Filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3)
Registration No. 333-258467
PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT NO. 8
(to Prospectus dated August 12, 2021)
Sema4 Holdings Corp.
236,223,401 Shares of Common Stock
7,236,667 Warrants to Purchase Shares of Common Stock
21,995,000 Shares of Common Stock Underlying Warrants
This
prospectus
supplement
supplements the prospectus dated August 12, 2021 (the
“Prospectus”), which forms a part of our registration statement on
Form S-1 (No. 333-258467). This prospectus supplement is being
filed to update and supplement the information in the Prospectus
with the information contained in Item 4.02 in our current report
on Form 8-K and annual report on Form 10-K and filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on March 14, 2022
(the “Current Report” and “Annual Report”). Accordingly, we have
attached the Item 4.02 of the Current Report and Annual Report to
this prospectus supplement.
The Prospectus and this prospectus supplement relate to the offer
and sale from time to time by the selling securityholders named in
the Prospectus (the “Selling Securityholders”) of (A) up to
236,223,401 shares of our Class A common stock, par value $0.0001
per share (“Class A common stock” or “common stock”), consisting of
(i) up to 35,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock issued in a
private placement pursuant to subscription agreements each entered
into on February 9, 2021; (ii) up to 11,068,750 shares of our Class
A common stock issued in connection with the consummation of the
Business Combination (as defined in the Prospectus), in exchange
for shares of our Class B common stock originally issued in a
private placement to CMLS Holdings LLC (the “Sponsor”); (iii) up to
182,917,984 shares of our Class A common stock issued or issuable
to certain former stockholders and equity award holders of Sema4
(the “Sema4 equity holders”) in connection with or as a result of
the consummation of the Business Combination, consisting of (a) up
to 149,856,840 shares of our Class A common stock; (b) up to
14,039,568 shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the
exercise or vesting of certain equity awards; and (c) up to
19,021,576 shares of Class A common stock that certain Sema4 equity
holders have the contingent right to receive upon the achievement
of certain vesting conditions; and (iv) up to 7,236,667 shares of
our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of the private
placement warrants (as defined below); and (B) up to 7,236,667
warrants (the “private placement warrants”) originally issued in a
private placement to the Sponsor and certain of the other Initial
Stockholders (as defined in the Prospectus).
In addition, the Prospectus and this prospectus supplement relate
to the offer and sale of: (i) up to 14,758,333 shares of our Class
A common stock that are issuable by us upon the exercise of
14,758,333 warrants (the “public warrants”) originally issued in
our initial public offering ; and (ii) up to 7,236,667 shares of
our Class A common stock that are issuable by us upon the exercise
of the private placement warrants following the public resale of
the private placement warrants by the Selling Securityholders
pursuant to the Prospectus and this prospectus
supplement.
Our common stock and public warrants are listed on the Nasdaq
Global Select Market (the “Nasdaq”) under the symbols “SMFR” and
“SMFRW,” respectively. On March 11, 2022, the last reported sales
price of our common stock was $2.84 per share and the last reported
sales price of our public warrants was $0.60 per
warrant.
This prospectus supplement updates and supplements the information
in the Prospectus and is not complete without, and may not be
delivered or utilized except in combination with, the Prospectus,
including any amendments or supplements thereto. This prospectus
supplement should be read in conjunction with the Prospectus and if
there is any inconsistency between the information in the
Prospectus and this prospectus supplement, you should rely on the
information in this prospectus supplement.
Investing in our securities involves risks. See the section
entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 10 of the Prospectus to
read about factors you should consider before buying our
securities.
Neither the SEC nor any state securities commission has approved or
disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus
supplement or the Prospectus is truthful or complete. Any
representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this prospectus supplement is March 14,
2022
Item
4.02 Non-Reliance
on Previously Issued Financial Statements or a Related Audit Report
or Completed Interim Review.
In connection with the preparation of the Company’s Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 (the “2021
10-K”), the Company identified an adjustment to the classification
of certain expenses related to the genetic counseling department
reported in cost of services that should have been reported in
selling and marketing in the Company’s prior period financial
statements. Additionally, the Company has identified adjustments
generally related to recognition of cost of services out of period
in the three month periods ended March 31, 2021, June 30, 2021 and
September 30, 2021.
On March
10,
2022, after discussion with Ernst & Young LLP, the Company’s
independent registered public accounting firm (“EY”), the Company’s
management, in consultation with the Audit Committee of the Board
of Directors of the Company, concluded that it is appropriate (i)
to correct the classification of such expenses in its statement of
operations and comprehensive loss in the previously issued audited
financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 and
December 31, 2019, and (ii) to correct the classification of such
expenses and the timing of recognition of cost of services in the
unaudited financial information for the three months ended March
31, 2021 and 2020, June 30 2021 and 2020 and September 30, 2021 and
2020 (collectively the “Relevant Periods”) by restating such
audited and unaudited financial information because the adjustments
are material to the financial statements for each of the Relevant
Periods. As a result, the audited and unaudited financial
statements for the Relevant Periods can no longer be relied
on.
The Company will include the restated audited and unaudited
financial statements for the Relevant Periods in the 2021 10-K
which will be filed on March 14, 2022.
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
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ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021
OR
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TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from __________ to
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Commission file number 001-39482
Sema4 Holdings Corp.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
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Delaware |
85-1966622
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(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
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(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
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333 Ludlow Street, North Tower, 8th Floor Stamford,
Connecticut
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06902 |
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) |
(Zip Code) |
(800) 298-6470
Registrant's telephone number, including area code
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
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Title of each class |
Trading Symbol(s) |
Name of each exchange on which registered |
Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share |
SMFR |
The Nasdaq Global Select Market |
Warrants to purchase one share of Class A common stock, each at an
exercise price of $11.50 per share |
SMFRW |
The Nasdaq Global Select Market |
Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act:
None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned
issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes
o
No
x
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file
reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.
Yes
o
No
x
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all
reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or
for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file
such reports); and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements
for the past 90 days. Yes
x
No
o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted
electronically and posted on its corporate web site, if any, every
Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant
to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the
preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant
was required to submit and post such files).
Yes
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No
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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large
accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer,
or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large
accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting
company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check
one):
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Large accelerated filer |
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Accelerated filer |
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Non-accelerated filer |
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Smaller reporting company |
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Emerging growth company |
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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the
registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period
for complying with any new or revised financial accounting
standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange
Act.
o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on
and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness
of its internal control over financial reporting under Section
404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7252(b)) by the
registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit
report.
o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company
(as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes
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No
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The aggregate market value of voting common stock held by
non-affiliates of the registrant (assuming for purposes of this
calculation, without conceding, that all executive officers and
directors are “affiliates”) was approximately $515 million as
of June 30, 2021, based on the closing sale price of such stock as
reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
The registrant had outstanding 244,959,781 shares of Class A common
stock as of March 7, 2022.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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PART III
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Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate
Governance
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Item 11. Executive Compensation
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Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owner and
Management and Related Stockholder Matters
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Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and
Director Independence
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Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services
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EXPLANATORY NOTE
Unless otherwise stated in this report or the context otherwise
requires, references to the “Company,” “Sema4” and “we,” “us” and
“our” refer to (i) Mount Sinai Genomics, Inc. d/b/a as Sema4, or
Legacy Sema4, prior to the consummation of our business combination
with CM Life Sciences, Inc., or CMLS, on July 22, 2021 and (ii)
Sema4 Holdings Corp. and its consolidated subsidiaries following
the consummation of our business combination.
In addition, as described in more detail elsewhere in this report,
on January 14, 2022, we and our subsidiaries, Orion Merger Sub I,
Inc., or Merger Sub I, and Orion Merger Sub II, LLC, or Merger Sub
II entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization,
or the Merger Agreement, with GeneDx, Inc., or GeneDx, a New Jersey
corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of OPKO Health, Inc.,
GeneDx Holding 2, Inc., or Holdco, and OPKO, pursuant to which we
will acquire 100% of GeneDx
from OPKO, which we refer to herein as the “Acquisition”. In
connection with the Acquisition, we entered into certain related
agreements, including subscription agreements with certain
institutional investors that provide for a $200 million private
placement of shares of our Class A common stock, which we refer to
herein as the Acquisition PIPE Investment. Unless stated otherwise
in this report, all forward-looking information contained in this
report does not take into account or give any effect to the impact
of the Acquisition or the Acquisition PIPE Investment.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain matters discussed in this report, including matters
discussed under the caption “Management’s Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” may constitute
forward-looking statements for purposes of the Securities Act of
1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may
cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be
materially different from the future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “may,”
“expect” and similar expressions are generally intended to identify
forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ
materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking
statements due to a variety of factors, including, without
limitation, those discussed under the captions “Risk Factors,”
“Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and
Results of Operations” and elsewhere in this report, as well as
other factors which may be identified from time to time in our
other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the
SEC, or in the documents where such forward-looking statements
appear. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable
to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary
statements. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, statements about:
•our
estimates of the sufficiency of our existing capital resources
combined with future anticipated cash flows to finance our
operating requirements
•our
expected losses;
•our
expectations for incurring capital expenditures to expand our
research and development and manufacturing
capabilities;
•unforeseen
circumstances or other disruptions to normal business operations,
including supply chain interruptions and manufacturing constraints,
arising from or related to COVID-19;
•our
ability to consummate the Acquisition and the other transactions
contemplated by the Merger Agreement and the related Acquisition
PIPE Investment;
•our
expectations for generating revenue or becoming profitable on a
sustained basis;
•our
expectations or ability to enter into service, collaboration and
other partnership agreements;
•our
expectations or ability to build our own commercial infrastructure
to scale market and sell our products;
•actions
or authorizations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or, the
FDA, or other regulatory authorities;
•risks
related to governmental regulation and other legal obligations,
including privacy, data protection, information security, consumer
protection, and anti-corruption and anti-bribery;
•our
ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for
our product candidates;
•our
ability to compete against existing and emerging
technologies;
•our
stock price and its volatility;
•our
ability to attract and retain key personnel;
•third-party
payor reimbursement and coverage decisions;
•our
reliance on third-party laboratories and service providers for our
test volume in connection with our diagnostic solutions and data
programs;
•our
expectations for future capital requirements; and
•our
ability to successfully implement our business
strategy.
The forward-looking statements contained in this report reflect our
views and assumptions only as of the date that this report is
signed. Except as required by law, we assume no responsibility for
updating any forward-looking statements.
We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these
cautionary statements. In addition, with respect to all of our
forward-looking statements, we claim the protection of the safe
harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Part I
Item 1. Business
Overview
Who We Are
We are a patient-centered, health intelligence company with a
mission to use artificial intelligence, or AI, and machine learning
to enable personalized medicine for all. Our integrated information
platform leverages longitudinal patient data, AI-driven predictive
modeling, and genomics in combination with other molecular and
high-dimensional data in our efforts both to deliver better
outcomes for patients and to transform the practice of medicine,
including how disease is diagnosed, treated, and
prevented.
We have established one of the largest, most comprehensive, and
fastest growing integrated health information platforms, collecting
and leveraging genomic and clinical data in partnership with
patients, healthcare providers and an extensive ecosystem of life
science industry contributors. We are now generating and processing
over 47 petabytes of data per month, growing by more than 1
petabyte per month, and maintaining a database that includes
approximately 12 million de-identified clinical records, including
more than 500,000 with genomic profiles, integrated in a way that
enables physicians to proactively diagnose and manage disease. This
expanding database is a virtuous cycle of data: new data enables us
to further develop, train, and refine predictive models and drive
differentiated insights, which models and insights we deploy
through our next generation diagnostic and research solutions and
portals to support clinicians and researchers and engage patients,
all of which interactions generate more data to continue the
cycle.
Today, by providing differentiated insights through diagnostic
testing solutions to physicians and patients across the United
States, or U.S., in areas such as reproductive health, or Women’s
Health, population health, and oncology, or Oncology, we are
reimbursed by payors, providers, and patients for providing these
services. In collaboration with pharmaceutical and biotech, or
Biopharma, companies, we receive payments for a broad range of
services relating to the aggregated data on our information
platform, such as consenting and recontacting patients, the
development and implementation of a wide range of predictive
models, including drug discovery programs, conducting real-world
evidence studies, and aiding in the identification and recruitment
of patients into clinical trials. Over the next several years, we
expect to focus on expanding the revenue from our health system and
Biopharma partners, while also working to continue to grow the
volumes and revenues from our diagnostics test
solutions.
While there are many companies seeking to harness the potential of
“big data” to address the challenges within the healthcare
ecosystem, we believe that few have the scale of our company
combined with our revenue-generating diagnostics testing business
and origins as a company conceived and nurtured within a
world-class health system. These characteristics have enabled us to
build a significant and highly differentiated technological and
informational asset positioned to drive precision medicine
solutions into the standard of care in an unparalleled
way.
Our World Class Team and Unique Origins
Sema4 was founded by Eric Schadt, Ph.D. as part of Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Department of Genetics and Genomic
Sciences and the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale
Biology. Dr. Schadt is a world-renowned expert on constructing
predictive models of disease that link molecular data to physiology
to enable clinical medicine. He has published more than 450
peer-reviewed papers in leading scientific journals, with a public
citation or h-index of 137, and contributed to discoveries relating
to the genetic basis of common human diseases such as cancer,
diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease. As of December 31,
2021, we have approximately 1200 employees, including over 160
Ph.D.-level data scientists whose collective work has been
recognized in areas such as data science, network modeling,
multiscale biotechnology and genomics.
Sema4 was established out of the Mount Sinai Health System (which
we refer to together with our related entities as Mount Sinai) and
commenced operations in June 2017 as a commercial entity that could
effectively engage diverse patient populations and health care
institutions at scale, founded on the idea that more
information,
deeper AI-driven learning, and increased engagement of patients and
their providers will improve diagnosis, treatment, and prevention
of disease. We have since established and deployed our
comprehensive and integrated genomics and information platforms,
and intend to continue to expand our scale and reach through
organic and inorganic growth.
Our Purpose-Built, Flexible Platforms Address Immediate and
Untapped Market Opportunities
With the rapid decline in next generation sequencing costs and the
increased accessibility of large scale, commoditized computer
hardware and storage information products through the cloud, we
expect that our core information platform, Centrellis®, supported
and fueled by our genomic analysis platform, Traversa™, will be
well-positioned to drive improved clinical outcomes competitively
in the healthcare market.
Our information platform was built to be highly adaptable to
different data types and different diseases and health conditions,
with the aim to deliver precision medicine and improved health
outcomes across a patient’s entire life cycle. Accordingly, we
expect our platforms to capitalize on a wide range of growth
opportunities, and we intend to apply capital over time to make
targeted acquisitions to accelerate our ability to reach a wider
range of patients, integrate more deeply into clinical workflows,
and address the significant, unaddressed white space for health
intelligence in the healthcare ecosystem. These include a broad
range of therapeutic segments, beyond our existing focus of our
diagnostics solutions for Women’s Health, and Oncology, where we
believe there is an immediate need for precision medicine solutions
such as in autoimmune disorders, where medical care represented
over $100 billion of spend in the U.S. in 2011, rare diseases,
which is estimated to cost the U.S. healthcare system over $400
billion annually, and cardiovascular disease, where direct medical
spend represents approximately $200 billion annually.
By combining our data-driven approach and our deep understanding of
health system workflows, we have developed a holistic health
information platform, Centrellis, to transform the disease
diagnosis and treatment paradigm for the entire healthcare
ecosystem: patients, physicians, health systems, payers, and
Biopharma companies. The Centrellis platform is comprised of a data
management backend that supports a wide array of databases, data
warehouses, and knowledge bases, a data analytics layer to mine the
data and construct predictive models that provide differentiated
insights, and a series of application programmable interfaces to
enable tool and software applications to access the data and
models. Centrellis serves as the underlying foundation of our
precision medicine solution and comprises a sophisticated data
management and analytics engine. In the data management layer, our
platform processes and stores data in a highly structured and
accessible way, which is then analyzed by an advanced insights
engine in the analytics layer that deploys state-of-the-art AI,
probabilistic causal reasoning and machine learning approaches, and
complementary analytics capabilities to deliver increasingly
accurate insights to patients, providers, and researchers across a
broad range of applications. Centrellis is designed to transform
treatment decisions across multiple therapeutic areas by engaging
large-scale, high-dimensional data and querying the predictive
models of disease and wellness using patient-specific data to
derive highly personalized, clinically actionable insights.
Centrellis supports various applications, such as delivery of
personalized and actionable treatment insights into clinical
reports, clinical trial matching, real-world evidence trials and
clinical decision support, through an advanced programmable
interface, or API, layer.
We have also developed a comprehensive genomic platform, Traversa™,
to serve as the backbone of our screening and diagnostic products
and with the capacity to deliver molecular data that can be
re-accessed, analyzed and delivered throughout a patient’s
lifetime. Traversa is designed to simultaneously assay at
clinical-grade coverage all known medically relevant regions of the
genome, as well as survey the entirety of the human genome, to
surface signals that might be medically relevant to a patient in
the future. Traversa is integrated with the Centrellis information
platform and is designed to adapt at the rate of learning and to
match the significant pace of information and knowledge growth,
especially in the genomics arena, to allow us to provide
actionable, accurate, and cutting-edge insights from complex and
comprehensive data assets. We also expect this platform to enable
us to scale our operations and to improve our margins in generating
secondary insights for patients and providers.
We Are Building Richer Longitudinal Data Through Deeper Patient and
Provider Engagement
We engage with patients, physicians, and health systems as partners
and based on principles of transparency, choice, and consent.
Driven by our direct engagement with patients and strategic
relationships with multiple health systems, the database we have
built contains extensive electronic medical record, or EMR, data,
totaling approximately 12 million de-identified clinical records,
many with genomic profiles, and has been designed to enable
Centrellis to draw from our extensive data assets in a way that
enables physicians to proactively diagnose and manage disease. We
expect our current and targeted strategic relationships will
provide us with access to additional active patient cohorts and
datasets to fuel this growth and perpetuate our iterative,
data-driven business model, including by rapidly scaling our
diagnostic test solutions franchise with physicians and patients
through direct engagement with multiple health system
partners.
In addition to providing a majority of our current revenue and
generating hundreds of thousands of genomic profiles, our
established diagnostic test solutions also allow us to engage
patients directly as partners, both as part of their clinical care
and also acting on their behalf, with appropriate informed consent,
to acquire, organize and manage any health data generated on them
through the course of their care, all of which contributes to the
further development of our genomics and information platforms.
Further, we have demonstrated patients’ willingness to partner with
us. For example, over 80% of diagnostics solutions patients and
users who engaged with our patient portal have given us their
informed consent to retrieve, organize, and manage their health
records and data, and to facilitate their access to and sharing of
that data, as well as additional data that patients share and
create through their use of our expanding suite of digital
experience products.
Our Established Diagnostic Solutions Are Scaling
Rapidly
We currently operate a mature diagnostic business that generates
revenue and engages with patients through our varied and
sophisticated diagnostics and screening offerings. Our population
health offerings are designed to run through our Traversa platform
and give us the ability to inform on thousands of diseases and
conditions, from rare disorders, to drug safety, to risk profiles
across a broad range of common human diseases of significant public
health concern. We have developed an array of diagnostic and
screening solutions to inform across a patient’s life course,
ranging from reproductive health and newborn screening to drug
safety and oncology. Our Women’s Health solutions sequence and
analyze an industry-leading number of genes, and use Centrellis’
interpretive information tools to translate raw sequencing and
clinical data efficiently and accurately into digestible clinical
reports that guide decision making by patients and physicians. Our
Oncology diagnostic solutions feature both somatic tumor profiling
and hereditary cancer screenings, along with a foundational whole
exome and whole transcriptome sequencing approach.
Centrellis enables the complex interpretations of these data to
identify key driver genes, activated and suppressed pathways,
molecular subtypes, therapeutic interventions and matching to
clinical trials. We believe our array of diverse diagnostic
solutions, built on our differentiated grounding in scientific
excellence and coupled with an end-to-end full-service model, have
led to our rapidly growing customer bases in Women’s Health and
Oncology and increasing traction with health systems, as well as
deep, trusting engagement with patients.
We Are Embedding Our Solutions Through Innovative, Deep
Relationships
Our origins in and subsequent work with Mount Sinai have provided
us with an extensive understanding of health systems, patient, and
physician workflows as well as the complex interconnectivities that
define patient-physician relationships. We have used this knowledge
to develop our integrated health system collaboration model, where
we have the capabilities necessary to integrate across health
system workflows as a holistic health intelligence partner in order
to deploy our comprehensive genomics and information platforms, our
data curation and harmonization capabilities, and our patient and
provider engagement software applications. Our solutions support
our health system partners across their operations, helping them
integrate a new standard of care and creating a deep relationship
with us that helps both partners realize the potential of the
relationship. In addition to creating diagnostic revenue and a
clinical relationship with our health system partners and their
patients, this engagement provides us with access to insights
informed by analyzed and processed EMRs from the health system, as
well as the expansive molecular information we generate from our
genomics platform as the health system’s precision
medicine
partner. Learning from our long-standing relationship with Mount
Sinai, we have refined a health system engagement model that is
both operational and economic and designed to maximize both our and
our health system partner’s value from the
relationship.
We are currently activating and expanding our relationships with
several leading health systems that will expand our access to data
and that we expect will position our platforms for rapid growth and
broad commercial opportunities, and have recently signed contracts
with three new health systems in support of this strategy. These
systems include: AdventHealth, Avera Health, and Northshore
University HealthSystem.
Our AdventHealth partnership builds upon the current AdventHealth
Genomics and Personalized Health Program to offer genomic solutions
to patients across a number of services and specialties. Together,
we will conduct data structuring and curation of the combined
genomic and clinical data to enable clinicians and scientists to
advance research and discovery to improve patient care. We are
initially focused on accelerating research in the central Florida
division, which includes 18 hospitals and emergency departments,
and accounts for more than two million patient visits annually.
Nationally, AdventHealth has 51 hospitals and over 100 care sites
across 9 states.
Our Avera Health partnership initially focuses on advancing
oncology care, enabling Avera Health’s providers and patients to
benefit from data-driven insights that inform targeted cancer
treatments. Avera Health’s providers will be able to leverage
Centrellis, to curate, structure and integrate clinical and genomic
data to support both cancer research and clinical care at Avera
Health. We will deliver predictive disease network models and
clinically actionable insights, empowering Avera Health’s providers
to further improve the prevention, detection, and treatment of
cancer for their patients. We are also offering digital tools,
which give Avera Health’s providers the ability to readily search
for cohorts of patients based on clinical criteria, view a
patient’s treatment history that is contained in the curated data
as an interactive timeline, and more systematically match patients
to clinical trials.
At NorthShore University HealthSystem, we are enabling a
data-driven genomics program to help clinicians and patients
detect, and treat diseases at an early stage, when they are most
treatable. As part of the program, NorthShore University
HealthSystem’s clinicians and patients will have access to our
information-rich genomic solutions for hereditary cancer,
population health, pharmacogenomics, and rare expanded carrier
screening. Importantly, by combining clinical information with
genomic analysis, physicians will be better positioned to
administer more personalized, holistic care plans by both drawing
insights on how genetic variants will impact patients’ chances of
developing disease and determining the most appropriate treatment
options. In addition to guiding clinicians, the program is expected
to make it easier for NorthShore University HealthSystem patients
to understand the implications of genomic findings.
Centered on Centrellis and Traversa, we have also established and
continue to seek strategic relationships with Biopharma companies
to enable innovation across the entire drug lifecycle, from next
generation drug discovery and development, to post-market efficacy
surveillance, to informing on bioavailability, toxicity,
tolerability, and other features critical to drug development. We
have demonstrated the ability to integrate across all aspects of
the next generation therapeutic and drug development process,
including: biomarker identification as part of early stage drug
discovery; identification, validation and prioritization of drug
targets; clinical trial patient recruitment; real-world evidence
studies; and identifying new markets and indications for existing
assets. We believe our solutions allow our Biopharma partners to
harness the potential of big data to enable the development of next
generation precision medicine therapeutics.
Centrellis: Our Health Information Platform Solution
By combining our data-driven approach and our deep understanding of
health system workflows, we have developed a holistic health
information platform, Centrellis, to transform the disease
diagnosis and treatment paradigm for the entire healthcare
ecosystem: patients, physicians, health systems, payers, and
Biopharma companies. Centrellis is the culmination of our critical
competencies and goals as a company:
•technologies
aimed at patient and provider engagement,
•the
generation, aggregation and standardization of multi-dimensional
data, and
•the
modeling and generation of differentiated, domain-specific
insights
Driven by the virtuous cycle and interconnection of our clinical
diagnostics products, rich data assets, database engineering and
data science applications, we continue to evolve and deploy our
platform to facilitate a better understanding of disease and
wellness and improve the standard of care through information
driven knowledge and understanding.
Provider Engagement Technologies: Our Next Generation
Tools
We have built comprehensive solutions in Centrellis that enable
clinicians, researchers, and patients to engage with the relevant
structured health data and to leverage our predictive models of
disease and wellness and produce clinically actionable
insights.
For clinicians and researchers, we have designed Centrellis’s
adaptive learning capabilities and tools to enable health systems
and clinicians to manage their patient care, research, and health
data in one place and to adapt to rapidly changing scientific and
clinical norms through an advanced programmable interface, or API,
layer, including:
•Integration
and on-boarding for health systems and practices that connects data
from EMRs and disparate and varied databases,
•Searching
and analyzing cohorts of patients, allowing an assessment of their
patient populations and quality of care in real-time,
•Enabling
clinical decision support and personalized and actionable treatment
insights into clinical reports,
•Identifying
patients who are candidates for certain clinical genomic
analyses,
•Managing
the clinical analysis ordered for their patients, from ordering,
tracking, resulting, and reanalyzing based on new
findings,
•Supporting
clinical care and research by matching patients to available
clinical trials based on highly personalized inclusion and
exclusion metrics, and
•Informing
on administrative decisions including as they relate to patient
growth, total cost of care, and risk identification and
mitigation.
Patient Engagement Technologies: Building Trust and Providing Value
Through Clinical Partnership
We are dedicated to giving patients control of their own health
data, and in support of this goal, we have designed patient access
to Centrellis through our patient portal. Patients have
demonstrated their trust by engaging with us and providing consent
for us to collect and store their EMR data. After creating an
account, patients are able to manage and track the clinical
analysis that we are performing for them, including by being able
to track, receive, and understand the initial insights into their
clinical tests and data (including expanded carrier screening, or
ECS, tests, and hereditary cancer tests), and to access our
supporting clinical services, such as genetic counseling. Our
patient portal also provides patients with the opportunity to
partner with us to collect, manage, and regularly update their
health data from their disparate healthcare providers, and help
participants engage with their data through user-friendly
applications, such as their genomic ancestry, personalized residual
risk calculations, and other clinical and educational insights and
information through important health events, like their pregnancy
journey. For patients who have indicated their willingness to
participate in research studies, our platform also provides
integrated digital informed consenting and research program
participation, through transparent, institutional review board
approved processes, including targeted clinical trials offerings
that provide relevant alternatives and access to the latest
scientific trials.
Activating Data Through Generation, Curation and
Engineering
We designed Centrellis to create an accessible and usable database
that can support interpretation consistently across patient
populations represented within the broad healthcare ecosystem.
Centrellis aggregates large-scale and diverse data, abstract and
structure informative unstructured data, and finally integrate the
data into an accessible, web-scalable data warehouse that employs a
common data model across a broad series of databases. Unstructured
data derived from EMR and associated data are run through multiple
pipelines leveraging machine learning-enabled natural language
processing, augmented as needed by human annotators, to extract
information and knowledge from that data and then structure and
implement extensive quality assurance processes for the resulting
annotations. Our multiscale, integrative strategy allows us to
connect the processed EMR data with complex biological data from
many sources, such as the genome, proteome, transcriptome,
epigenome, and microbiome. Our standardization of the genomic and
EMR data also allows us to pursue strategic relationships in the
Biopharma industry, connecting Biopharma companies with clinicians
and researchers to create computational models of disease, discover
and validate targets and biomarkers, help design clinical trials
and recruit patients, and support the collection of real-world data
and evidence.
We not only collect data from external sources, but also generate
clinical-grade genomic datasets in our clinical and research
processes, which further fuels the richness of the data from which
Centrellis draws. Our genomic infrastructure enables us to convert
bio-samples into datasets that span a range of genomic modalities,
from DNA and RNA sequencing to epigenomic profiling, as well as
different next generation sequencing technologies, including
long-read, single molecule sequencing, low pass whole genome
sequencing, and additional transformative technologies. Together
with our diagnostic solutions, we use this multi-technology
approach to ensure we generate data to comprehensively cover
clinically actionable insights from and common variation in the
genome, enabling the diagnosis of rare conditions and diseases or
risk of passing on mutations to offspring that may cause severe
disease, predicting risks of developing diseases such as cancer,
predicting tolerability of various therapeutics, and creating broad
genomic health profiles through the use of polygenic risk
scores.
Our Advanced Domain-Specific AI Informatics for Insight
Generation
Finally, we believe our informatics and analysis capabilities form
a meaningful connection between the web of databases that we have
created in our data warehouse and the utility of Centrellis to our
users. Based on our informatics engine, Centrellis generates deep
interpretive insights derived from large-scale, multi-omic data,
taking advantage of our deeper data generation capabilities, and
provides actionable treatment recommendations and innovative
research findings. These insights are provided to patients,
clinicians, researchers, and partners through the tools described
above.
We are also continuing to develop these models and insights. Our
researchers have developed a methodology to integrate diverse
multi-omics data, including genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic
data, into causal probabilistic networks that help us to understand
disease processes and identify key biomarkers through advanced
network analysis. Our scientists have pioneered the use of DNA
variation information to statistically infer causal relationships
among any number of traits that have common genetic variance
components. These approaches allow our teams to infer directed
causal relationships among a pair of traits with shared genetic
variance components, which then can be more systematically applied
to traits to infer probabilistic causal network structures that can
be mined for a broad range of discoveries. We also designed
Centrellis with a high degree of flexibility to allow the platform
to adjust to the rapidly changing and advancing health information
landscape, highlighted by our Traversa genomic analysis platform,
which we believe will lead to improved cost profiles over time as
assays transition to whole genome sequencing at increasing
resolutions.
As we collect and analyze additional datasets, our platform enables
the virtuous cycle of data, and we are able to further refine our
products and hone our capabilities to provide enhanced analysis of
these data. More data and more insights generate further data and
insights to support our models. We have constructed automated
pipelines to continuously search the literature and research
repositories to expand and distill our knowledge graphs, which are
in turn queried to provide the interpretations and insights
delivered to users of our systems. To support our interpretations
and insights, we utilize internal experts as needed to help resolve
conflicting findings to improve upon the actionable insights we
deliver to physicians and patients.
Traversa: Our Genomics Platform for Optimizing Screening and
Diagnostic Genomics Products and Population Health
Initiatives
Traversa is our comprehensive genomics platform that has been
designed to serve as the backbone of our genomic analysis products,
and we are in the process of transitioning all of our genomic
analyses to this platform. For products on the Traversa platform,
we generate data on all known medically relevant regions of the
genome at clinical-grade coverage, as well as low-pass whole genome
data to span all common variation in the genome. We also ask for
the patient’s consent to biobank the corresponding samples for
future clinical testing. While we report on the specific genes
analyzed at the request of the clinician and patient, these
baseline data and bio-banked samples allow us to respond to
requests for additional analysis quickly by generating “in silico”
interpretations on genomic data already existing on a patient and
to surface signals that might be medically relevant across a
patient’s life course.
When deployed at across an entire health system, as we intend with
our health system partners, Traversa will enable data driven
collaborations and initiatives with health systems by establishing
comprehensive clinical and genomic data profiles with patient
consent. Particularly where integrated with EMR data, Traversa
provides health systems with a unique opportunity to deploy
population health management programs because of the robust data
from which those programs will draw and because of the efficiencies
it will create across the health ecosystem by eliminating the
repetition of the most time-consuming and costly aspects of genomic
analysis, including sample collection and preparation and the
generation of sequence data. Using Traversa, clinicians and health
systems will have the freedom to advance patient care by allowing
clinicians to establish clinical utility and drive adoption of new
analysis products, which we believe will consequently expedite
improved reimbursements against lower total production costs for
those offerings.
We Collect and Manage Rich, Longitudinal Data Built from Diverse
Sources
The health information database that we have created draws from
many complementary sources, which we manage in accordance with
patient consent and preferences, our regulatory obligations, and
our transparent privacy policy and practices. These data are housed
in a complex, cloud-based data lake that allows us to manage the
various rights and obligations for each dataset at a granular
level, including patient-specific requests with regard to their
data.
This database includes data generated in the performance of our
clinical services to patients and clinicians, including Women’s
Health and Oncology testing, as well as additional data that
patients provide to us through their engagement with our patient
portal and research programs. In addition, we participate in health
information exchanges and public database programs, including
through the National Institutes of Health. We also generate and
collect data by collaborating with our research partners and
provide sequencing and analysis services in connection with
research programs. We further leverage the data rights provided by
patients and secured through our strategic relationships, such as
our oncology information partnership with VieCure that by the end
of 2022 is expected to provide us with access to multiple cancer
centers and data from all of their active cancer patients, with the
number of newly diagnosed active cancer patients growing
substantially each year. Additionally, we support health systems
and other clinical service providers by applying our Centrellis
tools to their clinical workflows and medical record databases, and
we receive certain rights to work with anonymized datasets and to
partner with the health systems in their ongoing clinical and
research programs. We have provided such services extensively for
Mount Sinai and are in the process of expanding this program with
additional health systems, including Advent Health, Avera and
NorthShore. For more information regarding our data arrangements
with Mount Sinai, see “Certain
Relationships and Related Party Transactions—Related Party
Transactions—Sema4”.
Our Established Diagnostics Solutions
Our existing diagnostics solutions business centers around Women’s
Health and Oncology and our industry-leading diagnostic solutions
are powered by Centrellis and delivered through a full-service
model that efficiently integrates into provider workflows.
Currently, we derive the majority of our revenue from these
established diagnostic test solutions.
Our Elements Women’s Health Solutions
Our deep foundation in Women’s Health began before Sema4’s
formation within Mount Sinai, where our lab—then called the “Mount
Sinai Genetics Testing Lab”—pursued the goal of providing
compassionate patient care to a highly diverse population while
advancing science through education, research, and outreach. We
pioneered accurate and precise pre-conception genetic screening,
and we have continued to build upon that work, expanding our focus
into a multi-generational and pan-ethnic view of the health of
individual women and their families. Sema4 Elements™, our portfolio
of data-science driven products and services to support
reproductive and generational health, highlights our continued
focused effort to accelerate the expansion of genomic diagnostic
solutions, secondary insights, platform solutions and enriching
health system value to drive continued growth in our Women’s Health
business, including by leveraging our state-of-the-art genomic
infrastructure and Centrellis platform.
Carrier Screening: Deriving population-health insights from genomic
data to differentiate our industry-leading tests
Our Expanded Carrier Screen, or ECS, test is one of the most
comprehensive and accurate carrier screening tests available in the
market, covering up to 502 genes. We provide a comprehensive
solution to physician practices to enable them not only to deliver
sophisticated differential insights and care management guidance in
support of the clinician’s care plan for the patient, but to also
do so with minimal impact on the practice’s operation, helping to
ensure physician offices are not overwhelmed by the amount of
information and follow up that can be necessitated by carrier
screening.
Our ECS solution uses proprietary technology to identify a
patient’s molecular ancestry on a genome-wide level for
personalized residual risk assessments by analyzing
patient-specific genealogical information that is critical to
better understand a patient’s chance for passing on inherited
disease. This technology has been designed to increase the accuracy
of the residual risks reported to patients, in comparison to
competing products that determine residual risk based on using
self-reported ancestry information that does not reflect the
population groups represented in the patient’s genome. Our solution
also provides patients with personalized residual risk education,
along with the option to view their molecular ancestry report in
the Sema4 patient portal.
Our Non-invasive Prenatal Testing Solutions
Our Noninvasive Prenatal Testing is a comprehensive noninvasive
prenatal test, that screens for autosomal and sex chromosome
aneuploidies. Our advanced sequencing technology has been designed
to provide reliable results down to approximately 2% fetal
fraction, the amount of fetal cell-free DNA in the maternal blood
sample, and has been designed to have a low failure rate, which
helps reduce the need for redraws, limits unnecessary invasive
procedures, and improves time to results.
Expansive development in prenatal screening allows our team to
advance scientific efforts to deliver Genome Wide Screening and
includes the ability to detect additional whole chromosome
aneuploidies and copy number variations, or CNVs. We believe an
updated bioinformatics pipeline will help to further reduce false
positives. We expect to release new versions of our code in 2022,
which we believe will help improve the positive predictive value
for CNV calling through fetal fraction enrichment and CNV
normalization through nucleosome positioning and fragment
characteristics.
We are developing these future test versions to enable the
detection of single gene disorders, such as cystic fibrosis and
sickle cell disease. This testing may be used for at risk couples
to screen a pregnancy for genomic analysis of a specific disorder
or as a general screening tool with a panel of diseases. We believe
these code enhancements will also facilitate validation of
polyploidy, fetal zygosity and molar pregnancy detection, all of
which are important aspects of screening pregnancies for
chromosomal abnormalities and are not widely available through
non-invasive testing.
Our Natalis Newborn Screening Solutions
Our Natalis test is an extension of our screening portfolio
allowing for detection of heritable conditions from pre-conception,
pregnancy and childhood. Newborn Screening, or NBS, detects
heritable conditions that are amenable to medical management in
newborns and young children. Natalis screens for 193 conditions
where
knowledge of the condition by the pediatrician may result in
prescribing treatment with medications, dietary modifications, or
other therapies to improve the baby’s health. All positives are
confirmed using biochemical and molecular analysis. Natalis screens
for up to five times as many conditions as the newborn screening
programs run by certain state governments.
Our Signal Precision Oncology Solutions
We believe that our Centrellis platform, combined with our
comprehensive whole exome and whole transcriptome tumor profiling
and hereditary cancer and pharmacogenomics genomic testing
solutions, will make a meaningful difference in transforming cancer
care. We have developed the “Sema4 Signal®” portfolio to be
leveraged individually or as part of a holistic solution for
precision oncology care. The Sema4 Signal portfolio features the
integration of our germline and somatic tests with our informatics
and data science tools, enabled by customized services to meet
patient and provider needs to help drive more personalized care.
