BVXV BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd

RISK FACTORS

An investment in these securities involves a high degree of risk. We operate in a dynamic industry that involves numerous risks and uncertainties. You should carefully consider the factors described below, together with all of the other information contained in this prospectus, including the audited and unaudited financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before deciding whether to invest in the ADSs. The following risks may adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows and cause the trading price of the ADSs to decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Capital Requirements

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with a history of operating losses, are not currently profitable, do not expect to become profitable in the near future and may never become profitable.

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that was incorporated in 2003. Since our incorporation, we have primarily focused our efforts on research and development and clinical trials of our product candidate, M-001. M-001 is in clinical trials and has not yet been approved for commercial sale. We may not receive the necessary regulatory approvals to commercialize our product candidate. We are not profitable and have incurred losses since inception, principally as a result of research and development, clinical trials and general administrative expenses in support of our operations. We have not generated any revenue, expect to incur substantial losses for the foreseeable future and may never become profitable. For the years ended December 31, 2016, 2017 and 2018, we had net losses of $2,452, $9,220 and $23,407 thousands respectively, and we expect such losses to continue for the foreseeable future. In addition, as of December 31, 2018, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $56,335 thousands and we expect to experience negative cash flow for the foreseeable future. As a result, we will ultimately need to generate significant revenues in order to achieve and maintain profitability. We may not be able to generate these revenues or achieve profitability in the future. If M-001 fails in clinical trials or does not gain regulatory clearance or approval, or if M-001 does not achieve market acceptance, we may never become profitable. Our failure to achieve or maintain profitability, or substantial delays in achieving profitability, could negatively impact the value of the securities and our ability to raise additional financing. A substantial decline in the value of the securities would also affect the price at which we could sell them to secure future funding, which could dilute the ownership interest of current shareholders. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods. Accordingly, it is difficult to evaluate our business prospects. Moreover, our prospects must be considered in light of the risks and uncertainties encountered by an early-stage company in highly regulated and competitive markets, such as the biopharmaceutical market, where regulatory approval and market acceptance of our products are uncertain. There can be no assurance that our efforts will ultimately be successful or result in revenues or profits.

We will require substantial additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed could force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or commercialization efforts.

As of December 31, 2018, we had approximately $20,246 thousands in cash and cash equivalents, a working capital of $14,688 thousands and an accumulated deficit of $56,335 thousands. As of December 31, 2018, we had sufficient cash and cash commitments to fund operations for at least 15 months if we do not raise additional capital. Since our inception, most of our resources have been dedicated to the development of M-001. In particular, we have expended and believe that we will continue to expend significant operating and capital expenditures for the foreseeable future developing M-001 and any future product candidate. These expenditures will include, but are not limited to, costs associated with research and development, manufacturing, conducting clinical trials, contracting CMOs, hiring additional management and other personnel and obtaining regulatory approvals, as well as commercializing any products approved for sale. Furthermore, we incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company in the United States. Because the outcome of our current Phase 3 clinical trials is highly uncertain, we cannot reasonably estimate the actual amounts necessary to successfully complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates. We also expect to incur additional costs for the purpose of conducting our ongoing and future clinical trials.

As a result of these and other factors currently unknown to us, we will require additional funds, through public or private equity or debt financings or non-dilutive sources or other sources, such as strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. A failure to fund these activities may harm our growth strategy, competitive position, quality compliance and financial condition.

Our future capital requirements depend on many factors, including:

Additional funds may not be available when we need them, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. If adequate funds are not available to us on a timely basis, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate preclinical studies, clinical trials or other research and development activities for M-001 or any future product candidate or delay, limit, reduce or terminate our establishment of sales and marketing capabilities or other activities that may be necessary to commercialize M-001 or any future product candidate.

We have entered into a finance contract with the European Investment Bank, or EIB, for the receipt of a loan of 20 million euros, which was extended to 24 million euros as described in this prospectus, and into a security agreement and creation of a first ranking floating charge over all assets of the Company in favor of EIB, and a breach of such finance contract or security agreement may cause EIB to exercise the pledge and materialize certain of our assets.

We entered into a finance contract, or the Finance Contract, with the European Investment Bank, or EIB, for the financing of up to 20 million euros, which was extended to 24 million euros as described in this prospectus, and up to 50% of the Company’s expected cost of developing and marketing our product candidate, M-001. A description of the main provisions of the Finance Contract is described in this prospectus. To the date of this prospectus, we have drawn down an amount of the loan equal to 20 million euros.

We have also entered into a security agreement, or the Security Agreement, whereby we created a first ranking floating charge over all of our assets in favor of EIB, excluding assets and/or intellectual property rights subject to the license agreement with YEDA Research and Development Company Limited. While intellectual property rights are excluded from the floating charge pledge, any breach of the Finance Contract or the Security Agreement may cause the EIB to exercise the floating charge pledge and to materialize certain of our assets at the time of such exercise.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing shareholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates.

We may seek additional capital through a combination of private and public equity offerings, debt financings, strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interests of existing shareholders will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect shareholder rights. Debt financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take certain actions, such as incurring debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise additional funds through strategic partnerships, alliances and licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies or any product candidate, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financing when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.

Risks Related to Development, Clinical Testing and Regulatory Approval of M-001 and Any Future Product Candidate

We have not yet commercialized any products, and we may never become profitable.

We currently have one product candidate, M-001, in Phase 3 clinical development and no products on the market or close to entering the market. We do not know when or if we will complete our product development efforts, obtain regulatory approval for M-001 or successfully commercialize M-001. Even if we are successful in developing M-001 or any product candidate that we may develop in the future (if any), we will not be successful unless such product gains market acceptance for appropriate indications at favorable reimbursement rates. The degree of market acceptance of these products will depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to:

Physicians, participants, third-party payors or the medical community in general may be unwilling to accept, utilize or recommend, and in the case of third-party payors, cover payment for M-001 or any future product candidate. As a result, we are unable to predict the extent of our future losses or the time required for us to achieve profitability, if at all. Even if we successfully develop one or more products, we may not become profitable.

We depend heavily on the success of our M-001. If we are unable to successfully complete our Phase 3 clinical trial for M-001 as and when expected and obtain marketing approvals for M-001, or if thereafter we fail to commercialize M-001 or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

We have invested a significant portion of our efforts and financial resources in the development of M-001. There remains significant risk that we will fail to successfully develop M-001 for any indication. We do not expect to have top line data from our pivotal clinical efficacy Phase 3 trial for M-001 available until the end of 2020. The timing of the availability of such top-line data and the completion of our pivotal clinical efficacy Phase 3 trial is dependent in part on our ability to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible participants in our pivotal clinical efficacy Phase 3 trial on a timely basis. A significant delay in enrolment would result in delays to our development timeline and additional development costs beyond what we have budgeted. If we ultimately obtain favorable results from our pivotal clinical efficacy Phase 3 trial of M-001, we will submit application(s) for marketing approval for M-001.

We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, our Phase 3 clinical trial of M-001, that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approvals to commercialize M-001, including:

We may not develop additional product candidates other than M-001.

M-001 is our only product candidate in development. Other than M-001, we may not develop additional product candidates based on our research and know-how and we may never attempt to develop other peptide-based products. As a result, our business and future success depends on our ability to obtain regulatory approval of and then successfully commercialize M-001.

We may never receive FDA regulatory approval for the performance of Phase 3 clinical trials in the U.S.

We have entered into a pivotal clinical efficacy phase 3 trial in Europe and a clinical trial agreement with NIAID, for a Phase 2 clinical trial in the U.S. using M-001, for which the first participants were enrolled in 2018. We intend, subject to the successful results of our Phase 3 clinical trial in Europe, to enter into discussions with the FDA, regarding market approval of M-001 in the U.S., and to comply with the applicable requirements. Although we believe that the previous approved preclinical and clinical trials we performed will serve as an adequate basis for future FDA regulated clinical trials in the U.S., we may not receive FDA approval to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials in the U.S. Failure to receive FDA approval to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials in the U.S. will materially reduce our target market and the future profitability of M-001, may have a material adverse effect on our business and could potentially cause us to cease operations. It is also possible that we may decide or that the FDA may require that we conduct further clinical trials, provide additional data and information, and meet additional standards for receipt of approval. If this were to occur, the time and financial resources required for obtaining FDA approval for Phase 3 clinical trials, and complications and risks associated therewith, would likely substantially increase. Moreover, while receipt of clinical trial approval by the FDA does not ensure the receipt of clinical trial approval in other countries, failure or delay in obtaining clinical trial approval by the FDA may have a negative effect on the regulatory process in other countries. Any failure or any delay or setback in obtaining clinical trial approval in the U.S. or in other countries would impair our ability to develop and commercialize M-001.

M-001 is subject to extensive regulation and may never obtain regulatory approval.

M-001 must satisfy rigorous standards of safety and efficacy before it can be approved for commercial use by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities for all or any of the indications for which it has undergone or is planned to undergo testing. The FDA and foreign regulatory authorities have full discretion over this approval process. We may need to conduct significant additional research, including testing in animals and in humans, before we can file applications for product approval. Typically, in the pharmaceutical industry, there is a high rate of attrition for product candidates in preclinical testing and clinical trials. Satisfying FDA and foreign regulatory requirements typically takes many years, is dependent upon the type, complexity and novelty of the product and requires the expenditure of substantial resources. Success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful. For example, a number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after promising results in earlier trials. In addition, delays or rejections may be encountered based upon additional government regulation, including any changes in legislation or EMA, FDA or foreign regulatory policy, during the process of product development, clinical trials and regulatory reviews. Failure to obtain EMA, FDA or foreign regulatory approval of M-001 in a timely manner or at all will severely undermine our business by delaying or halting commercialization of our products, imposing costly procedures, diminishing competitive advantages and reducing the number of saleable products and, therefore, corresponding product revenues.

