ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Risks Relating to our Product Commercialization Pursuits

If we fail to achieve and sustain commercial success for ProscaVax™, our business will suffer, our future prospects may be harmed and our stock price would likely decline .

We have never sold or marketed our pharmaceutical products in our continuing operations. Unless we can successfully commercialize ProscaVax™ or another product candidate or acquire the right to market other approved products, our business will be materially adversely affected. Our ability to generate revenues for ProscaVax™ will depend on, and may be limited by, a number of factors, including the following:

If for any reason we are unable to sell ProscaVax™, our business would be seriously harmed and could fail.

If ProscaVax™ were to become the subject of problems related to its efficacy, safety, or otherwise, our ability to generate revenues from ProscaVax™ could be seriously harmed.

ProscaVax™, in addition to any other of our drug candidates that may be approved by the FDA, will be subject to continual review by the FDA, and we cannot assure you that newly discovered safety issues will not arise. With the use of any newly marketed drug by a wider patient population, serious adverse events may occur from time to time that initially do not appear to relate to the drug itself. Any safety issues could cause us to suspend or cease marketing of our approved products, cause us to modify how we market our approved products, subject us to substantial liabilities, and adversely affect our revenues and financial condition. In the event of a withdrawal of ProscaVax™ from the market, our revenues would decline significantly and our business would be seriously harmed and could fail.

Adoption of ProscaVax™ for the treatment of patients with either early stage or advanced prostate cancer may be slow or limited for a variety of reasons, including competing therapies and perceived difficulties in the treatment process or delays in obtaining reimbursement. If ProscaVax™ is not successful in broad acceptance as a treatment option for prostate cancer, our business would be harmed.

The rate of adoption of ProscaVax™ for early stage or advanced prostate cancer and the ultimate market size will be dependent on several factors, including the education of treating physicians on the patient treatment process with ProscaVax™ and immunotherapies generally. A significant portion of the prospective patient base for treatment with ProscaVax™ may be under the care of urologists who may be less experienced with immunotherapy than oncologists. Acceptance by urologists of ProscaVax™ as a treatment option may be measurably slower than adoption by oncologists of ProscaVax™ as a therapy and may require more educational effort by us.

To achieve global success for ProscaVax™ as a treatment, we will need to obtain approvals by foreign regulatory authorities. Data from our completed clinical trials of ProscaVax™ may not be sufficient to support approval for commercialization by regulatory agencies governing the sale of drugs outside of the United States. This could require us to spend substantial sums to develop sufficient clinical data for licensure by foreign authorities. Submissions for approval by foreign regulatory authorities may not result in marketing approval by these authorities for the requested indication. In addition, certain countries require pricing to be established before reimbursement for the specific indication may be obtained. We may not receive or maintain marketing approvals at favorable pricing levels or at all, which could harm our ability to market ProscaVax™ globally. Prostate cancer is common in many regions where the healthcare support systems are limited and reimbursement for ProscaVax™ may be limited or unavailable, which will likely limit or slow adoption in these regions. If we are unable to successfully achieve the full global market potential of ProscaVax™ due to diagnosis practices or regulatory hurdles, our future prospects would be harmed and our stock price could decline.

Risks Relating to Our Financial Position and Operations

There is no way to predict the final outcome of our acquisition and subsequent disposal of Vitel Laboratorios and Oncbiomune Mexico

On March 10, 2017, we completed the acquisition of 100% of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Vitel Laboratorios from its shareholders Manuel Cosme Odabachian and Carlos Fernando Alaman Volnie (collectively, the “Vitel Stockholders”) pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Contribution Agreement entered into among the Company and the Vitel Stockholders . We acquired Vitel for the purpose of commercializing the Company’s ProscaVax™ vaccine technology and cancer technologies in MALA and to utilize Vitel’s distribution network and customer and industry relationships. We do not expect the development ProscaVax™ to be affected by the disposition of Vitel discussed below.

On December 29, 2017, our Board of Directors determined to sell or otherwise dispose of the Company’s interest in Vitel and Oncbiomune México due to disputes with the original Vitel shareholders and a resulting lack of control over the assets and operations of Vitel and OncBiomune Mexico. Accordingly, Vitel and Oncbiomune México are treated as a discontinued operation as of December 31, 2017 and deconsolidated effective January 1, 2018.

We cannot predict the final outcome of our negotiations with and continued investigations into certain actions of the Vitel Shareholders, or the timeline for the expected disposition. We cannot quantify the cost of identifying, investigating and pursuing actionable claims, if any, and the amount of capital expended prior to a recovery, if any, may be significant. In addition, we may not realize any value associated with our sale, disposition or liquidation of Vitel and Oncbiomune Mexico.