The Sema4 Signal products include our oncology genomic test
solutions, our molecular and clinical data curation and annotation
capabilities to inform on the genomic information in the context of
the patient’s previous and current medical records, and various
software applications to enable engagement of these data and
complex results to facilitate clinical decisions, research
discoveries and drug development.
The Sema4 Signal Hereditary Cancer Solution
Our Sema4 Signal Hereditary Cancer solution determines if a patient
carries an inherited genetic change that increases the risk of
cancer or informs on cancer treatment. It is used to inform
personalized medical management decisions to aid early detection
and prevention of cancer, as well as to determine the most
appropriate treatment approaches if cancer occurs, and strategies
to reduce risk of additional cancers.
We offer one of the most comprehensive sets of panels on the U.S.
market, and deliver this solution supported by the Traversa
platform to enable us to adapt our panels as new discoveries on
clinically actionable variants are made, so we can adapt at the
rate of learning. Our solution includes tools to enable testing at
the point of care or outside the office, including a digital family
screening questionnaire to identify individuals who would benefit
from testing, digital ordering via an EMR portal, video-based
education, saliva procurement in the patient’s home, proactive
billing investigation, pre-and post-test genetic counselling and
family outreach to enable cascade testing.
Our Hereditary Cancer Solution is a unique product in our portfolio
in that it is sold in connection with our Oncology, Women's Health
and population health solutions. For affected cancer patients,
integrating hereditary cancer with our Sema4 Signal Whole Exome and
Transcriptome and our informatics offerings, which incorporating
real world evidence, integrates available data needed to better
personalized clinical care decisions. For unaffected patients, our
Sema4 Signal Hereditary Cancer solution is incorporated into both
our Women’s Health and Population Health products and services to
support early identification and treatment of cancer
risk.
Our Signal Whole Exome and Transcriptome Solution
We believe our Sema4 Signal Whole Exome and Transcriptome solution
is one of the most comprehensive molecular profiling solutions from
a commercial entity to receive New York State approval. Our
profiling platform integrates tumor-normal matched whole exome
sequencing, or “WES”, with whole transcriptome sequencing, or WTS,
to deliver clinically actionable information about somatic and
germline alterations in solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.
This solution provides for access to a holistic view of a patient’s
genome and insights into novel fusions, splice variants, and
molecular pathways. It also provides for germline findings for
cancer and non-cancer genes, as per American College of Medical
Genetics guidelines, with relevance to comorbidities, such as
familial hypercholesterolemia, and certain drug
interactions.
We deliver the WES/WTS solution using a number of proprietary tools
housed in Centrellis, including our cancer knowledge-base, which
contains comprehensive structured data and learnings on clinically
relevant variants, including curated maps that link relevant
clinical trials to variants that serve as eligibility biomarkers
for the trials, as annotated by Ph.D. oncology experts. Our variant
interpretation station for oncology automates clinical reporting by
managing the variant curation process and recommending suitable
therapies. This AI-driven genomic platform is
updated regularly with recent medical literature and prioritizes
clinically-significant variants, enabling providers to quickly
review and leverage actionable insights.
Sema4 Signal Informatics Solutions
To complement the genomics diagnostic solutions, the Sema4 Signal
products leverage Centrellis’s provider engagement technologies,
described above, including to automatically abstract, annotate, and
combine oncology specific datasets, including clinical medical
record data, imaging, and genomics. This clinical-genomic data set
is provided back to health systems and providers and is powered by
our digital applications to drive better personalized care for
patients, including clinical trial recruitment, improved
system-wide quality of care and increased financial and research
activity.
Regulatory and Payer Relations Strategy
We have developed and are advancing our strategy to drive increased
reimbursement and higher average selling prices, or ASPs, for our
Sema4 Signal Oncology solutions. As part of this strategy, we will
take advantage of a Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC),
National Government Services (NGS), update to a Local Coverage
Decision (LCD) titled Genomic Sequence Analysis Panels in the
Treatment of Solid Organ Neoplasms under which qualifying CGP tests
are covered for patients insured by Medicare, who are living with
advanced cancer and meet other clinical criteria.
In addition, we are expanding our presence in select markets where
Palmetto GBA is the MAC and the MolDx program they administer
provides opportunities to apply for coverage under existing or
future LCDs. Specifically, we have, or intend to, submit Technical
Assessments for coverage and reimbursement of WES/WTS and other
tumor profiling solutions based on existing MolDx
LCDs.
Beyond the testing, we are exploring the regulatory and market
access landscape as it relates to the governance and reimbursement
of real-world evidence and AI driven clinical decision-making
tools. As we demonstrate the clinical utility of information driven
solutions, these emerging areas will become relevant.
Our COVID-19 Testing Initiative
In response to the outbreak of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, in
the first quarter of 2020, we rapidly leveraged our existing
technologies and infrastructure capabilities, supplemented by a
requisite set of technologies and services, to offer a
comprehensive COVID-19 diagnostic testing service for our
customers. However, on December 15, 2021, we announced that we
decided to discontinue COVID-19 testing services by March 31, 2022
and began notifying our COVID-19 testing solutions customers of
this decision. Nationwide and regional lab capacity for COVID-19
testing has increased since we entered the market for COVID-19
testing in the first half of 2020. Management believes it is the
appropriate time to discontinue this line of services and dedicate
all of our efforts and resources to our core mission to transform
healthcare by using artificial intelligence to enable the delivery
of precision medicine as the standard of care.
Our Solution for Health Systems and Providers
Our origins within a large academic medical center helped us
establish our integrated health system collaboration model, where
we seek to integrate our platform across numerous health system
workflows to enable precision medicine solutions using Centrellis,
from Women’s Health, to Oncology, to patient wellness. Our provider
and health system engagement offerings include patient and provider
portals, facilitating scheduling of patient appointments, patient
consenting, pre-test and post-test genetic counseling, results
delivery and patient record management, among other tools and
applications that are designed to allow physicians to better engage
contextualized information around their patients to improve
decision making.
Our Health System Engagement Model
We believe we have developed a compelling value proposition for our
initial health system partners, with distinguishing features
including our focus on serving local community populations, our
track-record of delivering digital or technology-enabled standards
of care, and our investment in precision medicine and adoption of
genomic diagnostic solutions, with our desire to have predictive
insights permeate all service lines and the general patient
experience in their system. In addition to our deep relationship
with Mount Sinai, we have contracted to deploy Centrellis in
additional health systems, which we expect will expand our impact
and reach.
We have refined a health system engagement model designed to
maximize both our and our partner health system’s value from the
relationship. We balance clinical-grade and research-based projects
in order to deliver value in an economically sustainable manner and
establish health and economic performance metrics that form the
basis of quarterly steering committee reviews with the program’s
executive sponsors. Our model focuses on:
•Embedding
our genomic analyses as a standard of care for Women’s Health,
Oncology and/or specific diseases, which includes our full-service
model including patient and provider education, patient engagement,
genetic counseling and integration with the health systems’
clinical workflow and EMR,
•Enhancing
existing health system data sets by leveraging our data curation
capabilities for both structured and unstructured data to identify
clinical utility that can be used by health system providers,
researchers and administration,
•Developing
software applications to facilitate deeper engagement of the
enhanced health system data we produce, such as reconstructing and
visualizing patient health journeys, identifying patient cohorts
based on any number of filter criteria, and characterizing outcomes
of patients in response to different treatments
prescribed,
•Establishing
population health programs where health system patients are invited
to broad population genetic screening, and
•Developing
mutually beneficial research collaboration programs that leverage
the strengths of our and our health system partners.
Our Solutions Create Mutually Beneficially Value for Us and Our
Health System Partners
We pursue strategic relationships with health systems that evaluate
financial returns on a holistic basis. We evaluate success on a
long-term basis and recognize that the primary aim of every health
system is to provide superior patient care with improved health
economics. As such, we continue to use the proceeds from our July
2021 business combination and related private placement financing
(which we refer to as the “Prior PIPE Investment”) to accelerate
growth in our health system relationships by further investing in
research-oriented projects, as well as data curation, platform
integrations, and building standards of care to operationalize our
testing programs. Starting with Mount Sinai and extending
throughout our network, we intend to cross-validate and scale our
technologies across health systems, as we seek to enable patients
by leveraging data and tools across systems and patient populations
in a network model so each partner can benefit from what is being
learned across the healthcare ecosystem.
We Act as a Broker and Catalyst for Commercial Engagement Between
Health System and Biopharma Companies
While health systems and Biopharma companies have an established
ability to collaborate effectively and will continue to partner
directly, we believe that our network in both segments of the
healthcare ecosystem and ability to add value to these
relationships through data engineering makes us well-positioned as
a valued collaborator for both types of organizations. Biopharma
collaborations are often not the focus for health systems, as they
have high start-up costs to develop relationships that extend to
patient care. We can support our health system partners by working
more collaboratively with them to understand their capabilities and
how those capabilities are complemented by our enhancement of a
health systems’ data assets and clinical-genomic data generation
capabilities, and by facilitating solutions that can be provided
jointly to Biopharma companies.
Our Biopharma Solutions Engage and Enable Our Partners
We have established and continue to seek strategic relationships
with Biopharma companies to enable drug discovery, development, and
commercialization. We have demonstrated the ability to integrate
across the pharmaceutical life cycle as a result of the unique data
and patient and provider engagements developed in our health system
relationships and information-driven diagnostics solutions,
combined with our powerful analytics capabilities and software
solutions.
The Biopharma industry has become increasingly competitive as it
moves toward the more precise targeting of patients in crowded
disease segments, and we believe this trend positions us as a key
partner for Biopharma companies to build a competitive advantage by
unlocking the power of big data and enabling next generation
precision medicine.
We Strive for Interconnected Strategic Relationships
We serve our Biopharma customers through a unique combination of
clinical testing services, clinical and research study design and
execution, and advanced data and analytics
capabilities.
Our competitive advantage in this space comes from leveraging
comprehensive data generated via testing, integrating these deep
molecular profiles with clinical patient information, and
representing this comprehensive patient data in the Centrellis
platform. This enables us to create direct and real time
integration of clinical and genetic data with providers connected
to drug discovery research, real world evidence studies, and other
therapy development opportunities. We are also able to utilize our
solutions and unique data assets to enroll patients into clinical
trials and to connect Biopharma partners to patient populations
matching eligibility criteria for their trials, to facilitate
patients receiving novel therapies still under development, and to
perform broad genomic and transcriptomic sequencing on health
system partner sample banks in collaboration with Biopharma
partners.
In our engagement with Biopharma customers, we are focused on a
range of disease conditions, including oncology, autoimmune and
inflammatory disorders, and rare diseases. Our disease-agnostic
approach provides us with the flexibility to support our Biopharma
partners across varied therapeutic areas. We continue to work with
our Biopharma partners to identify their specific needs and broaden
the scope of our disease coverage accordingly.
We believe that, because of our core capabilities and
differentiated approach, we are well-positioned to support
next-generation drug discovery, development, and commercialization.
We further believe our ability to generate deep, clinical-grade
multi-omic datasets renders us a valuable genomic testing solution
provider for precision medicine Biopharma products. Through direct
engagement of providers and patients, we assist Biopharma partners
in a patient-centric approach to research and clinical development.
By obtaining and curating high-dimensional data in our Centrellis
platform, we deliver novel insights that help to de-risk the
development of next generation therapeutics, provide for
pharmacologic proof of concept via the integration of genomic and
clinical data support, reduce development costs, enhance the
patient experience, and increase speed to market.
Sema4’s Solutions for BioPharma Customers
We engage with our Biopharma customers to develop and deliver
unique goods and services for the particular issues that each
customer faces. We believe that our Biopharma partners can realize
significant value when collaborating with our team to utilize a
more integrated, end-to-end solution that leverages our core set of
capabilities, including longitudinal patient data, AI-driven
predictive modeling, and genomics. We have demonstrated the ability
to develop these deep, integrated strategic relationships with
Biopharma companies. For example, our five-year collaborative study
with Sanofi S.A., or Sanofi, is centered on discovery of new
insights into the biological mechanisms and other factors
implicated in asthma to help drive Sanofi’s next generation of
asthma targets as well as to enhance Sanofi’s understanding of the
relevant populations for both its current and in-development
therapies and the therapies marketed by others. This asthma study
is currently recruiting nearly 1,200 patients, and involves
comprehensive clinical characterization of patients and controls,
longitudinal monitoring of patient conditions through various
applications and devices, collection of biological samples for
molecular profiling and generation and integration of DNA and RNA
sequencing data with clinical and device acquired data. The study
is also leveraging the integrated, longitudinal data to construct
models of asthma to stratify patients into subtypes,
and seeking to better understand treatments relevant to different
subtypes or where there is unmet need for further drug discovery
efforts. Along with Sanofi, we will collect traditional clinical
data, genomics, immunological, environmental, and sensor data from
mobile devices to enable sophisticated analyses and to include
advanced causal network modeling.
In general, our Biopharma strategy focuses on three main offering
areas:
•Genomic
Testing and Analysis Solutions: We serve as a comprehensive
clinical testing lab, offering a broad menu of molecular, cytogenic
and biochemical testing services for our Biopharma partners. Our
technology development group enables us to apply innovative
profiling technologies such as long-read, single-cell and spatial
molecular profiling approaches to help address our Biopharma
partners’ challenges. The data generated by these capabilities,
when combined with our analytics services, can produce insights
that inform on disease biology, improve and accelerate the drug
development process, and help ensure that patients can be made
aware of relevant treatment options.
•Data
and Analytics Solutions: Centrellis enables us to provide our
Biopharma partners with unique, data-driven insights that can help
to accelerate the development of precision medicines, utilizing
HIPAA-compliant, de-identified datasets. Using advanced analytics
and causal network modeling, we work with partners to organize
high-dimensional data in ways that facilitate the identification of
statistically-inferred causal relationships that enable the
identification, validation and prioritization of biomarkers and
targets; identify molecular subtypes of disease; and predict
patient disease progression, prognosis, drug response, adverse
events, and other clinical outcomes. We believe that one of our
particular strengths is our data science team, which is comprised
of experts published in leading scientific journals. We work with
collaborators, researchers, and key opinion leaders to build new
models of disease and deliver insights to Biopharma partners that
can further optimize their operations.
•Clinical
Trial Enablement Solutions: We believe that Centrellis, combined
with our active, direct engagement of patients and providers in our
Women’s Health and, by extension, rare disorders, Oncology, and
population health solutions, positions us well to assist Biopharma
partners in their clinical development activities. We have
developed a number of software as a service, or SaaS, products to
enable Biopharma clinical development, including a clinical trial
patient matching product and a clinical trial design product that
work with our longitudinal clinic-genomic dataset. Given our
patient consent structure, we have the ability to re-contact
patients who may benefit from a Biopharma sponsor’s trial. We have
developed novel, technology-enabled workflows and solutions that
allow us to search for and identify relevant patients in a manner
that fully maintains patient confidentiality, and work with
providers to assess and enroll these patients in clinical trials.
The breadth of search and precision of this method of patient
recruitment can substantially improve trial timelines versus
traditional recruitment methods. We also assist prominent Biopharma
partners seeking to use high-quality genomic analysis to assess
patient eligibility for clinical trials. We believe our clinical
testing services and data solutions make us a key partner for
supporting efficient clinical trials.
Research and Development
We have invested a substantial amount of time and expense into
research and development for our technology and test offerings,
which requires the continuous improvement of software capabilities
to analyze data and process customer orders. Our research and
development efforts focus on several key areas, including
multiscale biotechnology, assay development across sequencing
technologies, data science and engineering, and the development of
network-based models. We expect our research and development
activities to increase as we innovate and expand the application of
our current and future platforms including Traversa and
Centrellis.
Our internationally recognized research team includes leaders in
data science, network modeling, multiscale biotechnology and
genomics. As noted above, our CEO, Eric Schadt, is a world-renowned
expert on constructing predictive models of disease that link
molecular biology to physiology to enable clinical medicine. He has
published more than 450 peer-reviewed papers in leading scientific
journals, with a public citation or “h-” index of 137, and has
contributed to discoveries relating to the genetic basis of common
human diseases such as cancer, diabetes,
obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease. Under the leadership of our CEO,
our research team comprises more than 160 Ph.D.-level scientists,
complemented by additional physician scientists and certified
technicians as of December 31, 2021. Ongoing collaborations with
scientists and clinicians at the Mount Sinai and other healthcare
systems allows our research to remain patient-centered and
clinically relevant.
Intellectual Property
We have intellectual property rights pertaining to all elements of
our platforms and solutions. Our success and ability to compete
depend in part on securing and preserving enforceable patent, trade
secret, trademark and other intellectual property rights; operating
without having competitors infringe, misappropriate or otherwise
circumvent these rights; operating without infringing the
proprietary rights of others; and obtaining and maintaining
licenses for technology development or product
commercialization.
Patents
The fields of genomic and health information analysis present
limited opportunities for patent protection, based on well-known
legal precedents. As result, our patent protection strategy is to
protect our non-gene specific technology and our specific
biomarkers. In this regard, as of December 31, 2021, we have four
pending utility patent applications and one provisional patent
application. The pending utility patent applications include a U.S.
patent application related to a genome annotation software platform
for annotating genomic intervals that are clinically relevant for
analysis, a U.S. patent application related to a genetic carrier
screening process, and U.S. and European patent applications
related to therapeutic treatment for subjects having certain
polymorphic markers associated with specific human leukocyte
antigen alleles. If patents are issued from the currently pending
applications, the earliest patents will begin expiring in 2040,
subject to potential extensions of the patent term that will be
calculated based on the length of the patent examination
process.
Trade Secrets
We have a trade secrecy program to prevent disclosure of our trade
secrets to others, except under stringent conditions of
confidentiality when disclosure is critical to our business. We
protect trade secrets and know-how by establishing confidentiality
agreements and invention assignment agreements with our employees,
consultants, scientific advisors, contractors, and collaborators.
These agreements provide that all confidential information
developed or made known during the course of an individual or
entities’ relationship with us must be kept confidential during and
after the relationship. These agreements also provide that all
inventions resulting from work performed for us or relating to our
business and conceived or completed during the period of employment
or assignment, as applicable, will be our exclusive property. In
addition, we take other appropriate precautions, such as physical
and technological security measures, to guard against
misappropriation of our proprietary information by third
parties.
Although we take steps to protect our proprietary information and
trade secrets, including through contractual means with our
employees and consultants, third parties may independently develop
substantially equivalent proprietary information and techniques or
otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or disclose our
technology. Accordingly, we may not be able to meaningfully protect
our trade secrets. For more information regarding the risks related
to our intellectual property, see the section entitled
“Risk
Factors — Risks Related to Our Intellectual
Property.”
Trademarks
We own various trademarks, applications and unregistered trademarks
in the U.S and other commercially important markets, including our
company name, product and service names and other trade or service
marks. Our trademark portfolio is designed to protect the brands
for our products and services, both current and in the
pipeline.
Regulation
Reimbursement
Patients who have diagnostic tests ordered or are prescribed
treatments by providers performing the prescribed services,
generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of
the associated healthcare costs. Sales of our products and services
will therefore depend substantially on the extent to which the
costs of our products and services will be paid by third-party
payors, including health maintenance, managed care and similar
healthcare management organizations, or reimbursed by government
health administration authorities, such as Medicare and Medicaid
and private health insurers.
In the United States, our ability to commercialize and the
commercial success of our product and service offerings will depend
in part on the extent to which governmental payor programs at the
federal and state levels, including Medicare and Medicaid, private
health insurers and other third-party payors provide coverage for
and establish adequate reimbursement levels for these offerings.
Government authorities, private health insurers and other
organizations generally decide which devices they will pay for and
establish reimbursement levels for healthcare. Medicare is a
federally funded program for the elderly and disabled managed by
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, through local
contractors that administer coverage and reimbursement for certain
healthcare items and services. Medicaid is an insurance program for
certain categories of patients whose income and assets fall below
state defined levels, and is funded jointly by federal and state
governments and managed by each state. Similarly, the federal
government manages other healthcare programs, including the
Veterans Health Administration, the Indian Health Service, and
Tricare, the healthcare program for military personnel, retirees,
and related beneficiaries. Many states have also created pharmacy
assistance programs for individuals who do not qualify for federal
programs. In the U.S., private health insurers and other
third-party payors often provide reimbursement for products and
services based in part on the coverage and payment rates set by the
Medicare or Medicaid programs.
Federal programs in the U.S. also sometimes impose price controls
through mandatory ceiling prices on purchases by federal agencies
and federally funded hospitals and clinics and mandatory rebates on
retail pharmacy prescriptions paid by Medicaid and Tricare. These
restrictions and limitations influence the purchase of healthcare
services and products. Legislative proposals to reform healthcare
or reduce costs under government programs may result in lower
reimbursement for our products and services or exclusion of our
products and services from coverage. In addition, government
programs like Medicaid include what are in effect substantial
penalties for increasing commercial prices of certain products over
the rate of inflation which can affect realization and return on
investment.
Increasing efforts by governmental and third-party payors to cap or
reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both
coverage and level of reimbursement for newly approved healthcare
products. At the state level, legislatures are increasingly passing
legislation and implementing regulations designed to control
pharmaceutical and biological program pricing, including price or
patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on
certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and
transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage
importation from other countries and bulk purchasing.
As a result of the above trends, we may need to conduct expensive
studies in order to demonstrate the medical necessity and cost
effectiveness of our products and services, in addition to the
costs required to obtain FDA approvals. Our products and services
may not be considered medically necessary or cost effective, or the
discount percentages required to secure coverage may not yield an
adequate margin over cost.
Many hospitals implement a controlled and defined process for
covering and approving diagnostic tests and medical devices. Any
marketing efforts that are determined to have violated such
policies could result in the denial or removal of our products from
that hospital’s list of approved products.
Moreover, a payor’s decision to provide coverage for a diagnostic
product does not imply that an adequate reimbursement rate will be
approved. Adequate third-party reimbursement may not be available
to enable us to maintain price levels sufficient to realize an
appropriate return on our investment in device development.
Legislative proposals to reform healthcare or reduce costs under
government insurance programs may result in lower
reimbursement for our products and services or exclusion of our
products and services from coverage. The cost containment measures
that healthcare payor and providers are instituting and any
healthcare reform could significantly reduce our revenue from the
sale of any approved products and services. We cannot provide any
assurances that we will be able to obtain and maintain third-party
coverage or adequate reimbursement for our products and services in
whole or in part.
In addition, amendments to the False Claims Act impose severe
penalties for the knowing and improper retention of overpayments
collected from governmental payors. Within 60 days of identifying
and quantifying an overpayment, a provider is required to notify
CMS or the Medicare contractor of the overpayment and the reason
for it and return the overpayment. These amendments could subject
our procedures for identifying and processing payments to greater
scrutiny. Overpayments may occur from time to time in the
healthcare industry without any fraudulent intent. For example,
overpayments may result from mistakes in reimbursement claim forms
or from improper processing by governmental payor. We maintain
protocols intended to identify any overpayments. From time to time,
we may identify overpayments and be required to refund those
amounts to governmental payors.
Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act
Our clinical reference laboratories in Connecticut are required to
hold certain federal certificates to conduct our business. Under
the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act of 1988, or CLIA, we are
required to hold a certificate applicable to the type of laboratory
examinations we perform and to comply with standards covering
personnel, facilities administration, inspections, quality control,
quality assurance and proficiency testing.
As of December 31, 2021, we have a current certificate under CLIA
to perform testing at our laboratory locations in Stamford and
Branford, Connecticut. To renew this CLIA certificate, we are
subject to survey and inspection every two years to assess
compliance with program standards. Moreover, CLIA inspectors may
make random inspections of our clinical reference laboratories. The
regulatory and compliance standards applicable to the testing we
perform may change over time, and any such changes could have a
material effect on our business.
If our clinical reference laboratory is out of compliance with CLIA
requirements, we may be subject to sanctions such as suspension,
limitation or revocation of our CLIA certificate, as well as
directed plan of correction, state on-site monitoring, civil money
penalties, civil injunctive suit or criminal penalties. We must
maintain CLIA compliance and certification to be eligible to bill
for diagnostic services provided to Medicare and Medicaid
beneficiaries. If we were to be found out of compliance with CLIA
requirements and subjected to sanction, our business could be
harmed.
State Laboratory Testing
We are is required to maintain a license to conduct testing in
Connecticut. Connecticut laws establish standards for day-to-day
operations of our laboratories in Stamford and Branford,
Connecticut. If our clinical reference laboratories are out of
compliance with Connecticut standards, the Connecticut Department
of Health Services, or CDHS, may suspend, restrict or revoke our
license to operate our clinical reference laboratories, assess
substantial civil money penalties, or impose specific corrective
action plans. Any such actions could materially affect our
business. As of December 31, 2021, we maintain a current license in
good standing with CDHS. However, we cannot provide assurance that
CDHS will at all times in the future find us to be in compliance
with all such laws.
Several states require the licensure of out-of-state laboratories
that accept specimens from those states. For example, New York
requires a laboratory to hold a permit which is issued after an
on-site inspection and approval of testing methodology and has
various requirements over and above CLIA and the College of
American Pathologists, or CAP, Laboratory Accreditation Program,
including those for personnel qualifications, proficiency testing,
physical facility, equipment, and quality control standards. Our
laboratory holds the required licenses for California, New York,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
Each of our clinical reference laboratories in Connecticut is
required to be licensed on a test-specific basis by New York State
as an out of state laboratory and our products, as
laboratory-developed tests, or LDTs, must be approved by the New
York State Department of Health, or NYDOH, before they are
performed on samples from New York. Each Sema4 laboratory is
licensed by New York, and we are currently approved for testing
samples from
New York. We are subject to periodic inspection by the NYDOH and we
are required to demonstrate ongoing compliance with NYDOH
regulations and standards.
Other states may adopt similar licensure requirements in the
future, which may require us to modify, delay or stop our
operations in such jurisdictions. Complying with licensure
requirements in new jurisdictions may be expensive, time-consuming,
and subject us to significant and unanticipated delays. If we
identify any other state with such requirements, or if we are
contacted by any other state advising us of such requirements, we
intend to follow instructions from the state regulators as to how
we should comply with such requirements.
Food and Drug Administration
Laboratory Developed Tests
We provide our tests as LDTs. CMS and certain state agencies
regulate the performance of LDTs (as authorized by CLIA and state
law, respectively). Historically, the FDA, has exercised
enforcement discretion with respect to most LDTs and has not
required laboratories that furnish LDTs to comply with the agency's
requirements for medical devices (e.g., establishment registration,
device listing, quality systems regulations, premarket clearance or
premarket approval, and post-market controls). Nevertheless, the
FDA may decide to regulate certain LDTs on a case-by-case basis at
any time.
Legislative proposals addressing the FDA's oversight of LDTs have
been introduced in previous Congresses, and we expect that new
legislative proposals will be introduced from time-to-time. The
likelihood that Congress will pass such legislation and the extent
to which such legislation may affect the FDA's plans to regulate
certain LDTs as medical devices is difficult to predict at this
time.
If the FDA ultimately regulates certain LDTs as medical devices,
whether via final guidance, final regulation, or as instructed by
Congress, our tests may be subject to certain additional regulatory
requirements. Complying with the FDA's requirements for medical
devices can be expensive, time-consuming, and subject us to
significant or unanticipated delays. Insofar as we may be required
to obtain premarket clearance or approval to perform or continue
performing an LDT, we cannot assure you that we will be able to
obtain such authorization. Even if we obtain regulatory clearance
or approval where required, such authorization may not be for the
intended uses that we believe are commercially attractive or are
critical to the commercial success of our tests. As a result, the
application of the FDA's medical device requirements to our tests
could materially and adversely affect our business, financial
condition, and results of operations.
Failure to comply with applicable FDA regulatory requirements may
trigger a range of enforcement actions by the FDA including warning
letters, civil monetary penalties, injunctions, criminal
prosecution, recall or seizure, operating restrictions, partial
suspension or total shutdown of operations, and denial of or
challenges to applications for clearance or approval, as well as
significant adverse publicity.
Pre-Market Approval
We may obtain FDA premarket approval, or PMA, for some of our tests
including its matched whole exome sequencing, or WES, and whole
transcriptome sequencing, or WTS, tests. Devices subject to FDA
regulation must undergo premarket review prior to commercialization
unless the device is exempt from such review, and we expect that we
will be required to perform non-inferiority studies showing
comparable results between the Sema4 Signal WES/WTS LDT and third
party, FDA-approved tests with regard to certain therapeutic drugs
prescribed to ovarian cancer patients, colorectal cancer patients,
and non-small cell lung cancer patients. We are currently
evaluating an updated pre-submission letter to the FDA with regard
to the studies necessary for ovarian cancer and is working to
secure access to the subjects necessary to perform this study. With
regard to the studies necessary for colorectal cancer patients and
non-small cell lung cancer patients, we submitted our
pre-submission package and held a pre-submission meeting with the
FDA in 2020, and are working to secure access to the subjects
necessary to perform this study. Further, the regulations governing
the approvals place substantial restrictions on how the tests will
be marketed and sold, specifically, by prescription only. In
addition, as a condition of Sema4’s FDA approval, we may be
required to conduct post-approval studies.
Additionally, manufacturers of medical devices must comply with
various regulatory requirements under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic
Act, or FDCA, and regulations thereunder, including, but not
limited to, quality system regulations, unless they are exempt,
facility registration, product listing, labeling requirements, and
certain post-market surveillance requirements. Entities that fail
to comply with FDA requirements can be liable for criminal or civil
penalties, such as recalls, detentions, orders to cease
manufacturing, and restrictions on labeling and promotion, among
other potential sanctions.
We may develop new diagnostic products and services that are
regulated by the FDA as medical devices. The regulatory review and
approval process for medical devices can be costly, timely, and
uncertain. This process may involve, among other things,
successfully completing additional clinical trials and submitting a
premarket clearance notice or filing a premarket approval
application with the FDA. If premarket review is required by the
FDA, there can be no assurance that our tests will be cleared or
approved on a timely basis, if at all. In addition, there can be no
assurance that the labeling claims cleared or approved by the FDA
will be consistent with our current claims or adequate to support
continued adoption of and reimbursement for our products. Ongoing
compliance with FDA regulations could increase the cost of
conducting our business, subject us to FDA inspections and other
regulatory actions, and potentially subject us to penalties in the
event we fail to comply with such requirements.
HIPAA and HITECH
Under the administrative simplification provisions of the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, as
amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and
Clinical Health Act, or HITECH, the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services issued regulations that establish uniform standards
governing the conduct of certain electronic healthcare transactions
and protecting the privacy and security of protected health
information used or disclosed by most healthcare providers and
other covered entities and their business associates, including the
business associates' subcontractors. We perform activities that may
implicate HIPAA, such as providing clinical laboratory testing
services and entering into specific kinds of relationships with
covered entities and business associates of covered entities. As a
covered entity and as a business associate of other covered
entities (with whom we have entered into business associate
agreements), we are required to comply with the four principal
regulations with which have been issued in final form under HIPAA
and HITECH: privacy regulations, security regulations, the breach
notification rule, and standards for electronic transactions, which
establish standards for common healthcare
transactions.
The HITRUST CSF was developed to address the multitude of security,
privacy, and regulatory challenges facing organizations. By
including federal and state regulations, standards, frameworks, and
incorporating a risk-based approach, the HITRUST CSF helps
organizations address these challenges through a comprehensive and
flexible framework of prescriptive and scalable security and
privacy controls. The HITRUST CSF Includes, harmonizes, and
cross-references existing, globally recognized standards,
regulations, and business requirements, including ISO, EU GDPR,
NIST, and PCI. On December 10, 2021, we met the HITRUST Assurance
Program requirements for the CSF v9.4 Risk-based, 2-year (r2)
certification criteria for our Centrellis Platform, for hosting and
curating Patient data.
The privacy regulations cover the use and disclosure of protected
health information by covered entities as well as business
associates, which are defined to include subcontractors that
create, receive, maintain, or transmit protected health information
on behalf of a business associate. They also set forth certain
rights that an individual has with respect to his or her protected
health information maintained by a covered entity, including the
right to access or amend certain records containing protected
health information, or to request restrictions on the use or
disclosure of protected health information. The security
regulations establish requirements for safeguarding the
confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health
information that is electronically transmitted or electronically
stored. HITECH, among other things, established certain health
information security breach notification requirements. A covered
entity must notify any individual whose protected health
information is breached according to the specifications set forth
in the breach notification rule. The HIPAA privacy and security
regulations establish a uniform federal "floor" and do not
supersede state laws that are more stringent or provide individuals
with greater rights with respect to the privacy or security of, and
access to, their records containing protected health information or
insofar as such state laws apply to personal information that is
broader in scope than
protected health information as defined under HIPAA. Massachusetts,
for example, has a state law that protects the privacy and security
of personal information of Massachusetts residents.
There are significant civil and criminal fines and other penalties
that may be imposed for violating HIPAA. A covered entity or
business associate is also liable for civil money penalties for a
violation that is based on an act or omission of any of its agents,
including a downstream business associate, as determined according
to the federal common law of agency. Additionally, to the extent
that we submit electronic healthcare claims and payment
transactions that do not comply with the electronic data
transmission standards established under HIPAA and HITECH, payments
to us may be delayed or denied.
Federal and State Fraud and Abuse Laws
In the U.S., there are various fraud and abuse laws with which we
must comply, and we are potentially subject to regulation by
various federal, state and local authorities, including CMS, other
divisions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
including the Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of
Justice, and individual U.S. Attorney offices within the Department
of Justice, and state and local governments.
In the U.S., the federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits, among
other things, knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting
or receiving remuneration, directly or indirectly, overtly,
covertly, in cash or in kind to induce or in return for the
furnishing, arranging for the furnishing of, purchasing, leasing,
ordering or arranging for or recommending purchasing, leasing or
ordering of any good, facility, service or item for which payment
may be made in whole or in part by a federal healthcare program.
Courts have stated that a financial arrangement may violate the
Anti-Kickback Statute if any one purpose of the arrangement is to
encourage patient referrals or other federal healthcare program
business, regardless of whether there are other legitimate purposes
for the arrangement. The definition of "remuneration" has been
broadly interpreted to include anything of value, including gifts,
discounts, credit arrangements, payments of cash, consulting fees,
waivers of co-payments, ownership interests, and providing anything
at less than its fair market value.
Although the Anti-Kickback Statute contains several exceptions, it
is broad and may technically prohibit many innocuous or beneficial
arrangements within the healthcare industry. Further, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services issued a series of
regulatory "safe harbors." These safe harbor regulations set forth
certain provisions, which, if met, will assure healthcare providers
and other parties that they will not be prosecuted under the
federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Although full compliance with the
statutory exceptions or regulatory safe harbors ensures against
prosecution under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the failure of
a transaction or arrangement to fit within a specific statutory
exception or regulatory safe harbor does not necessarily mean that
the transaction or arrangement is illegal or that prosecution under
the federal Anti-Kickback Statute will be pursued. Penalties for
federal anti-kickback violations are severe, and include
imprisonment, criminal fines, civil money penalties, and exclusion
from participation in federal healthcare programs. Many states also
have anti-kickback statutes, some of which may apply to items or
services reimbursed by any third-party payor, including commercial
insurers.
There are also federal laws related to healthcare fraud and false
statements, among others, relating to healthcare matters. The
healthcare fraud statute prohibits knowingly and willfully
executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program,
including private payors. A violation of this statute is a felony
and may result in fines, imprisonment, or exclusion from
governmental payor programs such as the Medicare and Medicaid
programs. The false statements statute prohibits knowingly and
willfully falsifying, concealing, or covering up a material fact,
or making any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement
in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare
benefits, items, or services. A violation of this statute is a
felony and may result in fines, imprisonment, or exclusion from
governmental payor programs.
Another development affecting the healthcare industry is the
increased enforcement of the federal False Claims Act and, in
particular, actions brought pursuant to the False Claims Act's
"whistleblower" or "qui tam" provisions. The False Claims Act
imposes liability on any person or entity that, among other things,
knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or
fraudulent claim for payment by a federal governmental payor
program. The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act allow a
private individual to bring actions on behalf of the federal
government alleging that the defendant has defrauded the federal
government by submitting a false claim to the
federal government and permit such individuals to share in any
amounts paid by the entity to the government in fines or
settlement. When an entity is determined to have violated the False
Claims Act, it may be required to pay up to three times the actual
damages sustained by the government, plus civil penalties ranging
from $5,500 to $11,000 for each false claim.
In addition, various states have enacted false claim laws analogous
to the federal False Claims Act, although many of these state laws
apply where a claim is submitted to any third-party payor and not
merely a governmental payor program.
Additionally, the civil monetary penalties statute imposes
penalties against any person or entity that, among other things, is
determined to have presented or caused to be presented a claim to a
federal health program that the person knows or should know is for
an item or service that was not provided as claimed or for a claim
that is false or fraudulent. This law also prohibits the offering
or transfer of remuneration to a Medicare or state healthcare
program beneficiary if the person knows or should know it is likely
to influence the beneficiary's selection of a particular provider,
practitioner, or supplier of services reimbursable by Medicare or a
state healthcare program, unless an exception applies.
On October 25, 2018, the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that
Promoted Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities
Act of 2018, or the SUPPORT Act, was enacted. The SUPPORT Act
included the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018, or
EKRA, which establishes an all-payor anti-kickback prohibition that
extends to arrangements with recovery homes, clinical laboratories
and clinical treatment facilities. EKRA includes a number of
statutory exceptions, and directs agencies to develop further
exceptions. Current exceptions in some cases reference and in
others differ from the Anti-Kickback Statute safe harbors.
Significantly, the prohibitions apply with respect to the
soliciting or receipt of remuneration for any referrals to recovery
homes, clinical treatment facilities, or clinical laboratories,
whether or not related to treating substance use disorders.
Further, the prohibitions cover the payment or offer of
remuneration to induce a referral to, or in exchange for, an
individual using the services of, such providers. This law creates
additional risk that relationships with referral sources could be
problematic.