M-001 and any product candidate we may develop in the future will remain subject to ongoing regulatory requirements even if we receive regulatory approval to market such product, and if we fail to comply with such requirements, we may not obtain such approvals or could lose those approvals that have been obtained, and the sales of any approved commercial products could be suspended.

Even if we receive regulatory approval to market M-001 and/or other product candidates, any such product will remain subject to extensive regulatory requirements, including requirements relating to manufacturing, labeling, packaging, adverse event reporting, storage, advertising, promotion, distribution and record keeping. Even if regulatory approval of a product is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the uses for which the product may be marketed or the conditions of approval, or may contain requirements for costly post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product, which could negatively impact us or our collaboration partners by reducing revenues or increasing expenses, and cause the approved product candidate not to be commercially viable. In addition, as clinical experience with a drug expands after approval, typically because it is used by a greater number and more diverse group of people after approval than during clinical trials, side effects and other problems may be observed over time after approval that were not seen or anticipated during pre-approval clinical trials or other studies. Any adverse effects observed after the approval and marketing of a product candidate could result in limitations on the use of, withdrawal of FDA or foreign regulatory approval or withdrawal of any approved products from the marketplace. Absence of long-term safety data may also limit the approved uses of our products, if any. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements of the FDA and other applicable U.S. and foreign regulatory authorities, or previously unknown problems with any approved commercial products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes are discovered, we could be subject to administrative or judicially imposed sanctions or other setbacks, including, without limitation, the following:

If we or our collaborators are slow to adapt, or are unable to adapt, to changes in existing regulatory requirements or adoption of new regulatory requirements or policies, marketing approval for our product candidates may be lost or cease to be achievable, resulting in decreased revenue from milestones, product sales or royalties, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

If clinical trials for M-001 are prolonged or delayed, we would be unable to commercialize our M-001 on a timely basis, which would require us to incur additional costs and delay our receipt of any revenues from potential M-001 sales.

We cannot predict whether we will encounter problems with any of our completed, ongoing or planned clinical trials that will cause us or any regulatory authority to delay or suspend those clinical trials or delay the analysis of data derived from them. A number of events, including any of the following, could delay the completion of our ongoing and planned clinical trials and negatively impact our ability to obtain regulatory approval for, and to market and sell, a particular product candidate:

Clinical trials require sufficient participant enrollment, which is a function of many factors, including the size of the participant population, the nature of the trial protocol, the proximity of participants to clinical sites, the availability of effective treatments for the relevant disease and the eligibility criteria for the clinical trial. Delays in participant enrollment can result in increased costs and longer development times. The failure to enroll participants in a clinical trial could delay the completion of the clinical trial beyond our current expectations. In addition, the FDA or foreign applicable regulatory authorities could require us to conduct clinical trials with a larger number of subjects than we have projected for any of our product candidates. We may not be able to enroll a sufficient number of participants in a timely or cost-effective manner. Furthermore, enrolled participants may drop out of clinical trials, which could impair the validity or statistical significance of those clinical trials.

Prior to commencing clinical trials in the United States, we must submit an IND application to the FDA and the IND application must become effective.

We do not know whether additional clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, if at all. Delays in our clinical trials will result in increased development costs for M-001. In addition, if our clinical trials are delayed, our competitors may be able to bring products to market before we do and the commercial viability of M-001 or any other future candidates could be limited.

Clinical trials are very expensive, time-consuming and difficult to design and implement, and, as a result, we may suffer delays or suspensions in future trials which would have a material adverse effect on our ability to generate revenues

Human clinical trials are very expensive and difficult to design and implement, in part because they are subject to rigorous regulatory requirements. Regulatory authorities, such as the EMA and FDA, may preclude clinical trials from proceeding. Additionally, the clinical trial process is time-consuming, failure can occur at any stage of the trials and we may encounter problems that cause us to abandon or repeat clinical trials. The commencement and completion of clinical trials may be delayed by several factors, including:

In addition, we or regulatory authorities may suspend our clinical trials at any time if it appears that we are exposing participants to unacceptable health risks or if the regulatory authorities find deficiencies in our regulatory submissions or the conduct of these trials. Any suspension of clinical trials will delay possible regulatory approval, if any, and adversely impact our ability to develop products and generate revenue.

Specifically, we are conducting a phase 3 clinical trial in Europe. If we fail to meet the obligations and planned time table for the performance of this trial, either due to delays caused by factors that are not in our control or that are caused by third parties, we may suffer delays in the commencement of the second cohort of the clinical trial. In addition, other factors, such as delays in the construction of the mid-sized manufacturing facility and the manufacturing of M-001 batches for the clinical trial, may also delay or jeopardize the completion of the planned clinical trial.

Although we are currently conducting a Phase 3 clinical trial in Europe, we have never conducted a Phase 3 clinical trial in the U.S., and may be unable to do so for M-001 or any other future product candidates we may develop.

We have never conducted a Phase 3 clinical trial in the U.S, but we are currently conducting a clinical trial in Europe.

The submission of a successful clinical trial plan, or IND application, and conducting of later-stage clinical trials are complicated processes. As an organization, we have conducted only Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials in Israel in accordance with Israeli Public Health Regulations (Clinical Trials in Human Subjects), as amended from time to time, and other applicable Israeli legislation, and a Phase 2b clinical trial in Europe, as part of the UNISEC consortium, and we are currently in the process of conducting a pivotal clinical efficacy phase 3 trial in Europe. We also have had limited interactions with the FDA and have not discussed our proposed future Phase 3 clinical trial designs or implementation with the FDA. Consequently, we may be unable to successfully and efficiently execute and complete our planned and ongoing clinical trials in a way that leads to the approval of Phase 3 clinical trials for M-001 in the U.S. We may require more time and incur greater costs than our competitors and may not succeed in obtaining regulatory approvals of M-001. Failure to commence or complete, or delays in our planned clinical trials, would prevent us from or delay us in developing and commercializing M-001 or any other product candidate we are developing.

We may be forced to abandon development of M-001 altogether, which will significantly impair our ability to generate product revenues.

The results of any clinical trial may not meet any or all of the trial’s endpoints. Further, success in preclinical testing and early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful, and the results of later clinical trials may not replicate the results of prior clinical trials and preclinical testing. The clinical trial process may fail to demonstrate that M-001 is safe for humans and effective for indicated uses. Any such failure may cause us to abandon M-001 and may delay development of other product candidates. Any delay in, or termination or suspension of, our clinical trials will delay the requisite filings with the relevant foreign regulatory authorities and, ultimately, our ability to commercialize M-001 and generate product revenues. If the clinical trials do not support our drug product claims, the completion of development of M-001 may be significantly delayed or abandoned, which would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Positive results in the previous clinical trials of M-001 may not be replicated in future clinical trials, which could result in development delays or a failure to obtain marketing approval.

Positive results in the previous clinical trials of M-001 may not be predictive of similar results in future clinical trials. Also, interim results during a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in early-stage development. Accordingly, the results from the completed preclinical studies and clinical trials for M-001 may not be predictive of the results we may obtain in later stage trials. Our clinical trials may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials. Moreover, clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain FDA or European Medicines Agency, or other applicable regulatory agency, approval for their products.

If we experience delays in the enrollment of participants in our clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.

We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for M-001 or any future product candidate. Although we have succeeded in enrolling cohort 1 of our Phase 3 clinical trial in Europe, we will have to enroll additional participants for our cohort 2. Participant enrollment, a significant factor in the timing of clinical trials, is affected by many factors including the size and nature of the population eligible to participate, the proximity of potential participants to clinical sites, the eligibility criteria for the trial, the design of the clinical trial, competing clinical trials and clinicians’ and participants’ perceptions as to the potential advantages 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. If we fail to enroll and maintain the number of participants for which the clinical trial was designed, the statistical power of that clinical trial may be reduced, which would make it harder to demonstrate that the product candidate being tested in such clinical trial is safe and effective. Additionally, enrollment delays in our clinical trials may result in increased development costs for M-001 and any future product candidate, which would cause our value to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing. Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of participants for any of our current or future clinical trials would result in significant delays or may require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether.

If we are not successful in discovering, developing and commercializing additional product candidates, our ability to expand our business and achieve our strategic objectives may be impaired.

Although all of our efforts to date have been, and a substantial amount of our efforts in the future are expected to be focused on the development of M-001, another possible future element of our strategy may include identifying and testing additional compounds that are optimized for peptide-based products. Research programs designed to identify additional product candidates require substantial technical, financial and human resources, whether or not any product candidates are ultimately identified. Our research programs may initially show promise in identifying potential product candidates, yet fail to yield product candidates for clinical development or commercialization for many reasons, including the following:

If we are unable to identify suitable compounds for preclinical and clinical development, we may not be able to obtain sufficient product revenues in future periods, which likely would result in significant harm to our financial position and adversely impact the ADS price.

Reimbursement may not be available for M-001 (if and when approved for commercial sale) or any future product candidates, which could make it difficult for us to sell such products profitably.

Market acceptance and sales of M-001 or any future product candidate will depend on coverage and reimbursement policies and may be affected by healthcare reform measures. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which products they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for our products. We also cannot be sure that the amount of reimbursement available, if any, will not reduce the demand for, or the price of, our products. If reimbursement is not available or is available only at limited levels, we may not be able to successfully compete through sales of our proposed products.

We are subject to extensive and costly government regulation.