There is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

We had net income (loss) of $6,468,325 and $(20,513,138) for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively, however net income in 2018 resulted primarily from the large gain from the change of fair value of the derivative liabilities. We had loss from operation in 2018 of $1,777,983. The net cash used in operations were $1,679,406 and $2,294,341 for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Additionally, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $17,187,664 and $23,655,989, at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively, had a stockholders’ deficit of $7,546,917 at December 31, 2018, had a working capital deficit of $7,557,621 at December 31, 2018, had no revenues from continuing operations for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, and we defaulted on our debt. These conditions, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of twelve months for the issuance date of this report as described in Note 2 in our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Management cannot provide assurance that we will ultimately achieve profitable operations or become cash flow positive, or raise additional debt and/or equity capital. Management believes that our capital resources are not currently adequate to continue operating and maintaining its business strategy for a period of twelve months from the issuance date of this report. The Company will seek to raise capital through additional debt and/or equity financings to fund its operations in the future.

Although management believes there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, they do not reflect any adjustments that might result if we are unable to continue our business. Our consolidated financial statements contain additional note disclosure describing the circumstances that lead to this disclosure. Even if we are able to successfully realize our commercialization goals for ProscaVax™, because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with commercialization of a biologic, we may still require additional funding. And in any event, we are unable to predict when we will become profitable, if at all. Even if we do produce revenues and achieve profitability, we may not be able to maintain or increase profitability.

We will need additional funding and may be unable to raise additional capital when needed, which would force us to delay, reduce or eliminate our research and development activities.

We will need to raise additional funding. We may not be able to generate significant revenues for several years, if at all. Until we can generate significant revenues, if ever, we expect to satisfy our future cash needs through equity or debt financing. We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. If adequate funds are not available, we may be required to delay, reduce the scope of, or eliminate one or more of our research and development activities.

Risks from Competitive Factors

Our competitors may develop and market products that are less expensive, more effective, safer or reach the market sooner, which may diminish or eliminate the commercial success of any products we may commercialize.

Competition in the cancer therapeutics field is intense and is accentuated by the rapid pace of advancements in product development. In addition, we compete with other clinical-stage companies and institutions for clinical trial participants, which could reduce our ability to recruit participants for our clinical trials. Delay in recruiting clinical trial participants could adversely affect our ability to bring a product to market prior to our competitors. Further, research and discoveries by others may result in breakthroughs that render potential products obsolete before they generate revenue.

Products such as chemotherapeutics, androgen metabolism or androgen receptor antagonists, endothelin A receptor antagonists, antisense compounds, angiogenesis inhibitors and gene therapies for cancer are also under development by a number of companies and could potentially compete with ProscaVax™ and our other product candidates. In addition, many universities and private and public research institutes may in the future become active in cancer research, which may be in direct competition with us.

Some of our competitors in the cancer therapeutics field have substantially greater research and development capabilities and manufacturing, marketing, financial and managerial resources than we do. Acquisitions of competing companies by large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies could enhance our competitors’ resources. In addition, our competitors may obtain patent protection or FDA approval and commercialize products more rapidly than we do, which may impact future sales of our products. We expect that competition among products approved for sale will be based, among other things, on product efficacy, price, safety, reliability, availability, patent protection, and sales, marketing and distribution capabilities. Our profitability and financial position will suffer if our products receive regulatory approval, but cannot compete effectively in the marketplace.

We could face competition for ProscaVax™ or other approved products from biosimilar products that could impact our profitability .

We may face competition in Europe from biosimilar products, and we expect we may face competition from biosimilars in the future in the United States as well. To the extent that governments adopt more permissive approval frameworks and competitors are able to obtain broader marketing approval for biosimilars, our products will become subject to increased competition. Expiration or successful challenge of applicable patent rights could trigger such competition, and we could face more litigation regarding the validity and/or scope of our patents. We cannot predict to what extent the entry of biosimilar products or other competing products could impact our future potential sale of ProscaVax™ in the E.U., where biosimilars to other innovator biological products are already available. Our inability to compete effectively in foreign territories would reduce global sales potential, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

On March 23, 2010, PPACA became law and authorized FDA approval of biosimilar products. PPACA established a period of 12 years of data exclusivity for reference products and outlined statutory criteria for science-based biosimilar approval standards. Under this framework, data exclusivity protects the data in the innovator’s regulatory application by prohibiting, for a period of 12 years, others from gaining FDA approval based in part on reliance or reference to the innovator’s data. FDA has issued a number of guidance documents concerning its biosimilar policies and has licensed a number of biosimilar products. The biosimilar law does not change the duration of patents granted on biologic products. Because of this pathway for the approval of biosimilars in the U. S., we may in the future face greater competition from biosimilar products and downward pressure on our product prices, sales and revenues, subject to our ability to enforce our patents.