Physician Referral Prohibitions
Under a federal law directed at "self-referral," commonly known as
the "Stark Law," there are prohibitions, with certain exceptions,
on referrals for certain designated health services, including
laboratory services, that are covered by the Medicare program by
physicians who personally, or through an immediate family member,
have a financial relationship with the entity to which the
referrals for designated health services are made. The prohibition
also extends to payment for any testing referred in violation of
the Stark Law. A person who engages in a scheme to circumvent the
Stark Law's referral prohibition may be fined up to $100,000 for
each such arrangement or scheme. In addition, any person who
presents or causes to be presented a claim to the Medicare program
in violation of the Stark Law is subject to civil monetary
penalties of up to $15,000 per service, an assessment of up to
three times the amount claimed and possible exclusion from
participation in federal healthcare programs. In addition, any
person who presents or causes to be presented a claim to the
Medicare program in violation of the Stark Law is subject to civil
monetary penalties of up to $15,000 per service, an assessment of
up to three times the amount claimed, and possible exclusion from
participation in federal or state health care programs. Bills
submitted in violation of the Stark Law may not be paid by
Medicare, and any person collecting any amounts with respect to any
such prohibited bill is obligated to refund such amounts. Many
states have comparable laws that are not limited to Medicare
referrals. The Stark Law also prohibits state receipt of Federal
Medicaid matching funds for prohibited referrals, but this
provision of the Stark Law has not been implemented by regulations.
In addition, some courts have held that the submission of claims to
Medicaid that would be prohibited as self-referrals under the Stark
Law for Medicare could implicate the False Claims Act.
Corporate Practice of Medicine
Numerous states have enacted laws prohibiting business
corporations, such as Sema4, from practicing medicine and employing
or engaging physicians to practice medicine, generally referred to
as the prohibition against the corporate practice of medicine.
These laws are designed to prevent interference in the medical
decision-making
process by anyone who is not a licensed physician. For example,
California's Medical Board has indicated that determining what
diagnostic tests are appropriate for a particular condition and
taking responsibility for the ultimate overall care of the patient,
including providing treatment options available to the patient,
would constitute the unlicensed practice of medicine if performed
by an unlicensed person. Violation of these corporate practice of
medicine laws may result in civil or criminal fines, as well as
sanctions imposed against us and/or the professional through
licensure proceedings. Typically, such laws are only applicable to
entities that have a physical presence in the state.
Genetic Privacy and Testing Laws
We are subject to myriad laws designed to establish safeguards
regarding the conduct of genomic testing and analysis and to
protect against the misuse of genetic information and human
biological specimens, collectively, “samples”, from which genetic
information can be derived. These laws vary in their scope and in
the nature of their requirements and restrictions. For example,
certain genetic privacy laws prohibit the retention of samples
after performing a genomic analysis in addition to prohibiting the
use or disclosure of genetic information for certain purposes, such
as research, without appropriate informed consent from the
individual or without sufficient anonymization. The applicability
of such informed consent requirements may also depend on the
identifiability of the genetic information or sample and the
purposes of which it is used. Other laws may impose additional
requirements, including requirements regarding institutional review
board review and approval for certain research uses of genetic
information or samples requirements to implement certain security
controls in connection with the transfer of genetic information. We
must comply with such genetic privacy and testing laws in our
collection, use, disclosure, and retention of genetic information
and samples.
Other Health and Medical Regulations
The federal physician payment transparency requirements, or
Physician Payments Sunshine Act, and its implementing regulations,
which requires applicable manufacturers of covered drugs, devices,
biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under
Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance
Program, with certain exceptions, to annually report to HHS
information related to certain payments or other transfers of value
made or distributed to physicians, defined to include doctors,
dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors, and teaching
hospitals, or to entities or individuals at the request of, or
designated on behalf of, the physicians and teaching hospitals, as
well as ownership and investment interests held by physicians and
their immediate family members. The SUPPORT Act, under a provision
entitled “Fighting the Opioid Epidemic with Sunshine,” extends the
Physician Payments Sunshine Act to payments and transfers of value
to physician assistants, nurse practitioners and other mid-level
healthcare providers, with reporting requirements going into effect
in 2022 for payments and transfers of value made to these
practitioners in 2021.
In addition to its comprehensive regulation of health and safety in
the workplace in general, the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration has established extensive requirements aimed
specifically at laboratories and other healthcare-related
facilities. In addition, because our operations require employees
to use certain hazardous chemicals, we also must comply with
regulations on hazard communication and hazardous chemicals in
laboratories. These regulations require us, among other things, to
develop written programs and plans, which must address methods for
preventing and mitigating employee exposure, the use of personal
protective equipment, and training.
Our commercialization activities subject us to regulations of the
Department of Transportation, the U.S. Postal Service, and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that apply to the
surface and air transportation of clinical laboratory
specimens.
We are also subject to applicable state billing laws. Some states
require that payment be made only to the person or entity who
performed or supervised the service, while other states have passed
anti-mark up and disclosure laws, an alternative but less
enforceable approach to direct billing. Under these laws the
non-performing person or entity is allowed to bill the client, but
is prohibited from marking up the service, and required to disclose
each charge to the patient, or patient’s insurer. Additionally,
some states have strictly passed disclosure laws that require the
non-performing person or entity to disclose to patients or the
patient’s insurer the actual charges for all laboratory
services.
Privacy and Data Protection Laws
There are a growing number of jurisdictions all over the world that
have privacy and data protection laws. These laws are typically
triggered by a company’s establishment or physical location in the
jurisdiction, data processing activities that take place in the
jurisdiction, and/or the processing of personal information about
individuals located in that jurisdiction. Certain international
privacy and data protection laws, such as those in the European
Union, can be more restrictive and prescriptive than those in the
U.S., while other jurisdictions can have laws less restrictive or
prescriptive than those in the U.S. Enforcement of these laws vary
from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with a variety of civil or
criminal penalties, or private rights of action.
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR,
took effect on May 25, 2018. The GDPR extraterritorially applies to
a business outside the European Union that offers goods or services
to, or monitors the behavior of individuals who are located in the
European Union. The GDPR imposes strict requirements on controllers
and processors of personal data, including enhanced protections for
“special categories” of personal data, which includes sensitive
information such as health and genetic information of data subjects
in the European Union. The GDPR also grants individuals various
rights in relation to their personal data including the rights of
access, rectification, objection to certain processing and
deletion. The GDPR provides an individual with an express right to
seek legal remedies if the individual believes his or her rights
have been violated. Failure to comply with the requirements of the
GDPR or the related national data protection laws of the member
states of the European Union, which may deviate from or be more
restrictive than the GDPR, may result in significant administrative
fines issued by European Union regulators.
As of December 31, 2020, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, or UK, are no longer subject to EU law.
Therefore, the GDPR will be brought into UK law as the ‘UK GDPR’
via a statutory instrument which will make technical amendments to
the GDPR so that it works in a UK-only context. In Europe, there
are also national laws that provide additional controls around the
processing of health data.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS, was
issued by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council and
establishes industry standards for the processing of payment card
information. While the PCI DSS requirements do not have the force
of law, the penalties for noncompliance could include exclusion
from payment card systems. To the extent that we collect payment
card information when receiving payments of insurance premiums or
payments for our products or services, we comply with PCI DSS as
applicable to our payment environment and PCI DSS merchant level,
which is determined by our volume of payment card transactions per
year.
FTC Act
As an entity regulated by the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, we
are subject to the FTC’s enforcement power under Section 5 of the
Federal Trade Commission Act, or FTC Act. The FTC has policed
privacy and data security through its broad power under Section 5
of the FTC Act. Under Section 5, “unfair or deceptive acts or
practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful.”
Deceptive trade practices are defined by the FTC as material
representations, omissions or practices that are likely to mislead
a consumer acting reasonably in the circumstances to the consumer’s
detriment. The FTC defines an “unfair” trade practice as one that
“causes or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers which
is not reasonably avoidable by consumers themselves and is not
outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or
competition.”
The FTC has refrained from providing a checklist of uniformly
acceptable data security practices or focusing on one single
practice as actionable. Instead, the FTC has taken a holistic
approach and relied on industry standards and other norms to
identify a particular set of practices that, taken together,
constitute adequate security practices for companies collecting
personal information. In evaluating whether a data security
practice is unfair, the FTC focuses largely on “substantial injury
to consumers.” The harm need not be monetary or physical, though
such injuries are commonly considered “substantial.” Further, the
harm can consist of a risk rather than an actual loss.
CAN-SPAM Act
The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and
Marketing Act of 2003, or CAN-SPAM Act, establishes rules for
commercial electronic mail messages, gives recipients the right to
opt out of certain messages, and establishes penalties for
violations. We comply with the CAN-SPAM Act in connection with our
transmittal of commercial electronic mail messages, or Commercial
Email Messages. Commercial Email Messages do not include emails
that are informational or are transactional or relationship
messages.
TCPA
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, or TCPA, restricts
the making of telemarketing calls and the use of automatic
telephone dialing systems, artificial or prerecorded voice
messages, SMS text messages, and facsimile transmissions. It also
specifies several technical requirements for fax machines,
autodialers, and voice messaging systems, principally with
provisions requiring identification and contact information of the
entity using the device to be contained in the message. We comply
with TCPA in connection with our transmittal of automated,
artificial, or prerecorded phone calls, SMS text messages,
facsimile transmissions, and push notifications.
California Consumer Privacy Act
The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, is a comprehensive
consumer privacy law that took effect on January 1, 2020, and
regulates how certain for-profit businesses that do business in
California collect, use, and disclose the personal information of
consumers who reside in California. Among other things, the CCPA
confers to California consumers the right to receive notice of the
categories of personal information to be collected by a business,
how the business will use and share the personal information, and
the third parties who will receive the personal information; the
rights to access, delete, or transfer personal information; and the
right to receive equal service and pricing from a business after
exercising a consumer right granted by the CCPA. In addition, the
CCPA allows California consumers the right to opt out of the “sale”
of their personal information, which the CCPA defines broadly as
any disclosure of personal information to a third party in exchange
for monetary or other valuable consideration. The CCPA also
requires a business to implement reasonable security procedures to
safeguard personal information against unauthorized access, use, or
disclosure.
The CCPA does not apply to personal information that is Protected
Health Information under HIPAA. The CCPA also does not apply to a
HIPAA Covered Entity to the extent that the Covered Entity
maintains patient information in the same manner as Protected
Health Information. We are subject to the CCPA with respect to
personal information we collect from California consumers that is
neither PHI under HIPAA nor patient information that we maintain in
the same manner as Protected Health Information.
The California Attorney General has authority to enforce the CCPA
and its implementing regulations against covered businesses
beginning on July 1, 2020. The CCPA provides for civil penalties
for violations, as well as private right of action for data
breaches that result from a business’ failure to implement
reasonable security procedures.
Competition
Our competitors include companies that offer molecular genetic
testing and other clinical diagnostic, life science research, drug
discovery services, data services and healthcare analytics, and
consumer genetics products. Principal competitors include companies
such as Myriad Genetics, Inc., Ambry Genetics Corporation, Color
Genomics, Inc., Invitae Corporation, Natera, Inc., Tempus Labs,
Inc., Quest Diagnostics, Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America
Holdings (or LabCorp), Exact Sciences Corp., 10x Genomics, Inc.,
Guardant Health, Inc., and Adaptive Biotechnologies, Twist
Biosciences Corp., and Schrödinger, Inc., as well as other
commercial and academic diagnostic and analytic service providers.
In addition to the companies that currently offer traditional
genetic testing services and research centers, other established
and emerging healthcare, information technology and service
companies may commercialize competitive products including
informatics, analysis, integrated genetic tools and services for
health and wellness.
We believe the principal competitive factors in our market
are:
•Patient-centric
approach;
•Breadth,
depth, and quality of data assets;
•Price
and quality of tests;
•Turnaround
time of testing results;
•Coverage
and reimbursement arrangements with third-party
payors;
•Depth
and clinical applicability of interpretive insights;
•Degree
of utility of patient and provider facing
applications;
•Breadth
of interpretive insights beyond just one episode of
care;
•Convenience
of testing;
•Brand
recognition of test provider;
•Additional
value-added services and informatics tools;
•Accessibility
of results;
•Client
service;
•Quality
of website content; and
•Reliability
We believe that we compare favorably with our competitors on the
basis of these factors. However, many of our competitors and
potential competitors have longer operating histories, larger
customer bases, greater brand recognition and market penetration,
substantially greater financial, technological and research and
development resources and selling and marketing capabilities, more
experience dealing with third-party payors. As a result, they may
be able to respond more quickly to changes in customer
requirements, devote greater resources to the development,
promotion and sale of their tests than Sema4 does, or sell their
tests at prices designed to win significant levels of market share.
We may not be able to compete effectively against these
organizations.
Environmental Matters
Sema4’s operations require the use of hazardous materials
(including biological materials) that subject it to a variety of
federal, state, and local environmental and safety laws and
regulations. Some of these regulations provide for strict
liability, holding a party potentially liable without regard to
fault or negligence. We could be held liable for damages and fines
as a result of our, or our partners’, business operations should
contamination of the environment or individual exposure to
hazardous substances occur. We cannot predict how changes in laws
or new regulations will affect our business operations or the cost
of compliance.
Raw Materials and Suppliers
We rely on a limited number of suppliers, or, in some cases, sole
suppliers, including Agilent Technologies, Inc., Illumina, Inc.,
Life Technologies Corporation, Agena Biosciences, Inc.,
MRC-Holland, Asuragen Inc., PerkinElmer Health Sciences, Inc.,
Fisher Scientific, Integra Biosciences Corporation, Thomas
Scientific, Qiagen Inc., USA Scientific, Inc., Promega Corporation,
Integrated DNA Technologies Incorporated, and Kapa Biosystems Inc.,
for certain laboratory reagents, as well as sequencers and other
equipment and materials which we use in our laboratory operations.
Our laboratory operations could be interrupted if we encounter
delays or difficulties in securing these reagents, sequencers or
other equipment or materials, and if we cannot obtain an acceptable
substitute. Any such interruption could significantly affect our
business, financial condition, results of operations
and reputation. We believe that there are only a few other
manufacturers that are currently capable of supplying and servicing
the equipment necessary for our laboratory operations, including
sequencers and various associated reagents. The use of equipment or
materials provided by these replacement suppliers would require us
to alter our laboratory operations. Transitioning to a new supplier
would be time consuming and expensive, may result in interruptions
in our laboratory operations, could affect the performance
specifications of its laboratory operations or could require that
we revalidate our tests. We cannot assure you that we would be able
to secure alternative equipment, reagents, and other materials, or
bring such equipment, reagents, and materials online and revalidate
them without experiencing interruptions in our workflow. If we
encounter delays or difficulties in securing, reconfiguring, or
revalidating the equipment and reagents we require for our tests,
our business and reputation could be adversely
affected.
Customers
We provide our health information products and services to a broad
range of customers, including health plans (including managed care
organizations and other health insurance providers); clinicians;
hospitals; employers; patients; federally qualified health centers;
and Biopharma companies. In addition, during 2020 and 2021, the
customers for our COVID-19 tests included state
governments.
Depending on the billing arrangement and applicable law, the
clinician or healthcare entity that orders our products or services
may not be responsible for paying for the products or services
ordered for their patients. In certain circumstances, the patient
may be responsible for payment, and in others we seek payment from
third party payers, such as a commercial health insurance company,
Medicare or a Medicaid program, pursuant to contracts established
between us and such third parties.
During 2021, reimbursement from health plans represented 79% and
76% of our diagnostic test revenue and total revenue, respectively.
In 2021, two health plans each represented 10% or more of our
consolidated total revenue, and no other health plans or other
customers represented 10% or more of our consolidated total
revenue.
Human Capital
Sema4 is mission driven. Our employees are passionate about
changing healthcare and impacting lives. We attract entrepreneurs
who are comfortable with ambiguity and thrive on innovation and
thoughtful discourse. We empower our employees to iterate and
rapidly execute on ideas.
It is our People Team’s mission to connect people to purpose. We
achieve this through enablement of excellence across the employment
journey, through stewardship of an engaged and inclusive culture,
by growing individual, team and organizational capability, in
delivering simplification and innovation, and by sharing
data-driven people insights that transform our organization. All of
this is in service of driving our business forward and optimizing
patient health outcomes.
We are delivering a competitive package of compensation and
benefits that aims to attract and retain strong talent, in a very
competitive talent marketplace. As of December 31, 2021, we had
approximately 1,200 employees, of which 54% are women and 46% are
men. Our headcount grew by approximately 33% in 2021, and we hired
approximately 500 employees in that timeframe, as a part of scaling
our operations in connection with our transition to a public
company and meeting our strategic priorities.
Our Diversity and Inclusion Council seeks to improve diversity,
inclusion, equality, and global understanding by promoting
dialogue, encouraging respectful understanding, providing
information, participating in policy development, overseeing
diversity education and training, and helping to foster respect for
all employees. In 2022, we will be hosting our inaugural BIPOC
Initiative Genomics Symposium, inviting select Ph.D. students and
post doctorates for a two-day research symposium to strengthen our
diverse hiring practices. Each attendee will present their original
research, and will learn about science and career opportunities at
Sema4.
We believe that our corporate culture fosters innovation,
creativity, and teamwork. In this past year, we launched several
programs and processes, which intend to help build a driven culture
of alignment, development, compliance, and respect. We are in our
second year of formal performance management processes, which are
used
to drive organizational alignment and includes tracking top-down
business priorities and people development goals. The launch of two
promotion cycles focus and enable employee career growth and
mobility. We also implemented formal people manager learning, in
order to build stronger people management skills for our leaders.
We have optimized processes and transformed our people management
solution in order to have greater systems capability, access to
robust reporting, and to strengthen our analytical
horsepower.
We have implemented a comprehensive compliance infrastructure,
which advises Sema4 individuals and business affiliates on how to
prevent, detect, report, and resolve matters of fraud, waste,
threats, and abuse related to institutional policies and federal,
state, and local laws and regulations. We have implemented various
committees, councils and boards such as the Diversity &
Inclusion Council, Data Governance Board, and IRB Review Board.
These groups provide guidance for our employees, to empower them to
perform according to our legal and ethical standards. We observe
legal, regulatory, and industry trends and comprehensively adapt
internal policies and practices as needed. We educate our Board
members, executives, and other key employees about conflicts of
interest and advise how to prevent and detect potential or actual
conflicts of interest to safeguard from inappropriate external
influence or impropriety.
We look to further strengthen our people infrastructure in 2022
through enhanced engagement surveys, values and behaviors
programming, and formal talent reviews, with development
planning.
Available Information
We make our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form
10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports,
as well as our other SEC filings, available on our website, free of
charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after they are
electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. Our website
address is www.sema4.com. The information contained on our website
is not incorporated by reference in this document.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
You should carefully review and consider the following risk factors
and the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form
10-K as well as in our other filings with the SEC as well as in our
other filings with the SEC before deciding whether to invest in our
securities. We cannot assure you that any of the events discussed
below will not occur. These events could have a material and
adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of
operations and prospects. Unless otherwise indicated, references to
our business being harmed in these risk factors will include harm
to our business, reputation, financial condition, results of
operations, net revenue and future prospects. In such event, the
trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose
all or part of your investment. This discussion does not address
all of the risks that we face and we may face additional risks and
uncertainties that are not presently known to us, or that we
currently deem immaterial, which may also impair our business or
financial condition. The following discussion should be read in
conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes
thereto included herein.
Risk Factors Summary
Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties,
including those risks discussed at length below. These risks
include, among others, the following:
•The
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected and may further materially
and adversely affect our business and financial
results.
•We
face intense competition. If we do not continue to innovate and
provide products and services that are useful to users, we may not
remain competitive, which could harm our business and operating
results.
•If
third-party payors, including managed care organizations, private
health insurers and government health plans, do not provide
adequate reimbursement for our tests, or seek to amend or
renegotiate their fee reimbursement schedules, or if we are unable
to comply with their requirements for reimbursement, our commercial
success could be negatively affected.
•We
have limited experience with the development and commercialization
of our databases and our health information and genomic
platforms.
•If
we fail to comply with federal and state laboratory licensing
requirements or standards, we could lose the ability to perform our
tests or experience disruptions to our business.
•We
rely on highly skilled personnel in a broad array of disciplines
and, if we are unable to hire, retain or motivate these
individuals, or maintain our corporate culture, we may not be able
to maintain the quality of our services or grow
effectively.
•We
need to scale our infrastructure in advance of demand for our
products and services, and our failure to generate sufficient
demand for our products and services would have a negative impact
on our business and our ability to attain
profitability.
•We
rely on a limited number of suppliers or, in some cases, single
suppliers, for some of our laboratory instruments and materials and
may not be able to find replacements or immediately transition to
alternative suppliers or service providers.
•We
rely on a limited number of product and service providers for data
infrastructure and analytics capabilities, and any disruption of,
or interference with, our use of data and workflow services could
adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of
operations, and we may not be able to find replacements or
immediately transition to alternative products or service
providers.
•Our
projections are subject to significant risks, assumptions,
estimates and uncertainties, including assumptions regarding
adoption of our products and services. As a result, our projected
revenues, market share, expenses and profitability may differ
materially from our expectations in any given quarter or fiscal
year.
•Uncertainty
in the development and commercialization of our enhanced or new
tests or services could materially adversely affect our business,
financial condition and results of operations.
•We
currently use, and in the future expect to increase our use of,
information and rights from customers, strategic partners, and
collaborators for several aspects of our operations, and if we
cannot maintain current and enter new relationships with these
parties with adequate access and authorization to such information,
our business will suffer.
•Our
operating results could be subject to significant fluctuation,
which could increase the volatility of our stock and warrant prices
and cause losses to our stockholders.
•We
may need to raise additional capital to fund our existing
operations, develop additional products and services, commercialize
new products and services or expand our operations and may have
difficulties raising capital depending on financial market
conditions.
•We
expect to make significant investments in our continued research
and development of new products and services, which may not be
successful.
•We
have identified material weaknesses, some of which have a pervasive
effect across the organization, and may identify additional
material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, in our internal
controls over financial reporting. Our failure to remedy these
matters could result in a material misstatement of our financial
statements and we will incur increased costs and demands on
management as a result of compliance with internal control
requirements, which could harm our operating results.
•We
rely on third-party laboratories to perform certain elements of our
service offerings.
•Future
changes in FDA enforcement discretion for LDTs could subject our
operations to much more significant regulatory
requirements.
•For
each product and service we are developing that may require FDA
premarket review prior to marketing, the FDA may not grant
clearance, authorization or premarket approval and failure to
obtain necessary approvals for our future products and services
would adversely affect our ability to grow our
business.
•Compliance
with the HIPAA security, privacy and breach notification
regulations may increase our costs.
•We
face uncertainty related to healthcare reform, pricing, coverage
and reimbursement, which could reduce our revenue.
•Our
inability to effectively protect our proprietary products,
processes, and technologies, including the confidentiality of our
trade secrets, could harm our competitive position.
•Security
breaches, privacy issues, loss of data and other incidents could
compromise sensitive, protected, or personal information related to
our business, could prevent it from accessing critical information,
and could expose it to regulatory liability, which could adversely
affect our business.
•We
will incur increased costs and demands on management as a result of
compliance with laws and regulations applicable to public
companies, which could harm our operating results.
Risks Related to Our Business, Industry and Operations
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected and may further
materially and adversely affect our business and financial
results.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, together with related precautionary
measures in response to the initial outbreak and resurgences,
materially disrupted our business during certain periods in 2020
and 2021 and may continue to disrupt our business for an unknown
period of time. Since the initial outbreak, the territories in
which we market, sell, distribute and perform our tests and
performs our health information and data science services continue
to address the COVID-19 pandemic in varying ways, including
stay-at-home orders, temporarily closing businesses, restricting
gatherings, restricting travel, and mandating social distancing,
face coverings and proof of vaccination. Despite recent progress in
the administration of vaccines, the future impact and the level and
nature of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic continues
to be unpredictable, may be cyclical and long-lasting and may vary
from location to location, and the emergence of new variant strains
of COVID-19, including Delta and Omicron, in regions that have
reopened have necessitated, and may in the future necessitate,
renewed government restrictions. As a result, we experienced a
significant impact to our 2020 and 2021 operating results,
including our order volumes, revenues, margins, and cash
utilization, among other measures and may experience further
impacts in future periods depending on the evolution of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, both we and our partners undertook a
number of precautionary measures in response to the virus,
including requiring employees to work remotely, restricting travel
and limiting interactions in person, and we expect to adjust our
precautionary measures at our various locations based on local
recovery levels, vaccination rates and applicable governmental
regulations. For example, a portion of our sales force has
recommenced field-based interactions, although access to healthcare
providers remains impaired and the industry continues to resume
normal activities. Our business could be negatively affected in the
future if it takes excessive, ineffective or inadequate
precautions
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has materially impacted our business
in 2020 and 2021 and may continue to impact our business for an
unknown period of time. Such impacts have included and may include
the following:
•Healthcare
providers or patients have canceled or delayed scheduling, and for
an extended period of time may continue to cancel or delay
scheduling, standard wellness visits and other non-emergency
appointments and procedures (including oncology and
pregnancy-related screenings), contributing to a decline in orders
for our products or services;
•Restrictions
on travel, commerce and shipping may prevent patients and
pathologists from shipping samples to our clinical
laboratories;
•Illnesses,
quarantines, financial hardships, restrictions on travel, commerce
and shipping, or other consequences of the pandemic, may disrupt
our supply chain or other business relationships, and we or other
parties may assert rights under force majeure clauses to excuse
performance;
•We
have experienced, and for an extended period of time may continue
to experience, reduced volumes at our clinical laboratories and we
may need to suspend operations at some or all of our clinical
laboratories;
•We
have taken, and may take additional, cost cutting measures, which
may hinder our efforts to commercialize our products or delay the
development of future products and services. Further, we might not
realize all of the cost savings we expect to achieve as a result of
those efforts;
•We
and our partners have postponed or cancelled clinical studies,
which may delay or prevent our launch of future products and
services;
•Some
or all of our workforce, much of which continues to work remotely
in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, may be infected by
the virus or otherwise distracted;
•A
combination of factors, including infection from the virus, supply
shortfalls, and inability to obtain or maintain equipment, could
adversely affect our lab capacity and our ability to meet the
demand for our testing services; and
•We
may inaccurately estimate the duration or severity of the COVID-19
pandemic, which could cause us to misalign our staffing, spending,
activities and precautionary measures with current or future market
conditions.
Despite our efforts, the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,
or the impact of the emergence of new strains of the virus and any
future resurgences of COVID-19 or variant strains, depends on
factors beyond our knowledge or control, including availability and
distribution of effective medical treatments and vaccines, the
duration and severity of the pandemic, third-party actions taken to
contain its spread and mitigate its public health effects and
short- and long-term changes in the behaviors of medical
professionals and patients resulting from the
pandemic.
Additionally, the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic
have, and may continue to, adversely impacted financial markets,
resulting in high share price volatility, reduced market liquidity,
and substantial declines in the market prices of the securities of
many publicly traded companies. Volatile or declining markets for
equities could adversely affect our ability to raise capital in the
future when needed through the sale of shares of common stock or
other equity or equity-linked securities. If these market
conditions persist when and if we need to raise capital, and if we
are able to sell shares of our common stock under then prevailing
market conditions, we might have to accept lower prices for our
shares and issue a larger number of shares than might have been the
case under better market conditions, resulting in significant
dilution of the interests of our stockholders.
Due to the high degree of uncertainty regarding the implementation
and impact of the CARES Act and other legislation related to
COVID-19, there can be no assurance that we will be able to comply
with the applicable terms and conditions of the CARES Act and
retain such assistance.
On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act was signed into law, aimed at
providing emergency assistance and health care for individuals,
families, and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and
generally supporting the U.S. economy. The CARES Act, among other
things, includes provisions relating to refundable payroll tax
credits, deferment of employer social security payments, net
operating loss carryback periods, alternative minimum tax credit
refunds, and modifications to the net interest deduction
limitations. The CARES Act and similar legislation intended to
provide assistance related to the COVID-19 pandemic also authorized
$175.0 billion in funding to be distributed by the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, or the HHS, to eligible health care
providers. This funding, known as the Provider Relief Fund, is
designated to fund eligible healthcare providers’
healthcare-related expenses or lost revenues attributable to
COVID-19. On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2021 was signed into law, which adds $3.0 billion to the
Provider Relief Fund. Payments from the Provider Relief Fund are
subject to certain eligibility criteria, as well as reporting and
auditing requirements, but do not need to be repaid to the U.S.
government if recipients comply with the applicable terms and
conditions.
In 2020, we received $5.4 million as part of the stimulus,
comprised of $2.6 million received under the Provider Relief Fund,
or PRF, distribution and $2.8 million received under the Employee
Retention Credit, or ERC, distribution. In 2021, we received an
additional $5.6 million under the PRF distribution. PRF
distributions to healthcare providers are not loans and will not be
required to be repaid; however, as a condition to receiving
these
payments, providers must agree to certain terms and conditions and
submit sufficient documentation demonstrating that the funds are
being used for healthcare-related expenses or lost revenue
attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. ERC distributions are
refundable tax credits for 50% of qualified wages paid to employees
during the pandemic. A company is eligible for the ERC if it has
not received a Paycheck Protection Program loan under the Cares Act
and (1) its operations have been fully or partially suspended
because of COVID-19 or (2) its gross receipts in a calendar quarter
in 2020 declined by more than 50% from the same period in 2019. At
the time of applying for the ERC, we concluded that the eligibility
requirements were met. However, subsequent to the filing of the
application, our revenue was revised due to a change in estimate as
a result of finalizing our accounting records, which impacted the
applicable periods and calculations for determining eligibility,
and may no longer meet the eligibility requirements. As such, we
have deferred the recognition of the ERC distribution and recorded
the proceeds in other liabilities on the balance sheets as of
December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020.
Due to the high degree of uncertainty regarding the implementation
of the CARES Act, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 and
other stimulus legislation, and due to our revenue revisions, there
can be no assurance that the terms and conditions of the PRF, ERC
or other relief programs will not change or be interpreted in ways
that affect our ability to comply with such terms and conditions in
the future, which could affect our ability to retain such
assistance. We will continue to monitor our compliance with the
terms and conditions of the PRF, including demonstrating that the
distributions received have been used for healthcare-related
expenses or lost revenue attributable to COVID-19, and the ERC. If
we are unable to comply with current or future terms and
conditions, our ability to retain some or all of the distributions
received may be impacted, and we may be subject to actions
including payment recoupment, audits and inquiries by governmental
authorities, and criminal, civil or administrative
penalties.
Other companies or institutions may develop and market novel or
improved technologies, which may make our technologies less
competitive or obsolete.
We operate in a rapidly evolving and highly competitive industry.
There are a number of private and public companies that offer
products or services or have announced that they are developing
products or services that compete, or may one day compete, with our
products or services. Some of our current and potential competitors
possess greater brand recognition, financial and other resources
and development capabilities than we do. As the fields of genomic
analysis and health information become more widely known to the
public, we anticipate that competition will further increase. We
expect to compete with a broad range of organizations in the U.S.
and other countries that are engaged in the development, production
and commercialization of genetic screening products, including
women’s health and oncology screening products, health information
services, and analytics, and data science services, and other
diagnostic products. These competitors include:
•companies
that offer clinical, research and data clinical services, molecular
genetic testing and other clinical diagnostics, life science
research and drug discovery services, data services and healthcare
analytics, and consumer genetics products;
•academic
and scientific institutions;
•governmental
agencies; and
•public
and private research organizations.
We may be unable to compete effectively against our competitors
either because their products and services are superior or because
they may have more expertise, experience, financial resources, or
stronger business relationships. These competitors may have broader
product lines and greater name recognition than we do. Furthermore,
we must compete successfully in our existing markets, including
women’s health and oncology, but also in any new markets we expand
into. Even if we successfully develop new marketable products or
services, our current and future competitors may develop products
and services that are more commercially attractive than ours, and
they may bring those products and services to market earlier or
more effectively than we are able to. If we are unable to compete
successfully against current or future competitors, we may be
unable to increase market
acceptance for and sales of our tests and services, which could
prevent us from increasing or sustaining our revenues or achieving
sustained profitability.
We face intense competition. If we do not continue to innovate and
provide products and services that are useful to users, we may not
remain competitive, which could harm our business and operating
results.
Our business environment is rapidly evolving and intensely
competitive. Our businesses face changing technologies, shifting
provider and patient needs, and frequent introductions of rival
products and services. To compete successfully, we must accurately
anticipate technology developments and deliver innovative, relevant
and useful products, services, and technologies in a timely manner.
As our businesses evolve, the competitive pressure to innovate will
encompass a wider range of products and services. We must continue
to invest significant resources in research and development,
including through acquisitions and collaborations (such as the
pending Acquisition on GeneDx discussed herein), joint ventures and
partnerships, in order to enhance our current diagnostics and
health information and data science technologies, and existing and
new products and services based off these
technologies.
We have many competitors in different industries. Our current and
potential domestic and international competitors range from large
and established companies to emerging start-ups in addition to
academic and scientific institutions, and public and private
research organizations. Some competitors have longer operating
histories in various sectors. They can use their experience and
resources in ways that could affect our competitive position,
including by making acquisitions, continuing to invest heavily in
research and development and in talent, initiating intellectual
property claims (whether or not meritorious), and continuing to
compete aggressively for our customers and partners in the market
for health information and data science products and services. Our
competitors may be able to innovate and provide products and
services faster than we can or may foresee the need for products
and services before we do.
Our operating results may also suffer if our products and services
are not responsive to the needs of our customers and partners. As
technologies continue to develop, our competitors may be able to
offer products and services that are, or that are seen to be,
substantially similar to or better than our current products and
services. This may force us to compete in different ways and expend
significant resources in order to remain competitive. If our
competitors are more successful than us in developing compelling
products and services for or in attracting and retaining customers
or partners in the market for health information and data science
products and services, our operating results could be
harmed.
If third-party payors, including managed care organizations,
private health insurers and government health plans, do not provide
adequate reimbursement for our tests, or seek to amend or
renegotiate their fee reimbursement schedules, or if we are unable
to comply with their requirements for reimbursement, our commercial
success could be negatively affected.
Our ability to increase the number of billable tests and our
revenue therefrom will depend on our success in achieving
reimbursement for our tests from third-party payors. Reimbursement
by a payor may depend on a number of factors, including a payer’s
determination that a test is appropriate, medically necessary,
cost-effective and has received prior authorization. The commercial
success of our current and future products, if approved, will
depend on the extent to which our customers receive coverage and
adequate reimbursement from third-party payors, including managed
care organizations and government payers (e.g., Medicare and
Medicaid).
Since each payer makes its own decision as to whether to establish
a policy or enter into a contract to cover our tests, as well as
the amount it will reimburse for a test, seeking these approvals is
a time-consuming and costly process. In addition, the determination
by a payer to cover and the amount it will reimburse for our tests
will likely be made on an indication-by-indication basis and may
consider our billing practices and reimbursements from other payors
and from our patient billing programs. To date, we have obtained
policy-level reimbursement approval or contractual reimbursement
for some indications for our tests from most of the large
commercial third-party payors in the United States, and the Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, provides
reimbursement for our multi-gene tests for hereditary breast and
ovarian cancer-related disorders as well as other tests. We believe
that establishing adequate reimbursement from Medicare is an
important factor in gaining adoption from healthcare providers. Our
claims for reimbursement from third-party payors may be denied upon
submission, and we must
appeal the claims. The appeals process is time consuming and
expensive and may not result in payment. In cases where there is
not a contracted rate for reimbursement, there is typically a
greater coinsurance or copayment requirement from the patient,
which may result in further delay or decreased likelihood of
collection.
A significant portion of the payments for our tests are paid or
reimbursed under insurance programs with third-party payors. To
contain reimbursement and utilization rates, third-party payors
often attempt to, or do in fact, amend or renegotiate their fee
reimbursement schedules. Loss of revenue caused by third-party
payor cost containment efforts or an inability to negotiate
satisfactory reimbursement rates could have a material adverse
effect on our revenue and results of operations.
Furthermore, in cases where we or our partners have established
reimbursement rates with third-party payors, we face additional
challenges in complying with their procedural requirements for
reimbursement. These requirements often vary from payer to payer
and are reassessed by third party payors on a regular basis, and we
have needed additional time and resources to comply with them. We
have also experienced, and may continue to experience, delays in or
denials of coverage if we do not adequately comply with these
requirements. Our third-party payors have also requested, and in
the future may request, audits of the amounts paid to us. We have
been required to repay certain amounts to payers as a result of
such audits, and we could be adversely affected if we are required
to repay other payers for alleged overpayments due to lack of
compliance with their reimbursement policies. In addition, we have
experienced, and may continue to experience, delays in
reimbursement when we transition to being an in-network provider
with a payer.
We expect to continue to focus our resources on increasing adoption
of, and expanding coverage and reimbursement for, our current tests
and any future tests we may develop or acquire. If we fail to
expand and maintain broad adoption of, and coverage and
reimbursement for, our tests, our ability to generate revenue could
be harmed and our future prospects and our business could
suffer.
We have limited experience with the development and
commercialization of our databases and our health information and
genomic platforms.
We have limited experience with the development or
commercialization of clinical or research products in connection
with the databases we manage and to which we have access, including
our Centrellis and Traversa platforms. Our partners’ usage of an
advanced machine learning engine for therapeutic decision-making
are at an early stage of development and usage under current and
proposed collaborations, and we are continuing to develop new
processes that may support the development of new therapeutics
applications such as the delivery of personalized clinically
actionable insights into clinical reports, clinical trial matching,
real-world evidence trials, and clinical decision support, via an
advanced programmable interface layer. Although our partners have
invested significant financial resources to develop and utilize new
technologies to support preclinical studies and other early
research and development activities, and provide general and
administrative support for these operations, our future success is
dependent on our current and future partners’ ability to
successfully derive actionable insights from the database and our
platform, and our partners’ ability, where applicable, to obtain
regulatory approval for new therapeutic solutions based off
existing models or to obtain regulatory approval and marketing for,
and to successfully commercialize, new therapeutics. The use of our
platform and the databases it manages and to which it has access
for these purposes will require additional regulatory investments
for Centrellis, such as “good practice” quality guidelines and
regulations, or GxP, and data quality and integrity
controls.
Ethical, legal and social concerns related to the use of genomic
medicine and health information analysis could reduce demand for
our tests.