The product we are developing is, and any products we may develop in the future will be, subject to extensive and rigorous domestic government regulation, including with respect to Israel, regulation by the Israeli Ministry of Health, and with respect to the U.S., regulation by the FDA, the CMS, other divisions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including its Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs and, to the extent our products are paid for directly or indirectly by those departments, state and local governments and their respective foreign equivalents. The FDA regulates the research, development, preclinical and clinical testing, manufacture, safety, effectiveness, record keeping, reporting, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale, distribution, import and export of pharmaceutical products under various regulatory provisions. M-001 or any product candidates we may develop, which will be tested and marketed abroad, will be subject to extensive regulation by foreign governments, whether or not we have obtained the Israeli Ministry of Health’s approval and/or FDA approval for M-001 or any other given product and its uses. Such foreign regulation may be equally or more demanding than corresponding Israeli or U.S. regulation.

Government regulation substantially increases the cost and risk of researching, developing, manufacturing, and selling products. Our failure to comply with these regulations could result in, by way of example, significant fines, criminal and civil liability, product seizures, recalls, withdrawals, withdrawals of approvals, and exclusion and debarment from government programs. Any of these actions, including the inability of our proposed products to obtain and maintain regulatory approval, would have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Changes in regulatory requirements and guidance or unanticipated events during our clinical trials may occur, which may result in necessary changes to clinical trial protocols, which could result in increased costs to us, delay our development timeline or reduce the likelihood of successful completion of our clinical trials.

Changes in regulatory requirements and guidance or unanticipated events during our clinical trials may occur, as a result of which we may need to amend clinical trial protocols. Amendments may require us to resubmit our clinical trial protocols to IRBs for review and approval, which may adversely affect the cost, timing and successful completion of a clinical trial. If we experience delays in the completion of, or if we terminate, any of our clinical trials, the commercial prospects for any affected product candidate would be harmed and our ability to generate product revenue would be delayed, possibly materially.

If we acquire or license additional technologies or product candidates, we may incur a number of additional costs, have integration difficulties and/or experience other risks that could harm our business and results of operations.

We may acquire and in-license additional product candidates and technologies. Any product candidate or technologies we in-license or acquire will likely require additional development efforts prior to commercial sale, including extensive preclinical or clinical testing, or both, and approval by the FDA and applicable foreign regulatory authorities, if any. All product candidates are prone to risks of failure inherent in pharmaceutical product development, including the possibility that the product candidate or product developed based on in-licensed technology will not be shown to be sufficiently safe and effective for approval by regulatory authorities. In addition, we cannot assure you that any product candidate that we develop based on acquired or licensed technology that is granted regulatory approval will be manufactured or produced economically, successfully commercialized or widely accepted or competitive in the marketplace. Moreover, integrating any newly acquired or in-licensed product candidates could be expensive and time-consuming. If we cannot effectively manage these aspects of our business strategy, our business may not succeed.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with no approved products, which makes it difficult to assess our future viability.

We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the pharmaceutical area. For example, to execute our business plan, we will need to successfully:

If we are unsuccessful in accomplishing these objectives, we may not be able to develop product candidates, raise capital, expand our business or continue our operations.

The members of our management team and certain consultants are important to the efficient and effective operation of our business, and we may need to add and retain additional leading experts. Failure to retain our management and consulting team and add additional leading experts could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our executive officers, our management team and technical personnel, as well as certain consultants, are important to the efficient and effective operation of our business, particularly Dr. Ron Babecoff, our Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Tamar Ben-Yedidia, our Chief Scientific Officer. Our failure to retain the personnel that have developed much of the technology we utilize today, or any other key management and technical personnel, could have a material adverse effect on our future operations. Our success is also dependent on our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly trained technical, and management personnel, among others, to continue the development and commercialization of our current and future products.

We face significant competition. If we cannot successfully compete with new or existing products, our marketing and sales will suffer and we may never be profitable.

We will compete against fully integrated pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies and smaller companies that are collaborating with pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations. In addition, many of these competitors, either alone or together with their collaborative partners, operate larger research and development programs than we do, and have substantially greater financial resources than we do, as well as significantly greater experience in:

Generally, our competitors currently include large fully integrated pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi-Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, Seqirus (Ex bioCSL and Novartis flu vaccines), AstraZeneca and Abbott (Solvay) as well as companies and academic research institutes in various developmental stages attempting to develop improved influenza vaccines, such as Imutex, AltImmune, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., FluGen, Inc., Medicago, Vivaldi Biosciences, Vaccitech, and Vaxart. If our competitors develop and commercialize products faster than we do, or develop and commercialize products that are superior to our product candidates, our commercial opportunities will be reduced or eliminated. Our competitors may succeed in developing and commercializing products earlier and obtaining regulatory approvals from the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities more rapidly than we do. Our competitors may also develop products or technologies that are superior to those we are developing, and render our product candidate obsolete or non-competitive. If we cannot successfully compete with new or existing products, our marketing and sales will suffer and we may never be profitable.

The extent to which our product candidate achieves market acceptance will depend on competitive factors, many of which are beyond our control. Competition in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industry is intense and has been accentuated by the rapid pace of technology development. Our competitors also compete with us to:

We may be subject to legal proceedings and/or to product liability lawsuits.

We could incur substantial costs in connection with product liability claims relating to our current or potential product candidates. We may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our products in response to product liability lawsuits, which may result in substantial losses.

M-001 or any future product candidate could cause adverse events, including injury, disease or adverse side effects. These adverse events may not be observed in clinical trials, but may nonetheless occur in the future. If any of these adverse events occur, they may render M-001 or any future product candidate ineffective or harmful in some participants, and any future sales would suffer, materially adversely affecting our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, potential adverse events caused by M-001 or any future product candidate could lead to product liability lawsuits. If product liability lawsuits are successfully brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit the marketing and commercialization of any future product. Our business exposes us to potential product liability risks, which are inherent in the testing, manufacturing, marketing and sale of pharmaceutical products. We may not be able to avoid product liability claims. For example, changes in laws outside the U.S. are expanding our potential liability for injuries that occur during clinical trials. Product liability insurance is expensive, subject to deductibles and coverage limitations, and may not be available in the amounts that we desire for a price we are willing to pay. Product liability insurance for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries is generally expensive, if available at all. If, at any time, we are unable to obtain sufficient insurance coverage on reasonable terms or to otherwise protect against potential product liability claims, we may be unable to clinically test, market or commercialize our product candidate. A successful product liability claim brought against us in excess of our insurance coverage, if any, may cause us to incur substantial liabilities, and, as a result, our business, liquidity and results of operations would be materially adversely affected. In addition, the existence of a product liability claim could affect the market price of the ADSs.

If our employees commit fraud or other misconduct, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements and insider trading, our business may experience serious adverse consequences.

We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct. Misconduct by employees could include intentional failures: to comply with FDA regulations, to provide accurate information to the FDA, to comply with manufacturing standards we have established, to comply with federal and state health-care fraud and abuse laws and regulations, to report financial information or data accurately or to disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. 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. Our board of directors adopted a Code of Ethics. However, it is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to 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 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.

In addition, during the course of our operations, our directors, executives and employees may have access to material, non-public information regarding our business, our results of operations or potential transactions we are considering. If a director, executive or employee was to be investigated, or an action was to be brought against a director, executive or employee for insider trading, it could have a negative impact on our reputation and the market price of the ADSs. Such a claim, with or without merit, could also result in substantial expenditures of time and money, and divert attention of our management team from other tasks important to the success of our business.

We may encounter difficulties in managing our growth. Failure to manage our growth effectively will have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may not be able to successfully grow and expand. Successful implementation of our business plan will require management of growth, including potentially rapid and substantial growth, which will result in an increase in the level of responsibility for management personnel and place a strain on our human and capital resources. To manage growth effectively, we will be required to continue to implement and improve our operating and financial systems and controls to expand, train and manage our employee base. Our ability to manage our operations and growth effectively will require us to continue to expend funds to enhance our operational, financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures and to attract and retain sufficient talented personnel. If we are unable to scale up and implement improvements to our control systems in an efficient or timely manner, or if we encounter deficiencies in existing systems and controls, then we will not be able to successfully commercialize our product candidate or future products. Failure to attract and retain sufficient talented personnel will further strain our human resources and could impede our growth or result in ineffective growth. Moreover, the management, systems and controls currently in place or to be implemented may not be adequate for such growth, and the steps we have taken to hire personnel and to improve such systems and controls might not be sufficient. If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, it will have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we are unable to obtain adequate insurance, our financial condition could be adversely affected in the event of uninsured or inadequately insured loss or damage. Our ability to effectively recruit and retain qualified officers and directors could also be adversely affected if we experience difficulty in obtaining adequate directors’ and officers’ liability insurance.

Our business will expose us to potential liability that results from risks associated with conducting clinical trials of M-001 and any future product candidate. We are currently conducting a Phase 3 clinical trial in several countries in Europe. The clinical trial liability insurance is subject in each country to local laws and ranges between $1,150 to $19,000 thousands per each country. A successful clinical trial liability claim, if any, brought against us could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations even though clinical trial insurance is successfully maintained or obtained. The current and planned insurance coverages may only mitigate a small portion of a substantial claim against us.

In addition, we may be unable to maintain sufficient insurance as a public company to cover liability claims made against our officers and directors. If we are unable to adequately insure our officers and directors, we may not be able to retain or recruit qualified officers and directors to manage the Company.

Recent disruptions in the financial markets and economic conditions could affect our ability to raise capital.

In recent years, the U.S. and global economies suffered dramatic downturns as the result of a deterioration in the credit markets and related financial crisis as well as a variety of other factors including, among other things, extreme volatility in security prices, severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, ratings downgrades of certain investments and declining valuations of others. The U.S. and certain foreign governments have taken unprecedented actions in an attempt to address and rectify these extreme market and economic conditions by providing liquidity and stability to the financial markets. If the actions taken by these governments are not successful, the return of adverse economic conditions may cause a significant impact on our ability to raise capital, if needed, on a timely basis and on acceptable terms or at all.