Failure to retain key personnel could impede our ability to develop our products and to obtain new collaborations or other sources of funding.

We depend, to a significant extent, on the efforts of our key employees, including senior management and senior scientific, clinical, regulatory, operational and other personnel. The development of new therapeutic products requires expertise from a number of different disciplines, some of which are not widely available.

We depend upon our scientific staff to discover new product candidates and to develop and conduct pre-clinical studies of those new potential products. Our clinical and regulatory staff is responsible for the design and execution of clinical trials in accordance with FDA requirements and for the advancement of our product candidates toward FDA approval and submission of data supporting approval. The quality and reputation of our scientific, clinical and regulatory staff, especially the senior staff, and their success in performing their responsibilities, may directly influence the success of our product development programs. As we pursue successful commercialization of ProscaVax™, our sales and marketing, and operations executive management staff takes on increasing significance and influence upon our organizational success. In addition, our executive officers are involved in a broad range of critical activities, including providing strategic and operational guidance. The loss of these individuals, or our inability to retain or recruit other key management and scientific, clinical, regulatory, medical, operational and other personnel, may delay or prevent us from achieving our business objectives. We face intense competition for personnel from other companies, universities, public and private research institutions, government entities and other organizations.

Risks Relating to Collaboration Arrangements and Reliance on Third Parties

We must rely at present on relationships with third-party suppliers to supply necessary components used in our products, which relationships are not easy to replace.

We rely upon contract manufacturers for components used in the manufacture of ProscaVax™. Problems with any of our suppliers’ facilities or processes could result in failure to produce or a delay in production of adequate supplies of the antigen or other components we use in the manufacture of ProscaVax™. This could delay or reduce commercial sales and materially harm our business. Any prolonged interruption in the operations of our suppliers’ facilities could result in cancellation of orders, loss of components in the process of being manufactured or a shortfall in availability of a necessary component. A number of factors could cause interruptions, including the inability of a supplier to provide raw materials, equipment malfunctions or failures, damage to a facility due to natural disasters, changes in FDA or equivalent other country authorities’ regulatory requirements or standards that require modifications to manufacturing processes, or action by us to implement process changes or other similar factors. Because manufacturing processes are complex and are subject to a lengthy FDA or equivalent non-United States regulatory approval process, alternative qualified supply may not be available on a timely basis or at all. Difficulties or delays in our suppliers’ manufacturing and supply of components could delay our clinical trials, increase our costs, damage our reputation and, for ProscaVax™, cause us to lose revenue or market share if we are unable to timely meet market demands.

We rely on single source vendors for some key components for ProscaVax™ and our active immunotherapy product candidates, which could impair our ability to manufacture and supply our products.

We currently depend on single source vendors for components used in ProscaVax™ and other active immunotherapy candidates. Any production shortfall that impairs the supply of the antigen in ProscaVax™ to us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we are unable to obtain a sufficient quantity of antigen, there could be a substantial delay in successfully developing a second source supplier. In addition, we rely on single-source unaffiliated third-party suppliers for certain other raw materials, medical devices and components necessary for the formulation, fill and finish of our products. Certain of these raw materials, medical devices and components are the proprietary products of these unaffiliated third-party suppliers and are specifically cited in the drug application with regulatory agencies so that they must be obtained from that specific sole source and could not be obtained from another supplier unless and until the regulatory agency approved such supplier. An inability to continue to source product from any of these suppliers, which could be due to regulatory actions or requirements affecting the supplier, adverse financial or other strategic developments experienced by a supplier, labor disputes or shortages, unexpected demands or quality issues, could adversely affect our ability to satisfy demand for ProscaVax™ or other products, which could adversely affect our product sales and operating results materially or our ability to conduct clinical trials, either of which could significantly harm our business.

If we fail to enter into any needed collaboration agreements for our product candidates, we may be unable to commercialize them effectively or at all.

Product collaborations are complex and any potential discussions may not result in a definitive agreement for many reasons. For example, whether we reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration would depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration, and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Those factors may include the design or results of clinical trials, the potential market for the product candidate, the costs and complexities of manufacturing and delivering the product candidate to patients, the potential of competing products, the existence of uncertainty with respect to our ownership of technology, which can exist if there is a challenge to such ownership without regard to the merits of the challenge, and industry and market conditions generally. If we were to determine that a collaboration for a particular product is necessary to commercialize it and we were unable to enter into such a collaboration on acceptable terms, we might elect to delay or scale back the commercialization of a product in order to preserve our financial resources or to allow us adequate time to develop the required physical resources and systems and expertise ourselves.