Genomic medicine and health information analysis has raised
ethical, legal and social issues regarding privacy rights and the
appropriate uses of the resulting information. Domestic and
international governmental and regulatory authorities could, for
social or other purposes, such as data privacy, limit or regulate
the use of health information or health information testing or
prohibit testing for specific information derived from health
information testing, including, for example, data on genetic
predisposition to certain conditions, particularly for those that
have no known cure. Similarly, these concerns may lead patients to
refuse to use, or clinicians to be reluctant to order, genomic
tests as part of health information assessment even if permissible,
or lead patients to withhold or withdraw
consent for our use of their data. These and other ethical, legal
and social concerns may limit market acceptance of our tests or
services or reduce the potential markets for our tests, or services
either of which could have an adverse effect on our business,
research, financial condition or results of
operations.
If we fail to comply with federal and state laboratory licensing
requirements or standards, we could lose the ability to perform our
tests or experience disruptions to our business.
We are subject to Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of
1988, or CLIA, a federal law that regulates clinical laboratories
that perform testing on specimens derived from humans for the
purpose of providing information for the diagnosis, prevention or
treatment of disease. CLIA regulations establish specific standards
with respect to personnel qualifications, facility administration,
proficiency testing, quality control, quality assurance and
inspections. CLIA certification is also required in order for us to
be eligible to bill state and federal healthcare programs, as well
as many private third-party payors, for our tests. We have current
CLIA, CAP, and other certifications to conduct our tests at our
laboratories in Connecticut. To renew these certifications, we are
subject to survey and inspection on a regular basis and at the
request of the certifying bodies. Moreover, CLIA inspectors may
make random inspections of our clinical reference
laboratories.
We would also be required to maintain in-state licenses if we were
to conduct testing in other states. Several states require the
licensure of out-of-state laboratories that accept specimens from
certain states.
In addition to having laboratory licenses in New York, our clinical
reference laboratories are approved on test-specific bases for the
tests they run as laboratory-developed tests, or LDTs, by the New
York State Department of Health, or NYDOH. Other states may adopt
similar licensure requirements in the future, which may require us
to modify, delay or stop our operations in such jurisdictions. We
may also be subject to regulation in foreign jurisdictions as we
seek to expand international utilization of our tests or such
jurisdictions adopt new licensure requirements, which may require
review of our tests in order to offer them or may have other
limitations such as restrictions on the transport of samples
necessary for us to perform our tests that may limit our ability to
make our tests available outside of the United States. Complying
with licensure requirements in new jurisdictions may be expensive,
time-consuming, and subject us to significant and unanticipated
delays.
Failure to comply with applicable clinical laboratory licensure
requirements or standards may result in a range of enforcement
actions, including license suspension, limitation, or revocation,
directed plan of action, onsite monitoring, civil monetary
penalties, criminal sanctions, and cancellation of the laboratory’s
approval to receive Medicare and Medicaid payment for our services,
as well as significant adverse publicity. Any sanction imposed
under CLIA, its implementing regulations, or state or foreign laws
or regulations governing clinical laboratory licensure, or our
failure to renew our CLIA certifications, a state or foreign
license, or accreditation, could have a material adverse effect on
our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even
if we were able to bring our laboratory back into compliance, we
could incur significant expenses and potentially lose revenue in
doing so.
The College of American Pathologists, or CAP, maintains a clinical
laboratory accreditation program. CAP asserts that its program is
“designed to go well beyond regulatory compliance” and helps
laboratories achieve the highest standards of excellence to
positively impact patient care. While not required to operate a
CLIA-certified laboratory, many private insurers require CAP
accreditation as a condition to contracting with clinical
laboratories to cover their tests. In addition, some countries
outside the United States require CAP accreditation as a condition
to permitting clinical laboratories to test samples taken from
their citizens. We have CAP accreditations for our laboratories.
Failure to maintain CAP accreditation could have a material adverse
effect on the sales of our tests and the results of our
operations.
Risks Related to Our Business Model
We rely on highly skilled personnel in a broad array of disciplines
and, if we are unable to hire, retain or motivate these
individuals, or maintain our corporate culture, we may not be able
to maintain the quality of our services or grow
effectively.
Our performance, including our research and development programs
and laboratory operations, largely depends on our continuing
ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly
skilled personnel for all areas of our organization, including
software developers, geneticists, biostatisticians,
bioinformaticians, data scientists, certified laboratory directors
and technicians and other scientific and technical personnel to
process and interpret our tests and related data. In addition, we
may need to continue to expand our sales force with qualified and
experienced personnel. Competition in our industry for qualified
employees is intense, and we may not be able to attract or retain
qualified personnel in the future due to the competition for
qualified personnel among life science and technology businesses as
well as universities and public and private research institutions,
particularly in the New York City and the tri-state area. Further,
we may be unable to obtain the necessary visas for foreign
personnel to work in the United States. In addition, our
compensation arrangements, such as our equity award programs, may
not always be successful in attracting new employees and retaining
and motivating our existing employees. If we are not able to
attract and retain the necessary personnel to accomplish our
business objectives, we may experience constraints that could
adversely affect our ability to scale our business, support our
research and development efforts and our clinical laboratories. We
believe that our corporate culture fosters innovation, creativity
and teamwork. However, as our organization grows, we may find it
increasingly difficult to maintain the beneficial aspects of our
corporate culture. This could negatively impact our ability to
retain and attract employees and our future success.
The loss of any member or change in structure of our senior
management team could adversely affect our business.
Our success depends in large part upon the skills, experience and
performance of members of our executive management team and others
in key leadership positions. The efforts of these persons will be
critical to us as we continue to develop our technologies and test
processes and focus on scaling our business. If we were to lose one
or more key executives, including our founder and CEO, Dr. Eric
Schadt, we may experience difficulties in competing effectively,
developing our tests and technologies and implementing our business
strategy. Only certain of our executives have employment contracts,
and the majority of our employees are at-will, which means that
either we or any employee may terminate their employment at any
time or in the notice period set forth in an executive’s contract.
We do not carry key person insurance for any of our executives or
employees. In addition, we do not have a long-term retention
agreement in place with our CEO. Furthermore, we compete against
other leading companies in the diagnostics, health information, and
data sciences markets for top talent. If such competitors offer
better compensation or opportunities, there is no guarantee that we
would be able to retain our key executives.
Our founder and CEO, Eric Schadt, and certain other of our
employees have performed, and will continue to perform, duties for
or on behalf of Mount Sinai.
Our founder CEO, Eric Schadt, and certain of our other employees
continue to perform duties for or on behalf of the Mount Sinai
Health System, which refer to together with its related entities as
Mount Sinai. In the case of Dr. Schadt, in addition to serving as
our CEO and as a director, Dr. Schadt also serves as the Dean for
Precision Medicine and a professor at Icahn School of Medicine at
Mount Sinai, or ISMMS. We expect Dr. Schadt to continue to devote a
substantial amount of time to the obligations of managing a public
company while maintaining certain duties for Mount Sinai. Though we
do not expect Dr. Schadt’s role as a CEO and a director to conflict
with his roles at Mount Sinai, there can be no guarantee that such
conflicts will not occur in the future.
We may not be able to manage our future growth effectively, which
could make it difficult to execute our business
strategy.
Our expected future growth could create a strain on our
organizational, administrative and operational infrastructure,
including data and laboratory operations, quality control, customer
service, marketing and sales, and management. We may not be able to
maintain the quality of or expected turnaround times for our
products or services, or satisfy customer demand as it grows. We
may need to continue expanding our sales force to facilitate our
growth, and we may have difficulties locating, recruiting, training
and retaining sales personnel. Our ability to manage our growth
effectively will require us to continue to improve our operational,
financial and management controls, as well as our reporting systems
and procedures. As we grow, any failure of our controls or
interruption of our facilities or systems could have a negative
impact on our business and financial operations. We plan to develop
and launch new versions of our Centrellis and Traversa platforms
and our core diagnostic products, which will affect
a broad range of business processes and functional areas. The time
and resources required to implement these new systems is uncertain,
and failure to complete these activities in a timely and efficient
manner could adversely affect our operations. Future growth in our
business could also make it difficult for it to maintain our
corporate culture. If we are unable to manage our growth
effectively, it may be difficult for us to execute our business
strategy and our business could be harmed.
We need to scale our infrastructure in advance of demand for our
products and services, and our failure to generate sufficient
demand for our products and services would have a negative impact
on our business and our ability to attain
profitability.
Our success depends in large part on our ability to extend our
market position, to provide customers with high-quality health
reports and health information and data science services in a
manner that differentiates us from our competitors, and to deploy
technologies and achieve sufficient volumes to realize economies of
scale. In order to execute our business model, we intend to
continue to invest heavily in order to significantly scale our
infrastructure, including our lab infrastructure and testing
capacity and our information and computing systems, expand our
commercial operations, customer service, billing and systems
processes and enhance our internal quality assurance program. We
will also need to enhance our capacity for data privacy management
as we scale our infrastructure. We expect that much of this growth
will be in advance of both demand for our products and services as
well as our ability to diversify our offerings, including services
related to Centrellis and Traversa and the databases we manage and
to which we have access, and our ability to find appropriate
partners through collaborations and acquisitions. Our current and
future expense levels are to a large extent fixed and are largely
based on our investment plans and our estimates of future revenue.
Because the timing and amount of revenue from our products and
services are difficult to forecast, when revenue does not meet our
expectations, we may not be able to adjust our spending promptly or
reduce our spending to levels commensurate with our revenue. Even
if we are able to successfully scale our infrastructure and
operations while successfully diversifying our offering, we cannot
assure you that demand for our products and services, including our
Centrellis platform, will increase at levels consistent with the
growth of our infrastructure. If we fail to generate demand
commensurate with this growth or if we fail to scale our
infrastructure sufficiently in advance of demand to successfully
meet such demand, our business, prospects, financial condition and
results of operations could be adversely affected.
International expansion of our business could expose us to
business, regulatory, political, operational, financial and
economic risks associated with doing business outside of the United
States.
When cleared, authorized or approved, we and our collaborators may
market, sell, and distribute our products and services outside of
the United States, and our business would be subject to risks
associated with doing business outside of the United States,
including an increase in our expenses and diversion of our
management’s attention from the development of future products and
services. Accordingly, our business and financial results in the
future could be adversely affected due to a variety of factors,
including:
•multiple,
conflicting and changing laws and regulations such as privacy,
security and data use regulations, tax laws, export and import
restrictions, economic sanctions and embargoes, employment laws,
anticorruption laws, regulatory requirements, reimbursement or
payer regimes and other governmental;
•approvals,
permits and licenses;
•failure
by us, our collaborators or our distributors to obtain regulatory
clearance, authorization or approval for the use of our products
and services in various countries;
•additional
potentially relevant third-party patent rights;
•complexities
and difficulties in obtaining intellectual property protection and
enforcing our intellectual property;
•difficulties
in staffing and managing foreign operations, including repatriating
foreign earned profits;
•complexities
associated with managing multiple payer reimbursement regimes,
government payers or patient self-pay systems;
•difficulties
in negotiating favorable reimbursement negotiations with
governmental authorities;
•logistics
and regulations associated with shipping samples, including
infrastructure conditions and transportation delays;
•limits
in our ability to penetrate international markets if we are not
able to conduct our clinical diagnostic services
locally;
•financial
risks, such as longer payment cycles, difficulty collecting
accounts receivable, the impact of local and regional financial
crises on demand and payment for our products and services and
exposure to foreign currency exchange rate
fluctuations;
•international
regulations and license requirements that may restrict foreign
investment in and operation of the internet, IT infrastructure,
data centers and other sectors, and international transfers of
data;
•natural
disasters, political and economic instability, including wars,
terrorism and political unrest, and outbreak of
disease;
•boycotts,
curtailment of trade and other business restrictions;
and
•regulatory
and compliance risks that relate to maintaining accurate
information and control over sales and distributors’ activities
that may fall within the purview of the Foreign Corrupt Practices
Act of 1977, or FCPA, its books and records provisions, or its
anti-bribery provisions or laws similar to the FCPA in other
jurisdictions in which we may in the future operate, such as the
United Kingdom’s Bribery Act of 2010 and anti-bribery requirements
of member states in the European Union, or EU.
Any of these factors could significantly harm our future
international expansion and operations and, consequently, our
revenue and results of operations.
Unfavorable U.S. or global economic conditions could adversely
affect our business, financial condition or results of
operations.
Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general
conditions in the global economy and financial markets. A severe or
prolonged economic downturn or increase in inflation rates could
result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened
demand for our products and services and our ability to raise
additional capital when needed on favorable terms, if at all. A
weak declining or inflationary economy could strain our
collaborators and suppliers, possibly resulting in supply
disruption, or cause delays in their payments to us. Any of the
foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all of
the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market
conditions could adversely impact our business.
We rely on a limited number of suppliers or, in some cases, single
suppliers, for some of our laboratory instruments and materials and
may not be able to find replacements or immediately transition to
alternative suppliers or service providers.
We have sourced and will continue to source components of our
diagnostic testing workflow, including sequencers and other
laboratory equipment, reagents, lab supplies and other laboratory
services and materials and related services, from third
parties.
Our failure to maintain a continued supply of our sequencers and
other laboratory equipment, reagents, lab supplies and other
laboratory services and materials, along with the right to use
certain hardware and software and related services, would adversely
impact our business, financial condition, and results of
operations. In particular, while we are seeking to validate our
tests on additional sequencing platforms we have not, to date,
validated a viable alternative sequencing platform on which our
testing could be run in a commercially viable manner. These
efforts
will require significant resources, expenditures and time and
attention of management, and there is no guarantee that we will be
successful in implementing any such sequencing platforms in a
commercially sustainable way. We also cannot guarantee that we will
appropriately prioritize or select alternative sequencing platforms
on which to focus our efforts, in particular given our limited
product and research and development resources and various business
initiatives, which could result in increased costs and delayed
timelines or otherwise adversely impact our business and results of
operations.
Because we rely on third-party manufacturers, we do not control the
manufacture of these components, including whether such components
will meet our quality control requirements, nor the ability of our
suppliers to comply with applicable legal and regulatory
requirements. In many cases, our suppliers are not contractually
required to supply these components to the quality or performance
standards that we require. If the supply of components we receive
does not meet our quality control or performance standards, we may
not be able to use the components, or if we use them not knowing
that they are of inadequate quality, which occasionally occurs with
respect to certain reagents, our tests may not work properly or at
all, or may provide erroneous results, and we may be subject to
significant delays caused by interruption in production or
manufacturing or to lost revenue from such interruption or from
spoiled tests. In addition, any natural or other disaster, acts of
war or terrorism, shipping embargoes, labor unrest, political
instability, outbreak of disease or similar events at our
third-party manufacturers' facilities that cause a loss of
manufacturing capacity would heighten the risks that it
faces.
In the event of any adverse developments with our sole suppliers,
or if any of our sole suppliers modifies any of the components they
supply to us, our ability to supply our products may be
interrupted, and obtaining substitute components could be difficult
or require us to re-design or re-validate our products. Our failure
to maintain a continued supply of components, or a supply that
meets our quality control requirements, or changes to or
termination of our agreements or inability to renew our agreements
with these parties or enter into new agreements with other
suppliers could result in the loss of access to important
components of our tests and impact our test performance or affect
our ability to perform our tests in a timely manner or at all,
which could impair, delay or suspend our commercialization
activities. In the event that we transition to a new supplier from
any of our sole suppliers, doing so could be time-consuming and
expensive, may result in interruptions in our ability to supply our
products to the market, could affect the performance of our tests
or could require that we re-validate our affected tests using
replacement equipment and supplies, which could delay the
performance of our tests, impact diagnostic solutions and heath
information derived from such tests, and result in increased costs.
Any of these occurrences could have a material adverse effect on
our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
We rely on a limited number of product and service providers for
data infrastructure and analytics capabilities, and any disruption
of, or interference with, our use of data and workflow services
could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and
results of operations, and we may not be able to find replacements
or immediately transition to alternative products or service
providers.
We currently rely upon third-party services for data storage and
workflow management, including cloud storage solution providers,
such as Amazon Web Services, or AWS, and Google Cloud Platform, or
GCP. We rely on each of AWS and GCP features to complete several
vital workflows in our health information and data science service
delivery. To varying degrees some of those services are proprietary
to how each platform performs in connection with our current usage
of the services. Further, we have also built several proprietary
workflows with our vendor and partner Command Health where we
maintain versions of developed software on such
platforms.
Nearly all of our data storage and analytics are conducted on, and
the data and content we generate on our platforms are processed
through, servers hosted by these providers, particularly AWS and
GCP. We also rely on email service providers, bandwidth providers,
internet service providers and mobile networks to deliver
communications to patients, physicians and partners and to allow
patients, physicians and our partners to access various offerings
from our platforms. If our third-party vendors are unable or
unwilling to provide the services necessary to support our
business, or if our agreements with such vendors are terminated,
our operations could be significantly disrupted. Some of our vendor
agreements may be unilaterally terminated by the licensor for
convenience, including with respect to AWS or GCP, and if such
agreements are terminated, we may not be able to enter into similar
relationships in the future on reasonable terms or at
all.
Any damage to, or failure of, our systems or the systems of our
third-party data centers or our other third-party providers could
result in interruptions to the availability or functionality of
database and platforms. As a result, we could lose health
information data and miss opportunities to acquire and retain
patients, physicians and partners including health systems and
pharmaceutical and biotech companies, which could result in
decreased revenue. If for any reason our arrangements with our data
centers or third-party providers are terminated or interrupted,
such termination or interruption could adversely affect our
business, financial condition and results of operations. We
exercise little control over these providers, which increases our
vulnerability to problems with the services they provide. We could
incur additional expense in arranging for new or redesigned
facilities, technology, services and support. In addition, the
failure of our third-party data centers or any other third-party
providers to meet our capacity needs or any system failure as a
result of reliance on third parties, including network, software or
hardware failure, which causes a delay or interruption in our
services and products, including our ability to handle existing or
increased processing of data on our platforms, could have a
material adverse effect on our business, revenues, operating
results and financial condition.
Our current and future products and services may never achieve
significant commercial market acceptance.
Our success depends on the market’s confidence that we can provide
data-driven research and diagnostic products and services that
improve clinical outcomes, lower healthcare costs and enable better
product development by pharmaceutical and biotech, or Biopharma,
companies. Failure of our products and services, or those jointly
developed with our collaborators, to perform as expected or to be
updated to meet market demands could significantly impair our
operating results and our reputation. We believe patients, health
systems, clinicians, academic institutions and Biopharma companies
are likely to be particularly sensitive to defects, errors,
inaccuracies and delays with our products and services.
Furthermore, inadequate performance of these products or services
may result in lower confidence in our Centrellis platform in
general.
We and our collaborators may not succeed in achieving significant
commercial market acceptance for our current or future products and
services due to a number of factors, including:
•Our
ability to demonstrate the utility of our platforms including
Centrellis and Traversa, and related products and services and
their potential advantages over existing clinical artificial
intelligence technology, life sciences research, clinical
diagnostic and drug discovery technologies to academic
institutions, Biopharma companies and the medical
community;
•Our
ability, and that of our collaborators, to perform clinical trials
or other research to gather adequate evidence and/or to secure and
maintain FDA and other regulatory clearance authorization or
approval for our products or products developed based off our
platform;
•the
agreement by third-party payors to reimburse our products or
services, the scope and extent of which will affect patients’
willingness or ability to pay for our products or services and will
likely heavily influence physicians’ decisions to recommend our
products or services;
•the
rate of adoption of our platforms and related products and services
by academic institutions, clinicians, patients, key opinion
leaders, advocacy groups and Biopharma companies; and
•the
impact of our investments in product and services, and
technological innovation and commercial growth.
Additionally, our customers and collaborators, including Mount
Sinai, may decide to decrease or discontinue their use of our
products and services due to changes in their research and
development plans, failures in their clinical trials, financial
constraints, the regulatory environment, negative publicity about
our products and services, competing products or the reimbursement
landscape, all of which are circumstances outside of our control.
We may not be successful in addressing these or other factors that
might affect the market acceptance of our products, services and
technologies. Failure to achieve widespread market acceptance of
our platform and related products and services would materially
harm our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Our projections are subject to significant risks, assumptions,
estimates and uncertainties, including assumptions regarding
adoption of our products and services. As a result, our projected
revenues, market share, expenses and profitability may differ
materially from our expectations in any given quarter or fiscal
year.
We operate in rapidly changing and competitive industries and our
projections are subject to the risks and assumptions made by our
management with respect to these industries. Operating results are
difficult to forecast as they generally depend on our assessment of
the timing of adoption of our current and future products and
services, which is uncertain. Furthermore, as we invest in the
continued development of new businesses that have yet to achieve
significant commercial success, whether because of competition or
otherwise, we may not recover the often substantial up-front costs
of developing and marketing those products and services or recover
the opportunity cost of diverting management and financial
resources away from other products or services. Additionally, our
business may be affected by reductions in customer or partner
demand as a result of a number of factors which may be difficult to
predict. Similarly, our assumptions and expectations with respect
to margins and the pricing of our products and services may not
prove to be accurate as a result of competitive pressures or
customer or partner demands. This may result in decreased revenue,
and we may be unable to adopt measures in a timely manner to
compensate for any unexpected shortfall in revenue. This inability
could cause our operating results in a given quarter or year to be
higher or lower than expected. Any failure to achieve our projected
operating results could harm the trading price of our securities
and our financial position.
We have estimated the sizes of the markets for our current and
future products and services, and these markets may be smaller than
we estimate.
Our estimates of the annual addressable markets for our current
products and services and those under development are based on a
number of internal and third-party estimates, including, without
limitation, the number of patients who have developed one or more
of a broad range of cancers, the number of individuals who are at a
higher risk for developing one or more of a broad range of cancers,
the number of individuals who have developed or are at a higher
risk of developing certain disorders, the number of individuals
with certain infectious diseases. The estimates also depend on
whether we or our collaborators are able to engage, diagnose or
treat patients through or using our products and services, the
number of potential clinical tests utilized per treatment course
per patient, the ongoing engagement by patients, physicians and
health systems on our platforms, and the assumed prices at which we
can sell our current and future products and services for markets
that have not been established. While we believe our assumptions
and the data underlying our estimates are reasonable, these
assumptions and estimates may not be correct and the conditions
supporting our assumptions or estimates may change at any time,
thereby reducing the predictive accuracy of these underlying
factors. As a result, our estimates of the annual addressable
market for our current or future products and services may prove to
be incorrect. If the actual number of patients who would benefit
from our products or services, the price at which we can sell
future products and services or the annual addressable market for
our products or services is smaller than we have estimated, it may
impair our sales growth and have an adverse impact on our
business.
Uncertainty in the development and commercialization of our
enhanced or new tests or services could materially adversely affect
our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Our success will depend in part on our ability to effectively
introduce enhanced or new offerings. The focus of our research and
development efforts has expanded beyond our current products and
services, focused substantially on women’s health and oncology, as
we are now also applying our expertise in processing and analyzing
new areas, such as rare diseases. In recent years we have developed
and/or launched several new products or enhanced versions of
existing products, including products leveraging alternative
sequencing technologies, and we expect to continue our efforts in
all of these areas and more. The development and launch of enhanced
or new tests requires the completion of certain clinical
development and commercialization activities that are complex,
costly, time-intensive and uncertain, and requires us to accurately
anticipate patients', clinicians', payors' and other
counterparties' attitudes and needs as well as emerging technology
and industry trends. This process is conducted in various stages,
and each stage presents the risk that we will not achieve our
goals.
We have relatively limited experience developing and
commercializing products and services outside of the fields of
women’s health and oncology diagnostics, and we may not be
successful in our current or future efforts to
do so. We also have limited experience forecasting our future
financial performance from our new products and services, and our
actual results may fall below our financial guidance or other
projections, or the expectations of analysts or investors, which
could cause the price of our common stock and warrants to decline.
We may experience research and development, regulatory, marketing
and other difficulties that could delay or prevent our introduction
of enhanced or new tests and result in increased costs and the
diversion of management's attention and resources from other
business matters, such as from our current product and service
offerings, which currently represent the significant majority of
our current revenues. For example, any tests that we may enhance or
develop may not prove to be clinically effective in clinical trials
or commercially, or may not meet our desired target product
profile, be offered at acceptable cost and with the sensitivity,
specificity and other test performance metrics necessary to address
the relevant clinical need or commercial opportunity; our test
performance in commercial experience may be inconsistent with our
validation or other clinical data; we may not be successful in
achieving market awareness and demand, whether through our own
sales and marketing operations or through collaborative
arrangements; healthcare providers may not order or use, or
third-party payors may not reimburse for, any tests that we may
enhance or develop; or we may otherwise have to abandon a test or
service in which we have invested substantial resources. For
example, we are subject to the risk that the biological
characteristics of the genetic mutations we seek to target, and
upon which our technologies rely, are uncertain and difficult to
predict. We may also experience unforeseen difficulties when
implementing updates to our processes.
We cannot assure you that we can successfully complete the
development of any new or enhanced product, or that we can
establish or maintain the collaborative relationships that may be
essential to our collaborators’ goals, including clinical
development or commercialization efforts. For example, clinical
development requires large numbers of patient specimens and, for
certain products, may require large, prospective, and controlled
clinical trials. We may not be able to identify and help enroll
patients or collect a sufficient amount of appropriate health data
in a timely manner; or we may experience delays during data
analysis process due to slower than anticipated supplies of patient
data, or due to changes in study design or inputs, or other
unforeseen circumstances; or we or our collaborators may be unable
to afford or manage the large-sized clinical trials that some of
our planned future products may require. Further, the publication
of clinical data in peer-reviewed journals is a crucial step in
commercializing and obtaining reimbursement for certain diagnostic
solutions such as the ones offered by us, and our inability to
control when, if ever, results are published may delay or limit our
ability to derive sufficient revenues from any diagnostic solution
that is the subject of or component in a study. Peer-reviewed
publications regarding our products may be limited by many factors,
including delays in the completion of, poor design of, or lack of
compelling data from, clinical studies, as well as delays in the
review, acceptance and publication process. If our diagnostic
solutions or the technology underlying our current and future
diagnostic solutions do not receive sufficient favorable exposure
in peer-reviewed publications, the rate of clinician adoption of
our diagnostic solutions and positive reimbursement coverage
determinations for our diagnostic solutions could be negatively
affected.
In addition, development of the data necessary to obtain regulatory
clearance and approval of tests is time-consuming and carries with
it the risk of not yielding the desired results. The performance
achieved in published studies may not be repeated in later studies
that may be required to obtain premarket clearance or approval from
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA. Limited results
from earlier-stage verification studies may not predict results
from studies in larger numbers of subjects drawn from more diverse
populations over longer periods of time. Unfavorable results from
ongoing preclinical and clinical studies may delay, limit or
prevent regulatory approvals or clearances or commercialization of
our product candidates, or could result in delays, modifications or
abandonment of ongoing analytical or future clinical studies, or
abandonment of a product development program, any of which could
have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results
or financial condition.
These and other factors beyond our control could result in delays
or other difficulties in the research and development, approval,
production, launch, marketing or distribution of enhanced or new
tests and could adversely affect our competitive position and
results of operations.
We currently use, and in the future expect to increase our use of,
information and rights from customers, strategic partners, and
collaborators for several aspects of our operations, and if we
cannot maintain current and enter new relationships with these
parties with adequate access and authorization to such information,
our business will suffer.
Accessing, combining, curating, and analyzing health information,
including longitudinal patient medical history data and genetic
data, are core features of the Centrellis platform and key elements
of our long term business model. The regulatory landscape around
the storage, processing and deidentification of genetic data is
evolving globally and greatly impacts the ability of us, our
strategic partners and collaborators to process and use the data in
connection with our products and services.
We have limited resources to conduct our health information
services, data analysis, life sciences research, clinical
diagnostics and drug discovery operations and have not yet fully
established infrastructure for sales, marketing or distribution in
connection with our products and services. Accordingly, we have
entered into service and collaboration agreements under which our
partners, including health systems, have provided, and may in the
future provide, funding, data access, and other resources for
developing and potentially commercializing our products and
services. These collaborations may result in us incurring
significant expenses in pursuit of potential products and services,
and we may not be successful in identifying, developing or
commercializing any potential products or services.
Our future success depends in part on our ability to maintain and
grow our existing relationships, including with Mount Sinai, and to
establish new relationships. Many factors may impact the success of
such collaborations, including our ability to perform our
obligations, our collaborators’ satisfaction with our products and
services, our collaborators’ performance of their obligations to
us, our collaborators’ internal priorities, resource allocation
decisions and competitive opportunities, the ability to obtain
regulatory approvals, disagreements with collaborators, the costs
required of either party to the collaboration and related financing
needs, and operating, legal and other risks in any relevant
jurisdiction. Our ability to support such collaborations may also
depend on factors outside of our control including the willingness
of patients to engage with us and share their data, societal
perspectives on privacy, and the willingness of health systems to
establish collaborations, relationships and programs utilizing
their data, all of which may impact the utility of these databases
and the insights we will be able to generate from expanding
datasets. In addition to reducing our revenue or delaying the
development of our future products and services, the loss of one or
more of these relationships may reduce our access to research,
longitudinal patient health data, clinical trials or computing
technologies that facilitate the collection and incorporation of
new information into the databases we manage and to which we have
access. All of the risks relating to product and service
development, regulatory clearance, authorization or approval and
commercialization described herein apply to us derivatively through
the activities of our collaborators. We engage in conversations
with companies regarding potential collaborations on an ongoing
basis. These conversations may not result in a commercial
agreement. Even if an agreement is reached, the resulting
relationship may not be successful, and any products and services
developed as part of the collaboration may not produce successful
outcomes. Speculation in the industry about our existing or
potential collaborations can be a catalyst for adverse speculation
about us, or our products or services, which can adversely affect
our reputation and our business.
If our products and services do not perform as expected, we may not
realize the expected benefits of such products and
services.
The success of our products depends on the market’s confidence that
we can provide reliable products and services that enable high
quality diagnostic testing and health information services with
high sensitivity and specificity and short turnaround times. There
is no guarantee that the accuracy and reproducibility we have
demonstrated to date will continue as our product deliveries
increase and our product and service portfolio
expands.
Our products and services use a number of complex and sophisticated
biochemical and bioinformatics processes, many of which are highly
sensitive to external factors. An operational, technological or
other failure in one of these complex processes or fluctuations in
external variables may result in sensitivity or specificity rates
that are lower than we anticipate or result in longer than expected
turnaround times. In addition, labs are required to validate their
processes before using our products for clinical purposes. These
validations are outside of our control. If our products do not
perform, or are perceived to not have performed, as expected or
favorably in it to competitive products, our operating results,
reputation, and business will suffer, and we may also be subject to
legal claims arising from product limitations, errors, or
inaccuracies.
If our sales and development or other collaborations and commercial
relationships are not successful and we are not able to offset the
resulting impact through our own efforts or through agreements with
new partners, our commercialization activities may be impaired and
our financial results could be adversely affected.
Part of our business strategy is to develop relationships with
health systems, biopharma companies, and other partners to utilize
our products and to provide access to data. Developing and
commercializing products with third parties reduces our control
over such development and commercialization efforts and subjects us
to the various risks inherent in a joint effort with a third party,
such as delays, operational issues, technical difficulties and
other contingencies outside of our influence or control. The
financial condition of these third parties could weaken, or they
could terminate their relationship with us and/or stop sharing data
or other information; reduce their marketing efforts relating to
our products; develop and commercialize, or otherwise utilize
competing products in addition to or in lieu of our tests; merge
with or be acquired by a competitor of us or a company that chooses
to de-prioritize the efforts to utilize our products or provide us
with adequate data; or otherwise breach their agreements with us.
Further, we must expend resources to operationalize our existing
collaborations with our health system partners, which requires
substantial effort in areas such as integrations for testing
workflow, EMR, consents, marketing, and billing. To the extent, we
are not successful at operationalizing existing collaborations with
health partners, we may not be able to further improve or pursue
new agreements with additional partners. Furthermore, our partners
may misappropriate our trade secrets or use our proprietary
information in such a way as to expose us to litigation and
potential liability; and our compliance risk may increase to the
extent that we are responsible for our partners' activities.
Disagreements or disputes with our health systems and other
partners, including disagreements over customers, proprietary or
other rights or our or their compliance with financial or other
contractual obligations, might cause delays or impair the
development or commercialization of our products, services, and
technologies, lead to additional responsibilities for us with
respect to new products, services and technologies, or result in
litigation or arbitration, any of which would divert management
attention and resources and be time-consuming and expensive. As is
typical for companies in our industry, it is continually evaluating
and pursuing various strategic or commercial relationships, some of
which may involve the sale and issuance of our common stock, which
could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of
our stockholders and could cause the price of our common stock and
warrants to decline.
If our relationships are not successful, our ability to develop and
improve of products, services and technologies, and to successfully
execute our commercial strategy regarding such products, services
and technologies, could be compromised.
We may seek to grow our business through acquisitions of
complementary products or technologies, and the failure to manage
acquisitions, or the failure to integrate them with our existing
business, could have a material adverse effect on our business,
financial condition and operating results.
From time to time, we may consider opportunities to acquire other
products or technologies that may enhance our product platform or
technology, expand the breadth of our markets or customer base, or
advance our business strategies. Potential acquisitions involve
numerous risks, including:
•problems
assimilating the acquired products or technologies;
•issues
maintaining uniform standards, procedures, controls and
policies;
•unanticipated
costs associated with acquisitions;
•diversion
of management’s attention from our existing business;
•risks
associated with entering new markets in which we have limited or no
experience; and
•increased
legal and accounting costs relating to the acquisitions or
compliance with regulatory matters.
For example, we are exposed to these and other risks in connection
with the pending Acquisition of GeneDx. See “—Risks Related to the
Acquisition”. We do not know if we will be able to identify any
other acquisitions we deem suitable, whether we will be able to
successfully complete any acquisitions on favorable terms or at
all, or whether we will be able to successfully integrate any
acquired products or technologies. Our potential inability
to
integrate any acquired products or technologies effectively may
adversely affect our business, operating results and financial
condition.
If we are unable to deploy and maintain effective sales, marketing
and medical affairs capabilities, we will have difficulty achieving
market awareness and selling our products and
services.
To achieve commercial success for our tests and our future products
and services, we must continue to develop and grow our sales,
marketing and medical affairs organizations to effectively explain
to healthcare providers the reliability, effectiveness and benefits
of our current and future products and services as compared to
alternatives. We may not be able to successfully manage our
dispersed or inside sales forces or our sales force may not be
effective. Because of the competition for their services, we may be
unable to hire, partner with or retain additional qualified sales
representatives or marketing or medical affairs personnel, either
as our employees or independent contractors or through independent
sales or other third-party organizations. Market competition for
commercial, marketing and medical affairs talent is significant,
and we may not be able to hire or retain such talent on
commercially reasonable terms, if at all.
Establishing and maintaining sales, marketing and medical affairs
capabilities will be expensive and time-consuming. Our expenses
associated with maintaining our sales force may be disproportionate
to the revenues we may be able to generate on sales of the certain
tests or any future products or services.
We may never become profitable.
Sema4 has incurred losses since Sema4 was formed and we expect to
continue to generate significant operating losses for the
foreseeable future. As of December 31, 2021 and December 31,
2020, we have an accumulated deficit of approximately $575.4
million and $330.1 million, respectively. We expect to continue
investing significantly toward development and commercialization of
our health information technology and other products and services.
If our revenue does not grow significantly, we will not be
profitable. We cannot be certain that the revenue from the sale of
any products or services based on our technologies will be
sufficient to make us profitable.
Our operating results could be subject to significant fluctuation,
which could increase the volatility of our stock and warrant prices
and cause losses to our stockholders.
Our revenues and results of operations may fluctuate significantly,
depending on a variety of factors, including the
following:
•our
success in marketing and selling, and changes in demand for, our
tests, and the level of reimbursement and collection obtained for
such tests;
•seasonal
and environmental variations affecting healthcare provider
recommendations for our tests and patient compliance with
healthcare provider recommendations, including without limitation
holidays, weather events, and circumstances such as the outbreak of
coronavirus or influenza that may limit patient access to medical
practices for diagnostic tests and preventive
services;
•our
success in collecting payments from third-party payors, patients
and collaborative partners, variation in the timing of these
payments and recognition of these payments as
revenues;
•the
pricing of our tests, including potential changes in CMS or other
reimbursement rates;
•circumstances
affecting our ability to provide our tests, including weather
events, supply shortages, or regulatory or other circumstances that
adversely affect our ability to manufacture our tests or process
tests in our clinical laboratories;
•circumstances
affecting our ability to provide health information and data
science services to biopharma partners, including software or
hardware failures, insufficient capacity, regulatory changes or
other circumstances that adversely affect the ability of us to
deliver these services;
•fluctuations
in the amount and timing of our selling and marketing costs and our
ability to manage costs and expenses and effectively implement our
business;
•our
research and development activities, including the timing of
clinical trials; and
•our
ability to collect, use, and commercialize data in a changing
regulatory environment at a time when the public is growing
increasingly concerned about privacy.
Our revenue growth rate could decline over time, and it may
experience downward pressure on our operating margins in the
future.
Our revenue growth rate could decline over time as a result of a
number of factors, including increasing competition and the
continued expansion of our business into a variety of new fields.
Changes in geographic mix and product and service mix and an
increasing competition for tests may also affect our revenue growth
rate. We may also experience a decline in our revenue growth rate
as our revenues increase to higher levels, if there is a decrease
in the rate of adoption of our products, services, and
technologies, among other factors.
In addition to a decline in our revenue growth rate, we may also
experience downward pressure on our gross operating margins
resulting from a variety of factors, such as the continued
expansion of our business into new fields, including new products
and services, as well as significant investments in new areas, all
of which may have margins lower than those that we generate from
testing. We may also experience downward pressure on our gross
operating margins from increasing competition and increased costs
for many aspects of our business. We may also pay increased fees to
our partners as well as increased acquisition costs. We may also
face an increase in infrastructure costs, supporting other
businesses. Additionally, our expenditures to promote new products
and services or to distribute certain products and services or
increased investment in our innovation efforts across our
Centrellis platform may affect our operating margins.
Due to these factors and the evolving nature of our business, our
historical projected revenue growth rate and historical gross
operating margins may not be indicative of our future
performance.
We may need to raise additional capital to fund our existing
operations, develop additional products and services, commercialize
new products and services or expand our operations.
