As
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 6,
2020
Registration
No.
333-
UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington,
D.C. 20549
FORM
S-1
REGISTRATION
STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
Hancock
Jaffe Laboratories, Inc.
(Exact
name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware |
|
3841 |
|
33-0936180 |
(State
or jurisdiction of
incorporation
or organization)
|
|
(Primary
Standard Industrial
Classification
Code Number)
|
|
(IRS
Employer
Identification
No.)
|
70
Doppler
Irvine,
California 92618
(949)
261-2900
(Address,
including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of
registrant’s principal executive offices)
Robert
A. Berman
Chief
Executive Officer
Hancock
Jaffe Laboratories, Inc.
70
Doppler
Irvine,
California 92618
(949)
261-2900
(Name,
address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area
code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
Barry
I. Grossman, Esq.
David
Selengut, Esq.
Matthew
Bernstein, Esq.
Ellenoff
Grossman & Schole LLP
1345
Avenue of the Americas
New
York, New York 10105
Phone:
(212) 370-1300
Fax:
(212) 370-7889
Approximate
date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as
practicable after the effective date of this registration
statement.
If
any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be
offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under
the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box. ☒
If
this Form is filed to register additional securities for an
offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please
check the following box and list the Securities Act registration
statement number of the earlier effective registration statement
for the same offering. ☐
If
this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule
462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list
the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier
effective registration statement for the same offering.
☐
If
this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule
462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list
the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier
effective registration statement for the same offering.
☐
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.
Large
accelerated filer |
☐ |
Accelerated
filer |
☐ |
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Non-accelerated
filer |
☒ |
Smaller
reporting company |
☒ |
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Emerging
growth company |
☒ |
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 to
Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☒
CALCULATION
OF REGISTRATION FEE
Title of Each Class of
Securities to Be Registered
|
|
Amount to Be Registered (1) |
|
|
Proposed Maximum Offering Price per
Share |
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|
Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering
Price |
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|
Amount of Registration Fee |
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Common stock,
$0.00001 par value per share, issuable upon exercise of warrants
(2) |
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9,532,709 |
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$ |
0.41 |
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$ |
3,908,410.69 |
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$ |
426.41 |
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(1) |
Pursuant
to Rule 416 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the
Securities Act, the shares of common stock offered hereby also
include such presently indeterminate number of shares of the
registrant’s common stock as a result of stock splits, stock
dividends or similar transactions. |
|
|
(2) |
Represents
9,532,709 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the
warrants issued by the registrant on October 9, 2020 in a private
placement of warrants that occurred concurrently with a registered
offering of shares of common stock. Proposed maximum offering price
per share is based on the exercise price of the warrants in
accordance with Rule 457(g). |
The
registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date
or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the
registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states
that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective
in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act or until this
Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the
Securities and Exchange Commission acting pursuant to said Section
8(a) may determine.
The
information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may
be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration
statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is
effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell
these securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy these
securities in any state where the offer or sale is not
permitted.
Subject
to Completion, dated November 6, 2020
Prospectus

9,532,709 Shares
of Common Stock
This prospectus relates to the resale of up to 9,532,709 shares of
common stock, par value $0.00001 per share, of Hancock Jaffe
Laboratories, Inc. (“we,” “us,” “our,” or the “Company”),
consisting of up to 9,532,709 shares of common stock issuable upon
exercise of the warrants (the “October Warrants”) to purchase
shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.41 per share
originally issued by us on October 9, 2020 in a private placement
of warrants that occurred concurrently with a registered offering
of shares of common stock (the “October Offering”).
This
registration does not mean that the selling stockholders named
herein will actually offer or sell any of these shares. We will not
receive any proceeds from the resale of any of the shares of common
stock being registered hereby sold by the selling stockholders.
However, we may receive proceeds from the exercise of the October
Warrants held by the selling stockholders exercised other than
pursuant to any applicable cashless exercise provisions of such
warrants.
Our
common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, or Nasdaq,
under the symbol “HJLI.” On November 4, 2020, the last reported
sale price of our common stock was $0.3082 per share.
Following
the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this
prospectus forms a part, the sale and distribution of securities
offered hereby may be effected from time to time in one or more
transactions that may take place on Nasdaq (or such other market or
quotation system on which our common stock is then listed or
quoted), including ordinary brokers’ transactions, privately
negotiated transactions or through sales to one or more dealers for
resale of such securities as principals, at market prices
prevailing at the time of sale, at prices related to such
prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices. Usual and
customary or specifically negotiated brokerage fees or commissions
may be paid by the selling stockholders. The selling stockholders
and intermediaries through whom such securities are sold may be
deemed “underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act of
1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), with respect to the
securities offered hereby, and any profits realized or commissions
received may be deemed underwriting compensation.
This
prospectus describes the general manner in which shares of common
stock may be offered and sold by any selling stockholders. When the
selling stockholders sell shares of common stock under this
prospectus, we may, if necessary and required by law, provide a
prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about
the terms of that offering. Any prospectus supplement may also add
to, update, modify or replace information contained in this
prospectus. We urge you to read carefully this prospectus, any
accompanying prospectus supplement and any documents we incorporate
by reference into this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus
supplement before you make your investment decision.
We
are an “emerging growth company” as that term is defined in the
Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 and, as such, have
elected to take advantage of certain reduced public company
reporting requirements for this prospectus and future
filings.
Investing
in our common stock is highly speculative and involves a
significant degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on
page 7 of this prospectus for a discussion of information that
should be considered before making a decision to purchase our
common stock.
Neither
the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities
commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or
determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any
representation to the contrary is a criminal
offense.
The
date of this prospectus is
,
2020.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Please
read this prospectus carefully. It describes our business, our
financial condition and our results of operations. We have prepared
this prospectus so that you will have the information necessary to
make an informed investment decision. You should rely only on the
information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized
anyone to provide you with any information or to make any
representations about us, the securities being offered pursuant to
this prospectus or any other matter discussed in this prospectus,
other than the information and representations contained in this
prospectus. If any other information or representation is given or
made, such information or representation may not be relied upon as
having been authorized by us.
The
information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the
date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this
prospectus or of any sale of our common stock. Neither the delivery
of this prospectus nor any distribution of securities in accordance
with this prospectus shall, under any circumstances, imply that
there has been no change in our affairs since the date of this
prospectus. This prospectus will be updated and made available for
delivery to the extent required by the federal securities
laws.
We
further note that the representations, warranties and covenants
made by us in any document that is filed as an exhibit to the
registration statement of which this prospectus is a part were made
solely for the benefit of the parties to such agreement, including,
in some cases, for the purpose of allocating risk among the parties
to such agreements, and should not be deemed to be a
representation, warranty or covenant to you. Moreover, such
representations, warranties or covenants were accurate only as of
the date when made. Accordingly, such representations, warranties
and covenants should not be relied on as accurately representing
the current state of our affairs.
This
prospectus includes estimates, statistics and other industry data
that we obtained from industry publications, research, surveys and
studies conducted by third parties and publicly available
information. Such data involves a number of assumptions and
limitations and contains projections and estimates of the future
performance of the industries in which we operate that are subject
to a high degree of uncertainty. This prospectus also includes data
based on our own internal estimates. We caution you not to give
undue weight to such projections, assumptions and
estimates.
We
use our registered trademarks and trade names, such as VenoValve®
and CoreoGraft™, in this prospectus. This prospectus also includes
trademarks, trade names and service marks that are the property of
other organizations, such as ProCol Vascular Bioprosthesis®. Solely
for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this
prospectus appear without the ® and ™ symbols, but those references
are not intended to indicate that we will not assert, to the
fullest extent under applicable law, our rights, or that the
applicable owner will not assert its rights, to these trademarks
and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other
companies’ trade names or trademarks to imply a relationship with,
or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other
companies.
PROSPECTUS SUMMARY
This
summary highlights selected information contained elsewhere in this
prospectus. To understand this offering fully, you should read the
entire prospectus carefully, including the “Risk Factors” section,
the financial statements and the notes to the financial statements.
Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this
prospectus to “HJLI,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “our company,” or similar
terminology refer to Hancock Jaffe Laboratories,
Inc.
Overview
Hancock
Jaffe Laboratories, Inc. is a medical device company developing
tissue based solutions that are designed to be life sustaining or
life enhancing for patients with cardiovascular disease, and
peripheral arterial and venous disease. The Company’s products are
being developed to address large unmet medical needs by either
offering treatments where none currently exist or by substantially
increasing the current standards of care. Our two lead products
are: the VenoValve®, a porcine based device to be surgically
implanted in the deep venous system of the leg to treat a
debilitating condition called chronic venous insufficiency (“CVI”);
and the CoreoGraft®, a bovine based conduit to be used to
revascularize the heart during coronary artery bypass graft
(“CABG”) surgeries. Both of our current products are being
developed for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(“FDA”). We currently receive tissue for our products from one
domestic supplier and one international supplier. Our current
business model is to license, sell, or enter into strategic
alliances with large medical device companies with respect to our
products, either prior to or after FDA approval. Our current senior
management team has been affiliated with more than 50 products that
have received FDA approval or CE marking. We currently lease a
14,507 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Irvine, California, where
we manufacture products for our clinical trials and which has
previously been FDA certified for commercial manufacturing of
product.
Each
of our products will be required to successfully complete
significant clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy
of the product before it will be able to be approved by the
FDA.
VenoValve
Background
Chronic
venous disease (“CVD”) is the world’s most prevalent chronic
disease. CVD is generally classified using a standardized system
known as CEAP (clinical, etiological, anatomical, and
pathophysiological). The CEAP system consists of seven clinical
classifications (C0 to C6) with C5 to C6 being the most severe
cases of CVD.
Chronic
Venous Insufficiency (“CVI”) is a subset of CVD and is generally
used to describe patients with C4 to C6 CVD. CVI is a condition
that affects the venous system of the leg causing pain, swelling,
edema, skin changes, and ulcerations. In order for blood to return
to the heart from the foot, ankle, and lower leg, the calf muscle
pushes the blood up the veins of the leg and through a series of
one-way valves. Each valve is supposed to open as blood passes
through, and then close as blood moves up the leg to the next
valve. CVI occurs when the one-way valves in the veins of the leg
fail and become incompetent. When the valves fail, blood flows
backwards and in the wrong direction (reflux). As blood pools in
the lower leg, pressure inside the veins increases (venous
hypertension). Reflux, and the resulting venous hypertension, cause
the leg to swell, resulting in debilitating pain, and in the most
severe cases, venous ulcers. The VenoValve is being developed to
treat CVI in the deep venous system with a focus on severe patients
with C5 to C6 CVI.
Estimates
indicate that approximately 2.4 million people in the U.S. have C5
to C6 CVI in the deep venous system, including patients that
develop venous leg ulcers (C6 patients). Over one million new
severe cases of CVI occur each year in the U.S., mostly from
patients who have experienced a deep vein thrombosis (blood clot).
The average patient seeking treatment of a venous ulcer spends as
much as $30,000 a year on wound care, and the total direct medical
costs from venous ulcer sufferers in the U.S. has been estimated to
exceed $38 billion a year. Aside from the direct medical costs,
severe CVI sufferers experience a significantly reduced quality of
life. Daily activities such as preparing meals, housework, and
personal hygiene (washing and bathing) become difficult due to
reduced mobility. For many severe CVI sufferers, intense pain,
which frequently occurs at night, prevents patients from getting
adequate sleep. Severe CVI sufferers are known to miss
approximately 40% more work days than the average worker. A high
percentage of venous ulcer patients also experience severe itching,
leg swelling, and an odorous discharge. Wound dressing changes,
which occur several times a week, can be extremely painful. Venous
ulcers from deep venous CVI are very difficult to heal, and a
significant percentage of venous ulcers remain unhealed for more
than a year. Even if healed, recurrence rates for venous ulcers are
known to be high (20% to 40%) within the first year.
The
Opportunity
The
VenoValve is a porcine based valve developed at HJLI to be
implanted in the deep venous system of the leg to treat severe CVI.
By reducing reflux, and lowering venous hypertension, the VenoValve
has the potential to reduce or eliminate the symptoms of deep
venous, severe CVI, including venous leg ulcers. The current
version of the VenoValve is designed to be surgically implanted
into the patient via a 5 to 6 inch incision in the upper
thigh.
There
are presently no FDA approved medical devices to address valvular
incompetence, or effective treatments for deep venous CVI. Current
treatment options include compression garments, or constant leg
elevation. These treatments are generally ineffective, as they
attempt to alleviate the symptoms of CVI without addressing the
underlying causes of the disease. In addition, we believe that
compliance with compression garments and leg elevation is extremely
low, especially among the elderly. Valve transplants from other
parts of the body have been attempted, but with very-poor results.
Many attempts to create substitute valves have also failed, usually
resulting in early thromboses. The premise behind the VenoValve is
that by reducing the underlying causes of CVI, reflux and venous
hypertension, the debilitating symptoms of CVI will decrease,
resulting in improvement in the quality of the lives of CVI
sufferers.
There
are approximately 2.4 million people in the U.S. that suffer from
deep venous CVI due to valvular incompetence.
VenoValve
Clinical Status
After
consultation with the FDA, as a precursor to the U.S. pivotal
trial, we are conducting a small first-in-man study for the
VenoValve in Colombia. The first phase of the first-in-man
Colombian trial included 11 patients. In addition to providing
safety and efficacy data, the purpose of the first-in-man study is
to provide proof of concept, and to provide valuable feedback to
make any necessary product modifications or adjustments to our
surgical implantation procedures for the VenoValve prior to
conducting the U.S. pivotal trial. In December of 2018, we received
regulatory approval from Instituto Nacional de Vigilancia de
Medicamentos y Alimentos (“INVIMA”), the Colombian equivalent of
the FDA. On February 19, 2019, we announced that the first
VenoValve was successfully implanted in a patient in Colombia.
Between April of 2019 and December of 2019, we successfully
implanted VenoValves in 10 additional patients, completing the
implantations for the first phase of the Colombian first-in-man
study. Overall, VenoValves have been implanted in 11 patients.
Endpoints for the VenoValve first-in-man study include reflux,
measured by doppler, a VCSS score used by the clinician to measure
disease severity, and a VAS score used by the patient to measure
pain.
Nine
of 11 patients have now completed the one-year first-in-man trial.
For those nine patients, reflux has improved an average of 50%,
Venous Clinical Severity Scores (“VCSSs”) have improved an average
of 58%, and VAS scores, which are used by patients to measure pain,
have improved an average of 70%, all when compared to pre-surgery
levels. VCSS scores are commonly used to objectively assess
outcomes in the treatment of venous disease, and include ten
characteristics including pain, inflammation, skin changes such as
pigmentation and induration, the number of active ulcers, and ulcer
duration. The improvements in VCSS scores is significant and
indicates that VenoValve patients who had severe CVI pre-surgery,
now have mild CVI or the complete absence of disease at one-year
post surgery.
VenoValve
safety incidences have been minor and include one (1) fluid pocket
(which was aspirated), intolerance from Coumadin anticoagulation
therapy, three (3) minor wound infections (treated with
antibiotics), and one occlusion due to patient non-compliance with
anti-coagulation therapy.
In
preparation for the VenoValve U.S. pivotal trial, we have submitted
a Pre-IDE filing with the FDA requesting a Pre-IDE meeting. An
investigational device exemption or IDE form the FDA is required
for a medical device company to proceed with a pivotal trial for a
class III medical device. Next steps for the VenoValve include the
Pre-IDE meeting with the FDA, the continued monitoring of the two
remaining VenoValve patients in our first-in-human trial, and the
completion of a series of functional tests and an animal safety
study mandated by the FDA, which are pre-requisites for the filing
of an IDE application. We expect to be in a position to file our
IDE application with the FDA, seeking approval to proceed with the
VenoValve U.S. pivotal trial, in Q1 of 2021.
CoreoGraft
Background
Heart
disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in the
U.S. accounting for about 1 in every 4 deaths. Coronary heart
disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing over
370,000 people each year. Coronary heart disease occurs when
arteries around the heart become blocked or occluded, in most cases
by plaque. Although balloon angioplasty with or without cardiac
stents have become the norm if one or two arteries are blocked,
coronary artery bypass surgery remains the treatment of choice for
patients with multiple blocked arteries on both sides of the heart.
Approximately 200,000 coronary artery bypass graft (“CABG”)
surgeries take place each year in the U.S. and are the most
commonly performed cardiac procedure. CABG surgeries alone account
for 55% of all cardiac surgeries, and CABG surgeries when combined
with valve replacement surgeries account for approximately 62% of
all cardiac surgeries. The next largest category accounts for 10%
of cardiac surgeries. The number of CABG surgeries are expected to
increase as the population continues to age. On average, three
grafts are used for each CABG surgery.
Although
CABG surgeries are invasive, improved surgical techniques over the
years have lowered the fatality rate from CABG surgeries to between
1% and 3% prior to discharge from the hospital. Arteries around
heart are accessed via an incision along the sternum known as a
sternotomy. Once the incision is made, the sternum (chest) is
divided (“cracked”) to access the heart and its surrounding
arteries.
CABG
surgery is relatively safe and effective. In most instances,
doctors prefer to use the left internal mammary artery (“LIMA”), an
artery running inside the ribcage and close to the sternum, to
re-vascularize the left side of the heart. Use of the LIMA to
revascularize the left descending coronary artery (known as the
“widow maker”) has become the gold standard for revascularizing the
left side of the heart during CABG surgeries. For the right side of
the heart, and where additional grafts are needed on the left side,
the current standard of care is to harvest the saphenous vein from
the patient’s leg to be dissected into pieces and used as bypass
grafts around the heart. Unfortunately, saphenous vein grafts
(“SVGs”) are not nearly as effective as the LIMA for
revascularizing the heart. In fact, SVGs continue to be the weak
link for CABG surgeries.
The
saphenous vein harvest procedure is itself invasive. Either a long
incision is made along the inner leg of the patient to harvest the
vein, or the saphenous vein is extracted endoscopically. Regardless
of the type of harvest procedure, bypass graft harvest remains an
invasive and complication prone aspect of the CABG procedure.
Present standard-of-care complications are described in recent
published reports in major medical journals. The percentage of
complications from the harvest procedure can be as high as 24%.
This is mainly due to non-healing of the saphenous wound or
development of infection in the area of the saphenous vein harvest
site.
While
the LIMA is known for excellent short term and long term patency
rates, studies indicate that between 10% and 40% percent of SVGs
that are used as conduits for CABG surgeries fail within the first
year after the CABG surgery. A significant percentage fail within
the first 30 days. At 10 years, the SVGs failure rate can be as
high as 75%. When a graft fails, it becomes blocked or occluded,
depriving the heart of blood flow. Mortality during the first year
after bypass graft failure is very high, between 5% and 9%. For
purposes of comparison, a 3% threshold is considered to be a high
cardiac risk. In fact, a relatively recent study in Denmark has
reported that mortality rates at 8 to 10 years after CABG surgery
are as high as 60% to 80%. While a life expectancy of 8 to 10 years
following CABG surgery may have been acceptable in the past,
expectations have changed and with people now generally living
longer, additional focus is now being placed on extending life
expectancies following CABG surgeries.
Researchers
have determined that there are two main causes of SVGs failure:
size mismatch, and a thickening of the interior of the SVGs that
begins immediately following the harvest procedure. Size mismatch
occurs because the diameter of SVGs is often significantly larger
than the diameter of the coronary arteries around the heart. This
size mismatch causes flow disturbances, leading to graft thromboses
and graft failure. The thickening of the cell walls of SVGs occur
when a layer of endothelial cells on the inner surface of the SVGs
are disturbed beginning at the harvesting procedure, starting a
chain reaction which causes the cells to thicken and the inside of
the graft to narrow, resulting in blood clots and graft
failure.
The
Opportunity
The
CoreoGraft is a bovine based off the shelf conduit that could
potentially be used to revascularize the heart, instead of
harvesting the saphenous vein from the patient’s leg. In addition
to avoiding the invasive and painful SVG harvest process, HJLI’s
CoreoGraft closely matches the size of the coronary arteries,
eliminating graft failures that occur due to size mismatch. In
addition, with no graft harvest needed, the CoreoGraft could also
reduce or eliminate the inner thickening that burdens and leads to
failure of the SVGs.
In
addition to providing a potential alternative to SVGs, the
CoreoGraft could be used when making grafts from the patients’ own
arteries and veins is not an option. For example, patients with
significant arterial and vascular disease often do not have
suitable vessels to be used as grafts. For other patients, such as
women who have undergone radiation treatment for breast cancer and
have a higher incidence of heart disease, using the LIMA may not be
an option if it was damaged by the radiation. Another example are
patients undergoing a second CABG surgery. Due in large part to
early SVG failures, patients may need a second CABG surgery. If the
SVG was used for the first CABG surgery, the patient may have
insufficient veins to harvest. While the CoreoGraft may start out
as a product for patients with no other options, if the CoreoGraft
establishes good short term and long term patency rates, it could
become the graft of choice for all CABG patients in addition to the
LIMA.
Clinical
Status
In
January of 2020, we announced the results of a six month, nine
sheep, animal feasibility study for the CoreoGraft. Bypasses were
accomplished by attaching the CoreoGrafts from the ascending aorta
to the left anterior descending artery, and surgeries were
preformed both on-pump and off-pump. Partners for the feasibility
study included the Texas Heart Institute, and American Preclinical
Services.
Test
subjects were evaluated via angiograms and flow monitors during the
study, and a full pathology examination of the CoreoGrafts and the
surrounding tissue was performed post necropsy.
The
results from the feasibility study demonstrated that the
CoreoGrafts remained patent (open) and fully functional at 30, 90,
and 180 day intervals after implantation. In addition, pathology
examinations of the grafts and surrounding tissue at the conclusion
of the study showed no signs of thrombosis, infection, aneurysmal
degeneration, changes in the lumen, or other problems that are
known to plague and lead to failure of SVGs.
In
addition to exceptional patency, pathology examinations indicated
full endothelialization for grafts implanted for 180 days both
throughout the CoreoGrafts and into the left anterior descending
arteries. Endothelium is a layer of cells that naturally exist
throughout healthy veins and arteries and that that act as a
barrier between blood and the surrounding tissue, which helps
promote the smooth passage of blood. Endothelium are known to
produce a variety anti-clotting and other positive characteristics
that are essential to healthy veins and arteries. The presence of
full endothelialization within the longer term CoreoGrafts
indicates that the graft is being accepted and assimilated in a
manner similar to natural healthy veins and arteries that exist
throughout the vascular system and is an indication of long-term
biocompatibility.
In
May of 2020, we announced that we had received approval from the
Superintendent of Health of the National Health Counsel for the
Republic of Paraguay to conduct a first-in-human trial for the
CoreoGraft. Up to 5 patients that need coronary artery bypass graft
surgery will receive CoreoGraft implants as part of the
first-in-human study. In July of 2020, we announced that we had
received permission to proceed with the first-in-human study, which
had been put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in August of
2020 we announced that the first two patients had been enrolled for
the first-in-human CoreoGraft trial. The heart bypass surgery for
first patient to receive CoreoGraft implants as part of our
first-in-human trial was successful and the patient has been
discharged from the hospital. Follow-up visits for all CoreoGraft
patients will occur at 30, 90, 180, and 365 days post-surgery. We
will continue to enroll patients in the first-in-human trial and
hope to complete all 5 of the implantation surgeries by the end of
2020.