If we enter into a collaboration agreement we consider acceptable, the collaboration may not proceed as quickly, smoothly or successfully as we plan. The risks in a collaboration agreement generally include:

With respect to a collaboration for any of our products or product candidates, we are dependent on the success of our collaborators in performing their respective responsibilities and the continued cooperation of our collaborators. Our collaborators may not cooperate with us to perform their obligations under our agreements with them. We cannot control the amount and timing of our collaborators’ resources that will be devoted to activities related to our collaboration agreements with them. Our collaborators may choose to pursue existing or alternative technologies in preference to those being developed in collaboration with us. A collaborator may have the right to terminate the collaboration at its discretion. Any termination may require us to seek a new collaborator, which we may not be able to do on a timely basis, if at all, or require us to delay or scale back the commercialization efforts. The occurrence of any of these events could adversely affect the commercialization of product candidates we may commercialize and materially harm our business and stock price by slowing the pace of growth of such sales, by reducing the profitability of the product or by adversely affecting the reputation of the product in the market.

Risks Relating to Our Clinical Trial and Product Development Initiatives

The costs of our product candidate development and clinical trials are difficult to estimate and will be very high for many years, preventing us from making a profit for the foreseeable future, if ever.

Clinical and other studies necessary to obtain approval of a new drug can be time consuming and costly, especially in the United States, but also in foreign countries. Our estimates of the costs associated with future clinical trials and research may be substantially lower than what we actually experience. It is impossible to predict what we will face in the development of a product candidate, such as ProscaVax™. The purpose of clinical trials is to provide both regulatory authorities and us with safety and efficacy data in humans. It is relatively common to revise a trial or add subjects to a trial in progress. These examples of common variances in product development and clinical investigations demonstrate how predicted costs may exceed reasonable expectations. The difficult and often complex steps necessary to obtain regulatory approval especially that of the FDA and the European Union’s European Medicines Agency (the “EMA”) involve significant costs and may require several years to complete. We expect that we will need substantial additional financing over an extended period in order to fund the costs of future clinical trials, related research, and general and administrative expenses.

The extent of our clinical trials and research programs are primarily based upon the amount of capital available to us and the extent to which we receive regulatory approvals for clinical trials. We have established estimates of the future costs of the Phase 2 clinical trial for ProscaVax™, but, as explained above, that estimate may not prove correct. We expect the phase 2 clinical trial at Dana-Farber Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital to take three and a half years and cost roughly $6,100,000.

Our clinical and pre-clinical candidates in the pipeline for other potential cancer immunotherapies and targeted products may never reach the commercial market for a number of reasons.

To sustain our business, we focus substantial resources on the search for new pharmaceutical products. These activities include engaging in discovery research and product development, conducting pre-clinical and clinical studies, and seeking regulatory approval in the United States for product candidates and in other countries for ProscaVax™ and other products we may market in the future. Our long-term success depends on the discovery and development of new drugs that we can commercialize. Our cancer immunotherapy and targeted program pipeline candidates are still at a relatively early stage in the development process. There can be no assurance that these product candidates or any other potential therapies we may pursue will become a marketed drug. In addition, we may find that certain products cannot be manufactured on a commercial scale and, therefore, they may not be economical to produce, or may be precluded from commercialization by proprietary rights of third parties.

A significant portion of the research that we are conducting involves new and unproven technologies. Research programs to identify disease targets and product candidates require substantial technical, financial and human resources, whether or not we ultimately identify any candidates. Our research programs may initially show promise in identifying potential product candidates, yet fail to yield candidates for clinical development for a number of reasons, including difficulties in formulation which cannot be overcome, timing and competitive concerns.

An Investigational New Drug (“IND”) application must become effective before human clinical trials may commence. The IND application is automatically effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA unless before that time, the FDA raises concerns or questions about the product’s safety profile or the design of the trials as described in the application. In the latter case, any outstanding concerns must be resolved with the FDA before clinical trials can proceed. Thus, the submission of an IND may not result in FDA authorization to commence clinical trials in any given case. After authorization is received, the FDA retains the authority to place the IND, and clinical trials under that IND, on clinical hold. If we are unable to commence clinical trials or clinical trials are delayed indefinitely, we would be unable to develop additional product candidates and our business could be materially harmed. Clinical trials, both in the United States and in other countries, can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including:

The nature and efforts required to complete a prospective research and development project are typically indeterminable at very early stages when research is primarily conceptual and may have multiple applications. Once a focus towards developing a specific product candidate has been developed, we obtain more visibility into the efforts that may be required to reach conclusion of the development phase. However, there are inherent risks and uncertainties in developing novel biologics in a rapidly changing industry environment. To obtain approval of a product candidate from the FDA or other country regulatory authorities, we must, among other requirements, submit data supporting safety and efficacy as well as detailed information on the manufacture and composition of the product candidate. In most cases, this entails extensive laboratory tests and pre-clinical and clinical trials. The collection of this data, as well as the preparation of applications for review by the FDA and other regulatory agencies outside the United States are costly in time and effort, and may require significant capital investment.