Sema4 has incurred net losses and negative cash flows from
operations since its inception, including net losses of $245.4
million, $241.3 million and $29.7 million for the years ended
December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As of December 31,
2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $575.4 million. We expect to
continue to generate significant operating losses for the
foreseeable future, and we may therefore also seek to sell common
or preferred equity or convertible debt securities, enter into a
credit facility or another form of third-party funding or seek
other debt financing.
We may also consider raising additional capital in the future to
expand our business, to pursue strategic investments, to take
advantage of financing opportunities or for other reasons,
including to:
•increase
our sales and marketing efforts to drive market adoption of our
current and future products and services;
•fund
development efforts for our current and future products and
services;
•expand
our products and services into other disease indications and
clinical applications;
•acquire,
license or invest in technologies;
•acquire
or invest in complementary businesses or assets; and
•finance
capital expenditures and general and administrative
expenses.
In particular, in connection with the pending Acquisition of
GeneDx, we have entered into subscription agreements with certain
institutional investors pursuant to which we have agreed to issue
and sell to the investors, in private placements to close
substantially concurrently with the closing of the Acquisition, an
aggregate of 50 million shares of our common stock at $4.00 per
share, for an aggregate gross purchase price of $200 million,
before fees and expenses (which we refer to as the “Acquisition
PIPE Investment”).
Our present and future funding requirements will depend on many
factors, including:
•our
ability to achieve revenue growth;
•our
rate of progress in establishing payer coverage and reimbursement
arrangements with commercial third-party payors and government
payers;
•the
cost of expanding our laboratory operations and offerings,
including our sales and marketing efforts;
•our
rate of progress in, and cost of the sales and marketing activities
associated with, establishing adoption of our Centrellis
solution;
•our
rate of progress in, and cost of research and development
activities associated with, products and services in research and
early development;
•the
effect of competing technological, product and market
developments;
•costs
related to international expansion; and
•the
potential cost of and delays in product development as a result of
any regulatory oversight applicable to our products and
services.
The various ways we could raise additional capital carry potential
risks. If we raise funds by issuing equity securities, like in the
acquisition PIPE Investment, dilution to our stockholders could
result. Any preferred equity securities issued also could provide
for rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of holders of
our common stock. If we raise funds by issuing debt securities,
those debt securities would have rights, preferences and privileges
senior to those of holders of our common stock. The terms of debt
securities issued or borrowings pursuant to a credit agreement
could impose significant restrictions on our operations. If we
raise funds through collaborations and licensing arrangements, we
might be required to relinquish significant rights to our
technologies or products and services or grant licenses on terms
that are not favorable to us.
We expect to make significant investments in our continued research
and development of new products and services, which may not be
successful.
We are seeking to leverage and deploy our Centrellis and Traversa
platforms to develop a pipeline of future disease-specific
research, diagnostic and therapeutic products and services. For
example, we are attempting to extend current products into
additional indications and sample types, and we are developing our
population health program, and our pharmacogenomics solutions with
a view toward advancing the development of tests designed to
identify genetic variants for drug response that are associated
with medically actionable and clinically relevant data to make more
informed treatment decisions. We expect to incur significant
expenses to advance these development efforts, but they may not be
successful.
Developing new products and services is a speculative and risky
endeavor. Products or services that initially show promise may fail
to achieve the desired results or may not achieve acceptable levels
of analytical accuracy or clinical utility. We may need to alter
our products in development and repeat analysis or clinical studies
before we identify a potentially successful product or service.
Product development is expensive, may take years to complete and
can have uncertain outcomes. Failure can occur at any stage of the
development. If, after development, a product or service appears
successful, we or our collaborators may, depending on the nature of
the product or service, still need to obtain FDA and other
regulatory clearances, authorizations or approvals before we can
market it. In the case of clinical products, the FDA’s clearance,
authorization or approval pathways are likely to involve
significant time,
as well as additional research, development and clinical study
expenditures. The FDA may not clear, authorize or approve any
future product or service we develop. Even if we develop a product
or service that receives regulatory clearance, authorization or
approval, or succeeds in initial product testing, we or our
collaborators would need to commit substantial resources to
commercialize, sell and market it before it could be profitable,
and the product or service may never be commercially successful.
Additionally, development of any product or service may be
disrupted or made less viable by the development of competing
products or services.
New potential products and services may fail at any stage of
development or recalled after commercialization and if we determine
that any of our current or future products or services are unlikely
to succeed, we may abandon them without any return on our
investment. If we are unsuccessful in developing additional
products or services, our potential for growth may be
impaired.
We have identified material weaknesses, some of which have a
pervasive effect across the organization, and may identify
additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, in our
internal controls over financial reporting. Our failure to remedy
these matters could result in a material misstatement of our
financial statements.
In the course of preparing Legacy Sema4’s financial statements for
2020, 2019 and 2018, we identified material weaknesses in our
internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020,
which could, if not remediated, result in material misstatements in
our financial statements. These material weaknesses had not been
fully remediated as of December 31, 2021. In addition, during 2021,
management identified a misclassification related to certain costs
included within cost of services for the years ended December 31,
2021, 2020 and 2019. A material weakness is a deficiency, or
combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial
reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a
material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements
will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material
weaknesses identified related to the fact that we did not design
and maintain accounting policies, procedures and controls to ensure
complete, accurate and timely financial reporting in accordance
with U.S. GAAP. Specifically, the material weaknesses identified
included the following:
•We
did not design and maintain accounting policies, processes and
controls to analyze, account for and report our revenue
arrangements in accordance with ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts
with Customers, and ASC 605, Revenue Recognition.
•We
did not design and maintain formal accounting policies, procedures
and controls to achieve complete, accurate and timely financial
accounting, reporting and disclosures, including controls over the
preparation and review of account reconciliations and journal
entries; the accounting for cost capitalization policies in
accordance with ASC 330, Inventory, and ASC 350-40, Intangibles –
Goodwill and Other – Internal-Use Software; and the application of
ASC 840, Leases.
•We
had not developed and effectively communicated to our employees our
accounting policies and procedures, which resulted in inconsistent
practices. Since these entity level programs have a pervasive
effect across the organization, management has determined that
these circumstances constitute a material weakness.
•Our
accounting and operating systems lacked controls over access, and
program change management that are needed to ensure access to
financial data is adequately restricted to appropriate
personnel.
•We
do not have sufficient, qualified finance and accounting staff with
the appropriate U.S. GAAP technical accounting expertise to
identify, evaluate and account for accounting and financial
reporting, and effectively design and implement systems and
processes that allow for the timely production of accurate
financial information in accordance with internal financial
reporting timelines, commensurate with our size and the nature and
complexity of our operations. As a result, we did not design and
maintain formal accounting policies, processes and controls related
to complex transactions necessary for an effective financial
reporting process.
Our management is in the process of implementing a remediation plan
that is expected to include policies and procedures to support
internal control over financial reporting for a public company as
well as supplementing the accounting and finance function with
robust technical accounting and financial reporting experience and
training.
However, we cannot guarantee that the steps we have taken or may
subsequently take have been or will be sufficient to remediate the
material weaknesses or ensure that our internal controls are
effective. For a discussion of our remediation plan and actions,
see “Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.” However, as noted above,
as
of December 31, 2021, the material weaknesses have not yet been
fully remediated.
Furthermore, as a public company, we are required to comply with
certain rules and requirements related to our disclosure controls
and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting.
Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls as a public
company, any deficiencies found in the technology system we use to
support our controls, or any difficulties encountered in their
implementation or improvement, could harm our operating results or
cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result
in a restatement of our financial statements for prior periods. For
more information, see “Risks
Related to Being a Public Company—Our internal controls over
financial reporting may not be effective and our independent
registered public accounting firm may not be able to certify as to
their effectiveness, which could have a significant and adverse
effect on our business and reputation.”
Our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards and
certain other tax attributes may be limited.
At December 31, 2021, our total gross deferred tax assets were
$160.5 million. Due to our lack of earnings history, future
deductible temporary differences related to compensation and
uncertainties surrounding our ability to generate future taxable
income, our net deferred tax assets have been fully offset by a
valuation allowance. The deferred tax assets are primarily
comprised of federal and state tax net operating losses and tax
credit carryforwards, stock-based compensation and other tax
deductible temporary differences.
Furthermore, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986, as amended, or the Internal Revenue Code, if a corporation
undergoes an “ownership change,” the corporation’s ability to use
its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, and other
pre-change tax attributes (such as research tax credits) to offset
its future taxable income may be limited. In general, an “ownership
change” occurs if there is a cumulative change in its ownership by
“5% shareholders” that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling
three-year period. Our existing NOLs and tax credit carryovers may
be subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes,
and if we undergo one or more ownership changes in connection with
completed acquisitions, including the business combination or the
pending Acquisition, or future transactions in our stock, our
ability to utilize NOLs and tax credit carryovers could be further
limited by Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code. As a result,
if we earn future taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change
net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards to offset U.S.
federal taxable income may be subject to limitations, which could
potentially result in increased future tax liability to us. In
addition, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act limits the deduction for NOLs
to 80% of current year taxable income and eliminates NOL
carrybacks. Further, there may also be periods during which the use
of NOLs is suspended or otherwise limited, which could accelerate
or permanently increase state liability.
Risks Related to Our Key Relationships
We rely on third-party laboratories to perform certain elements of
our service offerings.
A limited but meaningful portion of our genomic analysis services
is performed by third-party laboratories and service providers,
while the remaining portion is performed in our laboratories. The
third-party laboratories are subject to contractual obligations to
perform these services for us, but are not otherwise under our
control. We therefore do not control the capacity and quality
control efforts of these third-party laboratories other than
through our ability to enforce contractual obligations on volume
and quality systems, and we have no control over such laboratories’
compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements. We
also have no control over the timeliness of such laboratories’
performance of their obligations to us, and the third-party
laboratories that we have contracted with have in the past had, and
occasionally continue to have, issues with delivering results to us
or resolving issues with us within the time frames we expected or
established in our contracts with them, which sometimes results in
longer than expected turnaround times for, or negatively impacts
the performance of, these tests and services. In the event of any
adverse developments with these third-party laboratories or their
ability to perform their obligations in a timely manner and in
accordance with the standards that we and our customers expect, our
ability to service customers may be delayed, interrupted or
otherwise adversely affected, which could result in a
loss
of customers and harm to our reputation. Furthermore, when these
issues arise, we have had to expend time, management’s attention
and other resources to address and remedy such issues.
We may not have sufficient alternative backup if one or more of the
third-party laboratories that we contract with are unable to
satisfy their obligations to us with sufficient performance,
quality and timeliness, including as a result of the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic. Any natural or other disaster, acts of war or
terrorism, shipping embargoes, labor unrest, political instability,
outbreaks of disease or similar events at one or more of these
third-party laboratories’ facilities that causes a loss of capacity
would heighten the risks that we face. Changes to or termination of
agreements or inability to renew agreements with these third-party
laboratories or enter into new agreements with other laboratories
that are able to perform such portions of our service offerings
could impair, delay or suspend our efforts to market and sell these
services. In addition, certain third-party payors, including some
state Medicaid payers, that we are under contract with may take the
position that sending out testing to third-party laboratories and
billing for such tests is contrary to the terms of its provider
agreement and may refuse to pay us for the testing. If any of these
events occur, our business, financial condition and results of
operations could suffer. Further, some state laws impose
anti-markup restrictions that prevent an entity from realizing a
profit margin on outsourced testing. If we are unable to markup
outsourced testing, our revenues and operating margins may
suffer.
We rely on Mount Sinai, a related party, and its clinicians for a
portion of our test volume in connection with our diagnostic
solutions and for data programs, and we have entered into certain
other arrangements with Mount Sinai.
We rely on Mount Sinai, which is a related party, and its
clinicians for a portion of our test volumes in connection with our
diagnostic solutions and for a significant portion of the
de-identified clinical records in our databases. In addition, we
sublease certain facilities from Mount Sinai, we provide certain
research and data services to Mount Sinai, and we and Mount Sinai
have entered into certain collaborative and commercial
arrangements. Furthermore, we may in the future enter into other
contracts for services or other engagements with Mount
Sinai.
Mount Sinai is primarily made up of not-for-profit hospitals, a
medical and graduate school and employed clinicians. The charitable
missions of the Mount Sinai entities include patient care, teaching
and research. As such, the Mount Sinai entities are required to
deal with us strictly on an arms-length, fair market value basis,
and the interests of Mount Sinai may not necessarily be aligned
with our interests or those of our other stockholders.
We are subject to risks as a result of our reliance on Mount Sinai,
and if our transactions and relationship with Mount Sinai were to
cease, our business could be disrupted and it could have a material
adverse effect on our business, research, financial condition and
results of operations.
In addition, ISMMS is one of our significant stockholders. ISMMS
has entered into a support agreement in connection with the
Acquisition, whereby ISMMS has agreed to, among other things, be
bound by certain transfer restrictions. Following the expiration of
these transfer restrictions, ISMMS may choose to dispose of some or
all of the shares of our common stock held by it. Any disposal of
shares of common stock by ISMMS, or the perception that these sales
could occur, could cause the market price of our stock or warrants
to decline.
We rely on commercial courier delivery services to transport
samples to our facilities in a timely and cost-efficient manner and
if these delivery services are disrupted, our business could be
harmed.
Our core business depends on our ability to quickly and reliably
deliver test results to our customers. We typically receive blood,
saliva, or tissue samples for analysis at our laboratory facilities
within days of collection from the patient. Disruptions and errors
in these delivery service and accessioning errors and breaches,
whether due to error by the courier service, labor disruptions, bad
weather, natural disaster, terrorist acts or threats, outbreaks of
disease or for other reasons, could adversely affect specimen
integrity, our ability to process or store samples in a timely
manner and to service our customers, and ultimately our reputation
and our business. In addition, if we are unable to continue to
obtain expedited delivery services on commercially reasonable
terms, our operating results may be adversely
affected.
Risks Related to Legal, Regulatory and Compliance
We may be subject to increased compliance risks as a result of our
rapid growth, including our dependence on our sales, marketing and
billing efforts.
We have had to expand our training and compliance efforts in line
with our increasing reliance on personnel in our sales, marketing
and billing functions, and our expansion of these functions in line
with the overall growth in our business. We continue to monitor our
personnel, but we have in the past experienced, and may in the
future experience, situations in which employees fail to strictly
adhere to our policies. In addition, sales and marketing activities
in the healthcare space are subject to various rules and
regulations. Moreover, our billing and marketing messaging can be
complex and nuanced, and there may be errors or misunderstandings
in our employees' communication of such messaging. Furthermore, we
utilize text messaging, email, phone calls and other similar
methods to communicate with patients who are existing or potential
users of our products for various business purposes. These
activities subject us to laws and regulations relating to
communications with consumers, such as the CAN-SPAM Act and the
Telephone Consumer Protection Act, violations of which could
subject us to claims by consumers, who may seek actual or statutory
damages, which could be material in the aggregate. As we continue
to scale up our sales and marketing efforts in line with the growth
in our business, in particular our increased pace of product
launches as well as further geographical expansion, we face an
increased need to continuously monitor and improve our policies,
processes and procedures to maintain compliance with a growing
number and variety of laws and regulations, including with respect
to consumer marketing. To the extent that there is any violation,
whether actual, perceived or alleged, of our policies or applicable
laws and regulations, we may incur additional training and
compliance costs, may receive inquiries from third-party payors or
other third parties, or be held liable or otherwise responsible for
such acts of non-compliance. Any of the foregoing could adversely
affect our cash flow and financial condition.
If we use hazardous materials in a manner that causes injury, we
could be liable for resulting damages.
Our activities currently require the use of hazardous chemicals and
biological material. We cannot eliminate the risk of accidental
contamination or injury to employees or third parties from the use,
storage, handling or disposal of these materials. In the event of
contamination or injury, we could be held liable for any resulting
damages, and any liability could exceed our resources or any
applicable insurance coverage we may have. Additionally, we are
subject on an ongoing basis to federal, state and local laws and
regulations governing the use, storage, handling and disposal of
these materials and specified waste products. The cost of
compliance with these laws and regulations may become significant,
and our failure to comply may result in substantial fines or other
consequences, and either could negatively affect our operating
results.
We and our partners will have to maintain compliance with FDA
requirements for research, products and services and failure to
maintain compliance with FDA requirements may prevent or delay the
marketing of our products and services.
Even if we have obtained marketing authorization, we will have to
comply with the scope of that clearance, authorization or approval.
Failure to secure and to comply with clearance, authorization or
approval or the additional, extensive and ongoing post-marketing
obligations imposed by the FDA or other regulatory requirements of
other regulatory agencies could result in unanticipated compliance
expenditures, a range of administrative enforcement actions,
injunctions and criminal prosecution. FDA post-market obligations
include, among other things, compliance with the FDA QSR,
establishing registration and device listings, labeling
requirements, reporting of certain adverse events and malfunctions,
and reporting of certain recalls. In addition, circumstances may
arise that cause us to recall equipment used in connection with our
research, products and services. Such recalls could have an adverse
effect on our ability to provide those products and services, which
in turn would adversely affect our financial condition. our
collaborators will also be required to maintain FDA clearance,
authorization or approval for the products and services that we
jointly develop. Any failure by us or our collaborators to maintain
such clearance, authorization or approval could impair or cause a
delay in our ability to profit from these
collaborations.
Future changes in FDA enforcement discretion for LDTs could subject
our operations to much more significant regulatory
requirements.
We currently offer a laboratory-develop test, or LDT, version of
certain tests. The FDA has a policy of enforcement discretion with
respect to, or LDTs, whereby the FDA does not actively enforce its
medical device regulatory requirements for such tests. However, in
October 2014, the FDA issued two draft guidance documents stating
that the FDA intended to modify its policy of enforcement
discretion with respect to LDTs in a risk-based manner consistent
with the existing classification of medical devices. Although the
FDA halted finalization of the guidance in November 2016 to allow
for further public discussion on an appropriate oversight approach
to LDTs and to give Congressional authorizing committees the
opportunity to develop a legislative solution, it is unclear if
Congress or the FDA will modify the current approach to the
regulation of LDTs in a way that would subject our current or
future services marketed as LDTs to the enforcement of FDA
regulatory requirements. The FDA Commissioner and the Director of
the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, or CDRH, have
expressed significant concerns regarding disparities between some
LDTs and
in vitro
diagnostics that have been reviewed, cleared, authorized or
approved by the FDA. If the FDA were to determine that certain
tests offered by us as LDTs are not within the policy for LDTs for
any reason, including new rules, policies or guidance, or due to
changes in statute, our tests may become subject to extensive FDA
requirements or our business may otherwise be adversely affected.
If the FDA were to disagree with our LDT status or modify our
approach to regulating LDTs, we could experience reduced revenue or
increased costs, which could adversely affect our business,
prospects, results of operations and financial condition. If
required, the regulatory marketing authorization process required
to bring our current or future LDTs into compliance may involve,
among other things, successfully completing additional clinical
validations and submitting to and obtaining clearance from the FDA
for a premarket clearance (510(k)) submission or authorization for
a
de novo
or approval of a PMA. Furthermore, pending legislative proposals,
if passed, such as the VALID Act, could create new or different
regulatory and compliance burdens on us and could have a negative
effect on our ability to keep products on the market or develop new
products, which could have a material effect on our business. In
the event that the FDA requires marketing authorization of our LDTs
in the future, the FDA may not ultimately grant any clearance,
authorization or approval requested by us in a timely manner, or at
all. In addition, if the FDA inspects our laboratory in relation to
the marketing of any FDA-authorized test, any enforcement action
the FDA takes might not be limited to the FDA-authorized test
carried by us and could encompass our other testing
services.
Recently, the FDA has also taken a more active role in certain
diagnostic areas, including the oversight of pharmacogenetic, or
PGx, and COVID-19 tests. In 2019, the FDA contacted several
laboratories to demand changes to PGx test reports and marketing
materials. In February 2020, the FDA issued a statement indicating
that it continues to have concerns about the claims that certain
clinical laboratories make with respect to their PGx tests, and
published tables that list PGx associations for which the FDA has
determined that the data support therapeutic management
recommendations, a potential impact on safety or response, or a
potential impact on pharmacokinetic properties only, respectively.
To date, however, the FDA has not provided any general guidance on
the types of claims or other characteristics that will cause a PGx
test to fall outside FDA’s enforcement discretion. As such, the
extent to which the FDA will allow any laboratory to offer PGx
tests in their current form without meeting FDA regulatory
requirements for medical devices is unclear at this
time.
For each product and service we are developing that may require FDA
premarket review prior to marketing, the FDA may not grant
clearance, authorization or premarket approval and failure to
obtain necessary approvals for our future products and services
would adversely affect our ability to grow our
business.
Before we begin to manufacture, label and market additional
clinical diagnostic products for commercial diagnostic use in the
United States, we may be required to obtain either clearance,
marketing authorization or approval from the FDA, unless an
exemption applies or the FDA exercises its enforcement discretion
and refrains from enforcing its requirements. For example, the FDA
currently has a policy of refraining from enforcing its medical
device requirements with respect to LDTs, which the FDA considers
to be a type of
in vitro
diagnostic test that is designed, manufactured and used within a
single properly licensed laboratory.
The process of obtaining PMA is much more rigorous, costly, lengthy
and uncertain than the 510(k) clearance process. In the PMA
approval process, the FDA must determine that a proposed device is
safe and effective for its intended use based, in part, on
extensive data, including, but not limited to, technical,
preclinical, clinical trial, manufacturing and labeling data.
Conversely, in the 510(k) clearance process, the FDA must determine
that a
proposed device is “substantially equivalent” to a legally marketed
“predicate” device in order for the product to be cleared for
marketing. To be “substantially equivalent,” the proposed device
must have the same intended use as the predicate device, and either
have the same technological characteristics or if it has different
technological characteristics as the predicate device, the proposed
device must be as safe and effective as, and not raise different
questions of safety or effectiveness than, the predicate device.
Clinical data is sometimes required to support substantial
equivalence. For lower-risk devices that would otherwise
automatically be placed into Class III, which require a PMA because
no predicate device is available and the devices do not fall within
an existing 510(k)-exempt classification, an applicant may submit
a
de novo
request to down classify the device into Class II or Class I, which
would not require a PMA. In the
de novo
process, the FDA must determine that general and special controls
are sufficient to provide reasonable assurance of the safety and
effectiveness of a device, which is low to moderate risk and has no
predicate. In other words, the applicant must justify the
“down-classification” to Class I or II for a new product type that
would otherwise automatically be placed into Class III, but is
lower risk. Clinical data may be required. For laboratory tests for
which FDA clearance, authorization or approval is required, the FDA
may also require data to support analytical and clinical
validity.
The 510(k),
de novo
and PMA processes can be expensive and lengthy and require the
payment of significant fees, unless an exemption applies. The FDA’s
510(k) clearance pathway usually takes from three to nine months
from submission, but it can take longer for a novel type of
product. The FDA’s
de novo
classification pathway usually takes from six to 12 months, but for
many applicants can take up to 18 months or more.
The process of obtaining a PMA generally takes from one to three
years, or even longer, from the time the PMA is submitted to the
FDA until an approval is obtained. Any delay or failure to obtain
necessary regulatory clearances, authorizations or approvals would
have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition
and prospects.
The FDA can delay, limit or deny clearance, authorization or
approval of a device for many reasons, including:
•the
inability to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA that the
products are safe or effective for their intended
uses;
•the
disagreement of the FDA with the design, conduct or implementation
of the clinical trials or the analysis or interpretation of data
from preclinical studies, analytical studies or clinical
trials;
•serious
and unexpected adverse device effects experienced by participants
in clinical trials;
•the
data from preclinical studies, analytical studies and clinical
trials may be insufficient to support clearance, authorization or
approval, where required;
•the
inability to demonstrate that the clinical and other benefits of
the device outweigh the risks;
•an
advisory committee, if convened by the FDA, may recommend against
approval of a PMA or other application or may recommend that the
FDA require, as a condition of approval, additional preclinical
studies or clinical trials, limitations on approved labeling or
distribution and use restrictions, or even if an advisory committee
makes a favorable recommendation, the FDA may still not approve the
product;
•the
FDA may identify deficiencies in our marketing
application;
•the
FDA may identify deficiencies in our or our collaborators’
manufacturing processes, facilities or analytical
methods;
•the
potential for policies or regulations of the FDA or applicable
foreign regulatory bodies to change significantly in a manner
rendering clinical data or regulatory filings insufficient for
clearance, authorization or approval; and
•the
FDA or foreign regulatory authorities may audit clinical trial data
and conclude that the data is not sufficiently reliable to support
a PMA.
There are numerous FDA personnel assigned to review different
aspects of marketing submissions, which can present uncertainties
based on their ability to exercise judgment and discretion during
the review process. During the course of review, the FDA may
request or require additional data and information, and the
development and provision of these data and information may be
time-consuming and expensive. The process of obtaining regulatory
clearances, authorizations or approvals to market a medical device
can be costly and time-consuming, and we may not be able to obtain
these clearances, authorizations or approvals on a timely basis, or
at all for our products in development. If we are unable to obtain
clearance, authorization or approval for any products for which it
plans to seek clearance, authorization or approval, our business
may be harmed.
Modifications to our products with FDA marketing authorization may
require new FDA clearances, authorizations or approvals, or may
require it to cease marketing or recall the modified clinical
diagnostic products or future clinical products until clearances
are obtained.
Any modification to a 510(k)-cleared device that significantly
affects its safety or effectiveness, or that constitutes a major
change in its intended use, could require a new 510(k) clearance, a
new
de novo
authorization or approval of a PMA. The FDA requires every
manufacturer to make this determination in the first instance, but
the FDA may review any manufacturer’s decision. The FDA may not
agree with our decisions regarding whether new clearances,
authorizations or approvals are necessary.
For any product approved pursuant to a PMA, we would be required to
seek supplemental approval for many types of modifications to the
approved product. The FDA requires manufacturers in the first
instance to determine whether a PMA supplement or other regulatory
filing is needed or whether the change may be reported via the PMA
Annual Report, but may disagree with a company’s
assessment.
If the FDA disagrees with our determination, which it may not
review until we submit an annual report or the FDA conducts an
inspection or other inquiry, and requires us to seek new
clearances, authorizations or approvals for modifications to our
previously cleared, authorized or approved clinical diagnostic
products for which we have concluded new clearances, authorizations
or approvals are unnecessary, we may be required to cease marketing
or distribution of these clinical diagnostic products or to recall
the modified products until we obtain clearance, authorization or
approval. We may also be subject to enforcement action, including,
among other things, significant regulatory fines or
penalties.
In addition, for example, we plan to match our test reports for
certain indications to identified mutations with FDA-approved
targeted therapies or relevant clinical trials of targeted
therapies. If a patient or physician who orders a test using one of
our products is unable to obtain, or be reimbursed for the use of,
targeted therapies because they are not indicated in the
FDA-approved label for treatment, the patient is unable to enroll
in an identified clinical trial due to the enrollment criteria of
the trial, or some other reason, the ordering physician may
conclude the test report does not contain actionable information.
If physicians do not believe our products consistently generate
actionable information about their patients’ disease or condition,
they may be less likely to use our products.
Furthermore, we cannot provide assurance that customers will always
use these products in the manner in which they are intended. Any
intentional or unintentional misuse of these products by customers
could lead to substantial civil and criminal monetary and
non-monetary penalties, and could result in significant legal and
investigatory fees.
Our business is subject to various complex laws and regulations
applicable to clinical diagnostics. We could be subject to
significant fines and penalties if we or our partners fail to
comply with these laws and regulations.
As a provider of clinical diagnostic products and services, we and
our partners are subject to extensive and frequently changing
federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations governing
various aspects of our business.
In particular, the clinical laboratory and healthcare industry is
subject to significant governmental certification and licensing
regulations, as well as federal, state and foreign laws
regarding:
•test
ordering and billing practices;
•marketing,
sales and pricing practices;
•health
information privacy and security, including HIPAA and comparable
state laws;
•insurance;
•anti-markup
legislation;
•fraud
and abuse; and
•consumer
protection.
We are also required to comply with FDA regulations, including with
respect to our labeling and promotion activities. In addition,
advertising and marketing of our clinical products are subject to
regulation by the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, and advertising
of laboratory services is regulated by certain state laws.
Violation of any FDA requirement could result in enforcement
actions, such as seizures, injunctions, civil penalties and
criminal prosecutions, and violation of any FTC or state law
requirement could result in injunctions and other remedies, all of
which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Most
states also have similar regulatory and enforcement authority for
devices. Additionally, most foreign countries have authorities
comparable to the FDA and processes for obtaining marketing
approvals. Obtaining and maintaining these approvals, and complying
with all laws and regulations, may subject us to similar risks and
delays as those we could experience under FDA, FTC and state
regulation. We incur various costs in complying and overseeing
compliance with these laws and regulations. The growth of our
business and sales organization, the acquisition of additional
businesses, such as the pending Acquisition of GeneDx, or products
and services and our expansion outside of the U.S. may increase the
potential of violating these laws, regulations or our internal
policies and procedures.
Healthcare policy has been a subject of extensive discussion in the
executive and legislative branches of the federal and many state
governments and healthcare laws and regulations are subject to
change. Development of the existing commercialization strategy for
our tests and planned development of products in our pipeline has
been based on existing healthcare policies. We cannot predict what
additional changes, if any, will be proposed or adopted or the
effect that such proposals or adoption may have on our business,
financial condition and results of operations.
If we or our partners, fail to comply with these laws and
regulations, it could incur significant fines and penalties and our
reputation and prospects could suffer. Additionally, any such
partners could be forced to cease offering our products and
services in certain jurisdictions, which could materially disrupt
our business. An adverse outcome could include us being required to
pay treble damages, incur civil and criminal penalties, paying
attorneys’ fees, entering into a corporate integrity agreement,
being excluded from participation in government healthcare
programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, and other adverse
actions that could materially and adversely affect our business,
financial condition and results of operations.
Compliance with the HIPAA security, privacy and breach notification
regulations may increase our costs.
The HIPAA privacy, security and breach notification regulations,
including the expanded requirements under HITECH, establish
comprehensive federal standards with respect to the uses and
disclosures of protected health information, or PHI, by health
plans, healthcare providers and healthcare clearinghouses, in
addition to setting standards to protect the confidentiality,
integrity and security of PHI. The regulations establish a complex
regulatory framework on a variety of subjects,
including:
•the
circumstances under which uses and disclosures of PHI are permitted
or required without a specific authorization by the patient,
including but not limited to treatment purposes, activities to
obtain payments for our services, and our healthcare operations
activities;
•a
patient’s rights to access, amend and receive an accounting of
certain disclosures of PHI;
•requirements
to notify individuals if there is a breach of their
PHI;
•the
contents of notices of privacy practices for PHI;
•administrative,
technical and physical safeguards required of entities that use or
receive PHI;
•deidentification
of PHI; and
•the
protection of computing systems maintaining electronic
PHI.
We have implemented practices intended to meet the requirements of
the HIPAA privacy, security and breach notification regulations, as
required by law. We are required to comply with federal privacy,
security and breach notification regulations as well as varying
state privacy, security and breach notification laws and
regulations, which may be more stringent than federal HIPAA
requirements. In addition, for healthcare data transfers from other
countries relating to citizens and/or residents of those countries,
we must comply with the laws of those countries. The federal
privacy regulations under HIPAA restrict our ability to use or
disclose patient identifiable data, without patient authorization,
for purposes other than payment, treatment, healthcare operations
and certain other specified disclosures such as public health and
governmental oversight of the healthcare industry.
HIPAA provides for significant fines and other penalties for
wrongful use or disclosure of PHI, including potential civil and
criminal fines and penalties. Computer networks are always
vulnerable to breach and unauthorized persons may in the future be
able to exploit weaknesses in the security systems of our computer
networks and gain access to PHI. Additionally, we share PHI with
third-parties who are legally obligated to safeguard and maintain
the confidentiality of PHI. Unauthorized persons may be able to
gain access to PHI stored in such third-parties computer networks.
Any wrongful use or disclosure of PHI by us or such third-parties,
including disclosure due to data theft or unauthorized access to us
or our third-parties computer networks, could subject it to fines
or penalties that could adversely affect our business and results
of operations. Although the HIPAA statute and regulations do not
expressly provide for a private right of damages, we could also be
liable for damages under state laws to private parties for the
wrongful use or disclosure of confidential health information or
other private personal information.
Some of our activities may subject it to risks under federal and
state laws prohibiting ‘kickbacks’ and false or fraudulent
claims.
In addition to FDA marketing and promotion restrictions, several
other types of state and federal healthcare fraud and abuse laws
have been applied in recent years to restrict certain marketing
practices in the healthcare product and service industry and to
regulate billing practices and financial relationships with
healthcare providers, hospitals and other healthcare providers.
These laws include a federal law commonly known as the
Medicare/Medicaid anti-kickback law, and several similar state
laws, which prohibit payments intended to induce healthcare
providers or others either to refer patients or to acquire or
arrange for or recommend the acquisition of healthcare products or
services. While the federal law applies only to referrals, products
or services for which payment may be made by a federal healthcare
program, state laws often apply regardless of whether federal funds
may be involved. These laws constrain the sales, marketing and
other promotional activities of manufacturers of medical devices
and providers of laboratory services by limiting the kinds of
financial arrangements, including sales programs, that may be used
with hospitals, healthcare providers, laboratories and other
potential purchasers or prescribers of medical devices and
laboratory services. Other federal and state laws generally
prohibit individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or
causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare,
Medicaid, or other third-party payors that are false or fraudulent,
or are for items or services that were not provided as
claimed.
In 2018, Congress passed the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act,
or EKRA, as part of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that
Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities
Act. Similar to the Medicare/Medicaid anti-kickback law, EKRA
imposes criminal penalties for knowing or willful payment or offer,
or solicitation or receipt, of any remuneration, whether directly
or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, in exchange
for the referral or inducement of laboratory testing (among other
healthcare services) unless a specific exception applies. However,
unlike the Medicare/Medicaid anti-kickback law, EKRA is not limited
to services covered by federal or state healthcare programs but
applies more broadly to services covered by “healthcare benefit
programs,” including commercial insurers. As currently drafted,
EKRA potentially expands the universe of arrangements that could be
subject to government enforcement under federal fraud and abuse
laws. In addition, while the Medicare/Medicaid anti-kickback law
includes certain exceptions that are widely relied upon in
the
healthcare industry, including compensating employees on a
percentage basis, not all of those same exceptions apply under
EKRA. EKRA expressly does not protect employee compensation that
varies by the number of individuals referred to a laboratory, the
number of tests performed by a laboratory, or the amount billed to
or received from a health benefit program from individuals referred
to a laboratory. Because EKRA is a relatively new law, there is no
agency guidance and only one court has addressed the application of
EKRA. That case was decided by the United States District Court of
Hawaii and involved a lawsuit between a laboratory and an employee.
The Court ruled that the commission-based compensation provisions
of the laboratory employee’s contract did not violate EKRA.
Although this may be a favorable interpretation of EKRA for
laboratory compensation structures, we cannot be assured that
courts in our jurisdiction will reach the same conclusion or that
the decision will not be overturned if there is an appeal. Because
EKRA is a relatively new law, there is no agency guidance or court
precedent to indicate how and to what extent it will be applied and
enforced. We cannot assure you that our relationships with
healthcare providers, hospitals, customers, our own sales
representatives, or any other party will not be subject to scrutiny
or will survive regulatory challenge under EKRA.
Additionally, to avoid liability under federal false claims laws,
we or our partners must carefully and accurately code claims for
reimbursement, proactively monitor the accuracy and appropriateness
of claims and payments received, diligently investigate any
credible information indicating that we or our partners may have
received an overpayment, and promptly return any overpayments.
Medicare payments are subject to audit, including through the
Comprehensive Error Rate Testing, or CERT, program, and payments
may be recouped by CMS if it is determined that they were
improperly made. Currently, a small percentage of our revenues are
generated by payments from Medicare. The federal anti-kickback
statute and certain state-level false claims laws prescribe civil
and criminal penalties (including fines) for noncompliance that can
be substantial. In addition, various states have enacted false
claim laws analogous to the federal laws that apply where a claim
is submitted to any third-party payor and not only a governmental
payer program. While we continually strive to comply with these
complex requirements, interpretations of the applicability of these
laws to marketing and billing practices are constantly evolving and
even an unsuccessful challenge could cause adverse publicity and be
costly to respond to, and thus could harm our business and
prospects. Our failure to comply with applicable laws could result
in various adverse consequences that could have a material adverse
effect upon our business, including the exclusion of our products
and services from government programs and the imposition of civil
or criminal sanctions.
Our business could be harmed by the loss, suspension or other
restriction on a license, certification or accreditation, or by the
imposition of a fine or penalties, under CLIA, our implementing
regulations or other state, federal and foreign laws and
regulations affecting licensure or certification, or by future
changes in these laws or regulations.
Federal law requires virtually all clinical laboratories to comply
with CLIA, which generally involves becoming certified by the
federal and state government for the testing that will be performed
and complying with various operational, personnel, facilities
administration, quality and proficiency testing requirements
intended to ensure that testing services are accurate and reliable.
CLIA certification is also a prerequisite to be eligible to bill
state and federal healthcare programs, as well as many private
third-party payors, for laboratory research and clinical diagnostic
testing services. For example, as a condition of our CLIA
certification, a laboratory may be subject to survey and inspection
every other year, additional random inspections and surprise
inspections based on complaints received by state or federal
regulators. The biennial survey and inspection is conducted by CMS,
a CMS agent or, if the laboratory holds a CLIA certificate of
accreditation, a CMS-approved accreditation organization, such as
CAP. Sanctions for failure to comply with CLIA requirements,
including proficiency testing violations, may include suspension,
revocation or limitation of a laboratory’s CLIA certificate, which
is necessary to conduct business, as well as the imposition of
significant civil, administrative or criminal sanctions against the
lab, its owners and other individuals. In addition, we are subject
to regulation under certain state laws and regulations governing
laboratory licensure. Some states have enacted laboratory licensure
and compliance laws that are more stringent than CLIA. Changes in
state licensure laws that affect our ability to offer and provide
research and diagnostic products and services across state or
foreign country lines could materially and adversely affect our
business. In addition, state and foreign requirements for
laboratory certification may be costly or difficult to meet and
could affect our ability to receive specimens from certain states
or foreign countries.