Our
Competitive Strengths
We
believe we will offer the cardiovascular device market a compelling
value proposition with the launch of our two products, if approved,
for the following reasons:
|
● |
We
have extensive experience of proprietary processing and
manufacturing methodology specifically applicable to the design,
processing, manufacturing and sterilization of our biologic tissue
devices. |
|
● |
We
operate a 14,507 square foot manufacturing facility in Irvine,
California. Our facility is designed expressly for the manufacture
of Class III tissue based implantable medical devices and is
equipped for research and development, prototype fabrication,
current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP, and manufacturing
and shipping for Class III medical devices, including biologic
cardiovascular devices. |
|
● |
We
have attracted senior executives who are experienced in research
and development and who have worked on over 50 medical devices that
have received FDA approval or CE marking. We also have the
advantage of an experienced board of directors and scientific
advisory board who will provide guidance as we move towards market
launch. |
Recent
Developments
On
May 22, 2020, we executed a non-binding letter of intent to merge
the Company with Catheter Precision, Inc., (“Catheter Precision”) a
private medical device company focused on cardiovascular diseases,
including heart arrythmias. Catheter Precision has developed a
software imaging system called VIVO™, which has been cleared by the
FDA, and CE marked, and that produces a 3-D virtual image of the
heart on a computer monitor for the purpose of accurately
identifying and targeting the anatomical location of ventricular
arrhythmias for catheter ablation therapy. We are currently
completing our due diligence review of Catheter Precision and are
continuing negotiating the terms of a definitive merger agreement,
including the amount of merger consideration (though it has been
agreed that the consideration payable by us will not include a cash
component). Accordingly, we cannot provide any assurance that we
will effect a merger transaction with Catheter Precision or, if we
are able to consummate such a transaction, that the terms of any
such merger transaction will be favorable to and approved by our
stockholders. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 7 of this
prospectus, including the risk factors incorporated by reference
herein, for further discussion surrounding the non-binding letter
of intent and the transactions contemplated thereby.
Risks
Associated with Our Business
Our
business is subject to many significant risks, as more fully
described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” immediately
following this prospectus summary. You should read and carefully
consider these risks, together with the risks set forth under the
section entitled “Risk Factors” and all of the other information in
this prospectus, including the financial statements and the related
notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before deciding
whether to invest in our common stock. If any of the risks
discussed in this prospectus actually occur, our business,
financial condition or operating results could be materially and
adversely affected. In particular, our risks include, but are not
limited to, the following:
|
● |
Failure
to obtain approval from the FDA to commercially sell our product
candidates in a timely manner or at all; |
|
● |
Whether
surgeons and patients in our target markets accept our product
candidates, if approved; |
|
● |
The
expected growth of our business and our operations, and the capital
resources needed to progress our business plan; |
|
● |
Failure
to scale up of the manufacturing process of our product candidates
in a timely manner, or at all; |
|
● |
Our
ability to retain and recruit key personnel, including the
development of a sales and marketing infrastructure; |
|
● |
Reliance
on third party suppliers for certain components of our product
candidates; |
|
● |
Reliance
on third parties to commercialize and distribute our product
candidates in the United States and internationally; |
|
● |
Changes
in external competitive market factors; |
|
● |
Uncertainties
in generating sustained revenue or achieving
profitability; |
|
● |
Unanticipated
working capital or other cash requirements; |
|
● |
Changes
in FDA regulations, including testing procedures, for medical
devices and related promotional and marketing
activities; |
|
● |
Our
estimates of our expenses, ongoing losses, future revenue, capital
requirements and our needs for, or ability to obtain, additional
financing; |
|
● |
Our
ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for
our product candidates; |
|
● |
Our
ability to consummate future acquisitions or strategic
transactions, including the transaction with Catheter
Precision; |
|
● |
Our
ability to regain compliance with the continued listing
requirements of the Nasdaq Capital Market or otherwise maintain the
listing of our securities on the Nasdaq Capital Market;
and |
|
● |
Changes
in our business strategy or an inability to execute our strategy
due to unanticipated changes in the medical device
industry. |
Implications
of Being an Emerging Growth Company
We
qualify as an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the
Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). For
as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we may take
advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements
that are applicable to other public companies. These provisions
include, but are not limited to:
|
● |
being
permitted to have only two years of audited financial statements
and only two years of related selected financial data and
management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and
results of operations disclosure; |
|
● |
an
exemption from compliance with the auditor attestation requirement
in the assessment of our internal control over financial reporting
pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended, or the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act; |
|
● |
reduced
disclosure about executive compensation arrangements in our
periodic reports, registration statements and proxy statements;
and |
|
● |
exemptions
from the requirements to seek non-binding advisory votes on
executive compensation or golden parachute
arrangements. |
In
addition, the JOBS Act permits emerging growth companies to take
advantage of an extended transition period to comply with new or
revised accounting standards applicable to public companies. We
chose to “opt out” of this provision. We will remain an emerging
growth company until the earliest of (i) the end of the fiscal year
following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial
public offering, (ii) the first fiscal year after our annual gross
revenues exceed $1.07 billion, (iii) the date on which we have,
during the immediately preceding three-year period, issued more
than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities or (iv) the
end of any fiscal year in which the market value of our common
stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of
the second quarter of that fiscal year.
Corporate
Information
We
were incorporated in Delaware on December 22, 1999. Our principal
executive offices are located at 70 Doppler, Irvine, California,
92618, and our telephone number is (949) 261-2900. Our corporate
website address is www.hancockjaffe.com. The information contained
on or accessible through our website is not a part of this
prospectus, and the inclusion of our website address in this
prospectus is an inactive textual reference only.
The
Offering
Common
Stock Outstanding: |
|
49,775,443 shares as of November 2,
2020 |
|
|
|
Common Stock Offered by
Selling Stockholders: |
|
9,532,709 shares |
|
|
|
Common Stock Outstanding After
the Offering: |
|
59,308,152 shares (assuming the exercise of all of the
October Warrants) |
|
|
|
Use of
Proceeds: |
|
We
will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the common stock by
the selling stockholders. We may receive proceeds upon the exercise
of the October Warrants (to the extent the registration statement
of which this prospectus is a part is then effective and, if
applicable, the “cashless exercise” provision is not utilized by
the holder). Any proceeds will be used for general corporate and
working capital or for other purposes that the Board of Directors,
in their good faith, deems to be in the best interest of the
Company. No assurances can be given that any of such warrants will
be exercised. See “Use of Proceeds.” |
|
|
|
Listing of
Securities: |
|
Our
common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the
symbol “HJLI.” A class of our warrants is listed on the Nasdaq
Capital Market under the symbol “HJLIW.” |
|
|
|
Risk Factors: |
|
An
investment in our company is highly speculative and involves a
significant degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” and other
information included in this prospectus for a discussion of factors
you should carefully consider before deciding to invest in shares
of our common stock. |
RISK FACTORS
Investing
in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should
carefully consider the following information about these risks,
together with the other information appearing elsewhere in this
prospectus, including our financial statements, the notes thereto
and the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” before deciding to
invest in our common stock. The occurrence of any of the following
risks could have a material and adverse effect on our business,
reputation, financial condition, results of operations and future
growth prospects, as well as our ability to accomplish our
strategic objectives. As a result, the trading price of our common
stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your
investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known
to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our
business operations and stock price.
Certain
Risks Related to our Business and Strategy
We have incurred significant losses since our inception, expect to
incur significant losses in the future and may never achieve or
sustain profitability.
We
have historically incurred substantial net losses, including net
losses of $7,625,397, $13,042,709, $7,791,469 and $3,387,490 for
the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016,
respectively. As a result of our historical losses, we had an
accumulated deficit of $56,187,925 as of December 31, 2019 and $
58,974,639 as of June 30, 2020. Our losses have resulted primarily
from costs related to general and administrative expenses relating
to our operations, as well as our research programs and the
development of our product candidates. Currently, we are not
generating revenue from operations, and we expect to incur losses
for the foreseeable future as we seek to obtain regulatory approval
for our product candidates. Additionally, we expect that our
general and administrative expenses will increase due to the
additional operational and reporting costs associated with being a
public company as well as the projected expansion of our
operations. We do not expect to generate significant revenue until
any of our product candidates are licensed or sold, if ever. We may
never generate significant revenue or become profitable. Even if we
do achieve profitability, we may be unable to sustain or increase
profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to
achieve and subsequently sustain profitability could harm our
business, financial condition, results of operations and cash
flows.
We currently depend entirely on the successful and timely
regulatory approval and commercialization of our two product
candidates, which may not receive regulatory approval or, if any of
our product candidates do receive regulatory approval, we may not
be able to successfully commercialize them.
We
currently have two lead product candidates (the CoreoGraft and the
VenoValve) and our business presently depends entirely on our
ability to license and/or sell our products to larger medical
device companies. In order for our product candidates to succeed
the products need to be approved by regulatory authorities, which
may never happen. Our product candidates are based on technologies
that have not been used previously in the manner we propose. Market
acceptance of our product candidates will largely depend on our
ability to demonstrate their relative safety, efficacy,
cost-effectiveness and ease of use. We may not be able to
successfully develop and commercialize our product candidates. If
we fail to do so, we will not be able to generate substantial
revenues, if any.
We
are subject to rigorous and extensive regulation by the FDA in the
United States and by comparable agencies in other jurisdictions,
including the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, in the European
Union, or EU. Our product candidates are currently in development
and we have not received FDA approval for our product candidates.
Our product candidates may not be marketed in the United States
until they have been approved by the FDA and may not be marketed in
other jurisdictions until they have received approval from the
appropriate foreign regulatory agencies. Each product candidate
requires significant research, development, preclinical testing and
extensive clinical investigation before submission of any
regulatory application for marketing approval.
Obtaining
regulatory approval requires substantial time, effort and financial
resources, and we may not be able to obtain approval of any of our
product candidates on a timely basis, or at all. The number, size,
design and focus of preclinical and clinical trials that will be
required for approval by the FDA, the EMA or any other foreign
regulatory agency varies depending on the device, the disease or
condition that the product candidates are designed to address and
the regulations applicable to any particular products. Preclinical
and clinical data can be interpreted in different ways, which could
delay, limit or preclude regulatory approval. The FDA, the EMA and
other foreign regulatory agencies can delay, limit or deny approval
of a product for many reasons, including, but not limited
to:
|
● |
a
product candidate may not be shown to be safe or
effective; |
|
● |
the
clinical and other benefits of a product candidate may not outweigh
its safety risks; |
|
● |
clinical
trial results may be negative or inconclusive, or adverse medical
events may occur during a clinical trial; |
|
● |
the
results of clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical
significance required by regulatory agencies for
approval; |
|
● |
regulatory
agencies may interpret data from pre-clinical and clinical trials
in different ways than we do; |
|
● |
regulatory
agencies may not approve the manufacturing process or determine
that the manufacturing is not in accordance with current good
manufacturing practices, or cGMPs; |
|
● |
a
product candidate may fail to comply with regulatory requirements;
and/or |
|
● |
regulatory
agencies might change their approval policies or adopt new
regulations. |
If
our product candidates are not approved at all or quickly enough to
provide net revenues to defray our operating expenses, our
business, financial condition, operating results and prospects
could be harmed.
.
If we are unable to successfully raise additional capital, our
future clinical trials and product development could be limited and
our long-term viability may be threatened.
We
have experienced negative operating cash flows since our inception
and have funded our operations primarily from proceeds received
from sales of our capital stock, the issuance of the convertible
and non-convertible notes, and the sale of our products to larger
medical device companies. We will need to seek additional funds in
the future through equity or debt financings, or strategic
alliances with third parties, either alone or in combination with
equity financings to complete our product development initiatives.
These financings could result in substantial dilution to the
holders of our common stock, or require contractual or other
restrictions on our operations or on alternatives that may be
available to us. If we raise additional funds by issuing debt
securities, these debt securities could impose significant
restrictions on our operations. Any such required financing may not
be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, and the
failure to procure such required financing could have a material
and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results
of operations, or threaten our ability to continue as a going
concern.
Our
present and future capital requirements will be significant and
will depend on many factors, including:
|
● |
the
progress and results of our development efforts for our product
candidates; |
|
● |
the
costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of our product
candidates; |
|
● |
the
costs and timing of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent
applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property
rights and defending any intellectual property-related
claims; |
|
● |
the
effect of competing technological and market
developments; |
|
● |
market
acceptance of our product candidates; |
|
● |
the
rate of progress in establishing coverage and reimbursement
arrangements with domestic and international commercial third-party
payors and government payors; |
|
● |
the
ability to achieve revenue growth and improve gross
margins; |
|
● |
the
extent to which we acquire or in-license other products and
technologies; and |
|
● |
legal,
accounting, insurance and other professional and business-related
costs. |
We
may not be able to acquire additional funds on acceptable terms, or
at all. If we are unable to raise adequate funds, we may have to
liquidate some or all of our assets or delay, reduce the scope of
or eliminate some or all of our development programs.
If we
do not have, or are not able to obtain, sufficient funds, we may be
required to delay development or commercialization of our product
candidates. We also may have to reduce the resources devoted to our
product candidates or cease operations. Any of these factors could
harm our operating results.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly negatively impacted our
business.
The
COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global economy and has
negatively impacted large populations including people and
businesses that may be directly or indirectly involved with the
operation of our Company and the manufacturing, development, and
testing of our product candidates. The full scope and economic
impact of COVID-19 is still unknown and there are many risks from
COVID-19 that could generally and negatively impact economies and
healthcare providers in the countries where we do business, the
medical device industry as a whole, and development stage,
pre-revenue companies such as HJLI. At this time, we have
identified the following COVID-19 related risks that we believe
have a greater likelihood of negatively impacting our company
specific, including, but not limited to:
|
● |
Federal,
State and local shelter-in-place directives which limit our
employees from accessing our facility to manufacture, develop and
test our product candidates; |
|
● |
Travel
restrictions and quarantine requirements which prevent us from
initiating and continuing animal studies and patient trials both
inside and outside of the United States; |
|
● |
The
burden on hospitals and medical personnel resulting in the
cancellation of non-essential medical procedures such as surgical
procedures needed to implant our product candidates for
pre-clinical and clinical trials; |
|
● |
Delays
in the procurement of certain supplies and equipment that are
needed to develop and test our product candidates; |
|
● |
Erosion
of the capital markets which make it more difficult to obtain the
financing that we need to fund and continue our operations;
and |
|
● |
Potential
back-log at regulatory agencies such as the FDA which may result in
delays in obtaining regulatory approvals. |
|
● |
Travel
restrictions which prevent patients from participating and
continuing the participation in clinical trials. |
While we have entered into a non-binding letter of intent with
Catheter Precision and have entered into exclusive negotiations for
a merger therewith, we cannot assure you that the transactions
contemplated by our non-binding letter of intent will be
consummated or, that if such transactions are consummated, they
will be accretive to stockholder value.
On
June 1, 2020, we entered into a non-binding letter of intent with
Catheter Precision pursuant to which we agreed to explore a merger
transaction with Catheter Precision. However, the non-binding
letter of intent did not include material terms to any potential
transaction with Catheter Precision and there is no guarantee that
we will agree to terms or definitive documentation with Catheter
Precision in order to effect the proposed merger transaction.
Further, even if we are able to agree to terms with Catheter
Precision for a merger transaction, there is no guarantee that the
terms will be favorable to and approved by our stockholders, that
the transaction will be completed in the time frame or in the
manner currently anticipated, or that we will recognize the
anticipated benefits of the transaction.
We may engage in future acquisitions or strategic transactions,
including the transaction with Catheter Precision, which may
require us to seek additional financing or financial commitments,
increase our expenses and/or present significant distractions to
our management.
As
described herein, we have recently entered into a non-binding
letter of intent to merge the Company with Catheter Precision which
enables us to conduct due diligence and negotiate the terms of a
definitive merger agreement. In the event we engage in an
acquisition or strategic transaction, we may need to acquire
additional financing (particularly, if the acquired entity is not
cash flow positive or does not have significant cash on hand).
Obtaining financing through the issuance or sale of additional
equity and/or debt securities, if possible, may not be at favorable
terms and may result in additional dilution to our current
stockholders. Additionally, any such transaction may require us to
incur non-recurring or other charges, may increase our near and
long-term expenditures and may pose significant integration
challenges or disrupt our management or business, which could
adversely affect our operations and financial results. For example,
an acquisition or strategic transaction may entail numerous
operational and financial risks, including the risks outlined above
and additionally:
|
● |
exposure
to unknown liabilities; |
|
● |
disruption
of our business and diversion of our management’s time and
attention in order to develop acquired products or
technologies; |
|
● |
higher
than expected acquisition and integration costs; |
|
● |
write-downs
of assets or goodwill or impairment charges; |
|
● |
increased
amortization expenses; |
|
● |
difficulty
and cost in combining the operations and personnel of any acquired
businesses with our operations and personnel; |
|
● |
impairment
of relationships with key suppliers or customers of any acquired
businesses due to changes in management and ownership;
and |
|
● |
inability
to retain key employees of any acquired businesses. |
Accordingly,
although there can be no assurance that we will undertake or
successfully complete any transactions of the nature described
above, and any transactions that we do complete could have a
material adverse effect on our business, results of operations,
financial condition and prospects.
As a result of our current lack of financial liquidity, the Company
has concluded there is substantial doubt regarding our ability to
continue as a going concern.
Our
lack of sufficient liquidity could make it more difficult for us to
secure additional financing or enter into strategic relationships
on terms acceptable to us, if at all, and may materially and
adversely affect the terms of any financing that we may obtain and
our public stock price generally. As a result of this, the Company
has concluded there is substantial doubt regarding our ability to
continue as a going concern. Accordingly, the report of our
independent registered accounting firm that accompanies our audited
financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019 contains
going concern qualifications, which discuss substantial doubt
regarding our ability to continue as a going concern over the next
twelve months from the issuance of our Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed on March 18, 2020 (the
“Form 10-K”), meaning that we may be unable to continue in
operation for the foreseeable future or realize assets and
discharge liabilities in the ordinary course of
operations.
In
order to continue as a going concern, we will need to, among other
things, achieve positive cash flow from operations and, if
necessary, seek additional capital resources to satisfy our cash
needs. Our plans to achieve positive cash flow include engaging in
offerings of equity and debt securities and negotiating up-front
and milestone payments on our product candidates and royalties from
sales of our product candidates that secure regulatory approval and
any milestone payments associated with such approved product
candidates. Our failure to obtain additional capital would have an
adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations,
cash flows, and business prospects, and ultimately on our ability
to continue as a going concern.
If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we
may not be able to accurately report financial results or prevent
fraud. If we identify a material weakness in our internal control
over financial reporting, our ability to meet our reporting
obligations and the trading price of our stock could be negatively
affected.
As
described in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC
on August 14, 2020, in connection with our issuance of warrants in
a private placement offering in February 2020, we identified a
material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting
with regard to our failure to record an associated derivative
liability on a timely basis. This deficiency did not result in the
revision of any of our issued financial statements. If we are
unable to remediate this material weakness, or if we do not have
these controls operating effectively for a sufficient amount of
time, management may conclude that we did not maintain effective
internal control over financial reporting as of December 31,
2020.
Effective
internal controls are necessary to provide reliable financial
reports and to assist in the effective prevention of fraud. Any
inability to provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud
could harm our business. We regularly review and update our
internal controls, disclosure controls and procedures, and
corporate governance policies. In addition, we are required under
the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to report annually on our internal
control over financial reporting. Any system of internal controls,
however well designed and operated, is based in part on certain
assumptions and can provide only reasonable, not absolute,
assurances that the objectives of the system are met. A material
weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in
internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a
reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual
or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected
on a timely basis. Accordingly, a material weakness increases the
risk that the financial information we report contains material
errors.
While
we are in the process of developing a detailed plan for remediation
of the material weakness, including developing and maintaining a
transition process for new finance executives to review existing
critical accounting policies and judgments, we can offer no
assurance that our remediation plan will ultimately have the
intended effects. Any failure to maintain such internal controls
could adversely impact our ability to report our financial results
on a timely and accurate basis. If our financial statements are not
accurate, investors may not have a complete understanding of our
operations or may lose confidence in our reported financial
information. Likewise, if our financial statements are not filed on
a timely basis as required by the SEC and The Nasdaq Stock Market,
we could face severe consequences from those authorities. In either
case, it could result in a material adverse effect on our business
or have a negative effect on the trading price of our common stock.
Further, if we fail to remedy this deficiency (or any other future
deficiencies) or maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, we
could be subject to regulatory scrutiny, civil or criminal
penalties or shareholder litigation. We can give no assurance that
the measures we have taken and plan to take in the future will
remediate the material weakness identified or that any additional
material weaknesses will not arise in the future due to a failure
to implement and maintain adequate internal control over financial
reporting or circumvention of those controls.
Further,
in the future, if we cannot conclude that we have effective
internal control over our financial reporting, investors could lose
confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which
could lead to a decline in our stock price. Failure to comply with
reporting requirements could also subject us to sanctions and/or
investigations by the SEC, The Nasdaq Stock Market or other
regulatory authorities.
We may never be able to generate sufficient revenue from the
commercialization of our product candidates to achieve and maintain
profitability.
Our
ability to operate profitably in the future will depend upon, among
other items, our ability to (i) fully develop our product
candidates, (ii) scale up our business and operational structure,
(iii) obtain regulatory approval of our product candidates from the
FDA, (iv) market and sell our product candidates to larger medical
device companies, (v) successfully gain market acceptance of our
product candidates, and (vi) obtain sufficient and on-time supply
of components from our third-party suppliers. If our product
candidates are never successfully commercialized, we may never
receive a return on our investments in product development,
regulatory compliance, manufacturing and quality assurance, which
may cause us to fail to generate revenue and gain economies of
scale from such investments.
We only utilize a few suppliers for porcine and bovine tissue for
our two product candidates and the loss of a supplier could have an
adverse impact on our business.
We
rely on one domestic and one international third-party vendors to
supply porcine and bovine tissue for our two product candidates.
Our ability to supply our current and future product candidates, if
approved, commercially depends, in part, on our ability to obtain
this porcine and bovine tissue in accordance with our
specifications and with regulatory requirements and in sufficient
quantities to meet demand. Our ability to obtain porcine and bovine
tissue may be affected by matters outside our control, including
that these suppliers may cancel our arrangements on short notice or
have disruptions to their operations.
If we
are required to establish additional or replacement suppliers for
the porcine and bovine tissue, it may not be accomplished quickly
and our operations could be disrupted. Even if we are able to find
replacement suppliers, the replacement suppliers may need to be
qualified and may require additional regulatory authority approval,
which could result in further delay. In the event of a supply
disruption, our product inventories may be insufficient to supply
our customers and the development of any future product candidates
would be delayed, limited or prevented, which could have an adverse
impact on our business.