Our current management team has limited experience in managing and operating a publicly traded U.S. company. Any failure to comply or adequately comply with federal securities laws, rules or regulations could subject us to fines or regulatory actions, which may materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Although our ordinary shares were traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and we have filed public reports in Israel in the past, our current management team has limited experience managing and operating a company publicly traded in the U.S. Failure to comply or adequately comply with any laws, rules or regulations applicable to our business may result in fines or regulatory actions, which may materially adversely affect our business, results of operation or financial condition and could result in delays in achieving the development of an active and liquid trading market for the ADSs.

We may be subject to extensive environmental, health and safety, and other laws and regulations in multiple jurisdictions.

Our business involves the controlled use, directly or indirectly through our service providers, of hazardous materials, various biological compounds and chemicals; therefore, we, our agents and our service providers may be subject to various environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing air emissions, water and wastewater discharges, noise emissions, the use, management and disposal of hazardous, radioactive and biological materials and wastes and the cleanup of contaminated sites. The risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials cannot be eliminated. If an accident, spill or release of any regulated chemicals or substances occurs, we could be held liable for resulting damages, including for investigation, remediation and monitoring of the contamination, including natural resource damages, the costs of which could be substantial. We are also subject to numerous environmental, health and workplace safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures, exposure to blood-borne pathogens and the handling of biohazardous materials and chemicals. Although we maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover the costs and expenses that may be incurred because of injuries to our employees resulting from the use of these materials, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. Additional or more stringent federal, state, local or foreign laws and regulations affecting our operations may be adopted in the future. We may incur substantial capital costs and operating expenses and may be required to obtain consents to comply with any of these or certain other laws or regulations and the terms and conditions of any permits or licenses required pursuant to such laws and regulations, including costs to install new or updated pollution control equipment, modify our operations or perform other corrective actions at our respective facilities or the facilities of our service providers. For instance, we have undergone inspections and obtained approvals from various governmental agencies.

Governments outside the United States tend to impose strict price controls, which may adversely affect our revenues, if any.

In some countries, particularly the countries comprising the European Union, or the EU, the pricing of pharmaceuticals and certain other therapeutics is subject to governmental control. 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 candidate 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 harmed, possibly materially.

Risks Related to Dependence on Third Parties

M-001 is based on an exclusive license from Yeda, and we could lose our rights to this license if a dispute with Yeda arises or if we fail to comply with the financial and other terms of the license.

We license our core intellectual property from Yeda under an exclusive license agreement, pursuant to which we received an exclusive worldwide license for the development, manufacturing, use, marketing, sale, distribution and importing of products that are directly or indirectly based on certain patents and patent applications owned by Yeda and/or certain other intellectual property to be developed by Yeda and related thereto. Pursuant to the terms of the license agreement, unless earlier terminated in accordance with the provisions thereof, the license agreement will expire upon the later of: (i) the expiration date of the last patent licensed thereunder; (ii) in the event only one product will be developed and/or commercialized by utilizing the licensed intellectual property, 15 years from the date of first commercial sale of such product in either the U.S or Europe, following receipt of New Drug Approval from the FDA or equivalent approval in any European country for such product; (iii) in the event that more than one product will be developed and/or commercialized by utilizing the licensed intellectual property, following the receipt of New Drug Approval from the FDA or equivalent approval in any European country for such product, the expiry of a 20 year period during which there shall not have been a sale of any such products in either the U.S. or Europe. However, Yeda is entitled to terminate the exclusivity rights or to terminate the license agreement with 30 days prior written notice to us if: (a) no commercial sales of at least one product are initiated during six months after receipt of an FDA or similar regulatory approval for commercial marketing; or (b) no sales of any products are reported for over a year after sales of a product have commenced. Yeda will also be entitled to terminate the license agreement by written notice: (x) in the event we materially breach any of our obligations under the agreement, provided that such material breach is un-curable or, if curable, is not cured by us within 30 days (or in the case of failure by us to make payments due to Yeda in connection with the license agreement, 10 days) from receipt of notice of such breach; or (y) in the event a temporary or permanent liquidator is appointed for our Company, a resolution is passed to voluntarily wind up our Company, or an order or act is granted for the winding up of our Company, provided that if such order or act was initiated by any third party, such order or act is not cancelled within 120 days; or (z) we contest the validity of one of the patents registered by Yeda. Upon termination of the license agreement, other than in the case of expiration pursuant to (i) through (iii) above, all rights and documents will be returned to Yeda, and we will be required to grant Yeda an exclusive world-wide irrevocable license to our know-how and products which are based on the intellectual property licensed from Yeda or that were discovered or occur or arise from the performance of our development work pursuant to the license agreement. In the event that Yeda terminates the license agreement due to any reason other than (a), (b) or (x) through (z) above, we will be entitled to receive royalty payments equal to 25% of the net proceeds received by Yeda from the grant to third parties, within the five years following the termination of the license agreement, of a license or other rights which include our developments, up to the aggregate amount of research funds actually expended by us for development. If Yeda terminates the license agreement, or licenses to a third party the intellectual property licensed to us pursuant to the license agreement, or if any dispute arises with respect to our arrangement with Yeda, such dispute may disrupt our operations and would likely have a material and adverse impact on us if resolved in a manner that is unfavorable to us. Our current product candidate is based on the intellectual property licensed under the license agreement, and if the license agreement is terminated prior to its expiration, it would have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects and results of operations.

We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials

We do not independently conduct our Phase 3 clinical trial of M-001 in Europe. We rely on third parties such as contract research organizations, clinical data management organizations, medical institutions and clinical investigators, to perform this function. We expect to continue to rely on such third parties in conducting our clinical trials of M-001, and expect to rely on these third parties to conduct clinical trials of any other product candidate that we develop. Any of these third parties may terminate their engagement with us at any time. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements, it would delay our product development activities.

Our reliance on these third parties for clinical development activities reduces our control over these activities but does not relieve us of our responsibilities. We remain responsible for ensuring that our clinical trial is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the relevant regulator, and failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.

Furthermore, third parties that we rely on for our clinical development activities may also have relationships with other entities, some of which may be our competitors. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols, we will not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing approvals for M-001. Our product development costs will increase if we experience delays in testing or obtaining marketing approvals.

We have entered into a finance contract with the European Investment Bank, or EIB, for the receipt of a loan of 20 million euros, which was extended to 24 million euros as described in this prospectus, and into a security agreement and creation of a first ranking floating charge over all assets of the Company in favor of EIB, and a breach of such finance contract or security agreement may cause EIB to exercise the pledge and materialize certain of our assets.

We entered into a finance contract, or the Finance Contract, with the European Investment Bank, or EIB, for the financing of up to 20 million euros, which was extended to 24 million euros as described in this prospectus, and up to 50% of the Company’s expected cost of developing and marketing our product candidate, M-001. A description of the main provisions of the Finance Contract is described in this prospectus. To the date of this prospectus, we have drawn down an amount of the loan equal to 20 million euros.

We have also entered into a security agreement, or the Security Agreement, whereby the Company created a first ranking floating charge over all of our assets in favor of EIB, excluding assets and/or intellectual property rights subject to the license agreement with YEDA Research and Development Company Limited. While intellectual property rights are excluded from the floating charge pledge, any breach of the Finance Contract or the Security Agreement may cause the EIB to exercise the floating charge pledge and to materialize certain of our assets at the time of such exercise.

Use of third parties to manufacture our M-001 may increase the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of M-001 at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.

In August 2018, and as planned, we relocated to our mid-sized manufacturing facility in Jerusalem, with potential capacity to annually produce up to forty million doses of M-001 for Phase 3 clinical trial supply or commercial supply. Our production line is still under construction. We currently rely on a third party CMO for the supply of M-001 until the completion of our independent production line.

Reliance on a third party CMO entails risks, including:

Our CMO may not be able to comply with current cGMP, regulations or similar regulatory requirements outside of the U.S. Our failure, or the failure of our third party manufacturers to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of product candidate or product, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our product candidates.

Failure to complete the construction of our independent production line in our new facility, in a timely manner or at all, will prolong our dependency on third parties for the manufacturing of M-001 and may result in insufficient quantities of M-001.

We currently rely on our CMO in the U.S. for the supply of M-001 clinical batches for our current pivotal clinical efficacy Phase 3 clinical trial. In August 2018 we moved to our new facility in Jerusalem and we intend to complete the construction of our independent production line of M-001 for the purpose of future clinical trials and commercialization by the end of 2021, subject to the successful completion of the pivotal clinical efficacy Phase 3 trial we are currently conducting in Europe. If we fail to complete our production line in a timely manner or at all, we will enter into agreements with CMOs or expand our existing agreement to manufacture M-001 for the purpose of conducting future clinical trials, as may be, and commercialization. If we fail to expand our existing manufacturing agreement and/or enter into additional agreements, or if our partners do not manufacture adequate amounts of M-001 for reasons that are not within our control, we may not possess adequate amounts of M-001 for our anticipated purposes. Insufficient amounts of M-001 may cause delays in our clinical development and commercialization of M-001.

We may not obtain the necessary materials for the performance of additional clinical trials in the U.S. or other countries around the world.

Some of our clinical trials involve obtaining materials and information that may not currently be in our possession and that we rely on suppliers and manufacturers to provide. Specifically, we were not able to satisfy the FDA’s request for information regarding the H5N1 vaccine (including information as to manufacturing, dosage, formulation, etc.) required for our previously contemplated Phase 2 clinical trial in the U.S., and as a result we elected to convert our IND application submitted in June 2013 into a Drug Master File. It is possible that the FDA or any other relevant regulatory body will request us to provide other materials that are not in our possession before approving any proposed Phase 3 clinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of M-001 for such indication.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

If we fail to adequately protect, enforce or secure rights to the patents which we own or that were licensed to us or any patents we may own or license in the future, the value of our intellectual property rights would diminish and our business and competitive position would suffer.

