information systems.
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In particular, as a public company, our management is required to conduct an annual evaluation of
our internal controls over financial reporting and include a report of management on our internal controls in our Annual Reports on Form
10-K.
If we are unable to continue to conclude that we have effective
internal controls over financial reporting or, if our independent registered public accounting firm are unable to provide us with an attestation and an unqualified report as to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting,
investors could lose confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which could result in a decrease in the value of our common stock.
Because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, will be
stockholders sole source of gain.
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We anticipate that we
will retain our earnings, if any, for future growth and therefore do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the future. As a result, only appreciation of the price of our common stock will provide a return to stockholders.
Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more
difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.
Provisions in our corporate
charter and our bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of us that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which a stockholder might otherwise receive a premium for his or her
shares. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock. In addition, because our board of directors is
responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of
our board of directors. Among other things, these provisions:
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establish a classified board of directors such that all members of the board are not elected at one time;
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allow the authorized number of our directors to be changed only by resolution of our board of directors;
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limit the manner in which stockholders can remove directors from the board;
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establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to the board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted on at stockholder meetings;
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require that stockholder actions must be effected at a duly called stockholder meeting and prohibit actions by our stockholders by written consent;
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limit who may call a special meeting of stockholder meetings;
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authorize our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to institute a poison pill that would work to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile
acquirer, effectively preventing acquisitions that have not been approved by our board of directors; and
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require the approval of the holders of at least 75% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast to amend or repeal certain provisions of our charter or bylaws.
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Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the
State of Delaware, which prohibits a person who owns in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of
our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner. This could discourage, delay or prevent someone from acquiring us or merging with us, whether or not it is desired by, or beneficial to, our
stockholders.