We depend upon third-party suppliers for certain components of our
product candidates, making us vulnerable to supply problems and
price fluctuations, which could harm our
business.
We
rely on a number of third-party suppliers to provide certain
components of our product candidates. We do not have long-term
supply agreements with most of our suppliers, and, in many cases,
we purchase goods on a purchase order basis. Our suppliers may
encounter problems for a variety of reasons, including
unanticipated demand from larger customers, failure to follow
specific protocols and procedures, failure to comply with
applicable regulations, equipment malfunction, quality or yield
problems and environmental factors, any of which could delay or
impede their ability to meet our demand. Our reliance on these
third-party suppliers also subjects us to other risks that could
harm our business, including:
|
● |
interruption
of supply resulting from modifications to, or discontinuation of, a
supplier’s operations; |
|
● |
delays
in product shipments resulting from defects, reliability issues or
changes in components from suppliers; |
|
● |
price
fluctuations due to a lack of long-term supply arrangements for key
components with our suppliers; |
|
● |
errors
in manufacturing components, which could negatively impact the
effectiveness or safety of our product candidates or cause delays
in shipment of our product candidates; |
|
● |
discontinued
production of components, which could significantly delay our
production and sales and impair operating margins; |
|
● |
inability
to obtain adequate supplies in a timely manner or on commercially
reasonable terms; |
|
● |
difficulty
locating and qualifying alternative suppliers, especially with
respect to our sole-source supplies; |
|
● |
delays
in production and sales caused by switching components, which may
require product redesign and/or new regulatory
submissions; |
|
● |
delays
due to evaluation and testing of devices from alternative suppliers
and corresponding regulatory qualifications; |
|
● |
non-timely
delivery of components due to our suppliers supplying products for
a range of customers; |
|
● |
the
failure of our suppliers to comply with strictly enforced
regulatory requirements, which could result in disruption of supply
or increased expenses; and |
|
● |
inability
of suppliers to fulfill orders and meet requirements due to
financial hardships. |
In
addition, there are a limited number of suppliers and third-party
manufacturers that operate under the FDA’s Quality System
Regulation, or QSR, requirements, maintain certifications from the
International Organization for Standardization that are recognized
as harmonized standards in the European Economic Area, or EEA, and
that have the necessary expertise and capacity to supply components
for our product candidates. As a result, it may be difficult for us
to locate manufacturers for our anticipated future needs, and our
anticipated growth may strain the ability of our current suppliers
to deliver products, materials and components to us. If we are
unable to arrange for third-party manufacturing of components for
our product candidates, or to do so on commercially reasonable
terms, we may not be able to complete development of, market and
sell our current or new product candidates. Further, any supply
interruption from our suppliers or failure to obtain additional
suppliers for any of the components used in our product candidates
would limit our ability to manufacture our product candidates.
Failure to meet these commitments could result in legal action by
our customers, loss of customers or harm to our ability to attract
new customers, any of which could have a material and adverse
effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations
and growth.
If we successfully develop our product candidates and are unable to
sell or license them to larger medical device companies, we may
have to commercialize our products on our own, in which case we
would have to demonstrate the efficacy and financial viability of
our products to doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, and other
stakeholders.
There
are multiple stakeholders that determine the success of a medical
device, including doctors, hospitals, medical insurance companies,
and others. Educating these stakeholders on the benefits of our
product candidates will require a significant commitment by a
marketing team and sales organization. Surgeons and hospitals may
be slow to change their practices because of familiarity with
existing devices and/or treatments, perceived risks arising from
the use of new devices, lack of experience using new devices, lack
of clinical data supporting the benefits of such devices or the
cost of new devices. There may never be widespread adoption of our
product candidates by surgeons and hospitals. In addition, medical
insurance companies would need to understand the costs and benefits
of our product candidates compared to the existing standards of
care, if they are to provide reimbursement for the cost of our
product candidates and the procedures to implant our product
candidates. We may have difficulty and may never achieve the market
acceptance that we need from doctors, hospitals, medical insurance
companies and others that are necessary for a successful
product.
If larger medical device companies purchase or license any of our
product candidates and they are unable to convince hospital
facilities to approve the use of our product candidates, we may be
unable to generate a substantial royalty income from our
products.
In
the United States, in order for surgeons to use our product
candidates, the hospital facilities where these surgeons treat
patients will typically require that the product candidates receive
approval from the facility’s VAC. VACs typically review the
comparative effectiveness and cost of medical devices used in the
facility. The makeup and evaluation processes for VACs vary
considerably, and it can be a lengthy, costly and time-consuming
effort to obtain approval by the relevant VAC. For example, even if
the purchasers or licensees of our product candidates have an
agreement with a hospital system for purchase of our products, in
most cases, they must obtain VAC approval by each hospital within
the system to sell at that particular hospital. Additionally,
hospitals typically require separate VAC approval for each
specialty in which our product is used, which may result in
multiple VAC approval processes within the same hospital even if
such product has already been approved for use by a different
specialty group. VAC approval is often needed for each different
product to be used by the surgeons in that specialty. In addition,
hospital facilities and group purchasing organizations, or GPOs,
which manage purchasing for multiple facilities, may also require
the purchasers of licensees of our products to enter into a
purchasing agreement and satisfy numerous elements of their
administrative procurement process, which can also be a lengthy,
costly and time-consuming effort. If our purchasers/licensees do
not receive access to hospital facilities in a timely manner, or at
all, via these VAC and purchasing contract processes, or otherwise,
or if they are unable to secure contracts on commercially
reasonable terms in a timely manner, or at all, their operating
costs will increase, their sales may decrease and their operating
results may be harmed.
If larger medical device companies purchase or license any of our
product candidates and they are unable to convince hospital
facilities to approve the use of our product candidates, we may be
unable to generate a substantial royalty income from our
products.
In
the United States, in order for surgeons to use our product
candidates, the hospital facilities where these surgeons treat
patients will typically require that the product candidates receive
approval from the facility’s VAC. VACs typically review the
comparative effectiveness and cost of medical devices used in the
facility. The makeup and evaluation processes for VACs vary
considerably, and it can be a lengthy, costly and time-consuming
effort to obtain approval by the relevant VAC. For example, even if
the purchasers or licensees of our product candidates have an
agreement with a hospital system for purchase of our products, in
most cases, they must obtain VAC approval by each hospital within
the system to sell at that particular hospital. Additionally,
hospitals typically require separate VAC approval for each
specialty in which our product is used, which may result in
multiple VAC approval processes within the same hospital even if
such product has already been approved for use by a different
specialty group. VAC approval is often needed for each different
product to be used by the surgeons in that specialty. In addition,
hospital facilities and group purchasing organizations, or GPOs,
which manage purchasing for multiple facilities, may also require
the purchasers of licensees of our products to enter into a
purchasing agreement and satisfy numerous elements of their
administrative procurement process, which can also be a lengthy,
costly and time-consuming effort. If our purchasers/licensees do
not receive access to hospital facilities in a timely manner, or at
all, via these VAC and purchasing contract processes, or otherwise,
or if they are unable to secure contracts on commercially
reasonable terms in a timely manner, or at all, their operating
costs will increase, their sales may decrease and their operating
results may be harmed.
Our long-term growth depends on our ability to develop and
commercialize additional product candidates.
The
medical device industry is highly competitive and subject to rapid
change and technological advancements. Therefore, it is important
to our business that we continue to enhance our product candidate
offerings and introduce new product candidates. Developing new
product candidates is expensive and time-consuming. Even if we are
successful in developing additional product candidates, the success
of any new product candidates or enhancements to existing product
candidates will depend on several factors, including our ability
to:
|
● |
properly
identify and anticipate surgeon and patient needs; |
|
● |
develop
and introduce new product candidates or enhancements in a timely
manner; |
|
● |
develop
an effective and dedicated sales and marketing team; |
|
● |
avoid
infringing upon the intellectual property rights of
third-parties; |
|
● |
demonstrate,
if required, the safety and efficacy of new product candidates with
data from preclinical studies and clinical trials; |
|
● |
obtain
the necessary regulatory clearances or approvals for new product
candidates or enhancements; |
|
● |
be
fully FDA-compliant with marketing of new product candidates or
modified product candidates; |
|
● |
provide
adequate training to potential users of our product candidates;
and |
|
● |
receive
adequate coverage and reimbursement for procedures performed with
our product candidates. |
If we
are unsuccessful in developing and commercializing additional
devices in other areas, our ability to increase our revenue may be
impaired.
New
technologies, techniques or products could emerge that might offer
better combinations of price and performance than the products and
services that we plan to offer. Existing markets for surgical
devices are characterized by rapid technological change and
innovation. It is critical to our success that we anticipate
changes in technology and customer requirements and physician,
hospital and healthcare provider practices. It is also important
that we successfully introduce new, enhanced and competitive
product candidates to meet our prospective customers’ needs on a
timely and cost-effective basis. At the same time, however, we must
carefully manage our introduction of new product candidates. If
potential customers believe that such product candidates will offer
enhanced features or be sold for a more attractive price, they may
delay purchases until such product candidates are available. We may
also continue to offer older obsolete products as we transition to
new product candidates, and we may not have sufficient experience
managing transitions. If we do not successfully innovate and
introduce new technology into our anticipated product lines or
successfully manage the transitions of our technology to new
product offerings, our revenue, results of operations and business
could be adversely impacted.
Our
competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively
than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies,
industry standards, distribution reach or customer requirements. We
anticipate that we will face strong competition in the future as
current or future competitors develop new or improved product
candidates and as new companies enter the market with novel
technologies.
If we are unable to produce an adequate supply of our product
candidates for use in our current and planned clinical trials or
for commercialization because of our limited manufacturing
resources or our facility is damaged or becomes inoperable, our
regulatory, development and commercialization efforts may be
delayed.
Our
manufacturing resources for our product candidates are limited. We
currently manufacture our product candidates for our research and
development purposes at our manufacturing facility in Irvine,
California. If our existing manufacturing facility experiences a
disruption, we would have no other means of manufacturing our
product candidates until we are able to restore the manufacturing
capability at our current facility or develop alternative
manufacturing facilities. Additionally, any damage to or
destruction of our facilities or our equipment, prolonged power
outage or contamination at our facilities would significantly
impair our ability to produce our product candidates and prepare
our product candidates for clinical trials.
Additionally,
in order to produce our product candidates in the quantities that
will be required for commercialization, we will have to increase or
“scale up” our production process over the current level of
production. We may encounter difficulties in scaling up our
production, including issues involving yields, controlling and
anticipating costs, quality control and assurance, supply and
shortages of qualified personnel. If our scaled-up production
process is not efficient or results in a product that does not meet
quality or other standards, we may be unable to meet market demand
and our revenues, business and financial prospects would be
adversely affected. Further, third parties with whom we may develop
relationships may not have the ability to produce the quantities of
the materials we may require for clinical trials or commercial
sales or may be unable to do so at prices that allow us to price
our products competitively.
Our
facility and equipment would be costly to replace and could require
substantial lead time to repair or replace. The facility may be
harmed or rendered inoperable by natural or man-made disasters,
including earthquakes, flooding, fire, vandalism and power outages,
which may render it difficult to operate our business for some
period of time. While we have taken precautions to safeguard our
facilities, any inability to operate our business during such
periods could lead to the loss of customers or harm to our
reputation. We also possess insurance for damage to our property
and the disruption of our business, but this insurance may not be
sufficient to cover all of our potential losses and this insurance
may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at
all.
We currently have no sales and marketing infrastructure and if we
are unable to successfully sell and/or license our product
candidates to larger medical device companies, we may be unable to
commercialize our product candidates on our own, if approved, and
may never generate sufficient revenue to achieve or sustain
profitability.
In
order to commercialize products that are approved by regulatory
agencies, our current business model is to license or sell our
product candidates to large medical device companies. We may not be
able to enter into license or sale agreements on acceptable terms
or at all, which would leave us unable to progress our current
business plan. Our ability to reach a definitive agreement for
collaboration will depend, among other things, upon our assessment
of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and
conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed
collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. If we are unable
to maintain or reach agreements with suitable collaborators on a
timely basis, on acceptable terms, or at all, we may have to
curtail the development of our product candidates, reduce or delay
development programs, delay potential commercialization of our
product candidates or reduce the scope of any sales or marketing
activities, or increase our expenditures and undertake development
or commercialization activities at our own expense.
Moreover,
even if we are able to maintain and/or enter into such
collaborations, such collaborations may pose a number of risks,
including the following:
|
● |
collaborators
may not perform their obligations as expected; |
|
● |
disagreements
with collaborators might cause delays or termination of the
research, development or commercialization of our product
candidates, might lead to additional responsibilities for us with
respect to such devices, or might result in litigation or
arbitration, any of which would be time-consuming and
expensive; |
|
● |
collaborators
could independently develop or be associated with products that
compete directly or indirectly with our product
candidates; |
|
● |
collaborators
could have significant discretion in determining the efforts and
resources that they will apply to our arrangements with them, and
thus we may have limited or no control over the sales, marketing
and distribution activities; |
|
● |
should
any of our product candidates achieve regulatory approval, a
collaborator with marketing and distribution rights to our product
candidates may not commit sufficient resources to the marketing and
distribution of such product candidates; |
|
● |
collaborators
may not properly maintain or defend our intellectual property
rights or may use our proprietary information in such a way as to
invite litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our
intellectual property or proprietary information or expose us to
potential litigation; |
|
● |
collaborators
may infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties,
which may expose us to litigation and potential liability;
and |
|
● |
collaborations
may be terminated for the convenience of the collaborator and, if
terminated, we could be required to either find alternative
collaborators (which we may be unable to do) or raise additional
capital to pursue further development or commercialization of our
product candidates on our own. |
Our
business would be materially or perhaps significantly harmed if any
of the foregoing or similar risks comes to pass with respect to our
key collaborations.
If it
becomes necessary for us to establish a sales and marketing
infrastructure, we may not realize a positive return on this
investment. We would have to compete with established and
well-funded medical device companies to recruit, hire, train and
retain sales and marketing personnel. Once hired, the training
process is lengthy because it requires significant education of new
sales representatives to achieve the level of clinical competency
with our products expected by specialists. Upon completion of the
training, we expect our sales representatives would typically
require lead time in the field to grow their network of accounts
and achieve the productivity levels we expect them to reach in any
individual territory. If we are unable to attract, motivate,
develop and retain a sufficient number of qualified sales
personnel, or if our sales representatives do not achieve the
productivity levels in the time period we expect them to reach, our
revenue will not grow at the rate we expect and our business,
results of operations and financial condition will suffer. Also, to
the extent we hire sales personnel from our competitors, we may be
required to wait until applicable non-competition provisions have
expired before deploying such personnel in restricted territories
or incur costs to relocate personnel outside of such territories.
Any of these risks may adversely affect our ability to increase
sales of our product candidates. If we are unable to expand our
sales and marketing capabilities, we may not be able to effectively
commercialize our product candidates, which would adversely affect
our business, results of operations and financial
condition.
Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur
substantial liabilities, limit sales of our existing product
candidates and limit commercialization of any products that we may
develop.
Our
business exposes us to the risk of product liability claims that
are inherent in the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of
medical devices. This risk exists even if a device is cleared or
approved for commercial sale by the FDA and manufactured in
facilities licensed and regulated by the FDA or an applicable
foreign regulatory authority. Manufacturing and marketing of our
commercial devices and clinical testing of our product candidates
under development, may expose us to product liability and other
tort claims. Furthermore, surgeons may misuse our product
candidates or use improper techniques if they are not adequately
trained, potentially leading to injury and an increased risk of
product liability. If our product candidates are misused or used
with improper technique, we may become subject to costly litigation
by our customers or their patients. Regardless of the merit or
eventual outcome, product liability claims may result
in:
|
● |
significant
litigation costs; |
|
● |
decreased
demand for our product candidates and any product candidates that
we may develop; |
|
● |
damage
to our reputation; |
|
● |
withdrawal
of clinical trial participants; |
|
● |
substantial
monetary awards to trial participants, patients or other
claimants; |
|
● |
loss
of revenue; and |
|
● |
the
inability to commercialize any product candidates that we may
develop. |
Although
we intend to maintain liability insurance, the coverage limits of
our insurance policies may not be adequate, and one or more
successful claims brought against us may have a material adverse
effect on our business and results of operations. If we are unable
to obtain insurance in the future at an acceptable cost or on
acceptable terms with adequate coverage, we will be exposed to
significant liabilities.
The loss of our executive officers or our inability to attract and
retain qualified personnel may adversely affect our business,
financial conditions and results of operations.
Our
business and operations depend to a significant degree on the
skills, efforts and continued services of our executive officers
who have critical industry experience and relationships. Although
we have entered into employment agreements with our executive
officers, they may terminate their employment with us at any time.
Accordingly, these executive officers may not remain associated
with us. The efforts of these persons will be critical to us as we
continue to develop our product candidates and business. We do not
carry key person life insurance on any of our management, which
would leave our company uncompensated for the loss of any of our
executive officers.
Further,
competition for highly-skilled and qualified personnel is intense.
As such, our future viability and ability to achieve sales and
profit will also depend on our ability to attract, train, retain
and motivate highly qualified personnel in the diverse areas
required for continuing our operations. If we were to lose the
services one or more of our current executive officers or if we are
unable to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel, we may
experience difficulties in competing effectively, developing and
commercializing our products and implementing our business
strategies, which could have a material adverse effect on our
business, operations and financial condition.
Our ability to use our net operating loss carry-forwards and
certain other tax attributes may be limited.
As of
December 31, 2019 and 2018, we had available federal and state net
operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, of approximately $26.1 and
$17.4 million, respectively. Pre-2018 federal and state NOLs
carryovers may be carried forward for twenty years and begin to
expire in 2029. Under the Tax Act, post-2017 federal NOLs can be
carried forward indefinitely and the annual limit of deduction
equals 80% of taxable income. As of December 31, 2019, we also had
federal research and development tax credit carryforwards of
approximately $0.2 million which begin to expire in 2027. In
general, under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an
“ownership change” (generally defined as a cumulative change in
equity ownership by “5% shareholders” that exceeds 50 percentage
points over a rolling three-year period) may be subject to
limitations on its ability to utilize its NOLs and certain credit
carryforwards to offset future taxable income and taxes. We are
currently analyzing the tax impacts of any potential ownership
changes on our federal NOLs and credit carryforwards. Future
changes in our stock ownership, including this or future offerings,
as well as other changes that may be outside of our control, could
result in ownership changes. Our NOLs and credit carryforwards may
also be limited under similar provisions of state law. We have
recorded a full valuation allowance related to our NOLs and other
deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty of the ultimate
realization of the future tax benefits of such assets.
Risks
Related to Regulatory Approval and Other Governmental
Regulations
Our business and product candidates are subject to extensive
governmental regulation and oversight, and our failure to comply
with applicable regulatory requirements could harm our
business.
Our
product candidates and operations are subject to extensive
regulation in the United States by the FDA and by regulatory
agencies in other countries where we anticipate conducting business
activities. The FDA regulates the development, testing,
manufacturing, labeling, storage, record-keeping, promotion,
marketing, sales, distribution and post-market support and
reporting of medical devices in the United States. The regulations
to which we are subject are complex and may become more stringent
over time. Regulatory changes could result in restrictions on our
ability to carry on or expand our operations, higher than
anticipated costs or lower than anticipated sales.
In
order to conduct a clinical investigation involving human subjects
for the purpose of demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of a
medical device, a company must, among other things, apply for and
obtain Institutional Review Board, or IRB, approval of the proposed
investigation. In addition, if the clinical study involves a
“significant risk” (as defined by the FDA) to human health, the
sponsor of the investigation must also submit and obtain FDA
approval of an IDE application. Our product candidates are
considered significant risk devices requiring IDE approval prior to
investigational use. We may not be able to obtain FDA and/or IRB
approval to undertake clinical trials in the United States for any
new devices we intend to market in the United States in the future.
If we obtain such approvals, we may not be able to conduct studies
which comply with the IDE and other regulations governing clinical
investigations or the data from any such trials may not support
clearance or approval of the investigational device. Failure to
obtain such approvals or to comply with such regulations could have
a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and
results of operations. It is uncertain whether clinical trials will
meet desired endpoints, produce meaningful or useful data and be
free of unexpected adverse effects, or that the FDA will accept the
validity of foreign clinical study data, and such uncertainty could
preclude or delay market clearance or authorizations resulting in
significant financial costs and reduced revenue.
Our product candidates may be subject to extensive governmental
regulation in foreign jurisdictions, such as the EEA, and our
failure to comply with applicable requirements could cause our
business, results of operations and financial condition to
suffer.
In
the EEA, our product candidates will need to comply with the
Essential Requirements set forth in Medical Device Regulation.
Compliance with these requirements is a prerequisite to be able to
affix the CE mark to a product, without which a product cannot be
marketed or sold in the EEA. To demonstrate compliance with the
Essential Requirements and obtain the right to affix the CE mark to
our product candidates, we must undergo a conformity assessment
procedure, which varies according to the type of medical device and
its classification. The conformity assessment procedure requires
the intervention of a Notified Body, which is an organization
designated by a competent authority of an EEA country to conduct
conformity assessments. The Notified Body would audit and examine
the Technical File and the quality system for the manufacture,
design and final inspection of our products. The Notified Body
issues a CE Certificate of Conformity following successful
completion of a conformity assessment procedure and quality
management system audit conducted in relation to the medical device
and its manufacturer and their conformity with the Essential
Requirements. This Certificate entitles the manufacturer to affix
the CE mark to its medical products after having prepared and
signed a related EC Declaration of Conformity.
As a
general rule, demonstration of conformity of medical products and
their manufacturers with the Essential Requirements must be based,
among other things, on the evaluation of clinical data supporting
the safety and performance of the products during normal conditions
of use. Specifically, a manufacturer must demonstrate that the
device achieves its intended performance during normal conditions
of use and that the known and foreseeable risks, and any adverse
events, are minimized and acceptable when weighed against the
benefits of its intended performance, and that any claims made
about the performance and safety of the device (e.g., product
labeling and instructions for use) are supported by suitable
evidence. This assessment must be based on clinical data, which can
be obtained from (1) clinical studies conducted on the devices
being assessed, (2) scientific literature from similar devices
whose equivalence with the assessed device can be demonstrated or
(3) both clinical studies and scientific literature. However, the
pre-approval and post-market clinical requirements are much more
rigorous. The conduct of clinical studies in the EEA is governed by
detailed regulatory obligations. These may include the requirement
of prior authorization by the competent authorities of the country
in which the study takes place and the requirement to obtain a
positive opinion from a competent Ethics Committee. This process
can be expensive and time-consuming
The FDA regulatory approval, clearance and license process is
complex, time-consuming and unpredictable.
In
the United States, our product candidates are expected to be
regulated as medical devices. Before our medical device product
candidates can be marketed in the United States, we must submit,
and the FDA must approve a PMA application. For 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, pre-clinical, clinical
trial, manufacturing and labeling data. In addition, modifications
to products that are approved through a PMA application generally
need FDA approval. The time required to obtain approval, clearance
or license by the FDA to market a new therapy is unpredictable but
typically takes many years and depends upon many factors, including
the substantial discretion of the FDA.