Our success, competitive position and future revenues, if any, depend in part on our ability to obtain and successfully leverage intellectual property covering our products and product candidates, know-how, methods, processes and other technologies, to protect our trade secrets, to prevent others from using our intellectual property and to operate without infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties.

The risks and uncertainties that we face with respect to our intellectual property rights include, but are not limited to, the following:

If patent rights covering our products and methods are not sufficiently broad, they may not provide us with any protection against competitors with similar products and technologies. Furthermore, if the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or the USPTO, or any foreign patent office issue patents to us or our licensors, others may challenge the patents or design around the patents, or the patent office or the courts may invalidate the patents. Thus, any patents we own or license from or to third parties may not provide any protection against our competitors.

We cannot be certain that patents will be issued as a result of any pending applications, and we cannot be certain that any of our issued patents or patents licensed from Yeda (or any other third-party in the future) will give us adequate protection from competing products. For example, issued patents, including the patents licensed by us, may be circumvented or challenged, declared invalid or unenforceable, or narrowed in scope.

In addition, since publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature often lags behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain that we were the first to make our inventions or to file patent applications covering those inventions.

It is also possible that others may obtain issued patents that could prevent us from commercializing our products or require us to obtain licenses requiring the payment of significant fees or royalties in order to enable us to conduct our business. As to those patents that we have licensed, our rights depend on maintaining our obligations to the licensor under the applicable license agreement, and we may be unable to do so.

In addition to patents and patent applications, we depend upon proprietary know-how to protect our proprietary technology. We require our employees, consultants, advisors and collaborators to enter into confidentiality agreements that prohibit the disclosure of confidential information to any other parties. We also require our employees and consultants to disclose and assign to us their ideas, developments, discoveries and inventions. These agreements may not, however, provide adequate protection for our know-how or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use or disclosure.

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 noncompliance with these requirements.

Periodic maintenance fees on any issued patent are due to be paid to the USPTO and foreign patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patent. The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. While an inadvertent lapse can in many cases be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules, there are situations in which noncompliance 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. Noncompliance events that could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application include, but are not limited to, failure to respond to office actions within prescribed time limits, non-payment of fees and failure to properly legalize and submit formal documents. In such an event, our competitors might be able to enter the market, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

Costly litigation may be necessary to protect our intellectual property rights and we may be subject to claims alleging the violation of the intellectual property rights of others.

We may face significant expense and liability as a result of litigation or other proceedings relating to patents and other intellectual property rights of others. In the event that another party has also filed a patent application or been issued a patent relating to an invention or technology claimed by us in pending applications, we may be required to participate in an interference proceeding declared by the USPTO to determine priority of invention, which could result in substantial uncertainties and costs for us, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us. We, or our licensors, also could be required to participate in interference proceedings involving issued patents and pending applications of another entity. An adverse outcome in an interference proceeding could require us to cease using the technology or to license rights from prevailing third parties.

The cost to us of any patent litigation or other proceeding relating to our licensed patents or patent applications, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial and could divert management’s resources and attention. Our ability to enforce our patent protection could be limited by our financial resources, and may be subject to lengthy delays. A third party may claim that we are using inventions claimed by their patents and may go to court to stop us from engaging in our normal operations and activities, such as research, development and the sale of any future products. Such lawsuits are expensive and would consume time and other resources. There is a risk that a court will decide that we are infringing the third party’s patents and will order us to stop the activities claimed by the patents, redesign our products or processes to avoid infringement or obtain licenses (which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all). In addition, there is a risk that a court will order us to pay the other party damages for having infringed their patents.

Moreover, there is no guarantee that any prevailing patent owner would offer us a license so that we could continue to engage in activities claimed by the patent, or that such a license, if made available to us, could be acquired on commercially acceptable terms. In addition, third parties may, in the future, assert other intellectual property infringement claims against us with respect to our product candidate, technologies or other matters. Any claims of infringement asserted against us, whether or not successful, may have a material adverse effect on us.

We rely on confidentiality agreements that could be breached and may be difficult to enforce, which could result in third parties using our intellectual property to compete against us.

Although we believe that we take reasonable steps to protect our intellectual property, including the use of agreements relating to the non-disclosure of confidential information to third parties, as well as agreements that purport to require the disclosure and assignment to us of the rights to the ideas, developments, discoveries and inventions of our employees and consultants while we employ them, the agreements can be difficult and costly to enforce. Although we seek to enter into these types of agreements with our contractors, consultants, advisors and research collaborators, to the extent that employees and consultants utilize or independently develop intellectual property in connection with any of our projects, disputes may arise as to the intellectual property rights associated with M-001 or any future product candidates. If a dispute arises, a court may determine that the right belongs to a third party. In addition, enforcement of our rights can be costly and unpredictable. We also rely on trade secrets and proprietary know-how that we seek to protect in part by confidentiality agreements with our employees, contractors, consultants, advisors or others. Despite the protective measures we employ, we still face the risk that:

International patent protection is particularly uncertain, and if we are involved in opposition proceedings in foreign countries, we may have to expend substantial sums and management resources.

Patent law outside the United States may be different than in the United States. Further, the laws of some foreign countries, such as China where certain patents owned or licensed by us were granted, may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, if at all. A failure to obtain sufficient intellectual property protection in any foreign country could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and future prospects. Moreover, we may participate in opposition proceedings to determine the validity of our foreign patents or our competitors’ foreign patents, which could result in substantial costs and divert management’s resources and attention. Additionally, due to uncertainty in patent protection law, we have not filed patent applications in many countries where significant markets exist.

Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats to our competitive advantage.

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations, and may not adequately protect our business, or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. The following examples are illustrative:

We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship of our patents and other intellectual property.

We may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in our patents or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor. For example, we may have inventorship disputes arise from conflicting obligations of consultants or others who are involved in developing our product candidates. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, valuable intellectual property. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees. In addition, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that an employee who receives a patent or contributes to an invention during his employment may be allowed to seek compensation for such contributions from his or her employer, even if the employee’s contract of employment specifically states otherwise and the employee has transferred all intellectual property rights to the employer. The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the fact that a contract revokes an employee’s right for royalties and compensation, does not rule out the right of the employee to claim their right for royalties. As a result, it is unclear whether and, if so, to what extent our employees may be able to claim compensation with respect to our future revenue. We may receive less revenue from future products if any of our employees successfully claim for compensation for their work in developing our intellectual property, which in turn could impact our future profitability.

Risks Related to Our Operations in Israel

Potential political, economic and military instability in the State of Israel, where our senior management, our head executive office, research and development, and manufacturing facilities are located, may adversely affect our results of operations.

Our head executive office, our research and development facilities, our current manufacturing facility, as well as some of our clinical sites are located in Israel. Our officers and most of our directors are residents of Israel. Accordingly, political, economic and military conditions in Israel and the surrounding region may directly affect our business and operations. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, a number of armed conflicts have taken place between Israel and its neighboring countries. Any hostilities involving Israel or the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its trading partners could adversely affect our operations and results of operations. During the summer of 2006 and the fall of 2012, Israel was engaged in an armed conflict with Hezbollah, a Lebanese Islamist Shiite militia group and political party. In December 2008, January 2009, November 2012 and July 2014, there were escalations in violence between Israel, on the one hand, and Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and/or other groups, on the other hand, as well as extensive hostilities along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, which resulted in missiles being fired from the Gaza Strip into Southern and central Israel, including near Tel Aviv and at areas surrounding Jerusalem. These conflicts involved missile strikes against civilian targets in various parts of Israel, including areas in which our employees and some of our consultants are located, and negatively affected business conditions in Israel. Our offices and laboratory, located in Jerusalem, Israel, are within the range of the missiles and rockets that have been fired at Israeli cities and towns from Gaza sporadically since 2006, with escalations in violence during which there were a substantially larger number of rocket and missile attacks aimed at Israel. In addition, since February 2011, Egypt has experienced political turbulence and an increase in terrorist activity in the Sinai Peninsula following the resignation of Hosni Mubarak as president. This turbulence included protests throughout Egypt, and the appointment of a military regime in his stead, followed by the elections to parliament which brought groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood (which had been previously outlawed by Egypt), and the subsequent overthrow of this elected government by a military regime. Such political turbulence and violence may damage peaceful and diplomatic relations between Israel and Egypt, and could affect the region as a whole. Similar civil unrest and political turbulence has occurred in other countries in the region, including Syria which shares a common border with Israel, and is affecting the political stability of those countries. Since April 2011, internal conflict in Syria has escalated, and evidence indicates that chemical weapons have been used in the region. This instability and intervention by third parties such as Russia may lead to deterioration of the political and economic relationships that exist between the State of Israel and some of these countries, and may have the potential for causing additional conflicts in the region. In addition, Iran has threatened to attack Israel and is widely believed to be developing nuclear weapons. Iran is also believed to have a strong influence among extremist groups in the region, such as Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and various rebel militia groups in Syria. Additionally, a violent jihadist group named Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (known as ISIS) is involved in hostilities in Iraq and Syria, and has executed terror attacks in Europe and around the world. Although ISIS’s activities have not directly affected the political and economic conditions in Israel, ISIS’s stated purpose is to take control of the Middle East, including Israel. These situations may potentially escalate in the future to more violent events which may affect Israel and us. Any armed conflicts, terrorist activities or political instability in the region could adversely affect business conditions and could harm our results of operations and could make it more difficult for us to raise capital. Parties with whom we do business may decline to travel to Israel during periods of heightened unrest or tension, forcing us to make alternative arrangements when necessary in order to meet our business partners face to face. In addition, the political and security situation in Israel may result in parties with whom we have agreements involving performance in Israel claiming that they are not obligated to perform their commitments under those agreements pursuant to force majeure provisions in such agreements. Further, in the past, the State of Israel and Israeli companies have been subjected to economic boycotts. Several countries still restrict business with the State of Israel and with Israeli companies. These restrictive laws and policies may have an adverse impact on our operating results, financial condition or the expansion of our business.