We may encounter significant difficulties or costs in our efforts to obtain FDA approvals or approvals to market products in foreign markets. For example, the FDA or the equivalent in jurisdictions outside the United States may determine that our data is not sufficiently compelling to warrant marketing approval, or may require we engage in additional clinical trials or provide further analysis which may be costly and time consuming. Regardless of the nature of our efforts to complete development of our products and receive marketing approval, we may encounter delays that render our product candidates uncompetitive or otherwise preclude us from marketing products.

We may be required to obtain additional funding to complete development of product candidates or in order to commercialize approved products. However such funding may not be available to us on terms we deem acceptable or at all. Our ability to access additional capital is dependent on the success of our business and the perception by the market of our future business prospects. In the event we were unable to obtain necessary funding, we might halt or temporarily delay ongoing development projects.

Pre-clinical testing and clinical trials for product candidates must satisfy stringent regulatory requirements or we may be unable to utilize the results.

The pre-clinical testing and clinical trials of any product candidates that we develop must comply with regulations by numerous federal, state and local government authorities in the United States, principally the FDA, and by similar governmental authorities in other countries. Clinical trials are subject to continuing oversight by governmental regulatory authorities and institutional review boards and must meet the requirements of these authorities in the United States and other countries, including those for informed consent and good clinical practices. We may not be able to comply with these requirements, which could disqualify completed or ongoing clinical trials. We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, the testing process that could delay or prevent commercialization of our product candidates, including the following:

Each phase of clinical testing is highly regulated, and during each phase, there is risk that we will encounter serious obstacles or will not achieve our goals, and accordingly we may abandon a product in which we have invested substantial amounts of time and money. In addition, we must provide the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities with pre-clinical and clinical data that demonstrate that our product candidates are safe and effective for each target indication before they can be approved for commercial distribution. We cannot state with certainty when or whether any of our products now under development will be approved or launched; or whether any products, once approved and launched, will be commercially successful.

The FDA, other non-United States regulatory authorities, or an Advisory Committee may determine our clinical trials data regarding safety or efficacy are insufficient for regulatory approval .

Although we obtain guidance from regulatory authorities on certain aspects of our clinical development activities, these discussions are not binding obligations on regulatory authorities. Regulatory authorities may revise or retract previous guidance or may disqualify a clinical trial in whole or in part from consideration in support of approval of a potential product for commercial sale or otherwise deny approval of that product. Even if we obtain successful clinical safety and efficacy data, we may be required to conduct additional, expensive trials to obtain regulatory approval. FDA, or equivalent other country authorities, may elect to obtain advice from outside experts regarding scientific issues and/or marketing applications under FDA or other country authority review through the FDA’s Advisory Committee process or other country procedures. Views of the Advisory Committee or other experts may differ from those of the FDA, or equivalent other country authority, and may impact our ability to commercialize a product candidate.

If we encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, our trials could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected .

Clinical trials for our product candidates may require that we identify and enroll a large number of patients with the disease under investigation. We may not be able to enroll a sufficient number of patients, or those with required or desired characteristics to achieve diversity in a study, to complete our clinical trials in a timely manner.

Patient enrollment is affected by factors including:

Additionally, even if we are able to identify an appropriate patient population for a clinical trial, there can be no assurance that the patients will continue in the clinical trial through completion.

If we have difficulty enrolling or maintaining a sufficient number of patients with sufficient diversity to conduct our clinical trials as planned, we may need to delay or terminate ongoing or planned clinical trials either of which would have a negative effect on our business.

Risks Related to Regulation of the Pharmaceutical Industry

ProscaVax™ and our other products in development cannot be sold if we do not maintain or gain required regulatory approvals .