Our
product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval,
clearance or license for many reasons, including the
following:
|
● |
the
FDA may disagree with the design or implementation of our clinical
trials or study endpoints; |
|
● |
we
may be unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA that
our product candidates are safe and effective for their proposed
indications or that our product candidates provide significant
clinical benefits; |
|
● |
the
results of our clinical trials may not meet the level of
statistical significance required by the FDA for approval,
clearance or license or may not support approval of a label that
could command a price sufficient for us to be
profitable; |
|
● |
the
FDA may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical
studies or clinical trials; |
|
● |
the
opportunity for bias in the clinical trials as a result of the
open-label design may not be adequately handled and may cause our
trial to fail; |
|
● |
our
product candidates may be subject to an FDA advisory committee
review, which may be requested at the sole discretion of the FDA,
and which may result in unexpected delays or hurdles to
approval; |
|
● |
the
FDA may determine that the manufacturing processes at our
facilities or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we
contract for clinical and commercial supplies are inadequate;
and |
|
● |
the
approval, clearance or license policies or regulations of the FDA
may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data
insufficient for approval. |
Even
if we were to obtain approval, clearance or license, the FDA may
grant approval, clearance or license contingent on the performance
of costly post-marketing clinical trials, or may approve our
product candidates with a label that does not include the labeling
claims necessary or desirable for successful commercialization of
our product candidates. Any of the above could materially harm our
product candidates’ commercial prospects.
Even if our product candidates are approved by regulatory
authorities, if we fail to comply with ongoing regulatory
requirements, or if we experience unanticipated problems with our
product candidates, our product candidates could be subject to
restrictions or withdrawal from the market.
The
manufacturing processes, post-approval clinical data and
promotional activities of any product candidate for which we or our
collaborators obtain marketing approval will be subject to
continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other
regulatory bodies. Even if regulatory approval of our product
candidates is granted in the United States, the approval may be
subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the product
candidates may be marketed or contain requirements for costly
post-marketing testing and surveillance to monitor the safety or
effectiveness of the product. Later discovery of previously unknown
and unanticipated problems with our product candidates, including
but not limited to unanticipated severity or frequency of adverse
events, delays or problems with the manufacturer or manufacturing
processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may
result in restrictions on such product candidates or manufacturing
processes, withdrawal of the product candidates from the market,
voluntary or mandatory recall, fines, suspension of regulatory
approvals, product seizures, injunctions or the imposition of civil
or criminal penalties.
Legislative or regulatory reforms in the United States or the EU
may make it more difficult and costly for us to obtain regulatory
clearances or approvals for our product candidates or to
manufacture, market or distribute our product candidates after
clearance or approval is obtained.
From
time to time, legislation is drafted and introduced in the U.S.
Congress that could significantly change the statutory provisions
governing the regulation of medical devices or the reimbursement
thereof. In addition, the FDA regulations and guidance are often
revised or reinterpreted by the FDA in ways that may significantly
affect our business and our product candidates. For example, as
part of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act,
or FDASIA, Congress reauthorized the Medical Device User Fee
Amendments with various FDA performance goal commitments and
enacted several “Medical Device Regulatory Improvements” and
miscellaneous reforms, which are further intended to clarify and
improve medical device regulation both pre- and post-clearance or
approval. Any new statutes, regulations or revisions or
reinterpretations of existing regulations may impose additional
costs or lengthen review times of any future products or make it
more difficult to manufacture, market or distribute our product
candidates or future products. We cannot determine what effect
changes in regulations, statutes, legal interpretation or policies,
when and if promulgated, enacted or adopted may have on our
business in the future. Such changes could, among other things,
require:
|
● |
additional
testing prior to obtaining clearance or approval; |
|
● |
changes
to manufacturing methods; |
|
● |
recall,
replacement or discontinuance of our systems or future products;
or |
|
● |
additional
record keeping. |
Any
of these changes could require substantial time and cost and could
harm our business and our financial results.
The
highly publicized PIP scandal (use of non-medical grade silicone in
breast implants) in 2010 led to publishing the first version of EU
Medical Device Regulation (MDR) by European Commission in 2012.
After 347 amendments by European Parliament in 2014, followed by
various versions, the final version of the new EU Medical Device
Regulation (MDR 2017/745) was published on May 5, 2017. The
official entry to force of the MDR started on May 26, 2017 with the
transition period of 3 years. The date of application of all
existing and new medical devices under MDR is May 26, 2020;
however, Notified Bodies are currently not accepted any new CE Mark
applications under MDD (Medical Device Directives). All existing
MDD CE certificates become void on May 26, 2024. EU requires that
all existing and new medical device undergo assessment under MDR as
if they are new product application.
The
changes from EU Medical Device Directives (MDD) to Medical Device
Regulation (MDR) are significant, with stricter clinical
requirements and post-market surveillance, shift from pre-approval
to Life-cycle approach, centralized EUDAMED database for public
transparency (e.g. Periodic Safety Update Reports) and device
registration, more device specific requirements (e.g. Common
Specifications), legal liability for defective devices, etc. The
QMS audit under MDR will be much more rigorous, including audits
and assessment of suppliers and device testing. In addition, EU MDR
introduces new stakeholders participating during the application
review process, which will result in a longer and more burdensome
assessment of our new products. The new stakeholders will include
Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) established by Member
States and Expert Panels appointed by European Union.
Further,
under the FDA’s Medical Device Reporting or MDR regulations, we are
required to report to the FDA any incident in which our product
candidates may have caused or contributed to a death or serious
injury or in which our product malfunctioned and, if the
malfunction were to recur, would likely cause or contribute to
death or serious injury. Any adverse event involving our products
could result in future voluntary corrective actions, such as
product actions or customer notifications, or regulatory authority
actions, such as inspection, mandatory recall or other enforcement
action. Repeated product malfunctions may result in a voluntary or
involuntary product recall, which could divert managerial and
financial resources, impair our ability to manufacture our product
candidates in a cost-effective and timely manner and have an
adverse effect on our reputation, financial condition and operating
results.
Moreover,
depending on the corrective action we take to redress a product’s
deficiencies or defects, the FDA may require, or we may decide,
that we will need to obtain new approvals or clearances for the
device before we may market or distribute the corrected device.
Seeking such approvals or clearances may delay our ability to
replace the recalled devices in a timely manner. Moreover, if we do
not adequately address problems associated with our product
candidates, we may face additional regulatory enforcement action,
including FDA warning letters, product seizure, injunctions,
administrative penalties, withdrawals or clearances or approvals or
civil or criminal fines. We may also be required to bear other
costs or take other actions that may have a negative impact on our
sales as well as face significant adverse publicity or regulatory
consequences, which could harm our business, including our ability
to market our product candidates in the future.
We are subject to federal, state and foreign healthcare laws and
regulations, and a finding of failure to comply with such laws and
regulations could have a material and adverse effect on our
business.
Our
operations are, and will continue to be, directly and indirectly
affected by various federal, state or foreign healthcare laws,
including, but not limited to, those described below. These laws
include:
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the
federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things,
persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, receiving,
offering or paying remuneration, directly or indirectly, in
exchange for or to induce either the referral of an individual for,
or the purchase, order or recommendation of, any good or service
for which payment may be made under federal healthcare programs,
such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs. A person or entity does
not need to have actual knowledge of the federal Anti-Kickback
Statute or specific intent to violate it to have committed a
violation. In addition, the government may assert that a claim
including items or services resulting from a violation of the
federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent
claim for purposes of the False Claims Act. Violations of the
federal Anti-kickback Statute may result in substantial civil or
criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $25,000,
imprisonment of up to five years, civil penalties under the Civil
Monetary Penalties Law of up to $50,000 for each violation, plus
three times the remuneration involved, civil penalties under the
federal False Claims Act of up to $11,000 for each claim submitted,
plus three times the amounts paid for such claims and exclusion
from participation in the Medicare and Medicaid
programs; |
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the
federal False Claims Act, which prohibits, among other things,
individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or causing to be
presented, claims for payment from Medicare, Medicaid or other
federal third-party payors that are false or fraudulent. Suits
filed under the False Claims Act, known as “qui tam” actions, can
be brought by any individual on behalf of the government and such
individuals, commonly known as “whistleblowers,” may 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, the government may impose penalties of not less than
$5,500 and not more than $11,000, plus three times the amount of
the damages that the government sustains due to the submission of a
false claim and exclude the entity from participation in Medicare,
Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs; |
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the
federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law, which prohibits, among other
things, offering or transferring remuneration to a federal
healthcare beneficiary that a person knows or should know is likely
to influence the beneficiary’s decision to order or receive items
or services reimbursable by the government from a particular
provider or supplier; |
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HIPAA,
as amended by the HITECH Act, and their respective implementing
regulations, which governs the conduct of certain electronic
healthcare transactions and protects the security and privacy of
protected health information. Failure to comply with the HIPAA
privacy and security standards can result in civil monetary
penalties up to $50,000 per violation, not to exceed $1.5 million
per calendar year for non-compliance of an identical provision,
and, in certain circumstances, criminal penalties with fines up to
$250,000 per violation and/or imprisonment. State attorneys general
can bring a civil action to enjoin a HIPAA violation or to obtain
statutory damages up to $25,000 per violation on behalf of
residents of his or her state. HIPAA also imposes criminal
penalties for fraud against any healthcare benefit program and for
obtaining money or property from a healthcare benefit program
through false pretenses and provides for broad prosecutorial
subpoena authority and authorizes certain property forfeiture upon
conviction of a federal healthcare offense. Significantly, the
HIPAA provisions apply not only to federal programs, but also to
private health benefit programs. HIPAA also broadened the authority
of the U.S. Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services to exclude participants from federal
healthcare programs; |
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the
federal physician sunshine requirements under the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, which requires
certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical
supplies to report annually to the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services information related to payments and other transfers
of value to physicians, which is defined broadly to include other
healthcare providers and teaching hospitals and ownership and
investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family
members. Manufacturers are required to submit reports to CMS by the
90th day of each calendar year. Failure to submit the required
information may result in civil monetary penalties up to an
aggregate of $150,000 per year (and up to an aggregate of $1
million per year for “knowing failures”) for all payments,
transfers of value or ownership or investment interests not
reported in an annual submission, and may result in liability under
other federal laws or regulations; and |
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analogous
state and foreign law equivalents of each of the above federal
laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws which may apply
to items or services reimbursed by any third- party payor,
including commercial insurers; state laws that require device
companies to comply with the industry’s voluntary compliance
guidelines and the applicable compliance guidance promulgated by
the federal government or otherwise restrict payments that may be
made to healthcare providers and other potential referral sources;
state laws that require device manufacturers to report information
related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and
other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures; and state
laws governing the privacy and security of health information in
certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in
significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus
complicating compliance efforts. Any failure by us to ensure that
our employees and agents comply with applicable state and foreign
laws and regulations could result in substantial penalties or
restrictions on our ability to conduct business in those
jurisdictions, and our results of operations and financial
condition could be materially and adversely affected. |
The
risk of our being found in violation of these laws is increased by
the fact that many of them have not been fully interpreted by the
regulatory authorities or the courts, and their provisions are open
to a variety of interpretations. Because of the breadth of these
laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and safe
harbors available under such laws, it is possible that some of our
business activities, including our relationships with surgeons and
other healthcare providers, some of whom recommend, purchase and/or
prescribe our product candidates, and our distributors, could be
subject to challenge under one or more of such laws.
If
our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws
described above or any other governmental regulations that apply to
us now or in the future, we may be subject to penalties, including
civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement,
exclusion from governmental health care programs and the
curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could
adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our
financial results. Any action against us for violation of these
laws, even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to
incur significant legal expenses and divert our management’s
attention from the operation of our business.
Regulatory healthcare reform measures and other legislative changes
may have a material and adverse effect on business, results of
operations and financial condition.
FDA
regulations and guidance are often revised or reinterpreted by FDA
and such actions may significantly affect our business and our
product candidates. Any new regulations or revisions or
reinterpretations of existing regulations may impose additional
costs or lengthen review times for our product candidates. Delays
in receipt of, or failure to receive, regulatory approvals for our
product candidates would have a material and adverse effect on our
business, results of operations and financial condition.
In
March 2010, the PPACA was signed into law. Certain elements of the
PPACA, including comparative effectiveness research, an independent
payment advisory board and payment system reforms, including shared
savings pilots and other provisions, may significantly affect the
payment for, and the availability of, healthcare services and
result in fundamental changes to federal healthcare reimbursement
programs, any of which may materially affect numerous aspects of
our business, results of operations and financial
condition.
In
addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted
in the United States since the PPACA was enacted. On August 2,
2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011 created measures for spending
reductions by Congress. A Joint Select Committee on Deficit
Reduction, tasked with recommending a targeted deficit reduction of
at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, was unable
to reach required goals, thereby triggering the legislation’s
automatic reduction to several government programs. This includes
aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers up to 2% per
fiscal year, which went into effect on April 1, 2013, and will
remain in effect through 2024 unless additional Congressional
action is taken. On January 2, 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief
Act of 2012, or the ATRA, was signed into law which further reduced
Medicare payments to certain providers, including
hospitals.
We
expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures
will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts
that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products
and services, which could result in reduced demand for our product
candidates, if approved, and services or additional pricing
pressures.
Our relationships with physician consultants, owners and investors
could be subject to additional scrutiny from regulatory enforcement
authorities and could subject us to possible administrative, civil
or criminal sanctions.
Federal
and state laws and regulations impose restrictions on our
relationships with physicians who are consultants, owners and
investors. We may enter into consulting agreements, license
agreements and other agreements with physicians in which we provide
cash as compensation. We have or may have other written and oral
arrangements with physicians, including for research and
development grants and for other purposes as well.
We
could be adversely affected if regulatory agencies were to
interpret our financial relationships with these physicians, who
may be in a position to influence the ordering of and use of our
product candidates for which governmental reimbursement may be
available, as being in violation of applicable laws. If our
relationships with physicians are found to be in violation of the
laws and regulations that apply to us, we may be required to
restructure the arrangements and could be subject to
administrative, civil and criminal penalties, including exclusion
from participation in government healthcare programs, imprisonment,
and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of
which could negatively impact our ability to operate our business
and our results of operations.
Our company and many of our collaborators and potential
collaborators are required to comply with the Federal Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the Health
Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and
implementing regulation affecting the transmission, security and
privacy of health information, and failure to comply could result
in significant penalties.
Numerous
federal and state laws and regulations, including the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, and
the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health
Act, or the HITECH Act, govern the collection, dissemination,
security, use and confidentiality of health information that
identifies specific patients. HIPAA and the HITECH Act require our
surgeon and hospital customers and potential customers to comply
with certain standards for the use and disclosure of health
information within their companies and with third parties. The
Privacy Standards and Security Standards under HIPAA establish a
set of standards for the protection of individually identifiable
health information by health plans, health care clearinghouses and
certain health care providers, referred to as Covered Entities, and
the business associates with whom Covered Entities enter into
service relationships pursuant to which individually identifiable
health information may be exchanged. Notably, whereas HIPAA
previously directly regulated only these Covered Entities, the
HITECH Act makes certain of HIPAA’s privacy and security standards
also directly applicable to Covered Entities’ business associates.
As a result, both Covered Entities and business associates are now
subject to significant civil and criminal penalties for failure to
comply with Privacy Standards and Security Standards.
HIPAA
requires Covered Entities (like many of our customers and potential
customers) and business associates to develop and maintain policies
and procedures with respect to protected health information that is
used or disclosed, including the adoption of administrative,
physical and technical safeguards to protect such information. The
HITECH Act expands the notification requirement for breaches of
patient-identifiable health information, restricts certain
disclosures and sales of patient-identifiable health information
and provides for civil monetary penalties for HIPAA violations. The
HITECH Act also increased the civil and criminal penalties that may
be imposed against Covered Entities and business associates and
gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions
for damages or injunctions in federal courts to enforce the federal
HIPAA laws and seek attorney fees and costs associated with
pursuing federal civil actions. Additionally, certain states have
adopted comparable privacy and security laws and regulations, some
of which may be more stringent than HIPAA.
Any
new legislation or regulation in the area of privacy and security
of personal information, including personal health information,
could also adversely affect our business operations. If we do not
comply with existing or new applicable federal or state laws and
regulations related to patient health information, we could be
subject to criminal or civil sanctions and any resulting liability
could adversely affect our financial condition.
In
addition, countries around the world have passed or are considering
legislation that would impose data breach notification requirements
and/or require that companies adopt specific data security
requirements. If we experience a data breach that triggers one or
more of these laws, we may be subject to breach notification
obligations, civil liability and litigation, all of which could
also generate negative publicity and have a negative impact on our
business.
We are currently, and in the future may be, subject to various
governmental regulations related to the manufacturing of our
product candidates, and we may incur significant expenses to comply
with, experience delays in our product commercialization as a
result of, and be subject to material sanctions if we or our
contract manufacturers violate these
regulations.
Our
manufacturing processes and facility are required to comply with
the FDA’s QSR, which covers the procedures and documentation of the
design, testing, production, control, quality assurance, labeling,
packaging, sterilization, storage, and shipping of our product
candidates. Although we believe we are compliant with the QSRs, the
FDA enforces the QSR through periodic announced or unannounced
inspections of manufacturing facilities. We have been, and
anticipate in the future being, subject to such inspections, as
well as to inspections by other federal and state regulatory
agencies. We are required to register our manufacturing facility
with the FDA and list all devices that are manufactured. We also
operate an International Organization for Standards, or ISO, 13485
certified facility and annual audits are required to maintain that
certification. The suppliers of our components are also required to
comply with the QSR and are subject to inspections. We have limited
ability to ensure that any such third-party manufacturers will take
the necessary steps to comply with applicable regulations, which
could cause delays in the delivery of our products. Failure to
comply with applicable FDA requirements, or later discovery of
previously unknown problems with our products or manufacturing
processes, including our failure or the failure of one of our
third-party manufacturers to take satisfactory corrective action in
response to an adverse QSR inspection, can result in, among other
things:
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administrative
or judicially imposed sanctions; |
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injunctions
or the imposition of civil penalties; |
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recall
or seizure of our product candidates; |
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total
or partial suspension of production or distribution; |
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the
FDA’s refusal to grant future clearance or pre-market approval for
our product candidates; |
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withdrawal
or suspension of marketing clearances or approvals; |
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clinical
holds; |
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warning
letters; |
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refusal
to permit the import or export of our product candidates;
and |
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criminal
prosecution of us or our employees. |
Any
of these actions, in combination or alone, could prevent us from
marketing, distributing, or selling our products and would likely
harm our business. In addition, a product defect or regulatory
violation could lead to a government-mandated or voluntary recall
by us. Regulatory agencies in other countries have similar
authority to recall devices because of material deficiencies or
defects in design or manufacture that could endanger health. Any
recall would divert management attention and financial resources,
could expose us to product liability or other claims, including
contractual claims from parties to whom we sold products and harm
our reputation with customers. A recall involving any of our
product candidates would be particularly harmful to our business
and financial results and, even if we remedied a particular
problem, would have a lasting negative effect on our reputation and
demand for our products.
Risks
Related to Our Intellectual Property
If we are unable to adequately protect our proprietary technology
or maintain issued patents that are sufficient to protect our
product candidates, others could compete against us more directly,
which could harm our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Our
success may depend in part on our success in obtaining and
maintaining issued patents and other intellectual property rights
in the United States and elsewhere and protecting our proprietary
technologies. If we do not adequately protect our intellectual
property and proprietary technologies, competitors may be able to
use our technologies and erode or negate any competitive advantage
we may have, which could harm our business and ability to achieve
profitability.
We
have filed patent applications for our VenoValve product and
Implantable Vein Frame Two product with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office but there are no assurances that patents will be
issued. We also are working on new developments for our CoreoGraft
product and expect to be filing for patent protection on that
product as well.
Our
patents may not have, or our pending patent applications that
mature into issued patents may not include, claims with a scope
sufficient to protect our products, any additional features we
develop for our current products or any new products. Other parties
may have developed technologies that may be related or competitive
to our products, may have filed or may file patent applications and
may have received or may receive patents that overlap or conflict
with our patent applications, either by claiming the same methods
or devices or by claiming subject matter that could dominate our
patent position. The patent positions of medical device companies,
including our patent position, may involve complex legal and
factual questions, and, therefore, the scope, validity and
enforceability of any patent claims that we may obtain cannot be
predicted with certainty. Patents, if issued, may be challenged,
deemed unenforceable, invalidated or circumvented. Proceedings
challenging our patents could result in either loss of the patent
or denial of the patent application or loss or reduction in the
scope of one or more of the claims of the patent or patent
application. In addition, such proceedings may be costly. Thus, any
patents that we may own may not provide any protection against
competitors. Furthermore, an adverse decision in an interference
proceeding can result in a third party receiving the patent right
sought by us, which in turn could affect our ability to
commercialize our implant systems.
Furthermore,
though an issued patent is presumed valid and enforceable, its
issuance is not conclusive as to its validity or its enforceability
and it may not provide us with adequate proprietary protection or
competitive advantages against competitors with similar products.
Competitors may also be able to design around our patents. Other
parties may develop and obtain patent protection for more effective
technologies, designs or methods. We may not be able to prevent the
unauthorized disclosure or use of our technical knowledge or trade
secrets by consultants, suppliers, vendors, former employees and
current employees. The laws of some foreign countries do not
protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of
the United States, and we may encounter significant problems in
protecting our proprietary rights in these countries. If any of
these developments were to occur, they each could have a negative
impact on our business and competitive position.
Our
ability to enforce our patent rights depends on our ability to
detect infringement. It may be difficult to detect infringers who
do not advertise the components that are used in their products.
Moreover, it may be difficult or impossible to obtain evidence of
infringement in a competitor’s or potential competitor’s product.
We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate and the damages
or other remedies awarded if we were to prevail may not be
commercially meaningful.
In
addition, proceedings to enforce or defend our patents could put
our patents at risk of being invalidated, held unenforceable or
interpreted narrowly. Such proceedings could also provoke third
parties to assert claims against us, including that some or all of
the claims in one or more of our patents are invalid or otherwise
unenforceable. If any of our patents covering our products are
invalidated or found unenforceable, our financial position and
results of operations could be negatively impacted. In addition, if
a court found that valid, enforceable patents held by third parties
covered one or more of our products, our financial position and
results of operations could be harmed.
We
rely upon unpatented trade secrets, unpatented know-how and
continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain our
competitive position, which we will seek to protect, in part, by
entering into confidentiality agreements with our employees and our
collaborators and consultants. We also have agreements with our
employees and selected consultants that obligate them to assign
their inventions to us and have non-compete agreements with some,
but not all, of our consultants. It is possible that technology
relevant to our business will be independently developed by a
person that is not a party to such an agreement. Furthermore, if
the employees and consultants who are parties to these agreements
breach or violate the terms of these agreements, we may not have
adequate remedies for any such breach or violation, and we could
lose our trade secrets through such breaches or violations.