Our operations may be disrupted as a result of the obligation of Israeli citizens to perform military service.

Many Israeli citizens are obligated to perform several days, and in some cases more, of annual military reserve duty each year until they reach the age of 40 (or older, for reservists who are military officers or who have certain occupations) and, in the event of a military conflict, may be called to active duty. In response to increases in terrorist activity, there have been periods of significant call-ups of military reservists. It is possible that there will be military reserve duty call-ups in the future. Our operations could be disrupted by such call-ups, which may include the call-up of members of our management. Such disruption could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Investors may have difficulties enforcing a U.S. judgment, including judgments based upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws, against us, or our executive officers and directors or asserting U.S. securities laws claims in Israel.

None of our directors or officers are residents of the United States, except for director Mark Germain. Director George Lowell is a dual U.S. and Israel citizen. Most of our directors’ and officers’ assets and our assets are located outside the United States. Service of process upon us or our non-U.S. resident directors and officers and enforcement of judgments obtained in the United States against us or our non-U.S. directors and executive officers may be difficult to obtain within the United States. We have been informed by our legal counsel in Israel that it may be difficult to assert claims under U.S. securities laws in original actions instituted in Israel or obtain a judgment based on the civil liability provisions of U.S. federal securities laws. Israeli courts may refuse to hear a claim based on a violation of U.S. securities laws against us or our officers and directors because Israel may not be the most appropriate forum to bring such a claim. In addition, even if an Israeli court agrees to hear a claim, it may determine that Israeli law and not U.S. law is applicable to the claim. If U.S. law is found to be applicable, the content of applicable U.S. law must be proved as a fact, which can be a time-consuming and costly process. Certain matters of procedure will also be governed by Israeli law. There is little binding case law in Israel addressing the matters described above. Israeli courts might not enforce judgments rendered outside Israel, which may make it difficult to collect on judgments rendered against us or our officers and directors.

Moreover, among other reasons, including but not limited to, fraud or absence of due process, or the existence of a judgment which is at variance with another judgment that was given in the same matter if a suit in the same matter between the same parties was pending before a court or tribunal in Israel, an Israeli court will not enforce a foreign judgment if it was given in a state whose laws do not provide for the enforcement of judgments of Israeli courts (subject to exceptional cases) or if its enforcement is likely to prejudice the sovereignty or security of the State of Israel.

Under applicable U.S. and Israeli law, we may not be able to enforce covenants not to compete and therefore may be unable to prevent our competitors from benefiting from the expertise of some of our former employees. In addition, employees may be entitled to seek compensation for their inventions irrespective of their agreements with us, which in turn could impact our future profitability.

We generally enter into non-competition agreements with our employees and key consultants. These agreements prohibit our employees and key consultants, if they cease working for us, from competing directly with us or working for our competitors or clients for a limited period of time. We may be unable to enforce these agreements under the laws of the jurisdictions in which our employees work and it may be difficult for us to restrict our competitors from benefitting from the expertise our former employees or consultants developed while working for us. For example, Israeli courts have required employers seeking to enforce non-compete undertakings of a former employee to demonstrate that the competitive activities of the former employee will harm one of a limited number of material interests of the employer which have been recognized by the courts, such as the secrecy of a company’s confidential commercial information or the protection of its intellectual property. If we cannot demonstrate that such interests will be harmed, we may be unable to prevent our competitors from benefiting from the expertise of our former employees or consultants and our ability to remain competitive may be diminished.

Your rights and responsibilities as our shareholder will be governed by Israeli law, which may differ in some respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders of U.S. corporations.

Since we are incorporated under Israeli law, the rights and responsibilities of our shareholders are governed by our articles of association and Israeli law. These rights and responsibilities differ in some respects from the rights and responsibilities of shareholders of U.S.-based corporations. In particular, a shareholder of an Israeli company, such as us, has a duty to act in good faith and in a customary manner in exercising its rights and performing its obligations towards us and other shareholders and to refrain from abusing its power in us, including, among other things, in voting at the general meeting of shareholders on certain matters, such as an amendment to our articles of association, an increase of our authorized share capital, a merger and approval of related party transactions that require shareholder approval. A shareholder also has a general duty to refrain from discriminating against other shareholders. In addition, a controlling shareholder or a shareholder who knows that it possesses the power to determine the outcome of a shareholders vote or to appoint or prevent the appointment of an office holder of ours or other power towards us has a duty to act in fairness towards us. However, Israeli law does not define the substance of this duty of fairness. Since Israeli corporate law underwent extensive revisions approximately 15 years ago, the parameters and implications of the provisions that govern shareholder behavior have not been clearly determined. These provisions may be interpreted to impose additional obligations and liabilities on our shareholders that are not typically imposed on shareholders of U.S. corporations.

Provisions of Israeli law may delay, prevent or otherwise impede a merger with, or an acquisition of, our company, which could prevent a change of control, even when the terms of such a transaction are favorable to us and our shareholders.

Israeli corporate law regulates mergers, requires tender offers for acquisitions of shares above specified thresholds, requires special approvals for transactions involving directors, officers or significant shareholders and regulates other matters that may be relevant to these types of transactions. For example, a merger may not be consummated unless at least 50 days have passed from the date that a merger proposal was filed by each merging company with the Israel Registrar of Companies and at least 30 days from the date that the shareholders of both merging companies approved the merger. In addition, the holder of a majority of each class of securities of the target company must approve a merger. Moreover, a full tender offer can only be completed if the acquirer receives at least 95% of the issued share capital (provided that a majority of the offerees that do not have a personal interest in such tender offer shall have approved the tender offer, except that if the total votes to reject the tender offer represent less than 2% of the company’s issued and outstanding share capital, in the aggregate, approval by a majority of the offerees that do not have a personal interest in such tender offer is not required to complete the tender offer), and the shareholders, including those who indicated their acceptance of the tender offer, may, at any time within six months following the completion of the tender offer, petition the court to alter the consideration for the acquisition (unless the acquirer stipulated in the tender offer that a shareholder that accepts the offer may not seek appraisal rights).

Our articles of association provide that our directors (other than external directors) are elected to terms, with only two or three of our directors (other than external directors) to be elected each year, in each case for a term of three years. Our 2015 annual general meeting approved the staggering and extension of the term of our board members. The staggering of the terms of our directors prevents a potential acquirer from readily replacing our entire board of directors at a single annual general shareholder meeting. This could prevent an acquirer from seeking to effect a change in control of our company by proposing an acquisition proposal offer opposed by our board, even if beneficial to our shareholders.

Furthermore, Israeli tax considerations may make potential transactions unappealing to us or to those of our shareholders whose country of residence does not have a tax treaty with Israel exempting such shareholders from Israeli tax. For example, Israeli tax law does not recognize tax-free share exchanges to the same extent as U.S. tax law. With respect to mergers, Israeli tax law allows for tax deferral in certain circumstances but makes the deferral contingent on the fulfillment of numerous conditions, including a holding period of two years from the date of the transaction during which sales and dispositions of shares of the participating companies are restricted. Moreover, with respect to certain share swap transactions, the tax deferral is limited in time, and when such time expires, the tax becomes payable even if no actual disposition of the shares has occurred.

These and other similar provisions could delay, prevent or impede an acquisition of us or our merger with another company, even if such an acquisition or merger would be beneficial to us or to our shareholders.

We have received Israeli government grants for certain research and development expenditures. The terms of these grants and loans may require us to satisfy specified conditions in order to manufacture products and transfer technologies outside of Israel. In addition, under the Encouragement of Industrial, Research and Development Law, 5744-1984, or the Research Law, to which we are subject due to our receipt of grants from the Israeli Innovations Authority, or IIA (formerly known as the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Economy, or OCS), a recipient of IIA grants such as us must report to the IIA regarding any change of control or any change in the holding of the means of control of our Company which transforms any non-Israeli citizen or resident into an “interested party”, as defined in the Research Law, in our Company, and in the latter event, the non-Israeli citizen or resident shall execute an undertaking in favor of the IIA, in a form provided under the IIA guidelines.

Because a certain portion of our expenses is incurred in currencies other than the U.S. Dollar, our results of operations may be harmed by currency fluctuations and inflation.

Our reporting and functional currency is the NIS, but some portion of our clinical trials and operations expenses are in the U.S. Dollar and Euro. As a result, we are exposed to some currency fluctuation risks. We may, in the future, decide to enter into currency hedging transactions to decrease the risk of financial exposure from fluctuations in the exchange rate of the currencies mentioned above in relation to the NIS. These measures, however, may not adequately protect us from adverse effects.

We have received Israeli government grants towards some of our research and development activities.  The terms of these grants may require us to satisfy specified conditions in order to manufacture products and transfer technologies outside of Israel.  We may be required to pay penalties in addition to the repayment of the grants.  Such grants may be terminated or reduced in the future, which would increase our costs.

Our research and development efforts have been financed, partially, through grants that we have received from the formerly known as the OCS, or IIA. We therefore must comply with the requirements of the Research Law and related regulations, including, but not limited to, pay royalties to the IIA on income generated from the sale of products and related services associated with such products. As of December 31, 2018, we have received $5.5 million in IIA grants.

The discretionary approval of an IIA committee will be required for any transfer to third parties outside of Israel of rights related to M-001, which has been developed with IIA funding. We may not receive the required approvals should we wish to transfer this technology, manufacturing and/or development outside of Israel in the future. We may be required to pay penalties in addition to repayment of the grants. Such grants may be terminated or reduced in the future, which would increase our costs. IIA approval is not required for the export of any products resulting from the IIA funded research or development in the ordinary course of business.