Any sanction imposed under CLIA, its implementing regulations or
state or foreign laws or regulations governing licensure, or our
failure to renew a CLIA certificate, a state or foreign license or
accreditation, could have a material adverse effect on our
business.
We may never obtain approval in the EU or in any other foreign
country for any of our products or services and, even if we do, we
or our partners and collaborators may never be able to
commercialize them in another jurisdiction, which would limit our
ability to realize their full market potential.
In order to eventually market any of our current or future products
and services in any particular foreign jurisdiction, we must
establish compliance with numerous and varying regulatory
requirements on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis regarding
quality, safety, performance, privacy and efficacy. In addition,
clinical trials or clinical investigations conducted in one country
may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries,
and regulatory clearance, authorization or approval in one country
does not guarantee regulatory clearance, authorization or approval
in any other country. Approval processes vary among countries and
can involve additional product testing and validation and
additional administrative review periods.
Seeking foreign regulatory clearance, authorization or approval
could result in difficulties and costs for us and our collaborators
and require additional preclinical studies, clinical trials or
clinical investigations which could be costly and time-consuming.
Regulatory requirements and ethical approval obligations can vary
widely from country to country and could delay or prevent the
introduction of our products and services in those countries. The
foreign regulatory clearance, authorization or approval process
involves all of the risks and uncertainties associated with FDA
clearance, authorization or approval. We currently have limited
experience in obtaining regulatory clearance, authorization or
approval in international markets. If we or our collaborators fail
to comply with regulatory requirements in international markets or
to obtain and maintain required regulatory clearances,
authorizations or approvals in international markets, or if those
approvals are delayed, our target market will be reduced and our
ability to realize the full market potential of our products and
services will be unrealized.
Complying with numerous statutes and regulations pertaining to our
business is an expensive and time-consuming process, and any
failure to comply could result in substantial
penalties.
Our operations are subject to other extensive federal, state, local
and foreign laws and regulations, all of which are subject to
change. These laws and regulations currently include, among
others:
•HIPAA,
which establishes comprehensive federal standards with respect to
the privacy and security of protected health information and
requirements for the use of certain standardized electronic
transactions;
•amendments
to HIPAA under HITECH, which strengthen and expand HIPAA privacy
and security compliance requirements, increase penalties for
violators and expand vicarious liability, extend enforcement
authority to state attorneys general, and impose requirements for
breach notification;
•the
General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which imposes strict
privacy and security requirements on controllers and processors of
European personal data, including enhanced protections for “special
categories” of personal data, including sensitive information such
as health and genetic information of data subjects;
•the
CCPA, which, among other things, regulates how subject businesses
may collect, use, disclose and/or sell the personal information of
consumers who reside in California, affords rights to consumers
that they may exercise against businesses that collect their
information, and requires implementation of reasonable security
measures to safeguard personal information of California
consumers;
•the
federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits knowingly and
willfully offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration,
directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, to
induce or in return for the referral of an individual, for the
furnishing of or arrangement for the furnishing of any item or
service for which payment may be made in whole or in part by a
federal healthcare program, or the purchasing, leasing, ordering,
arranging for, or recommend purchasing, leasing or ordering, any
good,
facility, item or service for which payment may be made, in whole
or in part, under a federal healthcare program;
•EKRA,
which prohibits payments for referrals to recovery homes, clinical
treatment facilities, and laboratories and reaches beyond federal
health care programs, to include private insurance;
•the
federal physician self-referral law, known as the Stark Law, which
prohibits a physician from making a referral to an entity for
certain designated health services covered by the Medicare program,
including laboratory and pathology services, if the physician or an
immediate family member has a financial relationship with the
entity unless an exception applies, and prohibits an entity from
billing for designated health services furnished pursuant to a
prohibited referral;
•the
federal false claims law, which imposes liability on any person or
entity that, among other things, knowingly presents, or causes to
be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment to the
federal government;
•the
federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law, which prohibits, among other
things, the offering or transfer of remuneration to a Medicare or
state healthcare program beneficiary if the person knows or should
know it is likely to influence the beneficiary’s selection of a
particular provider, practitioner or supplier of services
reimbursable by Medicare or a state healthcare program, unless an
exception applies;
•the
HIPAA fraud and abuse provisions, which create new federal criminal
statutes that prohibit, among other things, defrauding health care
benefit programs, willfully obstructing a criminal investigation of
a healthcare offense and falsifying or concealing a material fact
or making any materially false statements in connection with the
payment for healthcare benefits, items or services;
•other
federal and state fraud and abuse laws, such as anti-kickback laws,
prohibitions on self-referral, fee-splitting restrictions,
insurance fraud laws, anti-markup laws, prohibitions on the
provision of tests at no or discounted cost to induce physician or
patient adoption, and false claims acts, which may extend to
services reimbursable by any third-party payer, including private
insurers;
•the
21st Century Cures Act information blocking prohibition, which
prohibits covered actors from engaging in certain practices that
are likely to interfere with the access, exchange, or use of
electronic health information;
•the
Physician Payments Sunshine Act and similar state laws that require
reporting of certain payments and other transfers of value made by
applicable manufacturers, directly or indirectly, to or on behalf
of covered recipients including physicians (defined to include
doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors) and
teaching hospitals as well as ownership and investment interests
held by physicians and their immediate family members.
•Beginning
in 2022, applicable manufacturers also will be required to report
such information regarding its relationships with physician
assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists,
certified registered nurse anesthetists and certified nurse
midwives during the previous year;
•state
laws that limit or prohibit the provision of certain payments and
other transfers of value to certain covered healthcare
providers;
•the
prohibition on reassignment of Medicare claims, which, subject to
certain exceptions, precludes the reassignment of Medicare claims
to any other party;
•state
laws that prohibit other specified practices, such as billing
clinicians for testing that they order; waiving coinsurance,
copayments, deductibles and other amounts owed by patients; billing
a state Medicaid program at a price that is higher than what is
charged to one or more other payers;
•similar
foreign laws and regulations that may apply to us in the countries
in which we operate or may operate in the future; and
•laws
that relate to maintaining accurate information and control over
activities that may fall within the purview of the U.S. Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act, its books and records provisions, or
anti-bribery provisions.
We have adopted policies and procedures designed to comply with
these laws and regulations. In the ordinary course of our business,
we conduct internal reviews of our compliance with these laws. Our
compliance may also be subject to governmental review. The growth
of our business and our expansion outside of the United States may
increase the potential of violating these laws or our internal
policies and procedures. The risk of us being found in violation of
these or other laws and regulations is further increased by the
fact that many have not been fully interpreted by the regulatory
authorities or the courts, and their provisions are open to a
variety of interpretations. Any action brought against us for
violation of these or other laws or regulations, even if we
successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant
legal expenses and divert our management’s attention from the
operation of our business. If our operations are found to be in
violation of any of these laws and regulations, we may be subject
to any applicable penalty associated with the violation, including
significant administrative, civil and criminal penalties, damages,
fines, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in Federal
healthcare programs, refunding of payments received by us and
curtailment or cessation of our operations, which may impact
existing contracts with key payors, collaborators, health systems,
and commercial partners. Any of the foregoing consequences could
seriously harm our business and our financial results.
We face uncertainty related to healthcare reform, pricing, coverage
and reimbursement, which could reduce our revenue.
Healthcare reform laws, including the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act or ACA, and the Protecting Access to Medicare
Act of 2014, or PAMA, are significantly affecting the U.S.
healthcare and medical services industry. Existing legislation, and
possible future legal and regulatory changes, including potential
repeal or modification of the ACA, elimination of penalties
regarding the individual mandate for coverage, or approval of
health plans that allow lower levels of coverage for preventive
services, could materially change the structure and finances of the
health insurance system and the methodology for reimbursing medical
services, drugs and devices, including our current and future
products and services. The ACA has also been the subject of various
legal challenges and in December 2018, a federal district court in
Texas found that the ACA’s “individual mandate” was
unconstitutional such that the whole of the ACA is invalid. The
decision was appealed, and in December 2019, the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals affirmed certain portions of the district court’s
decision but remanded to the district court to determine if any
portions of the ACA may still be valid. If the plaintiffs in this
case, or in any other case challenging the ACA, are ultimately
successful, insurance coverage for our tests could be materially
and adversely affected. Any change in reimbursement policy could
result in a change in patient cost-sharing, which could adversely
affect a provider’s willingness to prescribe and patient’s
willingness and ability to use our tests and any other product or
service we may develop. Healthcare reforms, which may intend to
reduce healthcare costs, may have the effect of discouraging
third-party payors from covering certain kinds of medical products
and services, particularly newly developed technologies, or other
products or tests we may develop in the future. We cannot predict
whether future healthcare reform initiatives will be implemented at
the federal or state level or the effect any such future
legislation or regulation will have on it. The taxes imposed by new
legislation, cost reduction measures and the expansion in the
government’s role in the U.S. healthcare industry may result in
decreased profits to us, which may adversely affect our business,
financial condition and results of operations.
PAMA presents significant uncertainty for future CMS reimbursement
rates for our tests. Because Medicare currently covers a
significant number of patients, any reduction in the CMS
reimbursement rate for our tests would negatively affect our
revenues and our business prospects. Under PAMA, CMS reimbursement
rates for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests are updated every
three years, or annually for clinical laboratory tests that are
considered "advanced diagnostic laboratory tests". The CMS
reimbursement rates for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests are
updated based on the volume-weighted median of private payer rates
for each clinical diagnostic laboratory test based on data
submitted by certain applicable laboratories. Further, laboratories
that fail to report or erroneously report required payment
information may be subject to substantial civil money penalties.
There can be no assurance
under PAMA that adequate CMS reimbursement rates will continue to
be assigned to our tests. Congress could modify or repeal PAMA in
the future or CMS could modify regulations under PAMA, and any such
action could have the effect of reducing the CMS reimbursement rate
for our tests. Further, it is possible that Medicare or other
federal payers that provide reimbursement for our tests may
suspend, revoke or discontinue coverage at any time, may require
co-payments from patients, or may reduce the reimbursement rates
payable to us. Any such action could have a negative impact on our
revenues.
Coverage of our screening products that we may develop may also
depend, in whole or in part, on whether payers determine, or courts
and/or regulatory authorities determine, coverage is required under
applicable federal or state laws mandating coverage of certain
cancer screening services.
Several states have laws mandating coverage for preventive
services, such as certain cancer screening services, applicable to
certain health insurers. However, not all of these laws apply to
our current tests and not all of these laws presently mandate
coverage for patients within the certain age ranges. We and payers
may disagree about how these mandates apply to our tests and we may
find the mandates difficult to enforce. Further, if the ACA is
repealed, replaced or overturned, or even if it is not, states may
decide to modify their laws, which may include repeal of those
coverage mandates that we believe currently apply to our oncology
tests.
Outside of the U.S., we would largely depend on public or
government-controlled payers for coverage of our oncology tests. As
compared to many more routine diagnostic tests, our oncology tests
are more complicated, expensive and are performed in a central,
specialized lab. In order to accommodate the unique characteristics
of our diagnostic products, public payers in certain non-U.S.
markets have designed reimbursement frameworks specifically for
each test type. These payers could decide to modify or discontinue
these special frameworks, potentially leading to lower
reimbursement prices or the impossibility of providing the test in
the market. These changes could also impose additional
administrative burdens on us, if it were to ever sell our tests in
foreign jurisdictions, including complex public tendering
procedures, or on ordering physicians, which could adversely affect
the number of payers covering the test or the number of orders
placed. Public payers could condition reimbursement of our tests
upon performance of our tests locally or, even in laboratories
owned or operated by the payers. Any such change would adversely
affect our ability to continue to serve those patients through our
labs. We may develop future oncologic tests that could be performed
locally by laboratory partners and in hospitals around the world,
however those developments efforts may be unsuccessful and any such
tests that we may develop may not be approved by regulators or
accepted by payers or patients.
Product and professional liability suits against us could result in
expensive and time-consuming litigation, payment of substantial
damages and increases in our insurance rates.
The sale and use of our solutions, products and services could lead
to product or professional liability claims, including class action
lawsuits. We may also be subject to liability for errors in the
test results including health information it provides to healthcare
providers or patients or for a misunderstanding of, or
inappropriate reliance upon, the information it provides. Claims
could also arise out of clinical studies we may conduct or any of
our other activities. A product or professional liability claim
could result in substantial damages, be costly and time consuming
to defend, and cause material harm to our business, reputation or
financial condition. We cannot assure you that our liability
insurance would protect our assets from the financial impact of
defending a product or professional liability claim. Any claim
brought against us, with or without merit, could increase our
liability insurance rates or prevent it from securing insurance
coverage in the future.
Errors, defects, or mistakes in our products or services, and
operations could harm our reputation, decrease market acceptance of
our products or services.
We are creating new products and services, many of which are
initially based on largely untested technologies. As all of our
products and services progress, we or others may determine that it
made product or service-level scientific or technological mistakes.
The diagnostic and testing processes utilize a number of complex
and sophisticated molecular, biochemical, informatics, and
mechanical processes, many of which are highly sensitive to
external factors. An operational or technological failure in one of
these complex processes or fluctuations in external factors may
result in less efficient processing or variation between testing
runs. Refinements to our processes may
initially result in unanticipated issues that reduce the efficiency
or increase variability. In particular, sequencing, which is a key
component of these processes, could be inefficient with higher than
expected variability thereby increasing total sequencing costs and
reducing the number of samples we can process in a given time
period. Therefore, inefficient or variable processes can cause
variability in our operating results and damage our
reputation.
In addition, our laboratory operations could result in any number
of errors or defects. Our quality assurance system may fail to
prevent it from inadvertent problems with samples, sample quality,
lab processes including sequencing, software, data upload or
analysis, raw materials, reagent manufacturing, assay quality or
design, or other components or processes. In addition, our assays
may have quality or design errors, and we may have inadequate
procedures or instrumentation to process samples, assemble our
proprietary primer mixes and commercial materials, upload and
analyze data, or otherwise conduct our laboratory operations. If we
provide products or services with undiscovered errors to our
customers, our clinical diagnostics may falsely indicate a patient
has a disease or genetic variant, fail to assess a patient’s risk
of getting a disease or having a child with a disease, or fail to
detect disease or variant in a patient who requires or could
benefit from treatment or intervention. We believe our customers
are likely to be particularly sensitive to product and service
defects, errors and delays, including if our products and services
fail to indicate the presence of residual disease with high
accuracy from clinical specimens or if we fail to list or
inaccurately indicate the presence or absence of disease in our
test report or analysis. In drug discovery, such errors may
interfere with our collaborators’ clinical studies or result in
adverse safety or efficacy profiles for their products in
development. This may harm our customers’ businesses and may cause
it to incur significant costs, divert the attention of key
personnel, encourage regulatory enforcement action against it,
create a significant customer relations problem for us and cause
our reputation to suffer. We may also be subject to warranty and
liability claims for damages related to errors or defects in our
products or services. Any of these developments could harm our
business and operating results.
We are subject to increasingly complex taxation rules and
practices, which may affect how we conduct our business and our
results of operations.
As our business grows, we are required to comply with increasingly
complex taxation rules and practices. We are subject to tax in
multiple U.S. tax jurisdictions and may be subject to foreign tax
jurisdictions in the future. The development of our tax strategies
requires additional expertise and may impact how we conduct our
business. Our future effective tax rates could be unfavorably
affected by changes in, or interpretations of, tax rules and
regulations in the jurisdictions in which we do business or by
changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and
liabilities. Furthermore, we provide for certain tax liabilities
that involve significant judgment. We are and may be subject to the
examination of our tax returns by federal, state and foreign tax
authorities. If our tax strategies are ineffective or it is not in
compliance with domestic and international tax laws, as applicable,
our financial position, operating results and cash flows could be
adversely affected.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property and Trade
Secrets
Our inability to effectively protect our proprietary products,
processes, and technologies, including the confidentiality of our
trade secrets, could harm our competitive position.
We currently rely upon trade secret protection and copyright, as
well as non-disclosure agreements and invention assignment
agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties, and
to a limited extent patent protection, to protect our confidential
and proprietary information. Although our competitors have utilized
and are expected to continue utilizing similar methods and have
aggregated and are expected to continue to aggregate similar
databases of genetic testing information, our success will depend
upon our ability to develop proprietary methods and databases and
to defend any advantages afforded by our methods and databases
relative to our competitors. If we do not protect our intellectual
property adequately, competitors may be able to use our methods and
databases and thereby erode any competitive advantages we may
have.
We will be able to protect our proprietary rights from unauthorized
use by third parties only to the extent that our proprietary
technologies are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are
effectively maintained as trade secrets. In this regard, we have
applied, and we intend to continue applying, for patents covering
such aspects of our technologies as it deems appropriate. However,
we expect that potential patent coverage we may obtain will not
be
sufficient to prevent substantial competition. In this regard, we
believe it is probable that others will independently develop
similar or alternative technologies or design around those
technologies for which we may obtain patent protection. In
addition, any patent applications we file may be challenged and may
not result in issued patents or may be invalidated or narrowed in
scope after they are issued. Questions as to inventorship or
ownership may also arise. Any finding that our patents or
applications are unenforceable could harm our ability to prevent
others from practicing the related technology, and a finding that
others have inventorship or ownership rights to our patents and
applications could require us to obtain certain rights to practice
related technologies, which may not be available on favorable
terms, if at all. If we initiate lawsuits to protect or enforce our
patents, or litigate against third-party claims, which would be
expensive, and we lose, we may lose some of our intellectual
property rights. Furthermore, these lawsuits may divert the
attention of our management and technical personnel.
We expect to rely substantially upon trade secrets and proprietary
know-how protection for our confidential and proprietary
information, and we have taken security measures to protect this
information. These measures, however, may not provide adequate
protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other confidential
information. Among other things, we seek to protect our trade
secrets and confidential information by entering into
confidentiality agreements with employees and consultants. There
can be no assurance that any confidentiality agreements that we
have with our employees and consultants will provide meaningful
protection for our trade secrets and confidential information or
will provide adequate remedies in the event of unauthorized use or
disclosure of such information. Accordingly, there also can be no
assurance that our trade secrets will not otherwise become known or
be independently developed by competitors. Enforcing a claim that a
party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret can be
difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is
unpredictable. In addition, trade secrets may be independently
developed by others in a manner that could prevent legal recourse
by us. If any of our confidential or proprietary information, such
as our trade secrets, were to be disclosed or misappropriated, or
if any such information was independently developed by a
competitor, our competitive position could be harmed.
Any inability to effectively protect our proprietary technologies
under certain jurisdictions and legal regimes could harm our
competitive position.
Our success and ability to compete in certain jurisdictions and
under certain legal regimes depend to a large extent on our ability
to develop proprietary products and technologies and to maintain
adequate protection of our intellectual property in the United
States and other countries; this becomes increasingly important as
we expand our operations and enter into strategic collaborations
with partners to develop and commercialize products. The laws of
some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the
same extent as the laws of the United States, and we may encounter
difficulties in establishing and enforcing its proprietary rights
outside of the United States. In addition, the proprietary
positions of companies developing and commercializing tools for
molecular diagnostics, including our own, generally are uncertain
and involve complex legal and factual questions. This uncertainty
may materially affect our ability to defend or obtain patents or to
address the patents and patent applications owned or controlled by
our collaborators and licensors.
Any of these factors could adversely affect our ability to obtain
commercially relevant or competitively advantageous patent
protection for our products.
If patent regulations or standards are modified, such changes could
have a negative impact on our business.
From time to time, the U.S. Supreme Court, other federal courts,
the U.S. Congress or the USPTO may change the standards of
patentability and validity of patents within the cancer screening
and diagnostics space, and any such changes could have a negative
impact on our business.
There have been several cases involving “gene patents” and
diagnostic claims that have been considered by the U.S. Supreme
Court. In March 2012, the Supreme Court
in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories,
Inc,
found a patented diagnostic method claim unpatentable because the
relationship between a metabolite concentration and optimized
dosage was a patent-ineligible “law of nature.” In June 2013, the
Supreme Court ruled in
ACLU v. Myriad Genetics, Inc,
that an isolated genomic DNA sequence is not patent eligible while
cDNA is eligible. The
Prometheus and Myriad
decisions, as well as subsequent case law, affect the legal concept
of subject matter eligibility by seemingly narrowing the scope of
the statute defining patentable inventions.
In December 2014 and again in 2019, the USPTO published revised
guidelines for patent examiners to apply when examining process
claims for patent eligibility in view of several recent Supreme
Court decisions, including
Mayo, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics,
Inc.,
and
Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank
International,
and others. The guidance indicates that claims directed to a law of
nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea that do not meet
the eligibility requirements should be rejected as non-statutory,
patent ineligible subject matter. While these guidelines may be
subject to review and modification by the USPTO over time, we
cannot assure you that our intellectual property strategy or patent
portfolio will not be negatively impacted by the decisions
described above, rulings in other cases or changes in guidance or
procedures issued by the USPTO.
Additional substantive changes to patent law, whether new or
associated with the America Invents Act — which substantially
revised the U.S. patent system — may affect our ability to obtain,
enforce or defend our patents. Accordingly, it is not clear what,
if any, impact these substantive changes will ultimately have on
the cost of prosecuting our patent applications, our ability to
obtain patents based on our discoveries and our ability to enforce
or defend our issued patents, all of which could have a material
adverse effect on our business.
If we are not able to adequately protect our trade secrets and
other proprietary information, including the databases we manage
and to which we have access, the value of our technology and
products could be significantly diminished.
We rely on trade secret and proprietary know-how protection for our
confidential and proprietary information and have taken security
measures to protect this information. These measures, however, may
not provide adequate protection. For example, we have a policy of
requiring our consultants, advisors and collaborators, including,
for example, our strategic collaborators with whom we seek to
develop and commercialize products, to enter into confidentiality
agreements and our employees to enter into invention,
non-disclosure and in certain cases non-compete agreements.
However, breaches of our physical or electronic security systems,
or breaches caused by our employees who failing to abide by their
confidentiality obligations during or upon termination of their
employment with us, could compromise these protection efforts. Any
action we take to enforce our rights may be time-consuming,
expensive, and possibly unsuccessful. Even if successful, the
resulting remedy may not adequately compensate us for the harm
caused by the breach. These risks are heightened in countries where
laws or law enforcement practices may not protect proprietary
rights as fully as in the United States or Europe. Any unauthorized
use or disclosure of, or access to, our trade secrets, know-how or
other proprietary information, whether accidentally or through
willful misconduct, could have a material adverse effect on our
programs and our strategy, and on our ability to compete
effectively.
If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, we
may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of
interest, and our business may be adversely affected.
Failure to maintain our trademark registrations, or to obtain new
trademark registrations in the future, could limit our ability to
protect our trademarks and impede our marketing efforts in the
countries in which we operate. We may not be able to protect our
rights to trademarks and trade names which we may need to build
name recognition with potential partners or customers in our
markets of interest. As a means to enforce our trademark rights and
prevent infringement, we may be required to file trademark claims
against third parties or initiate trademark opposition proceedings.
This can be expensive and time-consuming, and possibly
unsuccessful. our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade
names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic
or determined to infringe on other marks.
Our pending trademark applications in the United States and in
other foreign jurisdictions where we may file may not be
successful. Even if these applications result in registered
trademarks, third parties may challenge these trademarks in the
future. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name
recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then we may
not be able to compete effectively, and our business may be
adversely affected.
Litigation or other proceedings resulting from either third-party
claims of patent infringement, or asserting infringement by third
parties of our technology, could be costly, time-consuming, and
could limit our ability to commercialize our products or
services.
Our success depends in part on our non-infringement of the patents
or intellectual property rights of third parties, and our ability
to successfully prevent third parties from infringing our
intellectual property. We operate in a crowded technology area in
which there has been substantial litigation and other proceedings
regarding patent and other intellectual property rights in the
genetic diagnostics industry. Third parties, including our
competitors, have asserted and may in the future assert that we are
infringing their intellectual property rights. We may also become
subject to and/or initiate future intellectual property litigation
as our product portfolio and the level of competition in our
industry grow.
Because the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, or USPTO, maintains
patent applications in secrecy until a patent application publishes
or the patent is issued, we have no way of knowing if others may
have filed patent applications covering technologies used by it or
our partners. Additionally, there may be third-party patents,
patent applications and other intellectual property relevant to our
technologies that may block or compete with our technologies. From
time-to-time we have received correspondence from third parties
alleging to hold intellectual property rights that could block our
development or commercialization of products. While none of these
inquiries to date have had any material effect on it, we may
receive inquiries in the future that could have a material effect
on our business. Even if third-party claims are without merit,
defending a lawsuit may result in substantial expense to us and may
divert the attention of management and key personnel. In addition,
we cannot provide assurance that it would prevail in any such suits
to the extent necessary to conduct our business according to our
strategic plan or that the damages or other remedies, if any,
awarded against it would not be substantial. Claims of intellectual
property infringement may require that we, or our strategic
partners, enter into unsustainably high royalty or license
agreements with third parties that may only be available on
unacceptable terms, if at all. In addition, we could experience
delays in product introductions or sales growth while we attempt to
develop non-infringing alternatives. These claims could also result
in injunctions against the further development and commercial sale
of services or products containing our technologies, which would
have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition
and results of operations.
Further, patents and patent applications owned by us may become the
subject of interference proceedings in the USPTO to determine
priority of invention, which could result in substantial cost to us
as well as a possible adverse decision as to the priority of
invention of the patent or patent application involved. An adverse
decision in an interference proceeding may result in the loss of
rights under a patent or patent application subject to such a
proceeding. We cannot predict whether, or offer any assurance that,
the patent infringement claims may initiate in the future will be
successful. We are and may become subject to counterclaims by
patent infringement defendants. Our patents may be declared invalid
or unenforceable, or narrowed in scope. Even if we prevail in an
infringement action, we cannot assure you that it would be
adequately compensated for the harm to our business. If we are
unable to enjoin third-party infringement, our revenues may be
adversely impacted and we may lose market share; and such
third-party product may continue to exist in the market, but fail
to meet our regulatory or safety standards, thereby causing
irreparable harm to our reputation as a provider of quality
products, which in turn could result in loss of market share and
have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition
and our results of operations.
In addition, our agreements with some of our customers, suppliers,
and other entities with whom we do business require us to defend or
indemnify these parties to the extent they become involved in
patent infringement claims, including the types of claims described
in this risk factor. We have agreed, and may in the future agree,
to defend or indemnify third parties if we determine it to be in
the best interests of our business relationships. If we are
required or agree to defend or indemnify third parties in
connection with any infringement claims, we could incur significant
costs and expenses that could adversely affect our business,
financial condition and results of operations.
Our use of open-source software could subject our business to
possible litigation or cause us to subject our platform to unwanted
open-source license conditions that could negatively impact our
sales.
A limited but meaningful portion of our platforms and products
incorporate open-source software, and we will incorporate
open-source software into other offerings or products in the
future. Such open-source software is generally licensed by its
authors or other third parties under open-source licenses. There is
little legal precedent governing the interpretation of certain
terms of these licenses, and therefore the potential impact of
these terms on our business is unknown and may result in
unanticipated obligations regarding our products and technologies.
If an author or other third party that distributes such open-source
software were to allege that we had not complied with
the conditions of one or more of these licenses, we could be
required to incur significant legal expenses defending against such
allegations. In addition, if we combine our proprietary software
with open-source software in a certain manner, under some
open-source licenses, we could be required to release the source
code of our proprietary software, which could substantially help
our competitors develop products that are similar to or better than
our products.
We rely on strategic collaborative and licensing arrangements with
third parties to develop critical intellectual property. We may not
be able to successfully establish and maintain such intellectual
property.
The development and commercialization of our products and services
rely, directly or indirectly, upon strategic collaborations and
licensing agreements with third parties. Such arrangements provide
us with intellectual property and other business rights crucial to
our product development and commercialization. We have incorporated
licensed technology into our tests. Our dependence on licensing,
collaboration and other similar agreements with third parties may
subject it to a number of risks. There can be no assurance that any
current contractual arrangements between us and third parties or
between our strategic partners and other third parties will be
continued on materially similar terms and will not be breached or
terminated early. Any failure to obtain or retain the rights to
necessary technologies on acceptable commercial terms could require
us to re-configure our products and services, which could
negatively impact their commercial sale or increase the associated
costs, either of which could materially harm our business and
adversely affect our future revenues and ability to achieve
sustained profitability.
We expect to continue and expand our reliance on collaborative and
licensing arrangements. Establishing new strategic collaborations
and licensing arrangements is difficult and time-consuming.
Discussions with potential collaborators or licensors may not lead
to the establishment of collaborations on favorable terms, if at
all. To the extent we agree to work exclusively with one
collaborator in a given area, our opportunities to collaborate with
other entities could be limited. Potential collaborators or
licensors may reject collaborations with it based upon their
assessment of our financial, regulatory or intellectual property
position or other factors. Even if we successfully establish new
collaborations, these relationships may never result in the
successful commercialization of any product or service. In
addition, the success of the projects that require collaboration
with third parties will be dependent on the continued success of
such collaborators. There is no guarantee that our collaborators
will continue to be successful and, as a result, we may expend
considerable time and resources developing products or services
that will not ultimately be commercialized.
Risks Related to Cybersecurity, Privacy and Information
Technology
Interruption, interference with, or failure of our information
technology and communications systems could hurt our ability to
effectively provide our products and services, which could harm our
reputation, financial condition, and operating
results.
The availability of our products and services and fulfillment of
our customer contracts depend on the continuing operation of our
information technology and communications systems. Our systems are
vulnerable to damage, interference, or interruption from terrorist
attacks, natural disasters, the effects of climate change (such as
sea level rise, drought, flooding, wildfires, and increased storm
severity), power loss, telecommunications failures, computer
viruses, ransomware attacks, computer denial of service attacks,
phishing schemes, or other attempts to harm or access our systems.
Some of our data centers are located in areas with a high risk of
major earthquakes or other natural disasters. Our data centers are
also subject to break-ins, sabotage, and intentional acts of
vandalism, and, in some cases, to potential disruptions resulting
from problems experienced by facility operators. Some of our
systems are not fully redundant, and disaster recovery planning
cannot account for all eventualities.
The occurrence of a natural disaster, closure of a facility, or
other unanticipated problems at our data centers could result in
lengthy interruptions in our service. In addition, our products and
services are highly technical and complex and may contain errors or
vulnerabilities, which could result in interruptions in or failure
of our services or systems.
Security breaches, privacy issues, loss of data and other incidents
could compromise sensitive, protected, or personal information
related to our business, could prevent it from accessing critical
information, and could expose it to regulatory liability, which
could adversely affect our business.
In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store
sensitive data, including PHI, personally identifiable information,
genetic information, credit card information, intellectual property
and proprietary business information owned or controlled by us or
our customers, payers and other parties. We manage and maintain our
applications and data utilizing a combination of on-site systems,
managed data center systems and cloud-based systems. We also
communicate PHI and other sensitive patient data through our
various customer tools and platforms. In addition to storing and
transmitting sensitive data that is subject to multiple legal
protections, these applications and data encompass a wide variety
of business-critical information including research and development
information, commercial information, and business and financial
information. We face a number of risks relative to protecting this
critical information, including loss of access risk, inappropriate
disclosure, inappropriate modification, and the risk of our being
unable to adequately monitor and modify our controls over our
critical information. Any technical problems that may arise in
connection with the data that we access and our systems, including
those that are hosted by third-party providers, could result in
interruptions to our business and operations or exposure to
security vulnerabilities. These types of problems may be caused by
a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, intentional
or accidental human actions or omissions, software errors, malware,
viruses, security attacks, fraud, spikes in customer usage and
denial of service issues. From time to time, large third-party web
hosting providers have experienced outages or other problems that
have resulted in their systems being offline and inaccessible. Such
outages could materially impact our business and
operations.
The secure processing, storage, maintenance and transmission of
this critical information are vital to our operations and business
strategy, and we devote significant resources to protecting such
information. Although we take what we believe to be reasonable and
appropriate measures, including a formal, dedicated enterprise
security program, to protect sensitive information from various
compromises (including unauthorized access, disclosure, or
modification or lack of availability), our information technology
and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or
viruses or breached due to employee error, malfeasance or other
disruptions. Any such breach or interruption could compromise our
networks and the information stored therein could be accessed by
unauthorized parties, altered, publicly disclosed, lost or
stolen.
Further, some of our customer tools and platforms are currently
accessible through a portal and there is no guarantee that we can
protect our portal from a security breach. Unauthorized access,
loss or dissemination could also disrupt our operations (including
our ability to conduct our analyses, provide test results, bill
payers or patients, process claims and appeals, provide customer
assistance, conduct research and development activities, collect,
process and prepare company financial information, provide
information about our tests and other patient and physician
education and outreach efforts through our website, and manage the
administrative aspects of our business) and damage our reputation,
any of which could adversely affect our business. In addition to
data security risks, we also face privacy risks. Should we actually
violate, or be perceived to have violated, any privacy promises our
business makes to patients or consumers, it could be subject to a
complaint from an affected individual or interested privacy
regulator, such as the FTC, a state Attorney General, an EU Member
State Data Protection Authority, or a data protection authority in
another international jurisdiction. This risk is heightened given
the sensitivity of the data we collect.
Any security compromise that causes an apparent privacy violation
could also result in legal claims or proceedings; liability under
federal, state, foreign, or multinational laws that regulate the
privacy, security, or breach of personal information, such as but
not limited to the HIPAA, HITECH, state data security and data
breach notification laws, the EU’s GDPR, the UK Data Protection Act
of 2018; and related regulatory penalties. Penalties for failure to
comply with a requirement of HIPAA or HITECH vary significantly,
and, depending on the knowledge and culpability of the
HIPAA-regulated entity, may include civil monetary penalties of up
to $1.5 million per calendar year for each provision of HIPAA that
is violated. A person who knowingly obtains or discloses
individually identifiable health information in violation of HIPAA
may face a criminal penalty of up to $50,000 and up to one-year
imprisonment. The criminal penalties increase if the wrongful
conduct involves false pretenses or the intent to sell, transfer or
use identifiable health information for commercial advantage,
personal gain or malicious
harm. Penalties for unfair or deceptive acts or practices under the
FTC Act or state Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices, or UDAP,
statutes may also vary significantly.
There has been unprecedented activity in the development of data
protection regulation around the world. As a result, the
interpretation and application of consumer, health-related and data
protection laws in the United States, Europe and elsewhere are
often uncertain, contradictory and in flux. The GDPR took effect on
May 25, 2018. The GDPR took effect on May 25, 2018. The GDPR
applies to any entity established in the EU as well as
extraterritorially to any entity outside the EU that offers goods
or services to, or monitors the behavior of, individuals who are
located in the EU. The GDPR imposes strict requirements on
controllers and processors of personal data, including enhanced
protections for “special categories” of personal data, which
includes sensitive information such as health and genetic
information of data subjects. The GDPR also grants individuals
various rights in relation to their personal data, including the
rights of access, rectification, objection to certain processing
and deletion. The GDPR provides an individual with an express right
to seek legal remedies if the individual believes his or her rights
have been violated. Failure to comply with the requirements of the
GDPR or the related national data protection laws of the member
states of the EU, which may deviate from or be more restrictive
than the GDPR, may result in significant administrative fines
issued by EU regulators. Maximum penalties for violations of the
GDPR are capped at 20 million euros or 4% of an organization’s
annual global revenue, whichever is greater.
Further, the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU, often
referred to as Brexit, has created uncertainty with regard to data
protection regulation in the United Kingdom. In particular, it is
still unclear whether the transfer of personal information from the
EU to the United Kingdom will in the future remain lawful under the
GDPR. The United Kingdom-EU post-Brexit trade deal provides that
transfers of personal information to the United Kingdom will not be
treated as restricted transfers to a non-EU country for a period of
up to six months from January 1, 2021. However, unless the EU
Commission makes an “adequacy finding” with respect to the United
Kingdom before the end of that transition period, from that date
the United Kingdom will be a “third country” under the GDPR and
transfers of personal information from the EU to the United Kingdom
will require an “adequacy mechanism,” such as the
SCCs.
Additionally, the implementation of GDPR has led other
jurisdictions to either amend or propose legislation to amend their
existing data privacy and cybersecurity laws to resemble the
requirements of GDPR. For example, on June 28, 2018, California
adopted the CCPA. The CCPA regulates how certain for-profit
businesses that meet one or more CCPA applicability thresholds
collect, use, and disclose the personal information of consumers
who reside in California. Among other things, the CCPA confers to
California consumers the right to receive notice of the categories
of personal information that will be collected by a business, how
the business will use and share the personal information, and the
third parties who will receive the personal information; the CCPA
also confers rights to access, delete, or transfer personal
information; and the right to receive equal service and pricing
from a business after exercising a consumer right granted by the
CCPA. In addition, the CCPA allows California consumers the right
to opt out of the “sale” of their personal information, which the
CCPA defines broadly as any disclosure of personal information to a
third party in exchange for monetary or other valuable
consideration. The CCPA also requires a business to implement
reasonable security procedures to safeguard personal information
against unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. California amended
the law in September 2018 to exempt all PHI collected by certain
parties subject to HIPAA, and further amended the law in September
2020 to clarify that de-identified data as defined under HIPAA will
also be exempt from the CCPA. The California Attorney General’s
final regulations implementing the CCPA took effect on August 14,
2020. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well
as a private right of action for data breaches resulting from a
business’s failure to implement and maintain reasonable data
security procedures that is expected to increase data breach
litigation. In addition, California voters recently approved the
California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, or CPRA, that is scheduled
to go into effect on January 1, 2023. The CPRA would, among other
things, amend the CCPA to give California residents the ability to
limit the use of their sensitive information, provide for penalties
for CPRA violations concerning California residents under the age
of 16, and establish a new California Privacy Protection Agency to
implement and enforce the law. Other jurisdictions in the United
States are beginning to propose laws similar to CCPA. Some
observers have noted that the CCPA could mark the beginning of a
trend toward more stringent privacy legislation, which could
increase our potential liability and adversely affect our business,
results of operations, and financial condition.
It is possible the GDPR, CCPA and other emerging United States and
international data protection laws may be interpreted and applied
in manner that is inconsistent with our practices. If so, this
could result in government-imposed fines or orders requiring that
we change our practices, which could adversely affect our business.