Further, our trade secrets could otherwise become known or be
independently discovered by our competitors.
Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on
compliance with various procedures, document submission
requirements, fee payments and other requirements imposed by
governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be
reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these
requirements.
The
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, and various foreign
governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of
procedural, documentary, fee payments such as maintenance and
annuity fee payments and other provisions during the patent
procurement process as well as over the life span of an issued
patent. There are situations in which noncompliance can result in
abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting
in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant
jurisdiction. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter
the market earlier than would otherwise have been the
case.
We may incur substantial costs as a result of litigation or other
proceedings relating to patent and other intellectual property
rights and we may be unable to protect our rights to, or use, our
technology.
Our
success will depend in part on our ability to operate without
infringing the intellectual property and proprietary rights of
third parties. Our business, product candidates and methods could
infringe the patents or other intellectual property rights of third
parties.
The
medical device industry is characterized by frequent and extensive
litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property
rights. Many medical device companies with substantially greater
resources than us have employed intellectual property litigation as
a way to gain a competitive advantage. We may become involved in
litigation, interference proceedings, oppositions, reexamination,
protest or other potentially adverse intellectual property
proceedings as a result of alleged infringement by us of the rights
of others or as a result of priority of invention disputes with
third parties, either in the United States or internationally. We
may also become a party to patent infringement claims and
litigation or interference proceedings declared by the USPTO to
determine the priority of inventions. Third parties may also
challenge the validity of any of our issued patents and we may
initiate proceedings to enforce our patent rights and prevent
others from infringing on our intellectual property rights. Any
claims relating to the infringement of third-party proprietary
rights or proprietary determinations, even if not meritorious,
could result in costly litigation, lengthy governmental
proceedings, diversion of our management’s attention and resources,
or entrance into royalty or license agreements that are not
advantageous to us. In any of these circumstances, we may need to
spend significant amounts of money, time and effort defending our
position. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs
of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because
they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any
uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any
litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to
raise the funds necessary to continue our operations.
Even
if we are successful in these proceedings, we may incur substantial
costs and divert management time and attention in pursuing these
proceedings, which could have a material and adverse effect on us.
If we are unable to avoid infringing the intellectual property
rights of others, we may be required to seek a license, defend an
infringement action or challenge the validity of intellectual
property in court or redesign our product candidates.
If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected,
then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of
interest and our business may be adversely
affected.
Our
registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names may be
challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic or determined
to be infringing on other marks or names. We may not be able to
protect our rights in these trademarks and trade names, which we
need in order to build name recognition with potential customers in
our markets of interest. In addition, third parties may register
trademarks similar and identical to our trademarks in foreign
jurisdictions, and may in the future file for registration of such
trademarks. If they succeed in registering or developing common law
rights in such trademarks, and if we were not successful in
challenging such third-party rights, we may not be able to use
these trademarks to market our products in those countries. In any
case, 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, results of operations and financial
condition may be adversely affected.
Risks
Related to Ownership of Our Securities
The trading price of our securities is likely to be volatile and
could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a variety of
factors.
The
trading price of our securities is likely to be volatile and could
be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a variety of
factors, which include:
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whether
we achieve our anticipated corporate objectives; |
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actual
or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and
operating results; |
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changes
in financial or operational estimates or projections; |
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the
development status of our product candidates and when our product
candidates receive regulatory approval if at all; |
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our
execution of our sales and marketing, manufacturing and other
aspects of our business plan; |
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performance
of third parties on whom we rely to manufacture our product
candidate components and product candidates, including their
ability to comply with regulatory requirements; |
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the
results of our preclinical studies and clinical trials; |
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results
of operations that vary from those of our competitors and the
expectations of securities analysts and investors; |
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our
announcement of significant contracts, acquisitions or capital
commitments; |
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announcements
by our competitors of competing products or other
initiatives; |
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announcements
by third parties of significant claims or proceedings against
us; |
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regulatory
and reimbursement developments in the United States and
internationally; |
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future
sales of our common stock; |
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product
liability claims; |
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healthcare
reform measures in the United States; |
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additions
or departures of key personnel; and |
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general
economic or political conditions in the United States or
elsewhere. |
In
addition, the stock market in general, and the stock of medical
device companies like ours, in particular, have experienced extreme
price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or
disproportionate to the operating performance of the issuer. These
market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price
of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating
performance.
We have issued a significant number of options, warrants and shares
of convertible preferred stock and may continue to do so in the
future. The vesting and, if applicable, exercise of these
securities and the sale of the shares of common stock issuable
thereunder may dilute your percentage ownership interest and may
also result in downward pressure on the price of our common
stock.
As of
November 2, 2020, we have issued and outstanding options to
purchase 5,315,540 shares of our common stock with a weighted
average exercise price of $1,27, 250,000 restricted stock awards
subject to vesting, 195,160 restricted stock units subject to
vesting, warrants to purchase 44,126,739 shares of our common stock
with a weighted average exercise price of $0.48 and 4,205,406
shares of Series C Preferred Stock convertible into 6,078,125
shares of common stock. Further, while we do not currently have any
shares available for issuance under our Amended and Restated 2016
Omnibus Incentive Plan, the number of shares available under the
plan will be increased April 26th (and each April
26th thereafter) by an amount equal to 3% of the total
issued and outstanding shares of our common stock as of such
anniversary (or such lesser number of shares as may be approved by
our Board of Directors). Because the market for our common stock is
thinly traded, the sales and/or the perception that those sales may
occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Furthermore, the mere existence of a significant number of shares
of common stock issuable upon vesting and, if applicable, exercise
of these securities may be perceived by the market as having a
potential dilutive effect, which could lead to a decrease in the
price of our common stock.
Future sales or issuances of substantial amounts of our Common
Stock, including, potentially, as a result of the merger
transaction with Catheter Precision, could result in significant
dilution.
As
disclosed elsewhere in this prospectus supplement, we are
contemplating a potential merger transaction with Catheter
Precision. In the event that the proposed merger transaction with
Catheter Precision is completed, we would expect to issue a
significant number of shares of our Common Stock to the
stockholders of Catheter Precision. Additionally, we may elect to
raise additional capital due to market conditions or strategic
considerations as a result of the merger. If additional shares are
issued in connection with the proposed merger transaction or
additional capital is raised through the sale of equity or
convertible debt securities, the issuance of those securities could
result in further dilution to investors purchasing our Common Stock
in this offering.
Our failure to meet the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq
could result in a de-listing of our Common
Stock.
We
are not currently in compliance with the continued listing
requirements of Nasdaq. Specifically, on October 14, 2019, we
received notice from Nasdaq indicating that, because the closing
bid price for the Company’s Common Stock had fallen below $1.00 per
share for 30 consecutive business days, the Company no longer
complied with the minimum bid price requirement for continued
listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market under Rule 5550(a)(2) of
Nasdaq Listing Rules. We have received an extension from Nasdaq
until December 28, 2020 to regain compliance with the minimum bid
price requirement and have received approval from our stockholders
to effect a reverse stock split at a ratio of between one-for-five
and one-for-twenty five, but there is no guarantee that we will be
able to regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement.
Further, even if we do regain compliance, there is no guarantee
that we will be able to continue to meet the continued listing
requirements of Nasdaq. In the event we are unable to do so, our
securities may be delisted from The Nasdaq Stock Market. Such a
delisting would likely have a negative effect on the price of our
Common Stock and would impair your ability to sell or purchase our
Common Stock when you wish to do so. In the event of a delisting,
we would expect to take actions to restore our compliance with
Nasdaq Marketplace Rules, but our Common Stock may not be listed
again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our
Common Stock, prevent our Common Stock from dropping below the
Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement or prevent future
non-compliance with the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules.
We will need to raise additional capital to meet our business
requirements in the future, and such capital raising may be costly
or difficult to obtain and can be expected to dilute current
stockholders’ ownership interests.
We
will need to raise additional capital in the future. Such
additional capital may not be available on reasonable terms or at
all. Any future issuance of our equity or equity-backed securities
may dilute then-current stockholders’ ownership percentages. If we
are unable to obtain required additional capital, we may have to
curtail our growth plans or cut back on existing
business.
We
may incur substantial costs in pursuing future capital financing,
including investment banking fees, legal fees, accounting fees,
securities law compliance fees, printing and distribution expenses
and other costs. We may also be required to recognize non-cash
expenses in connection with certain securities we may issue, such
as convertible notes, restricted stock, stock options and warrants,
which may adversely impact our financial condition.
We are an “emerging growth company” and the reduced disclosure
requirements applicable to emerging growth companies could make our
common stock less attractive to investors.
We
are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. We
may remain an emerging growth company until as late as December
2023 (the fiscal year-end following the fifth anniversary of the
completion of our initial public offering), though we may cease to
be an emerging growth company earlier under certain circumstances,
including (1) if the market value of our common stock that is held
by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30, in which
case we would cease to be an emerging growth company as of the
following December 31, or (2) if our gross revenue exceeds $1.07
billion in any fiscal year. Emerging growth companies may take
advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements
that are applicable to other public companies, including not being
required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure
obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic
reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements
of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and
stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not
previously approved. Investors could find our common stock less
attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some
investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there
may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our
stock price may be more volatile.
In
addition, Section 102 of the JOBS Act also provides that an
emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended
transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, for complying with
new or revised accounting standards. An emerging growth company can
therefore delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until
those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have
irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption from
new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we will be
subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other
public companies that are not emerging growth companies.
Provisions of our charter documents or Delaware law could delay or
prevent an acquisition of us, even if the acquisition would be
beneficial to our stockholders, which could make it more difficult
for you to change management.
Provisions
in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our
amended and restated bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a
merger, acquisition or other change in control that stockholders
may consider favorable, including transactions in which
stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. In
addition, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempt by
our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by
making it more difficult to replace or remove our board of
directors. These provisions include, but are not limited
to:
|
● |
a
classified board of directors so that not all directors are elected
at one time; |
|
● |
a
prohibition on stockholder action through written
consent; |
|
● |
no
cumulative voting in the election of directors; |
|
● |
the
exclusive right of our board of directors to elect a director to
fill a vacancy created by the expansion of the board of directors
or the resignation, death or removal of a director; |
|
● |
a
requirement that special meetings of the stockholders may be called
only by our chairman of the board, chief executive officer or
president, or by a resolution adopted by a majority of our board of
directors; |
|
● |
an
advance notice requirement for stockholder proposals and
nominations; |
|
● |
the
authority of our board of directors to issue preferred stock with
such terms as our board of directors may determine; and |
|
● |
a
requirement of approval of not less than 66 2/3% of all outstanding
shares of our capital stock entitled to vote to amend any bylaws by
stockholder action. |
In
addition, the Delaware General Corporate Law, or DGCL, prohibits a
publicly held Delaware corporation from engaging in a business
combination with an interested stockholder, generally a person who,
together with its affiliates, owns, or within the last three years
has owned, 15% or more of our voting stock, for a period of three
years after the date of the transaction in which the person became
an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is
approved in a prescribed manner. Accordingly, the DGCL may
discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our
company.
Furthermore,
our amended and restated certificate of incorporation specifies
that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the
sole and exclusive forum for most legal actions involving actions
brought against us by stockholders. We believe this provision
benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application
of the DGCL by chancellors particularly experienced in resolving
corporate disputes, efficient administration of cases on a more
expedited schedule relative to other forums and protection against
the burdens of multi-forum litigation. However, the provision may
have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and
officers.
We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock
in the foreseeable future and, as such, capital appreciation, if
any, of our common stock will be your sole source of gain for the
foreseeable future.
We
have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. We
do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in
the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain all available
funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of
our business. In addition, and any future loan arrangements we
enter into may contain, terms prohibiting or limiting the amount of
dividends that may be declared or paid on our common stock. As a
result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be
your sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This
prospectus contains forward-looking statements that involve
substantial risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements
are contained principally in the sections titled “Prospectus
Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business,” but
are also contained elsewhere in this prospectus. In some cases, you
can identify forward-looking statements by the words “may,”
“might,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,”
“plan,” “objective,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,”
“predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue” and “ongoing,” or the
negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology intended
to identify statements about the future, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements
relate to future events or our future financial performance or
condition and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that could cause our actual results, levels of
activity, performance or achievement to differ materially from
those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
statements about:
|
● |
Failure
to obtain FDA approval to commercially sell our product candidates
in a timely manner or at all; |
|
● |
Whether
surgeons and patients in our target markets accept our product
candidates, if approved; |
|
● |
The
expected growth of our business and our operations, and the capital
resources needed to progress our business plan; |
|
● |
Failure
to scale up of the manufacturing process of our product candidates
in a timely manner, or at all; |
|
● |
Our
ability to retain and recruit key personnel, including the
development of a sales and marketing infrastructure; |
|
● |
Reliance
on third party suppliers for certain components of our product
candidates; |
|
● |
Reliance
on third parties to commercialize and distribute our product
candidates in the United States and internationally; |
|
● |
Changes
in external competitive market factors; |
|
● |
Uncertainties
in generating sustained revenue or achieving
profitability; |
|
● |
Unanticipated
working capital or other cash requirements; |
|
● |
Changes
in FDA regulations, including testing procedures, for medical
devices and related promotional and marketing
activities; |
|
● |
Our
estimates of our expenses, ongoing losses, future revenue, capital
requirements and our needs for, or ability to obtain, additional
financing; |
|
● |
Our
ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for
our product candidates; |
|
● |
Our
ability to consummate future acquisitions or strategic
transactions, including the transaction with Catheter
Precision; |
|
● |
Our
ability to regain compliance with the continued listing
requirements of the Nasdaq Capital Market or otherwise maintain the
listing of our securities on the Nasdaq Capital Market;
and |
|
● |
Changes
in our business strategy or an inability to execute our strategy
due to unanticipated changes in the medical device
industry. |
These
statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risks
outlined under “Risk Factors” or elsewhere in this prospectus and
the documents incorporated by reference herein, which may cause our
or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance
or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. Moreover, we operate in a highly regulated, very
competitive, and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge
from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all risk
factors, nor can we address the impact of all factors on our
business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of
factors, may cause our actual results to differ materially from
those contained in any forward-looking statements.
We
have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current
expectations and projections about future events and financial
trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results
of operations, business strategy, short term and long term business
operations, and financial needs. These forward-looking statements
are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause our
actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the
forward looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute
to such differences include, but are not limited to, those
discussed in this prospectus, and in particular, the risks
discussed below and under the heading “Risk Factors” and those
discussed in other documents we file with the SEC. The following
discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated
financial statements for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2019
and 2018 and notes incorporated by reference herein. We undertake
no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any
revision to these forward-looking statements, except as required by
law. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the
forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this
prospectus may not occur and actual results could differ materially
and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the
forward-looking statement.
You
should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement,
each of which applies only as of the date of this prospectus.
Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or
revise publicly any of the forward-looking statements after the
date of this prospectus to conform our statements to actual results
or changed expectations. Any forward-looking statement you read in
this prospectus, any prospectus supplement or any document
incorporated by reference reflects our current views with respect
to future events and is subject to these and other risks,
uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, operating
results, growth strategy and liquidity. You should not place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements because such
statements speak only as to the date when made. We assume no
obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking
statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results
could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes
available in the future, except as otherwise required by applicable
law. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures
we make on related subjects in our reports on Forms 10-Q, 8-K and
10-K filed with the SEC. You should understand that it is not
possible to predict or identify all risk factors. Consequently, you
should not consider any such list to be a complete set of all
potential risks or uncertainties
USE OF PROCEEDS
We
will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the common stock by
the selling stockholders. We may receive proceeds upon the exercise
of the October Warrants (to the extent the registration statement
of which this prospectus is a part is then effective and, if
applicable, the “cashless exercise” provision is not utilized by
the holder). Any proceeds will be used for general corporate and
working capital or for other purposes that the Board of Directors,
in their good faith, deems to be in the best interest of the
Company. No assurances can be given that any of such October
Warrants will be exercised.
DIVIDEND POLICY
We
have never declared or paid any cash dividend on our capital stock.
We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable
future and we intend to retain all of our earnings, if any, to
finance our growth and operations and to fund the expansion of our
business. Payment of any dividends will be made in the discretion
of our Board of Directors, after its taking into account various
factors, including our financial condition, operating results,
current and anticipated cash needs and plans for expansion. Any
dividends that may be declared or paid on our common stock, must
also be paid in the same consideration or manner, as the case may
be, on our shares of preferred stock, if any.
DETERMINATION OF OFFERING
PRICE
The
selling stockholders will offer common stock at the prevailing
market prices or privately negotiated price.
The
offering price of our common stock by the selling stockholders does
not necessarily bear any relationship to our book value, assets,
past operating results, financial condition or any other
established criteria of value. The facts considered in determining
the offering price were our financial condition and prospects, our
limited operating history and the general condition of the
securities market.
In
addition, there is no assurance that our common stock will trade at
market prices in excess of the offering price as prices for common
stock in any public market will be determined in the marketplace
and may be influenced by many factors, including the depth and
liquidity.
MARKET FOR COMMON EQUITY AND RELATED
STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
Market
Information
Our
common stock began trading on Nasdaq under the symbol “HJLI” on May
31, 2018. Our warrants issued as part of the units consisting of
one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase commons stock
sold to the public through the initial public offering began
trading on Nasdaq under the symbol “HJLIW” on May 31,
2018.
Holders
of Record
On
November 2, 2020, the closing price per share of our common stock
and listed warrants were $0.316 and $0.046, respectively as
reported on The Nasdaq Capital Market, and we had approximately 102
stockholders of record and 1 listed warrant holder of record. On
November 2, 2020 there were 49,775,443 shares of our common stock
issued and outstanding and 1,725,000 shares of common stock
issuable upon exercise of listed warrants issued and outstanding.
In addition, we believe that a significant number of beneficial
owners of our common stock and listed warrants hold their shares in
street name.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
FINANCIAL CONDITION
AND
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The
following discussion and analysis is based on, and should be read
in conjunction with our financial statements, which are included
elsewhere in this prospectus. Management’s Discussion and Analysis
of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains
statements that are forward-looking. These statements are based on
current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risk,
uncertainties and other factors. These statements are often
identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,”
“believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “estimate,” or
“continue,” and similar expressions or variations. Actual results
could differ materially because of the factors discussed in “Risk
Factors” elsewhere in this prospectus, and other factors that we
may not know.
Results
of Operations
Comparison of the three months ended June 30, 2020 and
2019
The
following table represents selected items in our statements of
operations for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and
2019:
|
|
For
the Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
June 31, |
|
|
|
2020 |
|
|
2019 |
|
Revenues: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Royalty income |
|
$ |
- |
|
|
$ |
31,243 |
|
Total
Revenues |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
31,243 |
|
Cost of revenues |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
Gross Profit |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
31,243 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Selling, general and administrative
expenses |
|
|
839,735 |
|
|
|
1,531,643 |
|
Research and
development expenses |
|
|
706,173 |
|
|
|
428,309 |
|
Loss
from Operations |
|
|
(1,545,908 |
) |
|
|
(1,959,952 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other Expense
(Income): |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest expense
(income), net |
|
|
(228 |
) |
|
|
(13,927 |
) |
Change in fair value of derivative liabilities |
|
|
81,276 |
|
|
|
- |
|
Total Other Expense (Income) |
|
|
81,048 |
) |
|
|
(13,927 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
Loss |
|
$ |
(1,626,956 |
) |
|
$ |
(1,946,025 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
Loss Per Basic and Diluted Common Share: |
|
$ |
(0.08 |
) |
|
$ |
(0.13 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted Average Number of Common
Shares Outstanding: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic
and Diluted |
|
|
21,464,293 |
|
|
|
14,838,193 |
|
Overview
We
reported net losses of $1,626,956 and $1,946,025 for the three
months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, representing a
decrease in net loss of $319,069 or 16%, due to a decrease in
operating expenses of $414,044, and an increase in other income and
expense of $94,975.
Revenues
As a
developmental stage Company, our revenue, if any, is expected to be
diminutive and dependent on our ability to commercialize our
product candidates.
Selling,
General and Administrative Expenses
For
the three months ended June 30, 2020, selling, general and
administrative expenses decreased by $691,908 or 45%, to $839,735
from $1,531,643 for the three months ended June 30, 2019. The
decrease is primarily due to decreases of approximately $409,000 in
stock based compensation expense primarily from settlement of a
legal dispute in 2019 and from lower awards of common stock options
to employees and consultants, $130,000 in compensation expense due
to the former CFO leaving the Company, and $58,000 in lower travel
expense due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Other selling, general
and administrative expenses were approximately $94,000 lower due to
lower consulting, legal and outside services, partially offset by
higher insurance cost.
Research
and Development Expenses
For
the three months ended June 30, 2020, research and development
expenses increased by $277,864 or 65%, to $706,173 from $428,309
for the three months ended June 30, 2019. The increase is primarily
due to increases of $99,000 in compensation and related costs due
to a larger team, $236,000 in lab cost related to our APS study,
partially offset by $45,000 in lower tissue purchases in 2020 due
to stay-at home work orders related to COVID-19.
Interest
Income
Interest
income of $228 and $13,927 was earned during the six months ended
June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Change
in Fair Value of Derivative Liability
For
the quarter ended June 30, 2020, we recorded a loss on the change
in fair value of derivative liabilities of $81,276. Our derivative
liabilities are related to warrants issued in connection with our
Bridge Offering.
Comparison of the six months ended June 30, 2020 and
2019
Overview
We
reported net losses of $2,786,714 and $3,519,749 for the six months
ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively, representing a decrease
in net loss of $733,035, or 21%, due to a decrease in operating
expenses of $519,105, and an increase in other income and expense
of $245,173.
Revenues
Revenue
earned during the six months ended June 30, 2019 was $31,243 and
consisted entirely of royalty income earned pursuant to the terms
of our March 2016 asset sale agreement with LeMaitre Vascular,
Inc., which three-year term ended on March 18, 2019. With the
agreement reaching the end of its term in 2019, there was not any
similar revenue in 2020.
As a
developmental stage Company, our revenue, if any, is expected to be
diminutive and dependent on our ability to commercialize our
product candidates.
Selling,
General and Administrative Expenses
For
the six months ended June 30, 2020, selling, general and
administrative expenses decreased by $994,579 or 35%, to $1,837,631
from $2,832,210 for the six months ended June 30, 2019. The
decrease is primarily due to decreases of approximately $383,000 in
stock-based compensation expense primarily from the settlement of a
legal dispute in 2019 and from lower awards of common stock options
to employees and consultants in 2020, $176,000 in compensation
expense due to the former CFO leaving the Company, $126,000 in
legal fees due to lower costs related to the ATSCO litigation,
$113,000 in lower consulting costs related to recruiting fees in
2019 that were not incurred in 2020 and reductions in other
consulting, $99,000 in lower travel costs due to COVID-19 travel
restrictions, and in outside services, facility and other office
expenses which were $171,000 lower due to the office closure
related to stay-at home work orders, partially offset by $79,000 in
higher insurance costs in 2020.