Risks Related to the ADSs and the Offering

We incur significant additional increased costs as a public company in the United States, and our management is required to devote substantial additional time to new compliance initiatives as well as to compliance with ongoing U.S. reporting requirements.

We are a publicly traded company in the U.S. As a public company in the U.S., we incur additional significant accounting, legal and other expenses that we did not incur before our initial public offering. We also incur costs associated with corporate governance requirements of the SEC and the NASDAQ Capital Market, as well as requirements under Section 404 and other provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs, introduce new costs such as investor relations, stock exchange listing fees and shareholder reporting, and to make some activities more time consuming and costly. The implementation and testing of such processes and systems may require us to hire outside consultants and incur other significant costs. Any future changes in the laws and regulations affecting public companies in the United States, including Section 404 and other provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the rules and regulations adopted by the SEC and the NASDAQ Capital Market, for so long as they apply to us, will result in increased costs to us as we respond to such changes. These laws, rules and regulations could make it more difficult or more costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these requirements could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees, if any, or as executive officers.

We may currently be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes or may become one in any subsequent year. There may be negative tax consequences for U.S. taxpayers that are holders of our ordinary shares or the ADSs

Generally, if for any taxable year 75% or more of our gross income is passive income, or at least 50% of our assets are held for the production of, or produce, passive income, we would be characterized as a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Passive income for this purpose generally includes, among other things, certain dividends, interest, royalties, rents and gains from commodities and securities transactions and from the sale or exchange of property that gives rise to passive income. Passive income also includes such amounts derived due to the temporary investment of funds, including those raised in a public offering. In determining whether a non-US corporation is a PFIC, a proportionate share of the income and assets of each corporation in which it owns, directly or indirectly, at least a 25% interest (by value) is considered.

Although we were not a PFIC in 2016, we believe we may have become a PFIC in 2017, and although we have not determined whether we became a PFIC in 2018, or in any subsequent year, our operating results for any such years may cause us to be a PFIC. If we are a PFIC in 2018, or any subsequent year, and a U.S. shareholder does not make an election to treat us as a “qualified electing fund,” or QEF, or make a “mark-to-market” election, then “excess distributions” to a U.S. shareholder, and any gain realized on the sale or other disposition of our ordinary shares or ADSs will be subject to special rules. Under these rules: (i) the excess distribution or gain would be allocated ratably over the U.S. shareholder’s holding period for the ordinary shares (or ADSs, as the case may be); (ii) the amount allocated to the current taxable year and any period prior to the first day of the first taxable year in which we were a PFIC would be taxed as ordinary income; and (iii) the amount allocated to each of the other taxable years would be subject to tax at the highest rate of tax in effect for the applicable class of taxpayer for that year, and an interest charge for the deemed deferral benefit would be imposed with respect to the resulting tax attributable to each such other taxable year. In addition, if the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, determines that we are a PFIC for a year with respect to which we have determined that we were not a PFIC, it may be too late for a U.S. shareholder to make a timely QEF or mark-to-market election. U.S. shareholders who hold our ordinary shares or ADSs during a period when we are a PFIC will be subject to the foregoing rules, even if we cease to be a PFIC in subsequent years, subject to exceptions for U.S. shareholders who made a timely QEF or mark-to-market election. A U.S. shareholder can make a QEF election by completing the relevant portions of and filing IRS Form 8621 in accordance with the instructions thereto. A QEF election generally may not be revoked without the consent of the IRS. Upon request, we will annually furnish U.S. shareholders with information needed in order to complete IRS Form 8621 (which form would be required to be filed with the IRS on an annual basis by the U.S. shareholder) and to make and maintain a valid QEF election for any year in which we or any of our subsidiaries are a PFIC.

The application of the PFIC rules may result in a U.S. shareholder incurring a tax liability in excess of cash received. For instance, the application of the deemed deferral benefit under the excess distribution rules can result in an effective tax rate of more than one hundred percent. Further, if a U.S. shareholder makes a QEF election, such U.S. shareholder will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a modified passthrough basis and may be allocated taxable income without receiving a corresponding distribution of cash to pay any resulting tax. Likewise, a U.S. shareholder who makes a mark-to-market election will not receive a distribution of cash to pay any resulting tax. Finally, the disposition of PFIC stock in an otherwise tax-deferred transaction may require a U.S. shareholder to recognize the resulting gain as a PFIC inclusion.

Failure to achieve and maintain effective internal controls in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation or financial condition. In addition, current and potential shareholders could lose confidence in our financial reporting, which could have a material adverse effect on the price of the ADSs and warrants.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and effectively prevent fraud. We will be required to document and test our internal control procedures in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, as such standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to ensure that we can conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal controls over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404. Disclosing deficiencies or weaknesses in our internal controls, failing to remediate these deficiencies or weaknesses in a timely fashion or failing to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment may cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a material adverse effect on the price of the ADSs and warrants. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our operating results could be harmed.

As an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act, we are permitted to, and intend to, rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements, which could make the ADSs and ADS warrants less attractive to investors.

For as long as we are deemed an emerging growth company, we are permitted to and intend to take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other regulatory requirements that are generally unavailable to other public companies, including:

We will be an emerging growth company until the earliest of: (i) the last day of the fiscal year during which we had total annual gross revenues of $1 billion or more, (ii) December 31, 2020, (iii) the date on which we have, during the previous three-year period, issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt or (iv) the date on which we are deemed a “large accelerated issuer” as defined in Regulation S-K of the Securities Act.

We cannot predict if investors will find the securities less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find the securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for securities and the market price of the securities may be more volatile.

We are a “foreign private issuer” and have disclosure obligations that are different from those of U.S. domestic reporting companies.

We are a foreign private issuer and are not subject to the same requirements that are imposed upon U.S. domestic issuers by the SEC. Under the Exchange Act, we are subject to reporting obligations that, in certain respects, are less detailed and less frequent than those of U.S. domestic reporting companies. For example, we are not required to issue quarterly reports, proxy statements that comply with the requirements applicable to U.S. domestic reporting companies. Furthermore, although under the regulations promulgated under the Companies Law, as an Israeli public company listed overseas we will be required to disclose the compensation of our five most highly compensated officers on an individual basis (rather than on an aggregate basis, as was previously permitted for Israeli public companies listed overseas prior to such amendment), this disclosure will not be as extensive as that required of U.S. domestic reporting companies. We also have four months after the end of each fiscal year to file our annual reports with the SEC and will not be required to file current reports as frequently or promptly as U.S. domestic reporting companies. Furthermore, our officers, directors and principal shareholders will be exempt from the requirements to report short-swing profit recovery contained in Section 16 of the Exchange Act. Also, as a “foreign private issuer,” we are also not subject to the requirements of Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) promulgated under the Exchange Act. These exemptions and leniencies will reduce the frequency and scope of information and protections available to you in comparison to those applicable to U.S. domestic reporting companies.

As a “foreign private issuer,” we are permitted, and follow certain home country corporate governance practices instead of otherwise applicable SEC and NASDAQ Capital Market requirements, which may result in less protection than is accorded to investors under rules applicable to domestic U.S. issuers.

As a “foreign private issuer,” we are permitted, and follow certain home country corporate governance practices instead of those otherwise required under the listing rules of the NASDAQ Capital Market for domestic U.S. issuers. For instance, we intend to follow home country practice in Israel with regard to, among other things, board independence requirements, director nomination procedures and quorum requirements. In addition, we may follow our home country law instead of the listing rules of the NASDAQ Capital Market that require that we obtain shareholder approval for certain dilutive events, such as the establishment or amendment of certain equity based compensation plans, an issuance that will result in a change of control of us, certain transactions other than a public offering involving issuances of a 20% or greater interest in the Company, and certain acquisitions of the stock or assets of another company. We also intend to follow our home country rules regarding the periodic approval of and changes to the formal charter for our compensation committee instead of the listing rules of the NASDAQ Capital Market. We may in the future elect to follow home country corporate governance practices in Israel with regard to other matters. Following our home country corporate governance practices as opposed to the requirements that would otherwise apply to a U.S. company listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market may provide less protection to you than what is accorded to investors under the listing rules of the NASDAQ Capital Market applicable to domestic U.S. issuers.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about us, our business or our market, or if they adversely change their recommendations or publish negative reports regarding our business or our traded securities, our securities price and trading volume could be negatively impacted.

The trading market for our securities will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. We do not have any control over these analysts, and we cannot provide any assurance that analysts will cover us or provide favorable coverage. If any of the analysts who may cover us adversely change their recommendation regarding the securities, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the price of the securities would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of our company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could negatively impact the price of the securities or their trading volume.

The ADSs do not trade on any exchange outside of the United States and our ordinary shares are not listed on any securities exchange.

The ADSs are listed only in the United States on the Nasdaq Capital Market, and our ordinary shares are not currently listed on any securities exchange. We have no plans to list the ADSs or our ordinary shares in any other jurisdiction. As a result, a holder of ADSs outside of the United States may not be able to effect transactions in the ADSs as readily as the holder may if the ADSs were listed on an exchange in that holder’s home jurisdiction. Additionally, a holder of ordinary shares may not be able to effect transactions in our ordinary shares without depositing such ordinary shares with the depositary in exchange for the issuance of ADSs representing such ordinary shares.

The market price for the ADSs may be volatile.

The market price for the ADSs is likely to be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to numerous factors including the following:

These factors and any corresponding price fluctuations may materially and adversely affect the market price of the ADSs, which would result in substantial losses by our investors.

In addition, the securities market has from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to the operating performance of any particular company. These market fluctuations may also have a material adverse effect on the market price of the ADSs.

Substantial future sales or perceived potential sales of ADSs in the public market could cause the price of ADSs to decline.