Our business is subject to extensive regulation by numerous state and federal governmental authorities in the United States, including the FDA, and potentially by foreign regulatory authorities, with regulations differing from country to country. In the United States, the FDA regulates, among other things, the pre-clinical testing, clinical trials, manufacturing, safety, efficacy, potency, labeling, storage, record keeping, quality systems, advertising, promotion, sale and distribution of therapeutic products. Other applicable non-United States regulatory authorities have equivalent powers. Failure to comply with applicable requirements could result in, among other things, one or more of the following actions: withdrawal of product approval, notices of violation, untitled letters, warning letters, fines and other monetary penalties, unanticipated expenditures, delays in approval or refusal to approve a product candidate; product recall or seizure; interruption of manufacturing or clinical trials; operating restrictions; injunctions; and criminal prosecution. We are required in the United States and in foreign countries to obtain approval from regulatory authorities before we can manufacture, market and sell our products.

Obtaining regulatory approval for marketing of a product candidate in one country does not assure we will be able to obtain regulatory approval in other countries. However, a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one country may have a negative effect on the regulatory process in other countries. Once approved, the FDA and other United States and non-United States regulatory authorities have substantial authority to limit the uses or indications for which a product may be marketed, restrict distribution of the product, require additional testing, change product labeling or mandate withdrawal of our products. The marketing of our approved products will be subject to extensive regulatory requirements administered by the FDA and other regulatory bodies, including: the manufacturing, testing, distribution, labeling, packaging, storage, reporting and record-keeping related to the product, advertising, promotion, and adverse event reporting requirements. In addition, incidents of adverse drug reactions, unintended side effects or misuse relating to our products could result in required post-marketing studies, additional regulatory controls or restrictions, or even lead to withdrawal of a product from the market.

In general, the FDA and equivalent other country authorities require labeling, advertising and promotional materials to be truthful and not misleading, and marketed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. If the FDA or other regulatory authorities were to challenge our promotional materials or activities, they may bring enforcement action.

Our failure to obtain approval, significant delays in the approval process, or our failure to maintain approval in any jurisdiction will prevent us from selling a product in that jurisdiction. Any product and its manufacturer will continue to be subject to strict regulations after approval, including but not limited to, manufacturing, quality control, labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting, advertising, promotion and record-keeping requirements. Any problems with an approved product, including the later exhibition of adverse effects or any violation of regulations could result in restrictions on the product, including its withdrawal from the market, which could materially harm our business. The process of obtaining approvals in foreign countries is subject to delay and failure for many of the same reasons.

Regulatory authorities could also add new regulations or change existing regulations at any time, which could affect our ability to obtain or maintain approval of our products. ProscaVax™ and our investigational cellular immunotherapies are novel. As a result, regulatory agencies lack experience with them, which may lengthen the regulatory review process, increase our development costs and delay or prevent commercialization of ProscaVax™ outside of the United States and with respect to our active immunotherapy products under development. We are unable to predict when and whether any changes to regulatory policy affecting our business could occur, and such changes could have a material adverse impact on our business. If regulatory authorities determine that we have not complied with regulations in the research and development of a product candidate, a new indication for an existing product or information to support a current indication, they may not approve the product candidate or new indication or maintain approval of the current indication in its current form or at all, and we would not be able to market and sell it. If we were unable to market and sell our products or product candidates, our business and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

Failure to comply with foreign regulatory requirements governing human clinical trials and failure to obtain marketing approval for product candidates could prevent us from selling our products in foreign markets, which may adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

The requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, manufacturing, testing, product approvals, pricing and reimbursement outside the United States vary greatly from country to country. In addition, the time required to obtain approvals outside the United States may differ significantly from that required to obtain FDA approval. We may not obtain foreign regulatory approvals on the timeframe we may desire, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not assure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries, and foreign regulatory authorities could require additional testing. Failure to comply with these regulatory requirements or obtain required approvals could impair our ability to develop foreign markets for our products and may have a material adverse effect on our business and future prospects.

Our product sales depend on adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payers .

Our sale of ProscaVax™ is dependent on the availability and extent of coverage and reimbursement from third-party payers, including government healthcare programs and private insurance plans. We rely in large part on the reimbursement coverage by federal and state sponsored government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid in the United States and equivalent programs in other countries. In the event we seek approvals to market ProscaVax™ in foreign territories, we will need to work with the government-sponsored healthcare systems in Europe and other foreign countries that are the primary payers of healthcare costs in those regions. Governments and private payers may regulate prices, reimbursement levels and/or access to ProscaVax™ and any other products we may market to control costs or to affect levels of use of our products. We cannot predict the availability or level of coverage and reimbursement for ProscaVax™ or our product candidates and a reduction in coverage and/or reimbursement for our products could have a material adverse effect on our product sales and results of operations.

We use hazardous materials in our business and must comply with environmental laws and regulations, which can be expensive.