Research
and Development Expenses
For
the year ended December 31, 2019, research and development expenses
increased by $967,371 or 78%, to $2,206,120 from $1,238,749 for the
year ended December 31, 2018. The increase is primarily due to
increased salaries and benefits expenses of $690,000 as certain
personnel focused on research and development activities in 2019
and increased supplies, consulting, packaging and outside services
of $240,000 associated with research and development activities
supporting the first-in-human trials for the VenoValve occurring in
Columbia, which started in February 2019, along with an increase of
$66,000 in preclinical animal studies.
Interest
Income
Interest
income of $2,861 and $22,541 was earned during the six months ended
June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Change
in Fair Value of Derivative Liability
For
the six months ended June 30, 2020, we recorded a gain on the
change in fair value of derivative liabilities of $264,853. Our
derivative liabilities are related to warrants issued in connection
with our Bridge Offering.
Deemed
Dividend
We
recorded a deemed dividend of $3,310,001 for the year ended
December 31, 2018. The deemed dividend for the year ended December
31, 2018 resulted primarily from the 8% cumulative dividend on the
Preferred Stock. Since the Preferred Stock were converted on June
4, 2018 into common stock in connection with the Company’s IPO,
there was no deemed dividend in the year ended December 31,
2019.
Liquidity
and Capital Resources
We
have incurred losses since inception and negative cash flows from
operating activities for the six months ended June 30, 2020. As of
June 30, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $58,974,639. Since
inception, we have funded our operations primarily through our IPO,
public and private placements of equity, and private placements of
convertible debt securities as well as modest revenues from
royalties, contract research and sales of the ProCol Vascular
Bioprosthesis. To-date in 2020, we have closed three financings
providing aggregate gross proceeds of $9,139,000.
As of
August 10, 2020, we had a cash balance of $6,234,885 and restricted
cash balance of $810,055.
We
measure our liquidity in a variety of ways, including the
following:
|
|
June 30, 2020 |
|
|
December 31, 2019 |
|
|
|
(unaudited) |
|
|
|
|
Cash |
|
$ |
1,563,926 |
|
|
$ |
1,307,231 |
|
Restricted Cash |
|
|
810,055 |
|
|
|
810,055 |
|
Working capital
(deficiency) |
|
|
(1,168,359 |
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On
July 21, 2020, the Company completed a public offering of
14,375,000 shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase up
to 14,375,000 shares of common stock, and concurrent private
placement of 4,205,406 shares of its Series C Preferred Stock and
warrants to purchase up to 6,078,125 shares of its common stock.
Net proceeds to the Company from the transactions, after deducting
the underwriters and placement agent’s fees and expenses, including
the Company’s estimated offering expenses, and excluding the
proceeds, if any, from the exercise of the warrants, were
$5,186,000, which, if reflected in our condensed balance sheet at
June 30, 2020 would increase net equity from $989,940 to
approximately $6,176,000.
On
October 9, 2020, the Company completed a registered direct offering
of 9,532,709 shares of its common stock in a concurrent private
placement warrants to purchase up to 9,532,709 shares of its common
stock. Net proceeds to the Company from the registered direct
offering and concurrent private placement, after deducting the
placement agent’s fees are expected to be approximately $4.6
million.
Based
upon our cash and working capital as of June 30, 2020, and after
giving effect to the transactions completed on July 21, 2020, and
October 9, 2020 we believe we have sufficient cash to sustain the
Company’s operations at least one year after the date of this
Report.
The
COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global economy and has
negatively impacted large populations including people and
businesses that may be directly or indirectly involved with the
operation of our Company and the manufacturing, development, and
testing of our product candidates. The full scope and economic
impact of COVID-19 is still unknown and there are many risks from
the COVID-19 that could generally and negatively impact economies
and healthcare providers in the countries where we do business, the
medical device industry as a whole, and development stage,
pre-revenue companies such as HJLI.
Off-Balance
Sheet Arrangements
None.
Contractual
Obligations
As a
“smaller reporting company” as defined by Item 10 of Regulation
S-K, we are not required to provide the information requested by
paragraph (a)(5) of this Item.
Critical
Accounting Policies and Estimates
For a
description of our critical accounting policies, see Note 4 –
Significant Accounting Policies in Part 1, Item 1 of our financial
statements for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 herein.
BUSINESS
Overview
Hancock
Jaffe Laboratories, Inc. is a medical device company developing
tissue based solutions that are designed to be life sustaining or
life enhancing for patients with cardiovascular disease, and
peripheral arterial and venous disease. The Company’s products are
being developed to address large unmet medical needs by either
offering treatments where none currently exist or by substantially
increasing the current standards of care. Our two lead products
are: the VenoValve®, a porcine based device to be
surgically implanted in the deep venous system of the leg to treat
a debilitating condition called chronic venous insufficiency
(“CVI”); and the CoreoGraft®, a bovine based conduit to
be used to revascularize the heart during coronary artery bypass
graft (“CABG”) surgeries. Both of our current products are being
developed for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(“FDA”). We currently receive tissue for our products from one
domestic supplier and one international supplier. Our current
business model is to license, sell, or enter into strategic
alliances with large medical device companies with respect to our
products, either prior to or after FDA approval. Our current senior
management team has been affiliated with more than 50 products that
have received FDA approval or CE marking. We currently lease a
14,507 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Irvine, California, where
we manufacture products for our clinical trials and which has
previously been FDA certified for commercial manufacturing of
product.
Each
of our products will be required to successfully complete
significant clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy
of the product before it will be able to be approved by the
FDA.
Our
Products
VenoValve
Background
Chronic
venous disease (“CVD”) is the world’s most prevalent chronic
disease. CVD is generally classified using a standardized system
known as CEAP (clinical, etiological, anatomical, and
pathophysiological). The CEAP system consists of seven clinical
classifications (C0 to C6) with C5 to C6 being the most severe
cases of CVD.
Chronic
Venous Insufficiency (“CVI”) is a subset of CVD and is generally
used to describe patients with C4 to C6 CVD. CVI is a condition
that affects the venous system of the leg causing pain, swelling,
edema, skin changes, and ulcerations. In order for blood to return
to the heart from the foot, ankle, and lower leg, the calf muscle
pushes the blood up the veins of the leg and through a series of
one-way valves. Each valve is supposed to open as blood passes
through, and then close as blood moves up the leg to the next
valve. CVI occurs when the one-way valves in the veins of the leg
fail and become incompetent. When the valves fail, blood flows
backwards and in the wrong direction (reflux). As blood pools in
the lower leg, pressure inside the veins increases (venous
hypertension). Reflux, and the resulting venous hypertension, cause
the leg to swell, resulting in debilitating pain, and in the most
severe cases, venous ulcers. The VenoValve is being developed to
treat CVI in the deep venous system with a focus on severe patients
with C5 to C6 CVI.
Estimates
indicate that approximately 2.4 million people in the U.S. have C5
to C6 CVI in the deep venous system, including patients that
develop venous leg ulcers (C6 patients). Over one million new
severe cases of CVI occur each year in the U.S., mostly from
patients who have experienced a deep vein thrombosis (blood clot).
The average patient seeking treatment of a venous ulcer spends as
much as $30,000 a year on wound care, and the total direct medical
costs from venous ulcer sufferers in the U.S. has been estimated to
exceed $38 billion a year. Aside from the direct medical costs,
severe CVI sufferers experience a significantly reduced quality of
life. Daily activities such as preparing meals, housework, and
personal hygiene (washing and bathing) become difficult due to
reduced mobility. For many severe CVI sufferers, intense pain,
which frequently occurs at night, prevents patients from getting
adequate sleep. Severe CVI sufferers are known to miss
approximately 40% more work days than the average worker. A high
percentage of venous ulcer patients also experience severe itching,
leg swelling, and an odorous discharge. Wound dressing changes,
which occur several times a week, can be extremely painful. Venous
ulcers from deep venous CVI are very difficult to heal, and a
significant percentage of venous ulcers remain unhealed for more
than a year. Even if healed, recurrence rates for venous ulcers are
known to be high (20% to 40%) within the first year.
The
Opportunity
The
VenoValve is a porcine based valve developed at HJLI to be
implanted in the deep venous system of the leg to treat severe CVI.
By reducing reflux, and lowering venous hypertension, the VenoValve
has the potential to reduce or eliminate the symptoms of deep
venous, severe CVI, including venous leg ulcers. The current
version of the VenoValve is designed to be surgically implanted
into the patient via a 5 to 6 inch incision in the upper
thigh.
There
are presently no FDA approved medical devices to address valvular
incompetence, or effective treatments for deep venous CVI. Current
treatment options include compression garments, or constant leg
elevation. These treatments are generally ineffective, as they
attempt to alleviate the symptoms of CVI without addressing the
underlying causes of the disease. In addition, we believe that
compliance with compression garments and leg elevation is extremely
low, especially among the elderly. Valve transplants from other
parts of the body have been attempted, but with very-poor results.
Many attempts to create substitute valves have also failed, usually
resulting in early thromboses. The premise behind the VenoValve is
that by reducing the underlying causes of CVI, reflux and venous
hypertension, the debilitating symptoms of CVI will decrease,
resulting in improvement in the quality of the lives of CVI
sufferers.
There
are approximately 2.4 million people in the U.S. that suffer from
deep venous CVI due to valvular incompetence.
VenoValve
Clinical Status
After
consultation with the FDA, as a precursor to the U.S. pivotal
trial, we are conducting a small first-in-man study for the
VenoValve in Colombia. The first phase of the first-in-man
Colombian trial included 11 patients. In addition to providing
safety and efficacy data, the purpose of the first-in-man study is
to provide proof of concept, and to provide valuable feedback to
make any necessary product modifications or adjustments to our
surgical implantation procedures for the VenoValve prior to
conducting the U.S. pivotal trial. In December of 2018, we received
regulatory approval from Instituto Nacional de Vigilancia de
Medicamentos y Alimentos (“INVIMA”), the Colombian equivalent of
the FDA. On February 19, 2019, we announced that the first
VenoValve was successfully implanted in a patient in Colombia.
Between April of 2019 and December of 2019, we successfully
implanted VenoValves in 10 additional patients, completing the
implantations for the first phase of the Colombian first-in-man
study. Overall, VenoValves have been implanted in 11 patients.
Endpoints for the VenoValve first-in-man study include reflux,
measured by doppler, a VCSS score used by the clinician to measure
disease severity, and a VAS score used by the patient to measure
pain.
Nine
of 11 patients have now completed the one-year first-in-man trial.
For those nine patients, reflux has improved an average of 50%,
Venous Clinical Severity Scores (“VCSSs”) have improved an average
of 58%, and VAS scores, which are used by patients to measure pain,
have improved an average of 70%, all when compared to pre-surgery
levels. VCSS scores are commonly used to objectively assess
outcomes in the treatment of venous disease, and include ten
characteristics including pain, inflammation, skin changes such as
pigmentation and induration, the number of active ulcers, and ulcer
duration. The improvements in VCSS scores is significant and
indicates that VenoValve patients who had severe CVI pre-surgery,
now have mild CVI or the complete absence of disease at one-year
post surgery.
VenoValve
safety incidences have been minor and include one (1) fluid pocket
(which was aspirated), intolerance from Coumadin anticoagulation
therapy, three (3) minor wound infections (treated with
antibiotics), and one occlusion due to patient non-compliance with
anti-coagulation therapy.
In
preparation for the VenoValve U.S. pivotal trial, we have submitted
a Pre-IDE filing with the FDA requesting a Pre-IDE meeting. An
investigational device exemption or IDE form the FDA is required
for a medical device company to proceed with a pivotal trial for a
class III medical device. Next steps for the VenoValve include the
Pre-IDE meeting with the FDA, the continued monitoring of the two
remaining VenoValve patients in our first-in-human trial, and the
completion of a series of functional tests and an animal safety
study mandated by the FDA, which are pre-requisites for the filing
of an IDE application. We expect to be in a position to file our
IDE application with the FDA, seeking approval to proceed with the
VenoValve U.S. pivotal trial, in Q1 of 2021.
CoreoGraft
Background
Heart
disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in the
U.S. accounting for about 1 in every 4 deaths. Coronary heart
disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing over
370,000 people each year. Coronary heart disease occurs when
arteries around the heart become blocked or occluded, in most cases
by plaque. Although balloon angioplasty with or without cardiac
stents have become the norm if one or two arteries are blocked,
coronary artery bypass surgery remains the treatment of choice for
patients with multiple blocked arteries on both sides of the heart.
Approximately 200,000 coronary artery bypass graft (“CABG”)
surgeries take place each year in the U.S. and are the most
commonly performed cardiac procedure. CABG surgeries alone account
for 55% of all cardiac surgeries, and CABG surgeries when combined
with valve replacement surgeries account for approximately 62% of
all cardiac surgeries. The next largest category accounts for 10%
of cardiac surgeries. The number of CABG surgeries are expected to
increase as the population continues to age. On average, three
grafts are used for each CABG surgery.
Although
CABG surgeries are invasive, improved surgical techniques over the
years have lowered the fatality rate from CABG surgeries to between
1% and 3% prior to discharge from the hospital. Arteries around
heart are accessed via an incision along the sternum known as a
sternotomy. Once the incision is made, the sternum (chest) is
divided (“cracked”) to access the heart and its surrounding
arteries.
CABG
surgery is relatively safe and effective. In most instances,
doctors prefer to use the left internal mammary artery (“LIMA”), an
artery running inside the ribcage and close to the sternum, to
re-vascularize the left side of the heart. Use of the LIMA to
revascularize the left descending coronary artery (known as the
“widow maker”) has become the gold standard for revascularizing the
left side of the heart during CABG surgeries. For the right side of
the heart, and where additional grafts are needed on the left side,
the current standard of care is to harvest the saphenous vein from
the patient’s leg to be dissected into pieces and used as bypass
grafts around the heart. Unfortunately, saphenous vein grafts
(“SVGs”) are not nearly as effective as the LIMA for
revascularizing the heart. In fact, SVGs continue to be the weak
link for CABG surgeries.
The
saphenous vein harvest procedure is itself invasive. Either a long
incision is made along the inner leg of the patient to harvest the
vein, or the saphenous vein is extracted endoscopically. Regardless
of the type of harvest procedure, bypass graft harvest remains an
invasive and complication prone aspect of the CABG procedure.
Present standard-of-care complications are described in recent
published reports in major medical journals. The percentage of
complications from the harvest procedure can be as high as 24%.
This is mainly due to non-healing of the saphenous wound or
development of infection in the area of the saphenous vein harvest
site.
While
the LIMA is known for excellent short term and long term patency
rates, studies indicate that between 10% and 40% percent of SVGs
that are used as conduits for CABG surgeries fail within the first
year after the CABG surgery. A significant percentage fail within
the first 30 days. At 10 years, the SVGs failure rate can be as
high as 75%. When a graft fails, it becomes blocked or occluded,
depriving the heart of blood flow. Mortality during the first year
after bypass graft failure is very high, between 5% and 9%. For
purposes of comparison, a 3% threshold is considered to be a high
cardiac risk. In fact, a relatively recent study in Denmark has
reported that mortality rates at 8 to 10 years after CABG surgery
are as high as 60% to 80%. While a life expectancy of 8 to 10 years
following CABG surgery may have been acceptable in the past,
expectations have changed and with people now generally living
longer, additional focus is now being placed on extending life
expectancies following CABG surgeries.
Researchers
have determined that there are two main causes of SVGs failure:
size mismatch, and a thickening of the interior of the SVGs that
begins immediately following the harvest procedure. Size mismatch
occurs because the diameter of SVGs is often significantly larger
than the diameter of the coronary arteries around the heart. This
size mismatch causes flow disturbances, leading to graft thromboses
and graft failure. The thickening of the cell walls of SVGs occur
when a layer of endothelial cells on the inner surface of the SVGs
are disturbed beginning at the harvesting procedure, starting a
chain reaction which causes the cells to thicken and the inside of
the graft to narrow, resulting in blood clots and graft
failure.
The
Opportunity
The
CoreoGraft is a bovine based off the shelf conduit that could
potentially be used to revascularize the heart, instead of
harvesting the saphenous vein from the patient’s leg. In addition
to avoiding the invasive and painful SVG harvest process, HJLI’s
CoreoGraft closely matches the size of the coronary arteries,
eliminating graft failures that occur due to size mismatch. In
addition, with no graft harvest needed, the CoreoGraft could also
reduce or eliminate the inner thickening that burdens and leads to
failure of the SVGs.
In
addition to providing a potential alternative to SVGs, the
CoreoGraft could be used when making grafts from the patients’ own
arteries and veins is not an option. For example, patients with
significant arterial and vascular disease often do not have
suitable vessels to be used as grafts. For other patients, such as
women who have undergone radiation treatment for breast cancer and
have a higher incidence of heart disease, using the LIMA may not be
an option if it was damaged by the radiation. Another example are
patients undergoing a second CABG surgery. Due in large part to
early SVG failures, patients may need a second CABG surgery. If the
SVG was used for the first CABG surgery, the patient may have
insufficient veins to harvest. While the CoreoGraft may start out
as a product for patients with no other options, if the CoreoGraft
establishes good short term and long term patency rates, it could
become the graft of choice for all CABG patients in addition to the
LIMA.
Clinical
Status
In
January of 2020, we announced the results of a six month, nine
sheep, animal feasibility study for the CoreoGraft. Bypasses were
accomplished by attaching the CoreoGrafts from the ascending aorta
to the left anterior descending artery, and surgeries were
preformed both on-pump and off-pump. Partners for the feasibility
study included the Texas Heart Institute, and American Preclinical
Services.
Test
subjects were evaluated via angiograms and flow monitors during the
study, and a full pathology examination of the CoreoGrafts and the
surrounding tissue was performed post necropsy.
The
results from the feasibility study demonstrated that the
CoreoGrafts remained patent (open) and fully functional at 30, 90,
and 180 day intervals after implantation. In addition, pathology
examinations of the grafts and surrounding tissue at the conclusion
of the study showed no signs of thrombosis, infection, aneurysmal
degeneration, changes in the lumen, or other problems that are
known to plague and lead to failure of SVGs.
In
addition to exceptional patency, pathology examinations indicated
full endothelialization for grafts implanted for 180 days both
throughout the CoreoGrafts and into the left anterior descending
arteries. Endothelium is a layer of cells that naturally exist
throughout healthy veins and arteries and that that act as a
barrier between blood and the surrounding tissue, which helps
promote the smooth passage of blood. Endothelium are known to
produce a variety anti-clotting and other positive characteristics
that are essential to healthy veins and arteries. The presence of
full endothelialization within the longer term CoreoGrafts
indicates that the graft is being accepted and assimilated in a
manner similar to natural healthy veins and arteries that exist
throughout the vascular system and is an indication of long-term
biocompatibility.
Nine
of 11 patients have now completed the one-year first-in-man trial.
For those nine patients, reflux has improved an average of 50%,
Venous Clinical Severity Scores (“VCSSs”) have improved an average
of 58%, and VAS scores, which are used by patients to measure pain,
have improved an average of 70%, all when compared to pre-surgery
levels. VCSS scores are commonly used to objectively assess
outcomes in the treatment of venous disease, and include ten
characteristics including pain, inflammation, skin changes such as
pigmentation and induration, the number of active ulcers, and ulcer
duration. The improvements in VCSS scores is significant and
indicates that VenoValve patients who had severe CVI pre-surgery,
now have mild CVI or the complete absence of disease at one-year
post surgery.
VenoValve
safety incidences have been minor and include one (1) fluid pocket
(which was aspirated), intolerance from Coumadin anticoagulation
therapy, three (3) minor wound infections (treated with
antibiotics), and one occlusion due to patient non-compliance with
anti-coagulation therapy.
In
preparation for the VenoValve U.S. pivotal trial, we have submitted
a Pre-IDE filing with the FDA requesting a Pre-IDE meeting. An
investigational device exemption or IDE form the FDA is required
for a medical device company to proceed with a pivotal trial for a
class III medical device. Next steps for the VenoValve include the
Pre-IDE meeting with the FDA, the continued monitoring of the two
remaining VenoValve patients in our first-in-human trial, and the
completion of a series of functional tests and an animal safety
study mandated by the FDA, which are pre-requisites for the filing
of an IDE application. We expect to be in a position to file our
IDE application with the FDA, seeking approval to proceed with the
VenoValve U.S. pivotal trial, in Q1 of 2021.
Government
Regulation
Our
product candidates and our operations are subject to extensive
regulation by the FDA, and other federal and state authorities in
the United States, as well as comparable authorities in foreign
jurisdictions. Our product candidates are subject to regulation as
medical devices in the United States under the Federal Food Drug
and Cosmetic Act (“FFDCA”), as implemented and enforced by the FDA.
The FDA regulates the development, design, non-clinical and
clinical research, manufacturing, safety, efficacy, labeling,
packaging, storage, installation, servicing, recordkeeping,
premarket clearance or approval, import, export, adverse event
reporting, advertising, promotion, marketing and distribution, and
import and export of medical devices to ensure that medical devices
distributed domestically are safe and effective for their intended
uses and otherwise meet the requirements of the FFDCA.
FDA
Pre-market Clearance and Approval Requirements
Unless
an exemption applies, each medical device commercially distributed
in the United States requires either FDA clearance of a 510(k)
pre-market notification, or approval of a FDA Premarket Approval
(“PMA”) application. Under the FFDCA, medical devices are
classified into one of three classes—Class I, Class II or Class
III—depending on the degree of risk associated with each medical
device and the extent of manufacturer and regulatory control needed
to ensure its safety and effectiveness. Class I includes devices
with the lowest risk to the patient and are those for which safety
and effectiveness can be assured by adherence to the FDA’s General
Controls for medical devices, which include compliance with the
applicable portions of the FDA’s Quality System Regulation, or QSR,
registration and product listing, reporting of adverse medical
events, and truthful and non-misleading labeling, advertising and
promotional materials. Class II devices are subject to the FDA’s
General Controls, and special controls as deemed necessary by the
FDA to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the device. These
special controls can include performance standards, post market
surveillance, patient registries and FDA guidance documents. While
most Class I devices are exempt from the 510(k) pre-market
notification requirement, manufacturers of most Class II devices
are required to submit to the FDA a pre-market notification under
Section 510(k) of the FFDCA requesting permission to commercially
distribute the device. The FDA’s permission to commercially
distribute a device subject to a 510(k) pre-market notification is
generally known as 510(k) clearance. Devices deemed by the FDA to
pose the greatest risks, such as life sustaining, life supporting
or some implantable devices, or devices that have a new intended
use, or use advanced technology that is not substantially
equivalent to that of a legally marketed device, are placed in
Class III, requiring approval of a PMA.
510(k)
Marketing Clearance Pathway
The
510(k) clearance process is for proposed medical devices that are
“substantially equivalent” to a predicate device already on the
market. A predicate device is a legally marketed device that is not
subject to premarket approval, i.e., a device that was legally
marketed prior to May 28, 1976 (pre-amendments device) and for
which a PMA is not required, a device that has been reclassified
from Class III to Class II or I, or a device that was found
substantially equivalent through the 510(k) process. Because each
of our two lead products are unique, and we believe are not
substantially equivalent to products already on the market, and
because we believe that that the VenoValve and the CoreoGraft are
Class III medical devices, we do not anticipate that the VenoValve
or the CoreoGraft would be appropriate for 510(k)
approval.