Substantial sales of ADSs, including in this offering, may cause the market price of the ADSs to decline. Sales by us or our security holders of substantial amounts of the ADSs, or the perception that these sales may occur in the future, could cause a reduction in the market price of the ADSs.

The issuance of any additional ordinary shares, any additional ADSs, or any securities that are exercisable for or convertible into our ordinary shares or ADSs, may have an adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares and the ADSs and will have a dilutive effect on our existing shareholders and holders of ADSs.

We have not paid, and do not intend to pay, dividends on our ordinary shares and, therefore, unless our traded securities appreciate in value, our investors may not benefit from holding our securities.

We have not paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares since inception. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends our ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. Moreover, the Israeli Companies Law, as amended, or the Companies Law, imposes certain restrictions on our ability to declare and pay dividends. See “Description of Share Capital — Dividends” for additional information. As a result, investors in the ADSs or ordinary shares will not be able to benefit from owning these securities unless their market price becomes greater than the price paid by such investors and they are able to sell such securities. We cannot assure you that you will ever be able to resell our securities at a price in excess of the price paid.

ADS holders may not receive the same distributions or dividends as those we make to the holders of our ordinary shares, and, in some limited circumstances, you may not receive dividends or other distributions on our ordinary shares and you may not receive any value for them, if it is illegal or impractical to make them available to you.

The depositary for the ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on ordinary shares or other deposited securities underlying the ADSs, after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary is not responsible if it decides that it is unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, it would be unlawful to make a distribution to a holder of ADSs if it consists of securities that require registration under the Securities Act, but that are not properly registered or distributed under an applicable exemption from registration. In addition, conversion into U.S. dollars from foreign currency that was part of a dividend made in respect of deposited ordinary shares may require the approval or license of, or a filing with, any government or agency thereof, which may be unobtainable. In these cases, the depositary may determine not to distribute such property and hold it as “deposited securities” or may seek to effect a substitute dividend or distribution, including net cash proceeds from the sale of the dividends that the depositary deems an equitable and practicable substitute. We have no obligation to register under U.S. securities laws any ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or other securities received through such distributions. We also have no obligation to take any other action to permit the distribution of ADSs, ordinary shares, rights or anything else to holders of ADSs. In addition, the depositary may withhold from such dividends or distributions its fees and an amount on account of taxes or other governmental charges to the extent the depositary believes it is required to make such withholding. This means that you may not receive the same distributions or dividends as those we make to the holders of our ordinary shares, and, in some limited circumstances, you may not receive any value for such distributions or dividends if it is illegal or impractical for us to make them available to you. These restrictions may cause a material decline in the value of the ADSs.

Holders of ADSs must act through the depositary to exercise their rights .

Holders of the ADSs do not have the same rights as our shareholders and may only exercise the voting rights with respect to the underlying ordinary shares in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement for the ADSs. Under Israeli law, the minimum notice period required to convene a shareholders meeting is no less than 35 or 21 calendar days, depending on the proposals on the agenda for the shareholders meeting. When a shareholder meeting is convened, holders of the ADSs may not receive sufficient notice of a shareholders’ meeting to permit them to withdraw their ordinary shares to allow them to cast their vote with respect to any specific matter. In addition, the depositary and its agents may not be able to send voting instructions to holders of the ADSs or carry out their voting instructions in a timely manner. We will make all reasonable efforts to cause the depositary to extend voting rights to holders of the ADSs in a timely manner, but we cannot assure holders that they will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that they can instruct the depositary to vote their ADSs. Furthermore, the depositary and its agents will not be responsible for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any such vote. As a result, holders of the ADSs may not be able to exercise their right to vote and they may lack recourse if their ADSs are not voted as they requested. In addition, in the capacity as a holder of ADSs, they will not be able to call a shareholders’ meeting.

You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.

Your ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its transfer books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. In addition, the depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary deems it advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason in accordance with the terms of the deposit agreement.

Your percentage ownership in us may be diluted following this rights offering as well as by future issuances of share capital, which could reduce your influence over matters on which shareholders vote.

If you choose not to exercise your subscription rights in full, the relative percentage of the ordinary shares or ADSs that you own will decrease, and your voting and other rights will be diluted. In addition, subject to the approval of our shareholders meeting, if Angels exercises its option to purchase unexercised rights, your voting and other rights will be significantly diluted as well.

Following the completion of this offering, our board of directors will have the authority, in most cases without action or vote of our shareholders, to issue all or any part of our authorized but unissued shares, including ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants and options. Issuances of additional shares would reduce your influence over matters on which our shareholders vote.

You will experience immediate dilution in book value of any ADSs you purchase.

Because the price per ADS being offered is substantially higher than our net tangible book value per ADS, you will suffer substantial dilution in the net tangible book value of any ADS you purchase in this offering.

Management will have broad discretion as to the use of the proceeds from this offering, and we may not use the proceeds effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds from this offering and could spend the proceeds in ways that you do not agree with or that do not improve our results of operations or enhance the value of ADSs (see “Use of Proceeds”). Our failure to apply these funds effectively could have a material adverse effect on our business and cause the price of the ADSs to decline.

Rights to subscribe for new ADSs are not transferrable

The rights to subscribe for new ADSs in this offering are not transferrable. As a result, you will not be able to realize the inherent value of your subscription rights without exercising such subscription rights and paying the applicable subscription price for any new ADSs for which your subscribe. Existing ADSs holders who do not exercise their subscription rights will receive no economic value for their subscription rights, as such unexercised subscription rights will become void and worthless at the end of the subscription period.

Furthermore, the value of subscription rights depends largely on the trading price of the ADSs. Therefore, a significant decline in the trading price of the ADSs could also adversely affect the value of such subscription rights.

If there is insufficient interest in the rights offering, we may determine not to proceed with the offering

There is no minimum condition at which we are required to consummate the offering described in this prospectus, and we reserve the rights to cancel or terminate the offering at any time. If there is insufficient interest from exiting holders of our ordinary shares or holders of ADSs to subscribe for new ADSs in this rights offering, we may determine not to proceed with the offering. If we do not proceed with the rights offering, the share rights and ADSs rights will be cancelled and will have no further value.

There can be no assurance that the rights offering will be completed. If we terminate the rights offering, neither we nor the subscription agent will have any obligation to you with respect to the rights, expect to return your subscription payments, without interest or deduction.

Subject to the approval of our shareholder’s meeting, our largest shareholder may receive a discretionary option to purchase unsubscribed units and may become a controlling shareholder, as defined under Israeli law

Subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions, our largest shareholder, Angels, may receive an option to purchase all unexercised units in this rights offering and increase its holdings to over 25% or 45% of the voting rights of the Company. The grant of this option is conditioned upon Angels commitment to purchase its pro-rata units in this rights offering, as well as our shareholders meeting approval for the option grant. Subject to the fulfillment of these conditions, Angels shall be permitted, but not obligated, to purchase the unexercised units in this rights offering. If Angels does not exercise the option, Angels holdings may not purchase units to exceed its holding to over 24.99% of the voting rights of the Company, and depending on the level of participation of other shareholders, we may determine that there is insufficient interest from existing holders and cancel this offering.

In addition, as a result of the exercise of this option and participation in the rights offering, Angels may increase its holdings to over 25% or 45% of the voting rights of the Company. Under such circumstances, Angels shall be deemed a controlling shareholder as defined under the Israeli Companies Law. Under Israeli law, a controlling shareholder is any shareholder that has the ability to direct the Company’s activities (other than by means of being a director or office holder of the Company), including a person who holds 25% or more of the voting rights in the general meeting of the Company if there is no other person who holds more than 45% of the voting rights in the Company. A person is presumed to be a controlling shareholder if it holds or controls, by himself or together with others, one half or more of any one of the “means of control” of a company. “Means of control” is defined as any one of the following: (i) the right to vote at a general meeting of a company, or (ii) the right to appoint directors of a company. Therefore, in the event following the rights offering Angels shall be deemed a controlling shareholder, you may have more limited ability to direct the Company’s activities. In addition, in the event that Angels becomes a controlling shareholder of the Company, the board of directors shall take the necessary actions to appoint two external directors, as defined in the Israeli Companies Law, which will increase the number of board members in the Company.

The market price of the ADSs may decline below the ADS subscription price prior to the expiration of the applicable subscription period.

Once you exercise your subscription rights pursuant to this offering, you may not revoke the exercise. The market price of the ADSs may decline below the ADS subscription price as a result of, among other things, market factors and the number of new ordinary shares, including those represented by ADSs, to be issued in this offering. If you exercise your ADS rights and the market price of the ADSs trades below the ADS subscription price on the date the new ADSs are issued to you in respect of such rights, then you will have purchased those ADSs at a price that is higher than the market price. Any decrease in market prices may continue after the completion of this offering. On March 14, 2019, the closing price of the ADSs on the NASDAQ Capital Market was $[*] per ADS.

ADS holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our ordinary shares provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, ADS holders waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to our ordinary shares, the ADSs or the deposit agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws.

If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of the case in accordance with the applicable state and federal law. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver in connection with claims arising under the federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court. However, we believe that a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement, by a federal or state court in the City of New York, which has non-exclusive jurisdiction over matters arising under the deposit agreement. In determining whether to enforce a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision, courts will generally consider whether a party knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived the right to a jury trial. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. It is advisable that you consult legal counsel regarding the jury waiver provision before entering into the deposit agreement.

If you or any other holders or beneficial owners of ADSs bring a claim against us or the depositary in connection with matters arising under the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under federal securities laws, you or such other holder or beneficial owner may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us and/or the depositary. If a lawsuit is brought against us and/or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

Nevertheless, if this jury trial waiver provision is not permitted by applicable law, an action could proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial.

No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs serves as a waiver by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs or by us or the depositary of compliance with any substantive provision of the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.