Our operations produce hazardous waste products, including chemicals and radioactive and biological materials. We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the use, handling, storage and disposal of these materials. Although we believe that our safety procedures for handling and disposing of these materials complies with the standards prescribed by state and federal laws and regulations, the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials cannot be eliminated. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of such hazardous waste products and store our low-level radioactive waste at our facilities in compliance with applicable environmental laws until the materials are no longer considered radioactive. We are also subject to regulation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”), and the Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”), and to regulation under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and other regulatory statutes, and may in the future be subject to other federal, state or local regulations. OSHA and/or the EPA may promulgate regulations that may affect our research and development programs. We may be required to incur further costs to comply with current or future environmental and safety laws and regulations. In addition, in the event of accidental contamination or injury from these materials, we could be held liable for any damages that result, including remediation, and any such liability could exceed our resources.

If we are unable to safeguard against security breaches with respect to our information systems, our business may be adversely affected.

In the course of our business, we gather, transmit and retain confidential information through our information systems. Although we endeavor to protect confidential information through the implementation of security technologies, processes and procedures, it is possible that an individual or group could defeat security measures and access sensitive information about our business and employees. Any misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized disclosure of confidential information gathered, stored or used by us could have a material impact on the operation of our business, including damaging our reputation with our employees, third parties and investors. We could also incur significant costs implementing additional security measures and organizational changes, implementing additional protection technologies, training employees or engaging consultants. In addition, we could incur increased litigation as a result of any potential cyber-security breach. We are not aware that we have experienced any material misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized disclosure of confidential or personally identifiable information as a result of a cyber-security breach or other act, however, a cyber-security breach or other act and/or disruption to our information technology systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition or results of operations.

We are exposed to potential product liability claims, and insurance against these claims may not be adequate and may not be available to us at a reasonable rate in the future.

Our business exposes us to potential liability risks inherent in the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of drug candidates and products. If any of our drug candidates in clinical trials or our marketed products harm people or allegedly harm people, we may be subject to costly and damaging product liability claims. Most, if not all, of the patients who participate in our clinical trials are already seriously ill when they enter a trial. We have clinical trial insurance coverage, and commercial product liability insurance coverage. However, this insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover all claims against us. There is also a risk that adequate insurance coverage will not be available in the future on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. The successful assertion of an uninsured product liability or other claim against us could cause us to incur significant expenses to pay such a claim, could adversely affect our product development or product sales and could cause a decline in our product revenues. Even a successfully defended product liability claim could cause us to incur significant expenses to defend such a claim, could adversely affect our product development and could cause a decline in our product revenues. In addition, product liability claims could result in an FDA or equivalent non-United States regulatory authority investigation of the safety or efficacy of our products, our manufacturing processes and facilities, or our marketing programs. An FDA or equivalent non-United States regulatory authority investigation could also potentially lead to a recall of our products or more serious enforcement actions, limitations on the indications, for which they may be used, or suspension or withdrawal of approval.

Risks in Protecting Our Intellectual Property

If we are unable to protect our proprietary rights or to defend against infringement claims, we may not be able to compete effectively or operate profitably .

We invent and develop technologies that are the basis for or incorporated in our potential products. We protect our technology through United States and foreign patent filings, trademarks and trade secrets. We have issued patents, and applications for United States and foreign patents in various stages of prosecution. We expect that we will continue to file and prosecute patent applications and that our success depends in part on our ability to establish and defend our proprietary rights in the technologies that are the subject of issued patents and patent applications.

The fact that we have filed a patent application or that a patent has issued, however, does not ensure that we will have meaningful protection from competition with regard to the underlying technology or product. Patents, if issued, may be challenged, invalidated, declared unenforceable or circumvented or may not cover all applications we may desire. Our pending patent applications as well as those we may file in the future may not result in issued patents. Patents may not provide us with adequate proprietary protection or advantages against competitors with, or who could develop, similar or competing technologies or who could design around our patents. Patent law relating to the scope of claims in the pharmaceutical field in which we operate is continually evolving and can be the subject of some uncertainty. The laws providing patent protection may change in a way that would limit protection.

We also rely on trade secrets and know-how that we seek to protect, in part, through confidentiality agreements. Our policy is to require our officers, employees, consultants, contractors, manufacturers, outside scientific collaborators and sponsored researchers and other advisors to execute confidentiality agreements. These agreements provide that all confidential information developed or made known to the individual during the course of the individual’s relationship with us be kept confidential and not disclosed to third parties except in specific limited circumstances. We also require signed confidentiality agreements from companies that receive our confidential data. For employees, consultants and contractors, we require confidentiality agreements providing that all inventions conceived while rendering services to us shall be assigned to us as our exclusive property. It is possible, however, that these parties may breach those agreements, and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. It is also possible that our trade secrets or know-how will otherwise become known to or be independently developed by competitors.