PMA
Approval Pathway
Class
III devices require PMA approval before they can be marketed
although some pre-amendment Class III devices for which FDA has not
yet required a PMA are cleared through the 510(k) process. The PMA
process is more demanding than the 510(k) premarket notification
process. In a PMA the manufacturer must demonstrate that the device
is safe and effective, and the PMA must be supported by extensive
data, including data from preclinical studies and human clinical
trials. The PMA must also contain a full description of the device
and its components, a full description of the methods, facilities
and controls used for manufacturing, and proposed labeling.
Following receipt of a PMA, the FDA determines whether the
application is sufficiently complete to permit a substantive
review. If FDA accepts the application for review, it has 180 days
under the FFDCA to complete its review of a PMA, although in
practice, the FDA’s review often takes significantly longer, and
can take several years. An advisory panel of experts from outside
the FDA may be convened to review and evaluate the application and
provide recommendations to the FDA as to the approvability of the
device. The FDA may or may not accept the panel’s recommendation.
In addition, the FDA will generally conduct a pre-approval
inspection of the applicant or its third-party manufacturers’ or
suppliers’ manufacturing facility or facilities to ensure
compliance with the QSR. The FDA will approve the new device for
commercial distribution if it determines that the data and
information in the PMA constitute valid scientific evidence and
that there is reasonable assurance that the device is safe and
effective for its intended use(s). The FDA may approve a PMA with
post-approval conditions intended to ensure the safety and
effectiveness of the device, including, among other things,
restrictions on labeling, promotion, sale and distribution, and
collection of long-term follow-up data from patients in the
clinical study that supported PMA approval or requirements to
conduct additional clinical studies post-approval. The FDA may
condition PMA approval on some form of post-market surveillance
when deemed necessary to protect the public health or to provide
additional safety and efficacy data for the device in a larger
population or for a longer period of use. In such cases, the
manufacturer might be required to follow certain patient groups for
a number of years and to make periodic reports to the FDA on the
clinical status of those patients. Failure to comply with the
conditions of approval can result in material adverse enforcement
action, including withdrawal of the approval. Certain changes to an
approved device, such as changes in manufacturing facilities,
methods or quality control procedures, or changes in the design
performance specifications, which affect the safety or
effectiveness of the device, require submission of a PMA
supplement. PMA supplements often require submission of the same
type of information as a PMA, except that the supplement is limited
to information needed to support any changes from the device
covered by the original PMA and may not require as extensive
clinical data or the convening of an advisory panel. Certain other
changes to an approved device require the submission of a new PMA,
such as when the design change causes a different intended use,
mode of operation and technical basis of operation, or when the
design change is so significant that a new generation of the device
will be developed, and the data that were submitted with the
original PMA are not applicable for the change in demonstrating a
reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness. We believe that
the VenoValve and the CoreoGraft will require the approval of a
PMA.
Clinical
Trials in Support of PMA
Clinical
trials are almost always required to support a PMA and are
sometimes required to support a 510(k) submission. All clinical
investigations of devices to determine safety and effectiveness
must be conducted in accordance with the FDA’s IDE regulations,
which govern investigational device labeling, prohibit promotion of
the investigational device and specify an array of recordkeeping,
reporting and monitoring responsibilities of study sponsors and
study investigators. If the device presents a “significant risk,”
to human health, as defined by the FDA, the FDA requires the device
sponsor to submit an IDE application to the FDA, which must become
effective prior to commencing human clinical trials. A significant
risk device is one that presents a potential for serious risk to
the health, safety or welfare of a patient and either is implanted,
used in supporting or sustaining human life, substantially
important in diagnosing, curing, mitigating or treating disease or
otherwise preventing impairment of human health, or otherwise
presents a potential for serious risk to a subject. We believe that
both the VenoValve and the CoreoGraft will require IDE applications
prior to human testing in the United States.
An
IDE application must be supported by appropriate data, such as
animal and laboratory test results, showing that it is safe to test
the device in humans and that the testing protocol is
scientifically sound. The IDE will automatically become effective
30 days after receipt by the FDA unless the FDA notifies the
company that the investigation may not begin. If the FDA determines
that there are deficiencies or other concerns with an IDE for which
it requires modification, the FDA may permit a clinical trial to
proceed under a conditional approval. In addition, the study must
be approved by, and conducted under the oversight of, an
Institutional Review Board, or IRB, for each clinical site. The IRB
is responsible for the initial and continuing review of the IDE,
and may pose additional requirements for the conduct of the study.
If an IDE application is approved by the FDA and one or more IRBs,
human clinical trials may begin at a specific number of
investigational sites with a specific number of patients, as
approved by the FDA. Acceptance of an IDE application for review
does not guarantee that the FDA will allow the IDE to become
effective and, if it does become effective, the FDA may or may not
determine that the data derived from the trials support the safety
and effectiveness of the device or warrant the continuation of
clinical trials. An IDE supplement must be submitted to, and
approved by, the FDA before a sponsor or investigator may make a
change to the investigational plan that may affect its scientific
soundness, study plan or the rights, safety or welfare of human
subjects. During a study, the sponsor is required to comply with
the applicable FDA requirements, including, for example, trial
monitoring, selecting clinical investigators and providing them
with the investigational plan, ensuring IRB review, adverse event
reporting, record keeping and prohibitions on the promotion of
investigational devices or on making safety or effectiveness claims
for them. The clinical investigators in the clinical study are also
subject to FDA’s regulations and must obtain patient informed
consent, rigorously follow the investigational plan and study
protocol, control the disposition of the investigational device and
comply with all reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Additionally, after a trial begins, we, the FDA or the IRB could
suspend or terminate a clinical trial at any time for various
reasons, including a belief that the risks to study subjects
outweigh the anticipated benefits.
Post-market
Regulation
After
a device is cleared or approved for marketing, numerous and
pervasive regulatory requirements continue to apply. These include:
establishing registration and device listing with the FDA; QSR
requirements, which require manufacturers, including third-party
manufacturers, to follow stringent design, testing, control,
documentation and other quality assurance procedures during all
aspects of the design and manufacturing process; labeling
regulations and FDA prohibitions against the promotion of
investigational products, or “off-label” uses of cleared or
approved products; requirements related to promotional activities;
clearance or approval of product modifications that could
significantly affect safety or effectiveness or that would
constitute a major change in intended use of one of our cleared
devices; medical device reporting regulations, which require that a
manufacturer report to the FDA if a device it markets may have
caused or contributed to a death or serious injury, or has
malfunctioned and the device or a similar device that it markets
would be likely to cause or contribute to a death or serious
injury, if the malfunction were to recur; correction, removal and
recall reporting regulations, which require that manufacturers
report to the FDA field corrections and product recalls or removals
if undertaken to reduce a risk to health posed by the device or to
remedy a violation of the FFDCA that may present a risk to health;
the FDA’s recall authority, whereby the agency can order device
manufacturers to recall from the market a product that is in
violation of governing laws and regulations; and post-market
surveillance activities and regulations.
Regulation
Outside of the U.S.
Each
country or territory outside of the U.S. has its own rules and
regulations with respect to the manufacture, marketing and sale of
medical devices. For example, in December of 2018, we received
regulatory approval from Instituto Nacional de Vigilancia de
Medicamentos y Alimentos (“INVIMA”), the Colombian equivalent of
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for our first-in-human trial
for the VenoValve in Colombia. At this time, other than the
first-in-human trial in Colombia, we have not determined which
countries outside of the U.S., if any, for which we will seek
approval for our product candidates.
Our
Competitive Strengths
We
believe we will offer the cardiovascular device market a compelling
value proposition with the launch of our two product candidates, if
approved, for the following reasons:
|
● |
We
have extensive experience of proprietary processing and
manufacturing methodology specifically applicable to the design,
processing, manufacturing and sterilization of our biologic tissue
devices. |
|
● |
We
operate a 14,507 square foot manufacturing facility in Irvine,
California. Our facility is designed expressly for the manufacture
of Class III tissue based implantable medical devices and is
equipped for research and development, prototype fabrication,
current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP, and manufacturing
and shipping for Class III medical devices, including biologic
cardiovascular devices. |
|
● |
We
have attracted senior executives who are experienced in research
and development and who have worked on over 50 medical devices that
have received FDA approval or CE marking. We also have the
advantage of an experienced board of directors and scientific
advisory board who will provide guidance as we move towards market
launch. |
Intellectual
Property
We
possess an extensive proprietary processing and manufacturing
methodology specifically applicable to the design, processing,
manufacturing and sterilization of biologic devices. This includes
FDA compliant quality control and assurance programs, proprietary
tissue processing technologies demonstrated to eliminate recipient
immune responses, trusted relationship with abattoir suppliers, and
a combination of tissue preservation and gamma irradiation that
enhances device functions and guarantees sterility. We have filed
patent applications for our VenoValve product and Implantable Vein
Frame Two product with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office though
there is no assurance that patents will be issued. We also are
working on new developments for our CoreoGraft product and expect
to be filing for patent protection on that product as
well.
Employees
As of
November 6, 2020, we had 15 full-time employees. None of our
employees are represented by a collective bargaining agreement, and
we have never experienced any work stoppage. We believe we have
good relations with our employees.
Properties
and Facilities
We
lease a 14,507 square foot manufacturing facility in Irvine,
California. We renewed our lease on September 20, 2017, effective
October 1, 2017, for five years with an option to extend the lease
for an additional 60-month term at the end of lease term. Our
facility is designed expressly for the manufacture of biologic
vascular grafts and is equipped for research and development,
prototype fabrication, cGMP manufacturing and shipping for Class
III medical devices, including biologic cardiovascular devices. We
believe that our facilities are sufficient for the near future as
there is present capacity to manufacture up to 24,000 venous valves
per year to meet potential market demands.
Legal
Proceedings
From
time to time we may be subject to litigation and arbitration claims
incidental to its business. Such claims may not be covered by our
insurance coverage, and even if they are, if claims against us are
successful, they may exceed the limits of applicable insurance
coverage.
On
October 8, 2018, Gusrae Kaplan Nusbaum PLLC (“Gusrae”) filed a
complaint with the Supreme Court of the State of New York seeking
payment of $178,926 plus interest and legal costs for invoices to
the Company dated from November 2016 to December 2017. In July
2016, the Company retained Gusrae to represent the Company in
connection with certain specific matters. The Company believes that
Gusrae has not applied all of the payments made by the Company
along with billing irregularities and errors and is disputing the
amount owed. The Company recorded the disputed invoices in accounts
payable and as of March 31, 2020, the Company has fully accrued for
the outstanding claim against the Company.
On
July 9, 2020, the Company was served with a civil complaint filed
in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of Orange
by a former employee, Robert Rankin, who resigned his employment on
or about March 30, 2020. The case is entitled Rankin v. Hancock
Jaffe Laboratories, Inc. et al., Case No.
30-2020-01146555-CU-WR-CJC and was filed on May 27, 2020. The
complaint asserts several causes of action, including a cause of
action for failure to timely pay Mr. Rankin’s accrued and unused
vacation and three months’ severance under his July 16, 2018
employment agreement with the Company. Mr. Rankin alleges that he
was forced to resign, however, we believe that he did not give the
Company notice or an opportunity to cure the allegations. The
complaint seeks, inter alia, back pay, unpaid wages, compensatory
damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs. The Company
intends to vigorously defend the claims, investigate the
allegations, and assert counterclaims. Mr. Rankin resigned as the
Company’s Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer on March
30, 2020.
Corporate
Information
We
were incorporated in Delaware on December 22, 1999. Our principal
executive offices are located at 70 Doppler, Irvine, California,
92618, and our telephone number is (949) 261-2900. Our corporate
website address is www.hancockjaffe.com. The information contained
on or accessible through our website is not a part of this
prospectus, and the inclusion of our website address in this
prospectus is an inactive textual reference only.
MANAGEMENT
Listed
below are the names of the directors and executive officers of the
Company, their ages as of the date of this prospectus, their
positions held and the year they commenced service with the
Company
Name |
|
Age |
|
Position(s)
Held |
|
Year
of Service Commencement |
Robert
A. Berman |
|
57 |
|
Director,
Chief Executive Officer |
|
2018 |
Craig
Glynn |
|
59 |
|
Interim
Chief Financial Officer and Interim Treasurer |
|
2020 |
Dr.
Francis Duhay |
|
59 |
|
Director |
|
2018 |
Dr.
Sanjay Shrivastava |
|
53 |
|
Director |
|
2018 |
Matthew
M. Jenusaitis |
|
59 |
|
Director |
|
2019 |
Robert
C. Gray |
|
73 |
|
Director |
|
2019 |
Marc
H. Glickman, M.D. |
|
71 |
|
Senior
Vice President and Chief Medical Officer |
|
2016 |
Robert A. Berman has served as our Chief Executive Officer
and a member of our board of directors since April 2018. From
September 2017 to March 2018, Mr. Berman worked as an independent
strategic business consultant. From September 2012 to July 2017, he
served as the President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of
the board of directors of ITUS Corporation (now called Anixa
Biosciences), a Nasdaq listed company, that develops a liquid
biopsy technology for early cancer detection. Prior to ITUS
Corporation, Mr. Berman was the Chief Executive Officer of VIZ
Technologies, a start-up company which developed and licensed a
beverage dispensing cap, and he was the founder of IP Dispute
Resolution Corporation, a company focused on intellectual property
licensing. From 2000 to March 2007, Mr. Berman was the Chief
Operating Officer and General Counsel of Acacia Research
Corporation, which was a publicly traded company engaged in the
licensing and enforcement of patented technologies. Mr. Berman was
a Director of Business Development at QVC where he developed and
selected products for on-air sales and distribution. Mr. Berman
started his career at the law firm of Blank Rome LLP. He has a
Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton
School of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Juris
Doctorate degree from the Northwestern University Pritzker School
of Law, where he serves as an adjunct faculty member. We believe
Mr. Berman is qualified to serve as a member of our board of
directors because of his experience in broad variety of areas
including healthcare, finance, acquisitions, marketing, compliance,
turnarounds, and the development and licensing of emerging
technologies.
Dr. Francis Duhay has served as member of our board of
directors since October 2018. A trained cardiac and thoracic
surgeon, has served the President and Chief Operating officer of
Aegis Surgical Inc. and Atrius Inc., makers of cardiac accessory
devices, since 2016, and as a Partner in K5_Ventures, an early
stage venture fund since 2017. Dr. Duhay is the former Chief
Medical Officer at Edwards Life Sciences, a world leader in heart
valve products, where he led medical and clinical affairs for
transcatheter and surgical heart valves. During his tenure at
Edwards Life Sciences, from 2008 to 2016, Dr. Duhay led the
preparation and submission, and ultimate regulatory approval, of
two FDA Premarket Approval (PMA) applications for transcatheter and
surgical heart valve therapies and was responsible for the design
and execution of the applicable clinical trials. Dr. Duhay was also
the Vice President and General Manager of the Ascendra™
transcatheter heart valve business unit at Edwards, where he grew
the unit from sixteen to eighty employees and contributed to annual
growth in sales from $3 million to $250 million. From 1998 to 2003,
Dr. Duhay served as the Chief of the Department of Cardiothoracic
Surgery and Cardiology at Kaiser Permanente. Dr. Duhay has also
served as an industry representative and clinical expert, and a
member of the working group for ISO 5840, the international quality
standard for the design, development, and testing of heart valves.
Dr. Duhay received his MBA from the University of Hawaii - Shidler
College of Business and received his board certification for
Cardiothoracic Surgery and General Surgery from the Duke University
School of Medicine and from the University of California, San
Francisco, respectively. We believe that Dr. Duhay is qualified to
serve as a member of our board of directors because he is a trained
cardiac and thoracic surgeon and former Chief Medical Officer at
Edwards Life Sciences.
Dr. Sanjay Shrivastava has served as a member of our board
of directors since October 2018. He has been involved in
developing, commercializing, evaluating, and acquiring medical
devices for more than 18 years, including serving in Chief
Executive Officer and board of director positions at several
medical device start-ups, and leadership positions in research and
development, business development, and marketing at BTG (from 2017
to 2018), Medtronic (2007 to 2017), Abbott Vascular (2003 to 2007),
and Edwards Life Sciences (2000 to 2003). He is presently the Vice
President of Marketing and Business Development at U.S. Vascular,
LLC and a co-founder and board member of BlackSwan Vascular, Inc.
While working as a vice president, upstream marketing and strategy
at BTG, a medical device and specialty pharmaceutical company with
annual revenue of about $800 million, Dr. Shrivastava worked on
several acquisition and investment deals. At Medtronic, Dr.
Shrivastava was the Director of Global Marketing for the Cardiac
and Vascular Group where he helped build the embolization business,
from its initiation to a substantial revenue with a very high CAGR
over a period of six years. Dr. Shrivastava was a Manager of
Research and Development for the peripheral vascular business at
Abbott Vascular and a Principal Research and Development Engineer
for Trans-Catheter heart valves at Edwards Life Sciences. Dr.
Shrivastava received his Bachelor of Science in engineering at the
Indian Institute of Technology, and his Doctorate of Philosophy in
materials science and engineering from the University of Florida.
We believe that Dr. Shrivastava is qualified to serve as a member
of our board of directors because of having served in Chief
Executive Officer and board of director positions at several
medical device start-ups, and leadership positions in research and
development, business development, and marketing at BTG, Medtronic,
Abbott Vascular, and Edwards Life Sciences.
Matthew M. Jenusaitis has served as a member of our board
of directors since September 2019. He has over 30 years of health
care experience with an emphasis on building and selling companies
that develop medical devices to treat vascular diseases. Since
March 2015, Mr. Jenusaitis has been the Chief of Staff and Chief of
Innovation and Transformation for the UC San Diego Health System.
From June 2009 to March 2015, Mr. Jenusaitis was President and CEO
of OCTANe Foundation for Innovation, a non-profit focused on the
development of innovation in Orange County, CA. Over the course of
his career, Mr. Jenusaitis has been on the board of directors of
Pulsar Vascular (2008-2017), which was sold to Johnson and Johnson,
Creagh Medical (2008-2015), which was sold to SurModics, and
Precision Wire Components (2009-2014), which was sold to Creganna
Medical. Mr. Jenusaitis was also a Senior Vice President at ev3
(April 2006 to July 2008), which was sold to Covidian and later
purchased by Medtronics. In addition, Mr. Jenusaitis was the
President of the Peripheral Division at Boston Scientific (July
2003 to August 2005) and was an Executive in Residence at Warburg
Pincus (September 2005 to March 2006). Mr. Jenusaitis has an MBA
from the University of California, Irvine, a Masters Degree in
Biomedical Engineering from Arizona State University, and a
Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University.
We believe that Mr. Jenusaitis is qualified to serve as a member of
our board of directors because of over 30 years of health care
experience with an emphasis on building and selling companies that
develop medical devices to treat vascular diseases and his prior
board experiences.
Robert C. Gray has served as a member of our board of
directors since September 2019. He had a 20-year career at
Highmark, Inc., one of America’s largest health insurance
organizations, which serves over 20 million subscribers, and
includes Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Pennsylvania, Highmark
Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware, and Highmark Blue Cross Blue
Shield West Virginia, which he retired from in 2008. While at
Highmark, Mr. Gray helped increase revenues to $12.3 billion from
$6.9 billion, and helped generate an operating gain of $375 million
from an operating loss of $91 million. In addition to being the
board chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of several
of Highmark’s subsidiaries and affiliated companies, Mr. Gray was
the Chief Financial Officer of Highmark’s parent company and was
the primary contact to Highmark’s board of directors for Highmark’s
audit, investment and compensation (incentive plans) committees.
His many responsibilities at Highmark included rate setting and
reimbursement negotiations. Following Highmark, Mr. Gray co-founded
U.S. Holdings LLC (U.S. Implants LLC.), a national distributor of
orthopedic implants, and has served as Vice President since 2009.
Since 2011, Mr. Gray has also been self-employed as a strategy and
financial consultant. Mr. Gray engaged in Postgraduate Studies at
the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and has an
undergraduate degree from Bucknell University. We believe that Mr.
Gray is qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors
because of his financial and medical reimbursement expertise having
served as the Chief Financial Officer at Highmark, Inc., one of
America’s largest health insurance organization.
Marc H. Glickman, M.D. has served as our Senior Vice
President and Chief Medical Officer since May 2016 and served as
member of our board of directors from July 2016 to August 2017. In
1981, Dr. Glickman started a vascular practice in Norfolk,
Virginia. He established the first Vein Center in Virginia and also
created a dialysis access center. He was employed by Sentara Health
Care as director of Vascular Services until he retired in 2014. Dr.
Glickman is a board certified vascular surgeon. Dr. Glickman
received his Doctor of Medicine from Case Western Reserve, in
Cleveland, Ohio and completed his residency at the University of
Washington, Seattle. He is board certified in Vascular Surgery and
was the past president of the Vascular Society of the Americas. He
has served on the advisory boards of Possis Medical, Cohesion
Technologies, Thoratec, GraftCath, Inc., TVA medical, Austin,
Texas.
Craig Glynn has served since as our Chief Financial Officer
since April 2020. Mr. Glynn has more than thirty-five years of
experience providing financial services to a variety of public and
private companies, including in the role as Chief Financial
Officer. In 2012, Mr. Glynn founded Edward Thomas Associates, a
firm that provides public and private companies with accounting and
finance services, including chief financial officer services. Mr.
Glynn is a Managing Director of Edward Thomas Associates. Mr. Glynn
has a proven record of success managing the financial aspects of
dynamic organizations either as a member of the management team or
in a consulting capacity. He started his career as an auditor with
Deloitte and went on to be the CFO and Controller of several
technology, manufacturing, and distribution companies. Mr. Glynn
earned his BS and MS degrees in Accounting from California State
University Northridge. He is a member of the American Institute of
CPAs.
Family
Relationships
There
are no arrangements between our directors and any other person
pursuant to which our directors were nominated or elected for their
positions. There are no family relationships between any of our
directors or executive officers.
Certain
Legal Proceedings
Except
as set forth above, none of the Company’s directors or executive
officers have been involved, in the past ten years and in a manner
material to an evaluation of such director’s or officer’s ability
or integrity to serve as a director or executive officer, in any of
those “Certain Legal Proceedings” more fully detailed in Item
401(f) of Regulation S-K, which include but are not limited to,
bankruptcies, criminal convictions and an adjudication finding that
an individual violated federal or state securities laws.
Board
Composition
Our
business and affairs are organized under the direction of our board
of directors, which currently consists of five members. Our
directors hold office until the earlier of their death, incapacity,
removal or resignation, or until their successors have been elected
and qualified. Our board of directors does not have a formal policy
on whether the roles of a Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of
our board of directors should be separate. The primary
responsibilities of our board of directors are to provide
oversight, strategic guidance, counseling and direction to our
management. Our board of directors meets on a regular basis. Our
bylaws provide that the authorized number of directors may be
changed only by resolution of the board of directors.