In addition, these privacy laws and regulations may differ from
country to country and state to state, and our obligations under
these laws and regulations vary based on the nature of our
activities in the particular jurisdiction, such as whether we
collect samples from individuals in the local jurisdiction, perform
testing in the local jurisdiction, or process personal information
regarding employees or other individuals in the local jurisdiction.
Complying with these various laws and regulations could cause us to
incur substantial costs or require it to change our business
practices and compliance procedures in a manner adverse to our
business. We can provide no assurance that it is or will remain in
compliance with diverse privacy and data security requirements in
all of the jurisdictions in which we do business. Failure to comply
with privacy and data security requirements could result in a
variety of consequences, or damage to our reputation, any of which
could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Data privacy and security concerns relating to our technology and
our practices could damage our reputation, subject it to
significant legal and financial exposure, and deter current and
potential users or customers from using our products and services.
Software bugs or defects, security breaches, and attacks on our
systems could result in the improper disclosure and use of user
data and interference with our users and customers’ ability to use
our products and services, harming our business operations and
reputation.
Concerns about our practices with regard to the collection, use,
disclosure, or security of personal information or other
data-privacy-related matters, even if unfounded, could harm our
reputation, financial condition, and operating results. Our
policies and practices may change over time as expectations
regarding privacy and data change.
Our products and services involve the storage and transmission of
protected health information and other personal information,
proprietary information, and bugs, theft, misuse, defects,
vulnerabilities in our products and services, and security breaches
expose it to a risk of loss of this information, improper use and
disclosure of such information, litigation, and other potential
liability. Systems and control failures, security breaches, failure
to comply with our privacy policies, and/or inadvertent disclosure
of user data could result in government and legal exposure,
seriously harm our reputation and brand and, therefore, our
business, and impair our ability to attract and retain users or
customers. We expect to continue to expend significant resources to
maintain security protections that shield against bugs, theft,
misuse, or security vulnerabilities or breaches.
We experience cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized
access to our systems on a regular basis. We may experience future
security issues, whether due to employee error or malfeasance or
system errors or vulnerabilities in our or other parties’ systems,
which could result in significant legal and financial exposure.
Government inquiries and enforcement actions, litigation, and
adverse press coverage could harm our business. We may be unable to
anticipate or detect attacks or vulnerabilities or implement
adequate preventative measures. Attacks and security issues could
also compromise trade secrets and other sensitive information,
harming our business.
While we have dedicated significant resources to privacy and
security incident response capabilities, including dedicated
worldwide incident response teams, our response process may not be
adequate, may fail to accurately assess the severity of an
incident, may not respond quickly enough, or may fail to
sufficiently remediate an incident. As a result, we may suffer
significant legal, reputational, or financial exposure, which could
harm our business, financial condition, and operating
results.
We depend on our scientific computing and information technology
and management systems and any failure of these systems could harm
our business.
We depend on scientific computing and information technology and
management systems, including third-party cloud computing
infrastructure, operating systems and artificial intelligence
platforms, for significant elements of our operations, including
our laboratory information management system, clinical database,
analytical platform, laboratory workflow tools, customer and
collaborator reporting and related functions. We also depend on our
proprietary workflow software to support new product and service
launches and regulatory compliance.
We use complex software processes and bioinformatic pipelines to
manage samples and evaluate sequencing result data. These are
subject to initial design or ongoing modifications which may result
in unanticipated issues that could cause variability in patient
results, leading to service disruptions or errors, resulting in
liability.
We have installed, and expects to expand, a number of enterprise
software systems that affect a broad range of business processes
and functional areas, including systems laboratory operations,
handling human resources, financial controls and reporting,
contract management, regulatory compliance and other infrastructure
operations, and patient consent and information management. In
addition to these business systems, we have installed, and intends
to extend, the capabilities of both our preventative and detective
security controls by augmenting the monitoring and alerting
functions, the network design and the automatic countermeasure
operations of our technical systems. These information technology
and telecommunications systems support a variety of functions,
including laboratory operations, test validation, sample tracking,
quality control, customer service support, billing and
reimbursement, research and development activities, scientific and
medical curation and general administrative activities. In
addition, our third-party billing and collections provider depends
upon technology and telecommunications systems provided by outside
vendors.
Information technology and telecommunications systems are
vulnerable to damage from a variety of sources, including
telecommunications or network failures, malicious internal or
external human acts and natural disasters. Moreover, despite
network security and back-up measures, some of our servers are
potentially vulnerable to physical or electronic break-ins,
computer viruses and similar disruptive problems. Despite the
precautionary measures we have taken to prevent unanticipated
problems that could affect our information technology and
telecommunications systems, failures or significant downtime of
these systems or those used by our collaborators or subcontractors
could prevent it from conducting our comprehensive screening
analysis, clinical diagnostics and drug discovery, preparing and
providing reports to researchers, clinicians and our collaborators,
billing payers, handling physician inquiries, conducting research
and development activities and managing the administrative aspects
of our business. Any disruption or loss of information technology
or telecommunications systems on which critical aspects of our
operations depend could have an adverse effect on our business and
our reputation, and we may be unable to regain or repair our
reputation in the future.
Our ability to transfer data stored outside of the United States
could be limited by international regulations or other action by
foreign governments, which could adversely affect our
business.
Some of the data we process in the ordinary course of our business
may be stored outside of the United States. In order to process
such data, we may need to transfer them to countries other than
those where they are stored. Should a foreign government adopt a
regulation restricting the international transfer of such data, we
may not be able to process them, which could adversely impact our
business.
Risks Related to Being a Public Company
We will incur increased costs and demands on management as a result
of compliance with laws and regulations applicable to public
companies, which could harm our operating results.
As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and
other expenses, including costs associated with public company
reporting requirements. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of
2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules implemented by the
SEC and Nasdaq, impose a number of requirements on public
companies, including with respect to corporate governance
practices. The SEC and other regulators have continued to adopt new
rules and regulations and make additional changes to existing
regulations that require the company’s compliance. In addition, the
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the
Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in 2010, includes significant corporate
governance and executive-compensation-related provisions. Our
management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial
amount of time to these compliance and disclosure obligations. If
these requirements divert the attention of our management and
personnel from other aspects of our business concerns, they could
have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition
and results of operations. Moreover, these rules and regulations
applicable to public companies substantially could increase our
legal, accounting and financial compliance costs, require that we
hire additional personnel and make some activities more time
consuming and costly.
A market for our securities may not continue, which would adversely
affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
The price of our securities may fluctuate significantly due to
general market and economic conditions. An active trading market
for our securities may not be sustained. In addition, the price of
our securities can vary due to general economic conditions and
forecasts, our general business condition and the release of our
financial reports. You may be unable to sell your securities when
desired or at an acceptable price unless an active trading market
can be sustained.
If we do not meet the expectations of investors, stockholders or
financial analysts, the market price of our securities may
decline.
If we do not meet the expectations of investors or securities
analysts, the market price of our securities may decline. In
addition, fluctuations in the price of our securities could
contribute to the loss of all or part of your investment. If an
active market for our securities does not continue, the trading
price of our securities could be volatile and subject to wide
fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are
beyond our control. Any of the factors listed below could have a
material adverse effect on your investment in our securities and
our securities may trade at prices significantly below the price
you paid for them. In such circumstances, the trading price of our
securities may not recover and may experience a further
decline.
Factors affecting the trading price of our securities may
include:
•actual
or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly financial results or
the quarterly financial results of companies perceived to be
similar to us;
•changes
in the market’s expectations about our operating
results;
•the
public’s reaction to our press releases, our other public
announcements and our filings with the SEC;
•speculation
in the press or investment community;
•announcements
of technological innovation, new products, acquisitions, strategic
alliances, significant agreements by us or
competitors;
•success
of competitors;
•our
operating results falling below our financial guidance or other
projections or failing to meet the expectation of securities
analysts or investors in a particular period;
•changes
in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts
concerning us or the market in general;
•operating
and stock price performance of other companies that investors deem
comparable to us;
•our
ability to market new and enhanced products on a timely
basis;
•changes
in laws and regulations affecting our business;
•commencement
of, or involvement in, litigation involving us;
•changes
in our capital structure, such as future issuances of securities or
the incurrence of additional debt (including the potential issuance
of shares of common stock in connection with the pending
Acquisition of GeneDx and the Acquisition PIPE
Investment);
•the
inability to complete the Acquisition due to the failure to satisfy
the conditions to the consummation of the Acquisition, including
receipt of the required stockholder approval or the required
regulatory approvals;
•risks
that the proposed Acquisition disrupts our current plans and
operations or affects our ability to retain or recruit key
employees;
•risks
related to the Acquisition diverting management’s or employees’
attention from ongoing business operations;
•the
effect of the pending Acquisition on our business relationships
(including, without limitation customers, strategic partners,
collaborators and suppliers), operating results and business
generally;
•the
amount of the costs, fees, expenses and charges related to the
Acquisition;
•the
volume of shares of our common stock available for public
sale;
•any
major change in our Board or management;
•sales
of substantial amounts of common stock by our directors, officers
or significant stockholders or the perception that such sales could
occur;
•the
expiration of the market stand-off or contractual lock-up
agreements;
•the
realization of any of the risk factors described
herein;
•additions
or departures of key personnel;
•failure
to comply with the requirements of Nasdaq;
•failure
to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or other laws or
regulations;
•actual,
potential or perceived control, accounting or reporting
problems;
•changes
in accounting principles, policies and guidelines; and
•general
economic and political conditions such as recessions, inflation and
interest rates, fuel prices, international currency fluctuations
and acts of war or terrorism.
Broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market
price of our securities irrespective of our operating performance.
The stock market in general and Nasdaq have experienced price and
volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or
disproportionate to the operating performance of the particular
companies affected. The trading prices and valuations of these
stocks, and of our securities, may not be predictable. A loss of
investor confidence in the market for the stocks of other companies
which investors perceive to be similar to us could depress our
stock price regardless of our business, prospects, financial
conditions or results of operations. A decline in the market price
of our securities also could adversely affect our ability to issue
additional securities and our ability to obtain additional
financing in the future.
In the past, securities class action litigation has often been
initiated against companies following periods of volatility in
their stock price. This type of litigation could result in
substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and
resources, and could also require us to make substantial payments
to satisfy judgments or to settle litigation.
If securities or industry analysts cease publishing research or
reports about us, our business, or our market, or if they change
their recommendations regarding our common stock adversely, then
the price and trading volume of our common could
decline.
The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the
research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish
about us, our business, our market, or our competitors. If any of
the analysts who cover us change their recommendation regarding our
stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations
about our competitors, the price of our common stock would likely
decline. If any analyst who covers us were to cease
coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could
lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our
stock price or trading volume to decline.
Changes in laws, regulations or rules, or a failure to comply with
any laws, regulations or rules, may adversely affect our business,
investments and results of operations.
We are subject to laws, regulations and rules enacted by national,
regional and local governments and Nasdaq. In particular, we are
required to comply with certain SEC, Nasdaq and other legal or
regulatory requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of,
applicable laws, regulations and rules may be difficult, time
consuming and costly. Those laws, regulations or rules and their
interpretation and application may also change from time to time
and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our
business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a
failure to comply with applicable laws, regulations or rules, as
interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on
our business and results of operations.
Anti-takeover provisions contained in our Amended and Restated
Certificate of Incorporation and Restated Bylaws, as well as
provisions of Delaware law, could impair a takeover
attempt.
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (which we
refer to as our “Charter”) contains provisions that may discourage
unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be
in their best interests. We are also subject to anti-takeover
provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a
change of control. Together, these provisions may make more
difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions
that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing
market prices for our securities. These provisions will
include:
•no
cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the
ability of minority stockholders to elect director
candidates;
•a
classified board of directors with three-year staggered terms,
which could delay the ability of stockholders to change the
membership of a majority of the Board;
•the
requirement that directors may only be removed from the Board for
cause;
•the
right of our Board to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by
the expansion of our Board or the resignation, death or removal of
a director in certain circumstances, which prevents stockholders
from being able to fill vacancies on our Board;
•a
prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces
stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of
our stockholders;
•a
prohibition on stockholders calling a special meeting and the
requirement that a meeting of stockholders may only be called by a
majority of the board, our chairman of the board or our chief
executive officer and may not be called by any other person, which
may delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of
a proposal or to take action, including the removal of
directors;
•the
requirement that changes or amendments to certain provisions of our
Charter must be approved by holders of at least two-thirds of our
common stock; and
•advance
notice procedures that stockholders must comply with in order to
nominate candidates to our Board or to propose matters to be acted
upon at a meeting of stockholders, which may discourage or deter a
potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to
elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting
to obtain control of us.
The JOBS Act permits “emerging growth companies” like us to take
advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements
applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth
companies.
We currently qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined in
Section 2(a)(19) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS
Act. As such, we take advantage of certain exemptions from various
reporting requirements applicable to other public companies that
are not emerging growth companies for as long as we continue to be
an emerging growth company, including: (i) the exemption from the
auditor attestation requirements with respect to internal control
over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act; (ii) the exemptions from say-on-pay, say-on-frequency and
say-on-golden parachute voting requirements; and (iii) reduced
disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our
periodic reports. As a result, our stockholders may not have access
to certain information they deem important. We will remain an
emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of
the fiscal year: (a) following September 1, 2025, the fifth
anniversary of the initial public offering of CMLS; (b) in which we
have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion; or (c)
in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means
the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates
exceeds $700.0 million as of the prior June 30th, and (ii) the date
on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible
debt during the prior three-year period.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an
emerging growth company can take advantage of the exemption from
complying with new or revised accounting standards provided in
Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act as long as we are an
emerging growth company. An emerging growth company can therefore
delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those
standards would otherwise apply to private companies. The JOBS Act
provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended
transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to
non-emerging growth companies, but any such election to opt out is
irrevocable. We have elected to avail ourselves of such extended
transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or
revised and it has different application dates for public or
private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the
new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new
or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial
statements with another public company that is neither an emerging
growth company nor an emerging growth company that has opted out of
using the extended transition period difficult or impossible
because of the potential differences in accounting standards
used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in
Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may
take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations,
including, among other things, providing only two years of audited
consolidated financial statements. We will remain a smaller
reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which
(i) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates
exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (ii) our annual
revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year
and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates
exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.
We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less
attractive because we rely on these exemptions. If some investors
find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a
less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price
may be more volatile.
Our internal controls over financial reporting may not be effective
and our independent registered public accounting firm may not be
able to certify as to their effectiveness, which could have a
significant and adverse effect on our business and
reputation.
As a public company, we are required to comply with the SEC’s rules
implementing Sections 302 and 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which
require management to certify financial and other information in
our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management
report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial
reporting. To comply with the requirements of being a public
company, we are required to provide management’s assessment on
internal controls, and we may need to undertake various actions,
such as implementing additional internal controls and procedures
and hiring additional accounting or internal audit staff. Further,
as an emerging growth company, our independent registered public
accounting firm is not required to formally attest to the
effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting
pursuant to Section 404 until the date we are no longer an emerging
growth company. At such time, our independent registered public
accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event
that it is not satisfied with the level at which the controls of
the company are documented, designed or operating.
Testing and maintaining these controls can divert our management’s
attention from other matters that are important to the operation of
our business. If we identify material weaknesses in the internal
control over financial reporting of the company or are unable to
comply with the requirements of Section 404 or assert that our
internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our
independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express
an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal controls over
financial reporting when we no longer qualify as an emerging growth
company, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and
completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our
common stock could be negatively affected, and we could become
subject to investigations by the SEC or other regulatory
authorities, which could require additional financial and
management resources.
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation designates
the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and federal court
within the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for certain
types of actions and proceedings that our stockholders may
initiate, which could limit a stockholder’s ability to obtain a
favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors,
officers or employees.
Our Charter designates the Court of Chancery of the State of
Delaware and federal court within the State of Delaware as the
exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that
our stockholders may initiate, which could limit a stockholder’s
ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us
or our directors, officers or employees.
Our Charter provides that, subject to limited exceptions, the Court
of Chancery of the State of Delaware and federal court within the
State of Delaware will be exclusive forums for any:
•derivative
action or proceeding brought on our behalf;
•action
asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by, or other
wrongdoing by, any of our directors, officers, stockholders,
employees or agents to us or our stockholders;
•action
asserting a claim against the us or any of our directors, officers,
stockholders, employees or agents arising pursuant to any provision
of the General Corporation Law, our Charter or our Restated Bylaws
(which we refer to as our “Bylaws”) or as to which the General
Corporation Law confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery of
the State of Delaware:
•action
to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our
Charter or our Bylaws; or
•other
action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors,
officers, stockholders, employees or agents that is governed by the
internal affairs doctrine.
This choice of forum provision does not apply to actions brought to
enforce a duty or liability created under the Exchange Act or any
other claim for which federal courts have jurisdiction.
Furthermore, in accordance with our Bylaws, unless we consent in
writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal
district courts of the United States will be, to the fullest extent
permitted by law, the exclusive forum for the resolution of any
complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities
Act. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or
holding any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to
have notice of and consented to our exclusive forum provision in
our Bylaws and the choice of forum provision in our
Charter.
These provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim
in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or
any of our directors, officers, or other employees, which may
discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if
a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in
our Charter to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we
may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in
other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, results of
operations and financial condition.
The stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance
with the federal securities laws and the regulations promulgated
thereunder.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding
any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have
notice of and consented to our exclusive forum provisions,
including the choice of forum provision. These provisions may limit
a stockholders’ ability to bring a claim, and may result in
increased costs for a stockholder to bring a claim in a judicial
forum of their choosing for disputes with us or our directors,
officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against
us and our directors, officers, and other employees.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock and Warrants
We may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner that may
be adverse to holders with the approval by the holders of at least
50% of the then-outstanding public warrants. As a result, the
exercise price of a holder’s public warrants could be increased,
the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of
our common stock purchasable upon exercise of a public warrant
could be decreased, all without the approval of that warrant
holder.
Our public warrants were issued in registered form under a warrant
agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company,
as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the
terms of the public warrants may be amended without the consent of
any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective
provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50%
of the then-outstanding public warrants to make any change that
adversely affects the interests of the registered holders.
Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a
manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the
then-outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment.
Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with
the consent of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants
is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to,
among other things, increase the exercise price of the public
warrants, convert the warrants into cash or stock, shorten the
exercise period or decrease the number of shares of common stock
purchasable upon exercise of a public warrant.
We may redeem unexpired public warrants prior to their exercise at
a time that is disadvantageous to warrant holders, thereby making
their public warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding public warrants at any
time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration,
at a price of $0.01 per public warrant; provided that the last
reported sales price of our common stock equals or exceeds $18.00
per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends,
reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading
days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day
prior to the date on which we give notice of such redemption to the
warrant holders. If and when the public warrants become redeemable
by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable
to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all
applicable state securities laws. We will use our best efforts to
register or qualify such shares of common stock under the blue sky
laws of the state of residence in those states in which the
warrants were offered by us. Redemption of the outstanding public
warrants could force the warrant holders: (i) to exercise their
public warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when
it may be disadvantageous for them to do so; (ii) to sell their
public warrants at the then-current market price when they might
otherwise wish to hold their public warrants; or (iii) to accept
the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding
public warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be
substantially less than the market value of their public warrants.
None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so
long as they are held by CMLS Holdings LLC, or the Former Sponsor,
or its permitted transferees.
Our warrants are exercisable for our common stock, which will
increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the
public market and result in dilution to our
stockholders.
As of December 31, 2021, our public warrants are exercisable for
14,758,305 shares of common stock at $11.50 per share. Our private
warrants are exercisable for 7,236,667 shares of common stock at
$11.50 per share. The additional shares of our common stock
issuable upon exercise of our warrants will result in dilution to
the then existing holders of our common stock and increase the
number of shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of
substantial numbers of such shares in the public market could
adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
In addition, the assumptions used in preparing the pro forma
financial information may not prove to be accurate and other
factors may affect our financial condition or results of
operations. Any potential decline in our financial condition or
results of operations may cause significant variations in our stock
price.
Our warrants are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in
value of our warrants could have a material effect on our financial
results.
Included on our balance sheet as of December 31, 2021 are
derivative liabilities related to our warrants. Accounting
Standards Codification 815, Derivatives and Hedging, or ASC 815,
provides for the remeasurement of the fair value of such
derivatives at each balance sheet date, with a resulting non-cash
gain or loss related to the change in the fair value being
recognized in earnings in the statement of operations. As a result
of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements
and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly, based on
factors, which are outside of our control. Due to the recurring
fair value measurement, we expect that we will recognize non-cash
gains or losses on our warrants each reporting period and that the
amount of such gains or losses could be material.
Future resales of our common stock could cause the market price of
our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is
doing well.
Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock in the
public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the
perception in the market that the holders of a large number of
shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our
common stock.
Immediately after the closing of our July 2021 business
combination: (i) former holders of Legacy Sema4 common stock owned
approximately 64.89% of our total outstanding common stock, (ii)
holders of public shares owned 18.43% of our total outstanding
common stock, (iii) the Former Sponsor and certain of CMLS’s other
initial stockholders owned 4.61% of our total outstanding common
stock and (iv) the Merger PIPE Investors owned approximately 12.07%
of our total outstanding shares of common stock.
Although the Former Sponsor and certain of our stockholders were
subject to certain lock-up restrictions regarding the transfer of
our common stock following the consummation of the business
combination, these lock-up restrictions expired on January 18,
2022. However, certain of our existing stockholders have also
entered into support agreements in connection with the Acquisition,
whereby these stockholders have agreed to, among other things, be
bound by certain transfer restrictions. Furthermore, we have filed
a registration statement on Form S-1 related to the offer and sale
from time to time by the selling securityholders named in the
prospectus that forms a part of that registration statement of up
to 236,223,401 shares of common stock and 7,236,667 warrants, which
registration statement has been declared effective by the SEC.
Because the business combination lock-up restrictions have expired
and the registration statement is available for use, and as the
transfer restrictions under the support agreement end, the market
price of our common stock could decline if the holders of our
common stock sell them or are perceived by the market as intending
to sell them.
There is no guarantee that the public warrants will ever be in the
money, and they may expire worthless and the terms of our public
warrants may be amended.
The exercise price for the public warrants is $11.50 per share of
common stock. There is no guarantee that the public warrants will
ever be in the money prior to their expiration, and as such, the
public warrants may expire worthless.
Risks Related to the Acquisition
The Acquisition is subject to closing conditions, including
governmental, regulatory and stockholder approvals, as well as
other uncertainties and there can be no assurances as to whether
and when it may be completed. Failure to complete the Acquisition
could negatively impact our stock price, future business and
financial results.
There can be no assurance that the proposed Acquisition of GeneDx
will occur. Consummation of the Acquisition is subject to certain
customary conditions, including, without limitation: (i) the
approval by our
stockholders of the issuance of shares of common stock in
connection with the Acquisition and a related amendment to our
Charter; (ii) the expiration or early termination of the waiting
period applicable to the consummation of the Acquisition under the
Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended;
(iii) the absence of any legal requirement that prevents or makes
illegal the consummation of transactions contemplated by the Merger
Agreement; (iv) the accuracy of each party’s representations and
warranties (subject to certain qualifications); (v) each party’s
performance in all material respects of its obligations contained
in the Merger Agreement; and (vi) the absence of a material adverse
effect on each of GeneDx and our company since the date of the
Merger Agreement.
While we believe we will receive the requisite approvals, there can
be no assurance that these and other conditions to closing will be
satisfied at all or satisfied on the proposed terms and schedules
as contemplated by the parties. Satisfaction of the closing
conditions may delay the consummation of the Acquisition, and if
certain closing conditions are not satisfied prior to the end date
specified in the Merger Agreement, the parties will not be
obligated to complete the Acquisition.
If the Acquisition is not completed for any reason, we will have
incurred substantial expenses. We have incurred substantial legal,
accounting and financial advisory fees that are payable by us
whether or not the Acquisition is completed, and our management has
devoted considerable time and effort in connection with the pending
Acquisition. In particular, the Merger Agreement contains specified
termination rights for each of the parties. A failed acquisition
could materially adversely affect our business, operating results
or financial condition. In addition, the trading price of our
securities could be adversely affected to the extent that the
current price reflects an assumption that the Acquisition will be
completed.
We will be subject to business uncertainties while the Acquisition
is pending.
Uncertainty about the effect of the pending Acquisition on
employees and third parties may have an adverse effect on us. These
uncertainties may impair our ability to retain and motivate key
personnel and could cause third parties that deal with any of us or
them to defer entering into contracts or making other decisions or
seek to change existing business relationships. If key employees
depart because of uncertainty about their future roles and the
potential complexities of the Acquisition, our business could be
harmed.
We may be the target of transaction related lawsuits which could
result in substantial costs and may delay or prevent the
Acquisition from being completed.
Securities class action lawsuits and derivative lawsuits are often
brought against companies that have entered into merger agreements.
Even if the lawsuits are without merit, defending against these
claims can result in substantial costs and divert management time
and resources. An adverse judgment could result in monetary
damages, which could have a negative impact on our liquidity and
financial condition. Additionally, if a plaintiff is successful in
obtaining an injunction prohibiting completion of the Acquisition,
then that injunction may delay or prevent the Acquisition from
being completed, which may adversely affect our business, financial
condition and results of operation. There can be no assurance that
complaints will not be filed with respect to the
Acquisition.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Properties
Our corporate headquarter is located at 333 Ludlow Street, North
Tower, 8th Floor, Stamford, Connecticut 06902. Material lease
agreements include offices and laboratory facilities as shown in
the table below. We believe that our current facilities are
suitable and adequate to meet our current needs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Properties |
Term |
Space |
Stamford, CT Corporate Headquarter |
Through 2033 |
90,000 sq.ft. |
Branford, CT Laboratory |
Through 2029 |
40,000 sq.ft. |
Stamford, CT Laboratory |
Through 2046 |
67,000 sq.ft. |
New York, NY Office |
Through 2022 |
15,000 sq.ft. |
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
We, and our subsidiary, are currently not a party to, and our
property is not currently the subject of, any material pending
legal proceedings; however, we may become involved in various
claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of
business.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
None.
Part II
Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder
Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Market Information
Since July 23, 2021, our Class A common stock and public warrants
have been listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the
symbols “SMFR” and “SMFRW”, respectively. Prior to our business
combination, CMLS’s Class A common stock, CMLS’s public warrants,
and CMLS’s public units were listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market
under the symbols “CMLF”, “CMFLW”, and “CMLFU”
respectively.
Holders
As of March 7, 2022, there were 77 record holders of our Class A
common stock and 5 record holders of our public warrants, based
upon information received from our transfer agent. However, this
number does not reflect beneficial owners whose shares were held of
record by nominees or broker dealers. We believe a substantially
greater number of beneficial owners hold shares of our Class A
common stock or public warrants through brokers, banks, or other
nominees.
Dividend Policy
We have never paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We
anticipate that we will retain earnings, if any, to support
operations and to finance the growth and development of our
business. In addition, the terms of the revolving credit facility
with Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, precludes us from paying cash
dividends without the prior written consent of SVB. Therefore, we
do not expect to pay cash dividends for the foreseeable
future.
Stock Performance Graph
Not applicable.
Sale of Unregistered Securities
None.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated
Purchasers
None.
Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
and Results of Operations
You should read the following discussion and analysis of our
financial condition and results of operations together with our
consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing
elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion
contains forward-looking statements and involves numerous risks and
uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the
results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements.
You should carefully read the section entitled “Risk Factors” to
gain an understanding of the important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking
statements.
Overview
We are a patient-centered, health intelligence company with a
mission to use artificial intelligence, or AI, and machine learning
to enable personalized medicine for all. By leveraging leading data
scientists and technology, our platform powers remarkable and
unique insights that transform the practice of medicine including
how disease is diagnosed, treated, and prevented.
We were established out of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
or ISMMS, and commenced operations in June 2017 as a commercial
entity that could effectively engage diverse patient populations
and health care institutions at scale. We have since established
and deployed our comprehensive and integrated genomic and
clinical
data platform and established a mature diagnostic testing business.
We now maintain a database that includes more than 12 million
de-identified individual clinical records, many with genomic
profiles. We also manage a data asset over 47 petabytes in size,
that has been expanding at more than 1 petabyte per month with an
accelerating growth rate.
Currently, we derive the majority of our revenue from our
diagnostic test solutions. Our diagnostic business generates
revenue and engages with healthcare professionals working with
patients primarily through our Women’s Health and Oncology
solutions.
Our Women’s Health solutions sequence and analyze an
industry-leading number of genes and use interpretive information
tools to translate raw sequencing and clinical data efficiently and
accurately into digestible clinical reports that guide
decision-making by patients and physicians. Our Oncology diagnostic
solutions feature both somatic tumor profiling and hereditary
cancer screenings, along with a foundational whole exome and whole
transcriptome sequencing approach. Our Sema4 Signal Hereditary
Cancer solution determines if a patient carries an inherited
genetic change that increases the risk of cancer or informs on
cancer treatment. We believe our Signal Whole Exome and
Transcriptome solution is one of the most comprehensive molecular
profiling solutions from a commercial entity to receive New York
State approval. Beginning in May of 2020, we also expanded our
diagnostic testing services to include testing for the presence of
COVID-19, which we intend to discontinue by March 31,
2022.
We have also expanded beyond diagnostic testing to enter into
service agreements with third parties to provide diagnostic
testing, research, and related data aggregation reporting services.
We have established and continue to seek strategic relationships
with pharmaceutical and biotech, or Biopharma, companies to enable
innovation across the entire drug lifecycle, from next-generation
drug discovery and development, to post-market efficacy
surveillance, to informing on bioavailability, toxicity,
tolerability, and other features critical to drug
development.
Factors Affecting Our Performance
We believe several important factors have impacted, and will
continue to impact, our performance and results of operations.
While each of these areas presents significant opportunities for
us, they also pose significant risks and challenges that we must
address. See the section titled
“Item
1A. Risk Factors”
for more information.
Number of resulted tests
We historically reported both accessioned and resulted tests as
important factors impacting our performance. A test is resulted
once the appropriate workflow is completed and details are provided
to the ordered patients or healthcare professional for reviews,
which corresponds to the timing of our revenue recognition. We
believe the number of resulted tests in any period is more
important and useful to our investors because it directly
correlates with long-term patient relationships and the size of our
genomic database. Therefore, we do not plan to report the number of
accessioned tests.
Success obtaining and maintaining reimbursement
Our ability to increase the number of billable tests and our
revenue therefrom will depend on our success in achieving
reimbursement for our tests from third-party payors. Reimbursement
by a payor may depend on several factors, including a payor’s
determination that a test is appropriate, medically necessary,
cost-effective, and has received prior authorization. Since each
payor makes its own decision as to whether to establish a policy or
enter into a contract to provide coverage for our tests, as well as
the amount it will reimburse us for a test, seeking these approvals
is a time-consuming and costly process.
In cases where we or our partners have established reimbursement
rates with third-party payors, we face additional challenges in
complying with their procedural requirements for reimbursement.
These requirements often vary from payor to payor and are
reassessed by third-party payors regularly. As a result, in the
past we have needed additional time and resources to comply with
the requirements.
We expect to continue to focus our resources on increasing the
adoption of, and expanding coverage and reimbursement for, our
current and any future tests we may develop or acquire. If we fail
to expand and maintain broad adoption of, and coverage and
reimbursement for, our tests, our ability to generate revenue and
our future business prospects may be adversely
affected.
Ability to lower the costs associated with performing our
tests
Reducing the costs associated with performing our diagnostic tests
is both our focus and a strategic objective. We source, and will
continue to source, components of our diagnostic testing workflows
from third parties. We also rely upon third-party service providers
for data storage and workflow management.
Increasing adoption of our services by existing and new
customers
Our performance depends on our ability to retain and broaden the
adoption of our services with existing customers as well as our
ability to attract new customers. Our success in retaining and
gaining new customers is dependent on the market’s confidence in
our services and the willingness of customers to continue to seek
more comprehensive and integrated genomic and clinical data
insights.
Investment in platform innovation to support commercial
growth
We are seeking to leverage and deploy our Centrellis and Traversa
platforms to develop a pipeline of future disease-specific research
and diagnostic and therapeutic products and services. We have
limited experience in the development or commercialization of
clinical or research products in connection with our database and
our Centrellis platform.
We operate in a rapidly evolving and highly competitive industry.
Our business faces changing technologies, shifting provider and
patient needs, and frequent introductions of rival products and
services. To compete successfully, we must accurately anticipate
technology developments and deliver innovative, relevant, and
useful products, services, and technologies on time. As our
business evolves, the competitive pressure to innovate will
encompass a wider range of products and services. We must continue
to invest significant resources in research and development,
including investments through acquisitions and partnerships. These
investments are critical to the enhancement of our current
diagnostics and health information and data science technologies
from which existing and new service offerings are
derived.
We expect to incur significant expenses to advance these
development efforts, but they may not be successful. New potential
services may fail at any stage of development and, if we determine
that any of our current or future services are unlikely to succeed,
we may abandon them without any return on our investment. If we are
unsuccessful in developing additional services, our growth
potential may be impaired.
Key Performance Indicators
We use the following key financial and operating metrics to
evaluate our business and operations, measure our performance,
identify trends affecting our business, project our future
performance, and make strategic decisions. These key financial and
operating metrics should be read in conjunction with the following
discussion of our results of operations and financial condition
together with our consolidated financial statements and the related
notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this
report.
The principal focus of our commercial operations is to offer our
diagnostic tests through both our direct sales force and laboratory
distribution partners. Test volume correlates with genomic database
size and long-term patient relationships. Thus, test volumes drive
database diversity and enable potential identification of variants
of unknown significance and population-specific insights. The
number of tests resulted is a key indicator that we use to assess
the operational efficiency of our business. Once the appropriate
workflow is completed, the test is resulted and details are
provided to ordered patients or healthcare professionals for
reviews.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, we resulted 709,942 tests
in our laboratories, 418,053 tests of which were for COVID-19,
compared to the period ended December 31, 2020, in which we
resulted approximately 540,407 tests in our laboratories, 332,764
of which were for COVID-19. This 31% increase in resulted volume
from 2020 to 2021 largely resulted from newly entered service
agreements for COVID-19 testing as well as an increase in
non-COVID-19 institutional testing. During the year ended December
31, 2019, we resulted approximately 155,497 tests in our
laboratories, none of which were for COVID-19. The 248% increase in
resulted volume from 2019 to 2020 largely resulted from newly
entered service agreements for COVID-19 testing, offset by a
slowdown in the base diagnostic business during the beginning of
the COVID-19 pandemic given that many of our customers, including
hospitals and clinics, had suspended non-emergency appointments and
services.
As discussed above, we no longer report the number of accessioned
tests as a key performance indicator because the number of resulted
tests more directly correlates with long-term patient relationships
and the size of our genomic database.
COVID-19 Impact
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, an
extensive impact on the global health and economic environments
since the initial outbreak in March 2020.
Beginning in April 2020, our diagnostic test volumes decreased
significantly as compared to the prior year as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic and the related limitations and priorities across
the healthcare system. In response, beginning in May 2020, we
entered into several service agreements with state governments and
healthcare institutions to provide testing for the presence of
COVID-19 infection. COVID-19 test volumes grew significantly from
the introduction of the service offering through the remainder of
2020 and further increased in 2021. To support the rapid expansion
of COVID-19 test volumes, we increased our workforce through both
temporary contractors and employees. In addition, while most of our
revenues from genetic testing rely upon reimbursements from third
party payors, healthcare institutions, and individuals, the
majority of our COVID-19 test revenues rely upon reimbursements
from state governments and healthcare institutions. In addition,
COVID-19 testing yields lower revenues per tests and incurs lower
costs to perform each test. We have also experienced a slowdown in
receivable collections since the onset of the pandemic, but do not
expect those collection trends to continue.
As part of our response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have
implemented various strategies to mitigate operating risks, reduce
costs and improve cash collections. We have made significant
advance purchases of test-related inventory in order to reduce the
risk of potential business interruptions related to supply chain
disruption. We also contracted with third-party vendors to collect
and test COVID-19 samples to reduce operating risks related to
employee health. Temporary COVID-19 austerity measures included
cancellation of the 2020 annual merit compensation increase,
temporary salary reductions from May through July 2020 and deferral
of the 401(k) employer match from May through December 2020. The
employer match was reinstated in January 2021, and the deferred
portion was funded on March 9, 2021. To support our sales employees
with commission-based compensation structure, we implemented
temporary minimum commissions during the second quarter of 2020. No
such minimums were in place in any quarter after the second quarter
nor are any such minimums expected to be implemented again in the
near term. No employee layoffs were implemented as part of these
austerity measures.
As conditions improve, we are focused on overhauling our revenue
cycle, and as part of transformational activities hired a Chief
Revenue Officer and established a revenue cycle Center of
Excellence. As part of our efforts to improve our collection
efficiency and overall financial health, we are also undergoing
various process transformations within the Order-to-Cash and
Procure-to-Pay cycles.
While test volumes have since improved, we continue to experience
changes in the mix of tests due to the impact of the COVID-19 and
its variants. We anticipate that demand for COVID-19 tests will
decrease as vaccines continue to be developed and deployed to the
general population. For this reason, we announced in December 2021
that we had decided to discontinue COVID-19 testing services by
March 31, 2022 and began notifying our COVID-19 testing solutions
customers of this decision. We intend to dedicate all of our
efforts and resources to our core mission to transform healthcare
by using artificial intelligence to enable the delivery of
precision medicine as the standard of care, and do not expect
declines for our other revenue streams during 2022. The full extent
to which
the COVID-19 pandemic will directly or indirectly impact our
business, results of operations and financial condition will depend
on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be
accurately predicted, including new information that may emerge
concerning COVID-19 or its variants, the actions taken to contain
it or treat it and the economic impact on local, regional, national
and international markets and supply chains. Therefore, the
COVID-19 pandemic could continue to have a material impact on our
results of operations, cash flows and financial condition for the
foreseeable future.