We are also subject to the risk of claims, whether meritorious or not, that our products or immunotherapy candidates infringe or misappropriate third-party intellectual property rights. Defending against such claims can be quite expensive even if the claims lack merit and if we are found to have infringed or misappropriated a third-party’s intellectual property, we could be required to seek a license or discontinue our products or cease using certain technologies or delay commercialization of the affected product or products, and we could be required to pay substantial damages, which could materially harm our business.

We may be subject to litigation with respect to the ownership and use of intellectual property that will be costly to defend or pursue and uncertain in its outcome.

Our business may bring us into conflict with our licensees, licensors or others with whom we have contractual or other business relationships, or with our competitors or others whose interests differ from ours. If we are unable to resolve those conflicts on terms that are satisfactory to all parties, we may become involved in litigation brought by or against us. That litigation is likely to be expensive and may require a significant amount of management’s time and attention, at the expense of other aspects of our business.

Litigation relating to the ownership and use of intellectual property is expensive, and our position as a relatively small company in an industry dominated by very large companies may cause us to be at a disadvantage in defending our intellectual property rights and in defending against claims that our immunotherapy candidates infringe or misappropriate third-party intellectual property rights. Even if we are able to defend our position, the cost of doing so may adversely affect our profitability. We may in the future be subject to patent litigation and may not be able to protect our intellectual property at a reasonable cost if such litigation is initiated. The outcome of litigation is always uncertain, and in some cases could include judgments against us that require us to pay damages, enjoin us from certain activities or otherwise affect our legal or contractual rights, which could have a significant adverse effect on our business.

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.

Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other governmental fees on patents and/or applications will be due to be paid to the USPTO and various governmental patent agencies outside of the United States in several stages over the lifetime of the patents and/or applications. We have systems in place to remind us to pay these fees, and we employ an outside firm and rely on our outside counsel to pay these fees due to non-U.S. patent agencies. The USPTO and various non-U.S. governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. We employ reputable law firms and other professionals to help us comply, and in many cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. However, there are situations in which non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, our competitors might be able to enter the market and this circumstance would have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on our product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States can be less extensive than those in the United States. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and may also export infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. 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.

Risks Relating to an Investment in Our Common Stock

Market volatility may affect our stock price, and the value of an investment in our common stock may be subject to sudden decreases .

The trading price for our common stock has been, and we expect it to continue to be, volatile. The price at which our common stock trades depends on a number of factors, including the following, many of which are beyond our control:

During periods of extreme stock market price volatility, share prices of many biotechnology companies have often fluctuated in a manner not necessarily related to their individual operating performance. Furthermore, historically our common stock has experienced greater price volatility than the stock market as a whole.

We do not intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We are not currently profitable. To the extent, we become profitable, we intend to retain any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business and do not currently anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, our stockholders will not realize a return on their investment unless and until they sell shares after the trading price of our shares appreciates from the price at which the shareholder purchased.

As an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act, we are permitted to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements

We qualify as an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act. As a result, we are permitted to, and intend to, rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements. For so long as we are an emerging growth company, we will not be required to:

In addition, Section 102 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period. Our consolidated financial statements may therefore not be comparable to those of companies that comply with such new or revised accounting standards.

We will remain an “emerging growth company” until (i) the last day of the fiscal year of the Company during which it had total annual gross revenues of $1,070,000,000 or more; (ii) the last day of the fiscal year of the Company following the fifth anniversary of the date of the first sale of common equity securities of the Company pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933; (iii) the date on which the Company has, during the previous three year period, issued more than $1,000,000,000 in non-convertible debt; or (iv) the date on which the Company is deemed to be a large accelerated filer, as defined in Rule 12b-2.

Until such time, however, we cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

Trading on the OTC Markets is volatile and sporadic, which could depress the market price of our common stock and make it difficult for our stockholders to resell their shares.

Our common stock is quoted on the OTC Pink tier of the OTC Markets. Trading in stock quoted on the OTC Markets is often thin and characterized by wide fluctuations in trading prices, due to many factors, some of which may have little to do with our operations or business prospects. This volatility could depress the market price of our common stock for reasons unrelated to operating performance. Moreover, the OTC Markets is not a stock exchange, and trading of securities on the OTC Markets is often more sporadic than the trading of securities listed on a quotation system like NASDAQ or a stock exchange like the New York Stock Exchange. These factors may result in investors having difficulty reselling any shares of our common stock.