In March 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security
Act, or the CARES Act, was signed into law which was a stimulus
bill that, among other things, provided assistance to qualifying
businesses and individuals and included funding for the healthcare
system. We received $5.4 million in 2020 as part of the stimulus,
comprised of $2.6 million received under the Provider Relief Fund,
or PRF, distribution and $2.8 million received under the Employee
Retention Credit, or ERC, distribution. During 2021, we received an
additional $5.6 million under the PRF distribution.
PRF distributions to healthcare providers are not loans and will
not be required to be repaid; however, as a condition to receiving
these payments, providers must agree to certain terms and
conditions and submit sufficient documentation demonstrating that
the funds are being used for healthcare-related expenses or lost
revenue attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have concluded it
is probable that all terms and conditions associated with the PRF
distribution have been met. As a result, we recorded the PRF
distributions in other income (expense), net in the statements of
operations and comprehensive loss during the periods in which we
received the distributions.
ERC distributions are refundable tax credits for 50% of qualified
wages paid to employees during the pandemic. A company is eligible
for the ERC if it has not received a Paycheck Protection Program
loan under the Cares Act and (1) its operations have been fully or
partially suspended because of COVID-19 or (2) its gross receipts
in a calendar quarter in 2020 declined by more than 50% from the
same period in 2019. At the time of applying for the ERC, we
concluded that it was reasonably possible the eligibility
requirements would be met; however, due to a change in
circumstances, we are re-evaluating our position. As such, we
deferred the recognition of the ERC distribution and recorded the
proceeds in other liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets as
of December 31, 2021 and 2020.
At this time, we are not certain of the availability, extent or
impact of any future relief provided under the CARES Act or other
stimulus initiatives.
Recent Developments
In January 2022, we
and our wholly-owned subsidiaries, Orion Merger Sub I, Inc., or
Merger Sub I, and Orion Merger Sub II, LLC, or Merger Sub
II,
entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization, or
the Merger Agreement, with GeneDx, Inc., a New Jersey corporation,
or GeneDx, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of OPKO Health, Inc., or
OPKO, GeneDx Holding 2, Inc., or Holdco, and OPKO to acquire 100%
of GeneDx (which we refer to as the “Acquisition”). Subject to the
terms and conditions of the Merger Agreement, we will pay
consideration to OPKO for the Acquisition of (i) $150 million in
cash at the closing of the Acquisition, subject to certain
adjustments as provided in the Merger Agreement, (ii) 80 million
shares of our Class A common stock to be issued at the closing of
the Acquisition and (iii) up to $150 million payable following the
closing of the Acquisition, if certain revenue-based milestones are
achieved for each of the fiscal years ending December 31, 2022 and
December 31, 2023. These milestone payments, if and to the extent
earned under the terms of the Merger Agreement, will be satisfied
through the payment and/or issuance of a combination of cash and
shares of our Class A common stock (valued at $4.86 per share),
with such mix to be determined in our sole discretion.
The completion of the Acquisition is subject to a number of closing
conditions (which, as of the date of this report, have not been
met), including certain regulatory and other third party approvals,
the consummation of a pre-closing restructuring and certain
approvals of our stockholders related to the Acquisition). The
Acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2022. If this
pending Acquisition is consummated, consistent with our business
model, we expect to leverage the combined health information
database of Sema4 and GeneDx to partner with additional health
systems and biopharma companies to transform patient care and
therapeutic development and enable precision medicine for
all.
Concurrently with the execution of the Merger Agreement, we entered
into subscription agreements with certain institutional investors,
pursuant to, and on the terms and subject to the conditions of
which, these investors have collectively subscribed for 50 million
shares of our Class A common stock for an aggregate purchase price
equal to $200 million (which we refer to as the “Acquisition PIPE
Investment”). The Acquisition PIPE Investment will be consummated
substantially concurrently with the closing of the
Acquisition.
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We derive the majority of our revenue from diagnostic testing
services, which primarily relate to Women’s Health, Oncology and
COVID-19. We also recognize revenue from collaboration service
agreements with Biopharma companies and other third parties
pursuant to which we provide diagnostic testing and related data
aggregation reporting services. As discussed above, in December
2021, we announced that we decided to discontinue COVID-19 testing
services by March 31, 2022 and begun notifying its COVID-19 testing
solutions customers of this decision.
We recognize revenue when control of the promised goods or services
is transferred to the customer in an amount that reflects the
consideration which we expect to be entitled to in exchange for
those goods or services.
Diagnostic Test Revenue
We primarily generate revenue from performing diagnostic testing
services for three groups of customers: healthcare professionals
working with patients with third-party insurance coverage or
without third-party insurance coverage or those who elect to
self-pay; and institutional clients, such as hospitals, clinics,
state governments and reference laboratories. Customers are billed
upon delivery of test results. The amount of revenue recognized for
diagnostic testing services depends on a number of factors, such as
contracted rates with our customers and third-party insurance
providers, insurance reimbursement policies, payor mix, historical
collection experience, price concessions and other business and
economic conditions and trends. To date, the majority of our
diagnostic test revenue has been earned from orders received for
patients with third-party insurance coverage.
Our ability to increase our diagnostic test revenue will depend on
our ability to increase our market penetration, obtain contracted
reimbursement coverage from third-party payers, enter into
contracts with institutions, and increase our reimbursement rate
for tests performed.
Other Revenue
We generate revenue from providing diagnostic testing and related
data aggregation reporting services under both short-term and
long-term project-based collaboration service agreements with third
parties. The terms of these contracts generally include
non-refundable upfront payments, which we record as contract
liabilities, and variable payments based upon the achievement of
certain milestones during the contract term.
With respect to existing collaboration service agreements, our
revenue may fluctuate period to period due to the pattern in which
we may deliver our services, our ability to achieve milestones, the
timing of costs incurred, changes in estimates of total anticipated
costs that we expect to incur during the contract period, and other
events that may not be within our control. Our ability to increase
our revenue will depend on our ability to enter into contracts with
third-party partners.
Cost of Services
The cost of services reflect the aggregate costs incurred in
performing services. These costs include expenses for reagents and
laboratory supplies, personnel-related expenses (comprising
salaries and benefits) and stock-based compensation for employees
directly involved in revenue generating activities, shipping and
handling fees, costs of third-party reference lab testing and
phlebotomy services and allocated genetic counseling, facility and
IT costs associated with delivery services. Allocated costs include
depreciation of laboratory equipment, facility occupancy, and
information technology costs. The cost of services are recorded as
the services are performed.
We expect the cost of services to generally increase in line with
the anticipated growth in diagnostic testing volume and services we
provide under our collaboration service agreements. However, we
expect the cost per test to decrease over the long term due to the
efficiencies we may gain from improved utilization of our
laboratory capacity, automation, and other value engineering
initiatives. These expected reductions may be offset by new tests
which often have a higher cost per test during the introductory
phases before we can gain efficiencies. The cost per test may
fluctuate from period to period.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses represent costs incurred to
develop our technology and future test offerings. These costs are
principally associated with our efforts to develop the software we
use to analyze data and process customer orders. These costs
primarily consist of personnel-related expenses (comprising
salaries and benefits), stock-based compensation for employees
performing research and development, innovation and product
development activities, costs of reagents and laboratory supplies,
costs of consultants and third-party services, equipment and
related depreciation expenses, non-capitalizable software
development costs, research funding to our research partners as
part of research and development agreements and allocated facility
and information technology costs associated with genomics medical
research. Research and development costs are generally expensed as
incurred and certain non-refundable advanced payments provided to
our research partners are expensed as the related activities are
performed.
We generally expect our research and development expenses to
continue to increase as we innovate and expand the application of
our platforms. However, we expect research and development expenses
to decrease as a percentage of revenue in the long term, although
the percentage may fluctuate from period to period due to the
timing and extent of our development and commercialization efforts
and fluctuations in our compensation-related charges.
Selling and Marketing Expenses
Selling and marketing expenses primarily consist of
personnel-related expenses (comprising salaries, and benefits) and
stock-based compensation for employees performing commercial sales,
account management, marketing, and allocation of genetic counseling
services related to medical education. Selling and marketing costs
are expensed as incurred.
We generally expect our selling and marketing expenses will
continue to increase in absolute dollars as we expand our
commercial sales and marketing and counseling teams and increase
marketing activities. However, we expect selling and marketing
expenses to decrease as a percentage of revenue in the long term,
subject to fluctuations from period to period due to the timing and
magnitude of these expenses.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses primarily consist of
personnel-related expenses (comprising salaries and benefits) and
stock-based compensation for employees in executive leadership,
legal, finance and accounting, human resources, information
technology, strategy and other administrative functions. In
addition, these expenses include office occupancy and information
technology costs. General and administrative costs are expensed as
incurred.
We generally expect our general and administrative expenses to
continue to increase in absolute dollars as we increase headcount
and incur costs associated with operating as a public company,
including expenses related to legal, accounting, and regulatory
matters; maintaining compliance with requirements of the Nasdaq and
of the SEC; director and officer insurance premiums and investor
relations. We expect these expenses to decrease as a percentage of
revenue in the long term as revenue increases, although the
percentage may fluctuate from period to period due to fluctuations
in our compensation-related charges.
Related Party Expenses
Related party expenses primarily consist of amounts incurred in
connection with transactions occurred with ISMMS for expenses under
our transition services agreement, or TSA, with ISMMS which expired
at the end of the
first quarter of 2021, and other service agreements. Additional
information can be found in our consolidated financial statements
in Note 7,
“Related Party Transactions”
included within this Annual Report.
We generally expect related party expenses to decrease as we
establish our own internal and external resources to fulfill the
administrative and other services we have historically procured
from ISMMS.
Interest Income
Interest income primarily consists of interest earned on money
market funds.
Interest Expense
Interest expense consists of interest costs related to our capital
leases and our long-term debt arrangements, including unused line
fee and the amortization of deferred transaction costs related to
the loan and security agreement entered into with Silicon Valley
Bank to provide a $125 million revolving credit facility described
elsewhere in this report.
Other Income, Net
Other income, net primarily consists of funding received under the
CARES Act. We recognized $2.6 million of the $5.4 million of
funding received under the CARES Act as other income, net on the
statements of operations and comprehensive loss during the year
ended December 31, 2020. We recognized $5.6 million of additional
funding received under the CARES Act during the year ended December
31, 2021 and the amount is included in other income, net for the
year ended December 31, 2021. In addition, the loss incurred due to
early payment penalties recognized upon extinguishment of debt of
$0.3 million is included in other income, net.
Results of Operations
A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of
consolidated operations for the year ended December 31, 2021
compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 and for the year ended
December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 is
presented below.
Certain expenses were previously misclassified as cost of services
and they are now reported as selling and marketing. The adjustment
is reflected in the amounts reported below for years ended December
31, 2021, 2020 and 2019. Refer to Note 2, “Summary of Significant
Accounting Policies” to our consolidated financial statements for
further information.
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and
2020
The following table sets forth our results of operations for the
periods presented:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year Ended December 31,
|
|
2021 |
|
2020 (Restated) |
|
(in thousands)
|
Revenue
|
|
|
|
Diagnostic test revenue
|
$ |
205,100 |
|
|
$ |
175,351 |
|
Other revenue
|
7,095 |
|
|
3,971 |
|
Total revenue
|
212,195 |
|
|
179,322 |
|
Cost of services
|
228,797 |
|
|
175,296 |
|
Gross (loss) profit
|
(16,602) |
|
|
4,026 |
|
Research and development
|
105,162 |
|
|
72,700 |
|
Selling and marketing
|
112,738 |
|
|
63,183 |
|
General and administrative
|
205,988 |
|
|
100,742 |
|
Related party expenses
|
5,659 |
|
|
9,395 |
|
Loss from operations
|
(446,149) |
|
|
(241,994) |
|
Other income (expense):
|
|
|
|
Change in fair market value of warrant and earn-out
contingent liabilities |
198,401 |
|
|
— |
|
Interest income
|
79 |
|
|
506 |
|
Interest expense
|
(2,835) |
|
|
(2,474) |
|
Other income, net
|
5,114 |
|
|
2,622 |
|
Total other income (expense), net
|
200,759 |
|
|
654 |
|
Loss before income taxes
|
(245,390) |
|
|
(241,340) |
|
Income tax provision
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
Net loss and comprehensive loss
|
(245,390) |
|
|
(241,340) |
|
Redeemable convertible preferred stock dividends
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
Net loss attributable to common stockholders
|
$ |
(245,390) |
|
|
$ |
(241,340) |
|
Revenue
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
Year Ended December 31, |
2020 to 2021 |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
(dollars in thousands) |
Diagnostic test revenue |
$ |
205,100 |
|
|
$ |
175,351 |
|
|
$ |
29,749 |
|
|
17 |
% |
Other revenue |
7,095 |
|
|
3,971 |
|
|
3,124 |
|
|
79 |
% |
Total revenue |
$ |
212,195 |
|
|
$ |
179,322 |
|
|
$ |
32,873 |
|
|
18 |
% |
Total revenue increased by $32.9 million, or 18%, to $212.2 million
for the year ended December 31, 2021, from $179.3 million for the
year ended December 31, 2020.
Diagnostic test revenue increased by $29.7 million, or 17%, to
$205.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, from $175.4
million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was
primarily attributable to a 135% increase in oncology test volumes,
a 38% increase in women’s health test volumes and an overall
increase in volumes of 31%, partially offset by the change in the
mix of tests performed and reduced reimbursement rates. COVID-19
testing was introduced in May of 2020, which had a lower impact on
total test volume during the year
ended December 31, 2020, compared to the year ended December 31,
2021 (with COVID-19 test volumes growing 26% year over year)
.
Other revenue increased by $3.1 million, or 79%, to $7.1 million
for the year ended December 31, 2021, from $4.0 million for the
year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily
attributable to growth in collaboration service activities due to
the execution of third-party contracts which generated $3.7 million
more in revenues in 2021 compared to 2020. This was partially
offset by reduced revenues recognized related to an existing
third-party contract by $0.8 million.
Cost of Services (2020 amount restated)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
Year Ended December 31, |
2020 to 2021 |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
(dollars in thousands) |
Cost of services |
$ |
228,797 |
|
|
$ |
175,296 |
|
|
$ |
53,501 |
|
|
31 |
% |
Cost of services increased by $53.5 million, or 31%, to $228.8
million for the year ended December 31, 2021, from $175.3 million
for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was primarily
driven by the following cost components: a $9.7 million increase in
stock-based compensation expense primarily driven by the increase
in fair value of the liability-classified awards until July 22,
2021, the closing date of our business combination, or the Closing
Date and an increase in the number of stock-based compensation
awards granted; a $7.9 million increase in personnel-related
expenses driven by an increase in average headcount; a $8.2 million
increase in consulting and outside service costs driven by
temporary hires contracted to perform COVID-19 testing activities;
a $5.0 million increase in logistical expenses and other lab
services as a result of an increase in operations; a $9.6 million
increase in reagents and laboratory supplies expense due primarily
to the 32% increase in volumes; a $2.4 million increase in software
expenses due to increased cloud storage and expanded computing
capacity requirements from New York City to Stamford, Connecticut
for testing data; a $2.1 million increase in the inventory
obsolescence reserve for expiring COVID-19 and certain carrier
screening testing kits; a $2.2 million increase in occupancy
expenses; a $5.1 million increase in depreciation expenses in
connection with our laboratory move at the end of 2020, with
production activities commencing at the Stamford facility in the
first quarter of 2021 and a $1.3 million increase in equipment
maintenance and general office expenses.
Research and Development
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
Year Ended December 31, |
2020 to 2021 |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
(dollars in thousands) |
Research and development |
$ |
105,162 |
|
|
$ |
72,700 |
|
|
$ |
32,462 |
|
|
45 |
% |
Research and development expenses increased by $32.5 million, or
45%, to $105.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, from
$72.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase
was primarily attributable to the following cost components: a
$20.5 million increase in stock-based compensation expense driven
by the increase in fair value of the liability-classified awards
until the Closing Date and an increase in the number of stock-based
compensation awards granted; a $0.9 million increase in software
expenses due to increased cloud storage; a $0.3 million increase in
personnel-related expenses driven by an increase in average
headcount a $4.8 million increase in depreciation expenses; a $3.6
million increase in expenses for reagents, laboratory supplies and
laboratory software for research and development; and a $2.2
million increase in consulting fees.
Selling and Marketing (2020 amount restated)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
Year Ended December 31, |
2020 to 2021 |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
(dollars in thousands) |
Selling and marketing |
$ |
112,738 |
|
|
$ |
63,183 |
|
|
$ |
49,555 |
|
|
78 |
% |
Selling and marketing expenses increased by $49.6 million, or 78%,
to $112.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, from $63.2
million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was
primarily attributable to the following cost components: an $17.3
million increase in stock-based compensation expense driven by the
increase in fair value of the liability-classified awards until the
Closing Date and an increase in the number of stock-based
compensation awards granted; a $19.6 million increase in
personnel-related expenses driven by increased headcount; a $4.1
million increase in consulting service expenses mainly to support
revenue cycle transformation initiatives; a $3.2 million increase
in information technology-related expenses; a $1.8 million increase
in other administrative and office expenses; a $2.0 million
increase in travel and business expenses due to the lifting of
COVID-19 travel restrictions and a $1.5 million increase in
counseling services.
General and Administrative
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
Year Ended December 31, |
2020 to 2021 |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
(dollars in thousands) |
General and administrative |
$ |
205,988 |
|
|
$ |
100,742 |
|
|
$ |
105,246 |
|
|
104 |
% |
General and administrative expenses increased by $105.3 million, or
104%, to $206.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, from
$100.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase
was primarily attributable to the following cost components: an
$51.7 million increase in stock-based compensation expense driven
by the increase in fair value of the liability-classified awards
until the Closing Date and an increase in the number of stock-based
compensation awards granted; a $21.1 million increase in
professional services incurred mainly in connection with the
business combination transaction; a $20.0 million increase in
personnel-related expenses driven by an increase in average
headcount including executive headcount; a $5.0 million increase in
software expenses due to increased cloud storage requirements; a
$7.0 million increase in insurance expenses driven by the
commencement of director’s insurance policy; and a $0.8 million
increase in capital taxes as a result of the business combination
transaction. These increases were partially offset by a $0.4
million decrease in occupancy and depreciation expenses in
connection with our laboratory move from New York City to Stamford,
Connecticut.
Related Party Expenses
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
Year Ended December 31, |
2020 to 2021 |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
(dollars in thousands) |
Related party expenses |
$ |
5,659 |
|
|
$ |
9,395 |
|
|
$ |
(3,736) |
|
|
(40) |
% |
Related party expenses decreased by $3.7 million, or 40%, to $5.7
million for the year ended December 31, 2021, from $9.4 million for
the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease was primarily
attributable to the following cost components: a $3.2 million
decrease in rent and facility expenses driven by a reduction of
office and lab space leased from ISMMS pursuant to the TSA which
ended in the first quarter of 2021; and a $0.5 million decrease in
fees associated with information technology support pursuant to the
TSA with ISMMS.
Interest Income
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
Year Ended December 31, |
2020 to 2021 |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
(dollars in thousands) |
Interest income |
$ |
79 |
|
|
$ |
506 |
|
|
$ |
(427) |
|
|
(84) |
% |
Interest income decreased by $0.4 million, or 84%, to $0.1 million
for the year ended December 31, 2021, from $0.5 million for the
year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease was due to declines in
interest rates on money market fund accounts.
Interest Expense
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
Year Ended December 31, |
2020 to 2021 |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
(dollars in thousands) |
Interest expense |
$ |
2,835 |
|
|
$ |
2,474 |
|
|
$ |
361 |
|
|
15 |
% |
Interest expense increased by $0.4 million, or 15%, to $2.8 million
for the year ended December 31, 2021, from $2.5 million for the
year ended December 31, 2020. The increase was driven by new
capital lease obligations for our Stamford laboratory facility
which commenced operations in 2021 as well as the unused line fee
and the amortization of deferred transaction costs related to the
loan and security agreement entered into with Silicon Valley Bank
at the end of 2021.
Other Income, Net
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
Year Ended December 31, |
2020 to 2021 |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
(dollars in thousands) |
Other income, net |
$ |
5,114 |
|
|
$ |
2,622 |
|
|
$ |
2,492 |
|
|
95 |
% |
Other income, net increased by $2.5 million or 95% to $5.1 million
for the year ended December 31, 2021, from $2.6 million for the
year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in other income, net was
primarily attributable to the $5.6 million in funding that we
received and recognized as other income under the CARES Act in the
first quarter of 2021, partially offset by $0.3 million in
penalties related to an early repayment of debt. This is compared
to $2.6 million in funding received in 2020.
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2020 and
2019
The following table sets forth our results of operations for the
periods presented:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year Ended December 31,
|
|
2020 (Restated) |
|
2019 (Restated) |
|
(in thousands)
|
Revenue
|
|
|
|
Diagnostic test revenue
|
$ |
175,351 |
|
|
$ |
191,667 |
|
Other revenue
|
3,971 |
|
|
4,507 |
|
Total revenue
|
179,322 |
|
|
196,174 |
|
Cost of services
|
175,296 |
|
|
113,389 |
|
Gross profit
|
4,026 |
|
|
82,785 |
|
Research and development
|
72,700 |
|
|
34,910 |
|
Selling and marketing
|
63,183 |
|
|
39,352 |
|
General and administrative
|
100,742 |
|
|
29,484 |
|
Related party expenses
|
9,395 |
|
|
9,452 |
|
Loss from operations
|
(241,994) |
|
|
(30,413) |
|
Other income (expense):
|
|
|
|
Interest income
|
506 |
|
|
988 |
|
Interest expense
|
(2,474) |
|
|
(783) |
|
Other income, net
|
2,622 |
|
|
504 |
|
Total other income, net
|
654 |
|
|
709 |
|
Loss before income taxes
|
(241,340) |
|
|
(29,704) |
|
Income tax provision
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
Net loss and comprehensive loss
|
(241,340) |
|
|
(29,704) |
|
Redeemable convertible preferred stock dividends
|
— |
|
|
3,039 |
|
Net loss attributable to common stockholders
|
$ |
(241,340) |
|
|
$ |
(32,743) |
|
Revenue
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
|
|
2019 to 2020 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
|
Diagnostic test revenue |
$ |
175,351 |
|
|
$ |
191,667 |
|
|
$ |
(16,316) |
|
|
(9) |
% |
Other revenue |
3,971 |
|
|
4,507 |
|
|
(536) |
|
|
(12) |
% |
Total revenue |
$ |
179,322 |
|
|
$ |
196,174 |
|
|
$ |
(16,852) |
|
|
(9) |
% |
Total revenue decreased by $16.9 million, or 9%, to $179.3 million
for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $196.2 million for the
year ended December 31, 2019.
Diagnostic test revenue decreased by $16.3 million, or 9%, to
$175.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $191.7
million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease was
primarily attributable to a change in the mix of tests performed
coupled with reduced reimbursement rates. The Company experienced
an increase in volumes of 248%, primarily driven by the
introduction of COVID-19 testing in May 2020. Despite these
increased volumes, diagnostic test revenue decreased due to lower
pricing on COVID-19 testing relative to other diagnostic tests and
an overall decrease in average pricing on Women’s Health and
Oncology testing.
Other revenue decreased by $0.5 million, or 12%, to $4.0 million
for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $4.5 million for the
year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease was primarily
attributable to the completion of one significant third-party
contract in 2019 and the completion of one significant contract
with ISMMS in early 2020. This decrease was partially offset by
growth in collaboration service activities due to the execution of
two new third-party contracts in 2020. Other revenues are expected
to continue to be driven predominately by services performed
pursuant to contracts with third parties.
Cost of Services (2020 and 2019 amounts restated)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
|
|
2019 to 2020 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
|
Cost of services |
$ |
175,296 |
|
|
$ |
113,389 |
|
|
$ |
61,907 |
|
|
55 |
% |
Cost of services increased by $61.9 million, or 55%, to $175.3
million for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $113.4 million
for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase was primarily
attributable to the following cost components: a $17.5 million
increase in reagents and laboratory supplies expense due primarily
to the 248% increase in resulted volumes coupled with the lower per
test cost of performing COVID-19 tests relative to our other tests;
a $12.2 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses
primarily driven by the increase in fair value of the
liability-classified awards; an $11.1 million increase in
personnel-related expenses driven by an increase in average
headcount, partially offset by COVID-19 austerity measures; a $6.4
million increase in third party reference laboratory expenses due
to an increase in tests performed by such third parties; a $4.6
million increase in expenses for other services such as genetic
counseling, shipping and phlebotomy services; a $4.4 million
increase in depreciation and amortization expenses driven by
laboratory sequencing equipment acquired in 2020 and an increase in
capitalized software as compared to the prior year; a $3.6 million
increase in outside labor costs driven by temporary hires
contracted in 2020 to perform COVID-19 testing activities as well
as an increase in consultants supporting collaboration services; a
$0.2 million increase in software expenses due to increased cloud
storage and expanded computing capacity requirements for testing
data; a $1.3 million increase in equipment-related expenses,
including maintenance expenses on existing equipment and purchases
of minor equipment in 2020; and a $0.5 million increase in
occupancy costs.
Research and Development
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2019 to 2020 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
|
Research and development |
$ |
72,700 |
|
|
$ |
34,910 |
|
|
$ |
37,790 |
|
|
108 |
% |
Research and development expense increased by $37.8 million, or
108%, to $72.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, from
$34.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase
was primarily attributable to the following cost components: a
$25.4 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses
primarily due to an increase in fair value of the
liability-classified awards and an increase in the number of
stock-based compensation awards granted; a $9.3 million increase in
personnel-related expenses driven by increased average headcount
and retention bonuses offered to employees impacted by the
relocation of our New York laboratory in December of 2020,
partially offset by COVID-19 austerity measures; a $1.7 million
increase in expenses for reagents, laboratory supplies and
laboratory software for research and development use; and a $1.1
million increase in consulting and outside services, primarily due
to an increase in the number of, and required investment in,
research and development studies.
Selling and Marketing (2020 and 2019 amounts restated)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
|
|
2019 to 2020 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
|
Selling and marketing |
$ |
63,183 |
|
|
$ |
39,352 |
|
|
$ |
23,831 |
|
|
61 |
% |
Selling and marketing expense increased by $23.8 million, or 61%,
to $63.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $39.4
million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase was
primarily attributable to the following cost components: a $11.4
million increase in personnel-related expenses driven by an
increase in average headcount, partially offset by COVID-19
austerity measures; a $11.1 million increase in stock-based
compensation expenses primarily due to an increase in the fair
value of the liability-classified awards and an increase in the
number of outstanding awards due to increase in the number of
stock-based compensation awards granted; a $1.5 million increase in
commissions due to an increase in sales employee headcount and the
implementation of temporary minimum commissions offered to sales
employees in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; a $1.0 million
increase in other lab service; and a $0.6 million increase in
software expenses due to increased cloud storage requirements.
These increases were partially offset by a $1.8 million decrease in
travel and business expenses due to reduced business travel during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
General and Administrative
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
|
|
2019 to 2020 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
|
General and administrative |
$ |
100,742 |
|
|
$ |
29,484 |
|
|
$ |
71,258 |
|
|
242 |
% |
General and administrative expense increased by $71.3 million, or
242%, to $100.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, from
$29.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase
was primarily attributable to the following cost components: a
$66.0 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses due to
an increase in the fair value of the liability-classified awards
and an increase in the number of outstanding awards due to increase
in the number of stock-based compensation awards granted; a $1.4
million increase in occupancy expenses due to the execution of
additional third party leases; and a $1.3 million increase in
personnel-related expenses due to an increase in general and
administrative headcount, partially offset by COVID-19 austerity
measures.
Related Party Expenses
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
|
|
2019 to 2020 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
|
Related party expenses |
$ |
9,395 |
|
|
$ |
9,452 |
|
|
$ |
(57) |
|
|
(1) |
% |
Related party expenses decreased by $0.1 million, or 0.6%, to $9.4
million for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $9.5 million for
the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease was primarily
attributable to a $1.7 million decrease in service fees associated
with a reduction of leased ISMMS employees, a $1.0 million decrease
in fees associated with information technology support pursuant to
the TSA with ISMMS and decreases in other various services provided
by ISMMS pursuant to the TSA and service agreements. These
decreases were partially offset by a $2.0 million increase in rent
and facility expenses driven by additional office and lab space
leased from
ISMMS pursuant to the transition services agreement and a $0.5
million increase in consultant costs driven by an increase in
research and development efforts performed by ISMMS under
consulting agreements.
Interest Income
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
|
|
2019 to 2020 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
|
Interest income |
$ |
506 |
|
|
$ |
988 |
|
|
$ |
(482) |
|
|
(49) |
% |
Interest income decreased by $0.5 million, or 49%, to $0.5 million
for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $1.0 million for the
year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease was due to declines in
interest rates on money market deposit accounts and reductions in
the average cash balances held throughout the year in these
interest-bearing accounts.
Interest Expense
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
|
|
2019 to 2020 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
|
Interest expense |
$ |
2,474 |
|
|
$ |
783 |
|
|
$ |
1,691 |
|
|
216 |
% |
Interest expense increased by $1.7 million, or 216%, to $2.5
million for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $0.8 million for
the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase was driven by an
increase in capital lease obligations, an increase in our
interest-bearing loan balance with the Connecticut Department of
Economic and Community Development, or the DECD, and a new
interest-bearing bank loan executed in 2020.
Other Income, Net
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Change |
|
|
|
2019 to 2020 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
$ |
|
% |
|
|
Other income, net |
$ |
2,622 |
|
|
$ |
504 |
|
|
$ |
2,118 |
|
|
420 |
% |
Other income, net increased by $2.1 million or 420% to $2.6 million
for the year ended December 31, 2020, from $0.5 million for the
year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in other income, net was
primarily attributable to $2.6 million in funding that we received
under the CARES Act.
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to our results determined in accordance with GAAP, we
believe the following non-GAAP measures are useful in evaluating
our operating performance. We use the following non-GAAP financial
information to evaluate our ongoing operations, as a component in
determining employee bonus compensation, and for internal planning
and forecasting purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial
information, when taken collectively, may be helpful to investors
because it provides consistency and comparability with past
financial performance. However, non-GAAP financial information is
presented for supplemental informational purposes only and should
not be
considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial
information presented in accordance with GAAP. In addition, other
companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate
similarly-titled non-GAAP measures differently or may use other
measures to evaluate their performance, all of which could reduce
the usefulness of our non-GAAP financial measures as tools for
comparison. A reconciliation is provided below for each non-GAAP
financial measure to the most directly comparable financial measure
stated in accordance with GAAP. Investors are encouraged to review
the related GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of these
non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP
financial measures, and not to rely on any single financial measure
to evaluate our business.
Non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools
and you should not consider them in isolation, or as substitutes
for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. We may in the
future incur expenses similar to the adjustments in the
presentation of Non-GAAP financial measures. Other limitations
include that Non-GAAP financial measures do not
reflect:
•all
expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or
contractual commitments;
•changes
in our working capital needs;
•provision
for income taxes, which may be a necessary element of our costs and
ability to operate;
•the
costs of replacing the assets being depreciated, which will often
have to be replaced in the future;
•the
non-cash component of employee compensation expense;
and
•the
impact of earnings or charges resulting from matters we consider
not to be reflective, on a recurring basis, of our ongoing
operations
Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Margin
Adjusted Gross Profit is a non-GAAP financial measure that we
define as revenue less cost of services, excluding stock-based
compensation expense, labor costs due to our move, and COVID-19
costs. We define Adjusted Gross Margin as our Adjusted Gross Profit
divided by our revenue. We believe these non-GAAP financial
measures are useful in evaluating our operating performance
compared to that of other companies in our industry, as these
metrics generally eliminate the effects of certain items that may
vary from company to company for reasons unrelated to overall
operating performance.
The following is a reconciliation of revenue to our Adjusted Gross
Profit and Adjusted Gross Margin for the years ended December 31,
2021,
2020
and 2019
(in thousands):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year Ended December 31, |
|
2021 |
|
2020
(Restated) |
|
2019
(Restated) |
Revenue |
$ |
212,195 |
|
|
$ |
179,322 |
|
|
$ |
196,174 |
|
Cost of services |
228,797 |
|
|
175,296 |
|
|
113,389 |
|
Gross (Loss) Profit
|
(16,602) |
|
|
4,026 |
|
|
82,785 |
|
|
(8) |
% |
|
2 |
% |
|
42 |
% |
Add: |
|
|
|
|
|
Stock-based compensation expense |
$ |
22,567 |
|
|
12,942 |
|
|
710 |
|
Labor costs due to laboratory move
(1)
|
— |
|
|
16,391 |
|
|
— |
|
COVID-19 costs
(2)
|
— |
|
|
3,179 |
|
|
— |
|
Adjusted Gross Profit
|
$ |
5,965 |
|
|
$ |
36,538 |
|
|
$ |
83,495 |
|
Adjusted Gross Margin
|
3 |
% |
|
20 |
% |
|
43 |
% |
__________________
(1)Represents
labor costs in respect of laboratory employees' time spent to
support our laboratory move from New York City to Stamford,
Connecticut in 2020. During the move, our laboratory employees
dedicated their time to re-validating and re-establishing
instruments and equipment, rebuilding interface, obtaining a CLIA
license, and other tasks to make sure the move was done correctly.
For GAAP purposes we included these activities in Cost of Services.
However, as the laboratory move and effort spent by our employees
are one-time activities, we adjusted our Gross Profit to reflect
management’s view of our normal operations.
(2)Represents
labor costs in respect laboratory employees’ downtime. During the
second quarter of 2020, we did not reduce the workforce in our
laboratory due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we suffered
significantly due to the decrease in volume in Women's Health and
other products. Accordingly, we have adjusted our Gross Profit to
reflect the management-assessed impact from the decrease in
productivity of existing laboratory employees due to the COVID-19
pandemic in the second quarter of 2020.
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as
net loss adjusted for interest expense (income), net, depreciation
and amortization, stock-based compensation expenses, transaction
costs, other (income) expense, net, COVID-19 costs and change in
fair market value of warrant and earn-out contingent liabilities
and. We believe Adjusted EBITDA is useful in evaluating our
operating performance compared to that of other companies in our
industry, as this metric generally eliminates the effects of
certain factors that may vary from company to company for reasons
unrelated to overall operating performance.
The following is a reconciliation of our net loss to Adjusted
EBITDA for the years ended December 31, 2021,
2020,
and 2019
(in thousands):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year Ended December 31, |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
Net loss |
$ |
(245,390) |
|
|
$ |
(241,340) |
|
|
$ |
(29,704) |
|
Interest expense (income), net
(1)
|
2,756 |
|
|
1,968 |
|
|
(205) |
|
Depreciation and amortization |
21,807 |
|
|
11,734 |
|
|
6,407 |
|
Stock-based compensation expense |
219,421 |
|
|
120,231 |
|
|
5,482 |
|
Transaction costs
(2)
|
5,496 |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
Other (income) expense, net
(3)
|
(5,291) |
|
|
(2,622) |
|
|
(504) |
|
COVID-19 costs
(4)
|
— |
|
|
3,179 |
|
|
— |
|
Change in fair market value of warrant and earn-out contingent
liabilities
(5)
|
(198,401) |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
Adjusted EBITDA |
$ |
(199,602) |
|
|
$ |
(106,850) |
|
|
$ |
(18,524) |
|
__________________
(1)Represents
the total of interest expense related to our capital leases and
interest-bearing loans and interest income on money market
funds.
(2)Represents
professional service costs incurred in connection with pursuing the
business combination transaction that did not meet the requirement
for capitalization.
(3)For
fiscal year 2020 and 2021, primarily consists of funding received
under the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund.
(4)Represents
labor costs in respect laboratory employees’ downtime. During the
second quarter of 2020, we did not reduce the workforce in our
laboratory due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we suffered
significantly due to the decrease in volume in Women's Health and
other products. Accordingly, we have adjusted our Gross Profit to
reflect the management-assessed impact from the decrease in
productivity of existing laboratory employees due to the COVID-19
pandemic in the second quarter of 2020.
(5)For
the year ended December 31, 2021, represents the change in fair
market value of the liabilities associated with our public
warrants, private placement warrants and the earn-out shares
issuable under the terms of the merger agreement for our business
combination.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On July 22, 2021, we completed the business combination with
CMLS, consummated the Prior PIPE Investment and received net cash
proceeds of $510 million. Management determined that the cash
proceeds received from the business combination provides us with
sufficient liquidity to meet our obligations for at least twelve
months from the date of this Annual Report.
Furthermore, on November 15, 2021, we entered into a loan and
security agreement, or the SVB Agreement, with Silicon Valley Bank,
or SVB, whereby SVB agreed to provide a $125 million revolving
credit facility with a maturity date of November 15, 2024. No
amounts were drawn as of December 31, 2021. Advances under the
SVB
Agreement will bear interest at a floating rate per annum equal to
the greater of (1) 4.00% and (2) the prime rate plus an applicable
margin
Accordingly, the consolidated financial statements included in this
Annual Report have been prepared on a basis that assumes we will
continue as a going concern and which contemplates the realization
of assets and satisfaction of liabilities and commitments in the
ordinary course of business. Nevertheless, we may also seek
additional funding in the future through the sale of common or
preferred equity or convertible debt securities, the entry into
other credit facilities or another form of third-party funding or
by seeking other debt financing.
In particular, if the Acquisition is consummated, we expect to
issue
50 million shares of our Class A common stock for an aggregate
purchase price equal to $200 million pursuant to the Acquisition
PIPE Investment.
Material Cash Requirements for Known Contractual Obligations and
Commitments
The following is a description of commitments for known and
reasonably likely cash requirements as of December 31, 2021 and
December 31, 2020. We anticipate fulfilling such commitments with
our existing cash and cash equivalents, which amounted to $400.6
million and $108.1 million as of December 31, 2021 and December 31,
2020, respectively, or through additional capital raised to finance
our operations.
Our future minimum payments under non-cancellable operating lease
and capital lease agreements were $68.3 and $65.6 million,
respectively as of December 31, 2021. The timing of these future
payments, by year, can be found in our consolidated financial
statements in Note 9,
“Commitments and Contingencies,”
included within this Annual Report.
Our future contractual purchase commitments were $23.1 million as
of December 31, 2021. The timing of these future payments, by year,
can be found in our consolidated financial statements in Note
9,
“Commitments and Contingencies,”
included within this Annual Report.