We
have no formal policy regarding board diversity. Our priority in
selection of board members is identification of members who will
further the interests of our stockholders through his or her
established record of professional accomplishment, the ability to
contribute positively to the collaborative culture among board
members, knowledge of our business and understanding of the
competitive landscape.
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation divides our board
of directors into three classes, with staggered three-year terms,
as follows:
Class
I Directors (serving until the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders,
or until their earlier death, disability, resignation or
removal):
Dr.
Francis Duhay* and Dr. Sanjay Shrivastava*
Class
II Directors (serving until the 2022 Annual Meeting of
Stockholders, or until their earlier death, disability, resignation
or removal):
Matthew
M. Jenusaitis*, Robert A. Berman
Class
III Director (serving until the 2020 Annual Meeting of
Stockholders, or until his earlier death, disability, resignation
or removal):
Robert
C. Gray*
(*)
Independent Director.
At
each annual meeting of stockholders to be held after the initial
classification, the successors to directors whose terms then expire
will serve until the third annual meeting following their election
and until their successors are duly elected and qualified. The
authorized size of our board of directors is currently five
members. The authorized number of directors may be changed only by
resolution of the board of directors. Any additional directorships
resulting from an increase in the number of directors will be
distributed between the three classes so that, as nearly as
possible, each class will consist of one-third of the directors.
This classification of the board of directors may have the effect
of delaying or preventing changes in our control or management. Our
directors may be removed for cause by the affirmative vote of the
holders of at least 66 2/3% of our voting stock.
Director
Independence
The
Nasdaq Marketplace Rules require a majority of a listed company’s
board of directors to be comprised of independent directors within
one year of listing. In addition, the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules
require that, subject to specified exceptions, each member of a
listed company’s audit, compensation and nominating and corporate
governance committees be independent and that audit committee
members also satisfy independence criteria set forth in Rule 10A-3
under the Exchange Act.
Under
Rule 5605(a)(2) of the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules, a director will
only qualify as an “independent director” if, in the opinion of our
board of directors, that person does not have a relationship that
would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in
carrying out the responsibilities of a director. In order to be
considered independent for purposes of Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange
Act, a member of an audit committee of a listed company may not,
other than in his or her capacity as a member of the audit
committee, the board of directors, or any other board committee,
accept, directly or indirectly, any consulting, advisory, or other
compensatory fee from the listed company or any of its subsidiaries
or otherwise be an affiliated person of the listed company or any
of its subsidiaries.
Our
board of directors has reviewed the composition of our board of
directors and its committees and the independence of each director.
Based upon information requested from and provided by each director
concerning his background, employment and affiliations, including
family relationships, our board of directors has determined that
each of Dr. Duhay, Mr. Gray, Mr. Jenusaitis and Dr. Shrivastava is
an “independent director” as defined under Rule 5605(a)(2) of the
Nasdaq Marketplace Rules. Our board of directors also determined
that Mr. Gray, Mr. Jenusaitis and Dr. Shrivastava will serve on our
audit committee, Mr. Gray and Mr. Jenusaitis and Dr. Shrivastava
will serve on our compensation committee, and Dr. Duhay, Mr.
Jenusaitis and Dr. Shrivastava will serve on our nominating and
corporate governance committee, and that each of the committees
satisfy the independence standards for such committees established
by the SEC and the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules, as applicable. In
making such determinations, our board of directors considered the
relationships that each such non-employee director has with our
company and all other facts and circumstances our board of
directors deemed relevant in determining independence, including
the beneficial ownership of our capital stock by each non-employee
director.
Board
Committees
Our
board of directors has established three standing committees—audit,
compensation, and nominating and corporate governance—each of which
operates under a charter that has been approved by our board of
directors. Prior to the completion of this offering, copies of each
committee’s charter will be posted on the Investors section of our
website, which is located at www.hancockjaffe.com. Each committee
has the composition and responsibilities described below. Our board
of directors may from time to time establish other
committees.
Audit
Committee
Our
audit committee consists of Mr. Gray, who is the chair of the audit
committee, Mr. Jenusaitis and Dr. Shrivastava. Our board of
directors has determined that each of the members of our audit
committee satisfies the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules and SEC
independence requirements. The functions of this committee include,
among other things:
|
● |
evaluating
the performance, independence and qualifications of our independent
auditors and determining whether to retain our existing independent
auditors or engage new independent auditors; |
|
● |
reviewing
and approving the engagement of our independent auditors to perform
audit services and any permissible non-audit services; |
|
● |
reviewing
our annual and quarterly financial statements and reports,
including the disclosures contained under the caption “Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations,” and discussing the statements and reports with our
independent auditors and management; |
|
● |
reviewing
with our independent auditors and management significant issues
that arise regarding accounting principles and financial statement
presentation and matters concerning the scope, adequacy and
effectiveness of our financial controls; |
|
● |
reviewing
our major financial risk exposures, including the guidelines and
policies to govern the process by which risk assessment and risk
management is implemented; and |
|
● |
reviewing
and evaluating on an annual basis the performance of the audit
committee, including compliance of the audit committee with its
charter. |
Our
board of directors has determined that Mr. Gray qualifies as an
“audit committee financial expert” within the meaning of applicable
SEC regulations and meets the financial sophistication requirements
of the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules. Both our independent registered
public accounting firm and management periodically meet privately
with our audit committee.
Compensation
Committee
Our
compensation committee consists of Dr. Shrivastava, who is the
chair of the committee, Mr. Gray and Mr. Jenusaitis. Our board of
directors has determined that each of the members of our
compensation committee is an outside director, as defined pursuant
to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended,
or the Code, and satisfies the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules
independence requirements. The functions of this committee include,
among other things:
|
● |
reviewing,
modifying and approving (or if it deems appropriate, making
recommendations to the full board of directors regarding) our
overall compensation strategy and policies; |
|
● |
reviewing
and approving the compensation, the performance goals and
objectives relevant to the compensation, and other terms of
employment of our Chief Executive Officers and our other executive
officers; |
|
● |
reviewing
and approving (or if it deems appropriate, making recommendations
to the full board of directors regarding) the equity incentive
plans, compensation plans and similar programs advisable for us, as
well as modifying, amending or terminating existing plans and
programs; |
|
● |
reviewing
and approving the terms of any employment agreements, severance
arrangements, change in control protections and any other
compensatory arrangements for our executive officers; |
|
● |
reviewing
with management and approving our disclosures under the caption
“Compensation Discussion and Analysis” in our periodic reports or
proxy statements to be filed with the SEC; and |
|
● |
preparing
the report that the SEC requires in our annual proxy
statement. |
Nominating
and Corporate Governance Committee
Our
nominating and corporate governance committee consists of Dr.
Duhay, who is the chair of the committee, Mr. Jenusaitis and Dr.
Shrivastava. Our board of directors has determined that each of the
members of this committee satisfies the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules
independence requirements. The functions of this committee include,
among other things:
|
● |
identifying,
reviewing and evaluating candidates to serve on our board of
directors consistent with criteria approved by our board of
directors; |
|
● |
evaluating
director performance on our board of directors and applicable
committees of our board of directors and determining whether
continued service on our board of directors is
appropriate; |
|
● |
evaluating,
nominating and recommending individuals for membership on our board
of directors; and |
|
● |
evaluating
nominations by stockholders of candidates for election to our board
of directors. |
Code
of Conduct
Our
board of directors has adopted a written code of conduct that
applies to our directors, officers and employees, including our
principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal
accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar
functions. We have posted on our website a current copy of the code
and all disclosures that are required by law or Nasdaq Marketplace
Rules concerning any amendments to, or waivers from, any provision
of the code.
Board
Leadership Structure
Our
board of directors is free to select the Chairman of the board of
directors and a Chief Executive Officer in a manner that it
considers to be in the best interests of our company at the time of
selection. Currently, Robert A. Berman serves as our Chief
Executive Officer. The office of the Chairman of the board of
directors remains vacant since the voluntary resignation of Mr.
Yury Zhivilo in May 2019. We currently believe that this leadership
structure is in our best interests and strikes an appropriate
balance between our Chief Executive Officer’s responsibility for
the day-to-day management of our company and the Chairman of the
board of directors’ responsibility to provide oversight, including
setting the board of directors’ meeting agendas and presiding at
executive sessions of the independent directors. Additionally, four
of our five members of our board of directors have been deemed to
be “independent” by the board of directors, which we believe
provides sufficient independent oversight of our management. Our
board of directors has not designated a lead independent
director.
Our
board of directors, as a whole and also at the committee level,
plays an active role overseeing the overall management of our
risks. Our Audit Committee reviews risks related to financial and
operational items with our management and our independent
registered public accounting firm. Our board of directors is in
regular contact with our Chief Executive Officer, who reports
directly to our board of directors and who supervises day-to-day
risk management.
Role
of Board in Risk Oversight Process
Our
board of directors believes that risk management is an important
part of establishing, updating and executing on our business
strategy. Our board of directors has oversight responsibility
relating to risks that could affect the corporate strategy,
business objectives, compliance, operations, and the financial
condition and performance of our company. Our board of directors
focuses its oversight on the most significant risks facing us and
on our processes to identify, prioritize, assess, manage and
mitigate those risks. Our board of directors receives regular
reports from members of our senior management on areas of material
risk to us, including strategic, operational, financial, legal and
regulatory risks. While our board of directors has an oversight
role, management is principally tasked with direct responsibility
for management and assessment of risks and the implementation of
processes and controls to mitigate their effects on us.
Executive
Compensation
The
following table sets forth total compensation paid to our named
executive officers for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018.
Individuals we refer to as our “named executive officers” include
our current Chief Executive Officer and both of our previous
Co-Chief Executive Officers, our current and previous Chief
Financial Officer and our two other most highly compensated
executive officers whose salary and bonus for services rendered in
all capacities exceeded $100,000 during the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2019.
Name and
Principal Position |
|
Year |
|
|
Salary ($) |
|
|
Bonus ($) |
|
|
Option Awards ($) |
|
|
Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation ($) |
|
|
Nonqualified
Deferred Compensation Earnings ($) |
|
|
All Other Compensation ($) |
|
|
Total
($) |
|
Robert A. Berman |
|
|
2019 |
|
|
|
400,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
15,285 |
(12) |
|
|
415,285 |
|
Chief Executive Officer |
|
|
2018 |
|
|
|
293,308 |
(1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
507,697 |
(8) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7,692 |
(13) |
|
|
808,697 |
|
Benedict Broennimann, M.D. Former
Co-Chief Executive Officer (2) |
|
|
2018 |
|
|
|
120,000 |
(2) |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
120,000 |
(2) |
|
|
240,000 |
|
Steven A. Cantor
Former Co-Chief Executive Officer (3) |
|
|
2018 |
|
|
|
71,539 |
(3) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
4,892 |
(14) |
|
|
76,431 |
|
Robert A. Rankin |
|
|
2019 |
|
|
|
250,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
44,195 |
(15) |
|
|
294,195 |
|
Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and
Treasurer |
|
|
2018 |
|
|
|
110,577 |
(4) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
165,000 |
(9) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17,297 |
(16) |
|
|
292,874 |
|
William R. Abbott
Former Chief Financial Officer (5) |
|
|
2018 |
|
|
|
173,077 |
(5) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
150,991 |
(17) |
|
|
324,068 |
|
Marc H. Glickman, M.D. |
|
|
2019 |
|
|
|
322,115 |
(6) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
49,095 |
(10) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
50,814 |
(18) |
|
|
422,024 |
|
Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice
President |
|
|
2018 |
|
|
|
300,000 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
62,640 |
(19) |
|
|
362,640 |
|
Chris Sarner
Former Vice President Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance
(7) |
|
|
2019 |
|
|
|
212,885 |
(7) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
87,000 |
(11) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
47,457 |
(20) |
|
|
347,342 |
|
(1) |
Beginning
March 30, 2018, Mr. Berman’s annual base salary rate under his
employment agreement was $400,000. Amounts in this column for Mr.
Berman reflect his base salary earned for 2018. |
(2) |
Dr.
Broennimann served as our Co-Chief Executive Officer from August
2017 to April 2018. Dr. Broennimann’s annual base salary rate under
his employment agreement was $360,000. On May 1, 2018, Dr.
Broennimann entered into a Service Agreement to perform the role of
Chief Medical Officer (Out of US) for a fee of $15,000 monthly.
Amounts in this column for Dr. Broennimann reflect his base salary
earned for 2018 as Co-Chief Executive Officer. |
|
|
(3) |
Mr.
Cantor served as our Co-Chief Executive Officer from August 2017
until Mr. Cantor’s employment with the Company was terminated on
March 20, 2018. Amounts in this column for Mr. Cantor reflect base
salary earned for 2018. |
|
|
(4) |
Beginning
July 16, 2018, Mr. Rankin’s annual base salary rate under his
employment agreement was $250,000. Amounts in this column for Mr.
Rankin reflect his base salary earned for 2018. |
|
|
(5) |
Mr.
Abbott’s annual base salary rate under his employment agreement was
$300,000. Mr. Abbott’s employment with the Company was terminated
on July 20, 2018. Amounts in this column for Mr. Abbott reflect
base salary earned for 2018. |
|
|
(6) |
Beginning
July 26, 2019, Dr. Glickman’s annual base salary rate under his
employment agreement dated July 26, 2019, which superseded his
prior employment agreement, was $350,000. Amounts in this column
for Dr. Glickman reflect his base salary earned for
2019. |
(7) |
Beginning
January 2, 2019, Ms. Sarner’s annual base salary under her
employment agreement was $225,000. Ms. Sarner resigned her
employment with the Company effective December 2, 2019. Amounts in
this column for Ms. Sarner reflect base salary earned for
2019. |
|
|
(8) |
Represents
the grant date fair value of 1,080,207 stock options granted on
September 24, 2018 pursuant to the terms of his Employment
Agreement dated March 30, 2018, computed in accordance with FASB
ASC Topic 718. The options vested 20% on the date of his Employment
Agreement and the remaining 80% vests ratably on a monthly basis
over the 24 months following the date of his Employment
Agreement. |
|
|
(9) |
Represents
the grant date fair value of 150,000 stock options granted on July
16, 2018, computed in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718. 50,000
options vest on the first anniversary of Mr. Rankin’s employment
with the Company and the remaining 100,000 vest on a quarterly
basis over the following two-year period. |
|
|
(10) |
Represents
the grant date fair value of 180,000 stock options granted on July
26, 2019, computed in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718. The
options vest quarterly over a three year period. Also included is
the fair value of his existing 184,500 options that were repriced
from $10.00 per share to $2.00 per share in connection with
entering the July 26, 2019 employment agreement. |
|
|
(11) |
Represents
the grant date fair value of 150,000 stock options granted on
January 7, 2019, computed in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718.
50,000 options vest on the first anniversary of Ms. Sarner’s
employment with the Company and the remaining 100,000 vest on a
quarterly basis over the following two-year period. |
|
|
(12) |
Includes
company paid healthcare of $1,285 and 401(k) match of
$14,000. |
|
|
(13) |
Includes
company paid 401(k) match of $7,692. |
|
|
(14) |
Includes
company paid healthcare of $4,892. |
|
|
(15) |
Includes
company paid healthcare of $31,695 and 401(k) match of
$12,500. |
|
|
(16) |
Includes
company paid healthcare of $12,490 and 401(k) match of
$4,808. |
|
|
(17) |
Includes
severance of $126,923 and company paid healthcare of $16,567 and
401(k) match of $7,500. |
|
|
(18) |
Includes
company paid healthcare of $36,814 and 401(k) match of
$14,000. |
|
|
(19) |
Includes
company paid healthcare of $35,043, 401(k) match of $15,000 and
relocation expense reimbursement of $12,597. |
|
|
(20) |
Includes
company paid healthcare of $37,116 and 401(k) match of
$10,341. |
Employment
Agreements
We
have entered into various employment agreements with certain of our
executive officers. Set forth below is a summary of many of the
material provisions of such agreements, which summaries do not
purport to contain all of the material terms and conditions of each
such agreement. For purposes of the following employment
agreements:
|
● |
“Cause”
generally means the executive’s (i) willful misconduct or gross
negligence in the performance of his or her duties to us; (ii)
willful failure to perform his or her duties to us or to follow the
lawful directives of the Chief Executive Officer (other than as a
result of death or disability); (iii) indictment for, conviction of
or pleading of guilty or nolo contendere to, a felony or any crime
involving moral turpitude: (iv) repeated failure to cooperate in
any audit or investigation of our business or financial practices;
(v) performance of any material act of theft, embezzlement, fraud,
malfeasance, dishonesty or misappropriation of our property; or
(vi) material breach of his or her employment agreement or any
other material agreement with us or a material violation of our
code of conduct or other written policy. |
|
● |
“Good
reason” generally means, subject to certain notice requirements and
cure rights, without the executive’s consent, (i) material
diminution in his or her base salary or annual bonus opportunity;
(ii) material diminution in his or her authority or duties
(although a change in title will not constitute “good reason”),
other than temporarily while physically or mentally incapacitated,
as required by applicable law; (iii) relocation of his or her
primary work location by more than 25 miles from its then current
location; or (iv) a material breach by us of a material term of the
employment agreement. |
|
|
|
|
● |
“Change
of control” generally means (i) the acquisition, other than from
us, by any individual, entity or group (within the meaning of
Section 13(d)(3) or Section 14(d)(2) of the Exchange Act), other
than us or any subsidiary, affiliate (within the meaning of Rule
144 promulgated under the Securities Act) or employee benefit plan
of ours, of beneficial ownership (within the meaning of Rule 13d-3
promulgated under the Exchange Act) of more than 50% of the
combined voting power of our then outstanding voting securities
entitled to vote generally in the election of directors; (ii) a
reorganization, merger, consolidation or recapitalization of us,
other than a transaction in which more than 50% of the combined
voting power of the outstanding voting securities of the surviving
or resulting entity immediately following such transaction is held
by the persons who, immediately prior to the transaction, were the
holders of our voting securities; or (iii) a complete liquidation
or dissolution of us, or a sale of all or substantially all of our
assets. |
Robert
A. Berman
On
March 30, 2018, we entered into an employment agreement with Robert
A. Berman, our current Chief Executive Officer and director.
Pursuant to the terms of his employment agreement, Mr. Berman’s
base salary is $400,000, subject to annual review and adjustment at
the discretion of our compensation committee, and he will be
eligible for an annual year-end discretionary bonus of up to 50% of
his base salary, subject to the achievement of key performance
indicators, as determined by our compensation committee. The
initial term of Mr. Berman’s employment agreement may be terminated
at anytime with or without cause and with or without notice or for
good reason thereunder.
Mr.
Berman is entitled to participate in our employee benefit, pension
and/or profit sharing plans, and we will pay certain health and
dental premiums on his behalf. Mr. Berman’s employment agreement
prohibits him from inducing, soliciting or entertaining any of our
employees to leave our employ during the term of the agreement and
for 12 months thereafter.
Pursuant
to the terms of his employment agreement, Mr. Berman is entitled to
severance in the event of certain terminations of employment. In
the event Mr. Berman’s employment is terminated by us without cause
and other than by reason of disability or he resigns for good
reason, subject to his timely executing a release of claims in our
favor and in addition to certain other accrued benefits, he is
entitled to receive 6 month of base salary if termination occurred
prior to the second anniversary of his employment or 12 months of
continued base salary on and after the second anniversary of his
employment (or 24 months if such termination occurs within 24
months following a change of control).
Robert
A. Rankin
On
July 16, 2018, the Company entered into an employment agreement
with Mr. Rankin which provides for an annual base salary of
$250,000 as well as standard employee insurance and other benefits.
Pursuant to this agreement, Mr. Rankin is eligible for annual
salary increases at the discretion of our board of directors as
well as an annual year-end discretionary bonus of up to 30% of his
base salary, subject to the achievement of key performance
indicators, as determined by the board and the Chief Executive
Officer of the Company in their sole discretion. In connection with
his employment, Mr. Rankin received an initial equity grant of an
option to purchase 150,000 options with 50,000 options vesting on
July 16, 2019 and the remaining 100,000 vesting on a quarterly
basis over the following two-year period.
Mr.
Rankin’s employment agreement provides for severance payments in
the event of termination without Cause or he resigns for Good
Reason (as defined in the agreement), equal to three months of base
salary for each year that he has been employed by the Company at
the time of termination, up to a total of one year of his base
salary, provided, that if such termination results from a Change of
Control (as defined in the agreement), Mr. Rankin’s severance will
not be less than six months of his base salary.
Mr.
Rankin’s employment with the Company is “at-will” and may be
terminated at any time, with or without cause and with or without
notice by either Mr. Rankin or the Company.
Effective
March 30, 2020, Mr. Rankin resigned from the Company.
Marc
H. Glickman, M.D.
On
July 22, 2016, we entered into an employment agreement with Marc H.
Glickman, M.D., our Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer
(the “Pre-existing Employment Agreement”). Pursuant to the terms of
his Pre-existing Employment Agreement, Dr. Glickman’s base salary
is $300,000, subject to annual review and adjustment at the
discretion of our board of directors, and he will be eligible for
an annual year-end discretionary bonus of up to 50% of his base
salary, subject to the achievement of key performance indicators,
as determined by our board of directors. In connection with his
Pre-existing Employment Agreement, Dr. Glickman received an initial
equity grant of an option to purchase up to 184,500 shares of our
common stock with 20% of the shares vesting immediately and 80%
vesting on a monthly basis over 24 months thereafter. The initial
term of Dr. Glickman’s Pre-existing Employment Agreement ended on
December 31, 2018 and was automatically extended for additional
three-year terms.
On
July 26, 2019, we entered into an employment agreement with Dr.
Glickman (the “New Employment Agreement”) that supersedes the terms
of the Pre-existing Employment Agreement. Pursuant to the terms of
the New Employment Agreement, Dr. Glickman’s base salary is
$350,000 per year, subject to annual review and adjustment at the
discretion of the Board. In connection with entering into the New
Employment Agreement, Dr. Glickman’s existing one hundred and
eighty four thousand five hundred (184,500) options (“Existing
Options”) to purchase Company common stock at ten dollars ($10.00)
per share until October 1, 2026, were repriced to two dollars
($2.00) per share. Additionally, Dr. Glickman, in connection to the
New Employment Agreement, was granted stock options for the right
to purchase one hundred and eighty thousand (180,000) common stock
at a price equal to two dollars ($2.00) per share exercisable until
July 26, 2029, which shall vest quarterly over a three (3) year
period.
Pursuant
to the terms of the New Employment Agreement, Dr. Glickman is an
at-will employee and is entitled to severance in the event of
certain terminations of his employment. In the event that Dr.
Glickman’s employment is terminated by the Company without Cause
(as defined in the New Employment Agreement), other than by reason
of Disability (as defined in the New Employment Agreement), or he
resigns for Good Reason (as defined in the New Employment
Agreement), subject to his timely executing a release of claims in
favor of the Company and in addition to certain other accrued
benefits, Dr. Glickman is entitled to receive three months of his
base salary for each year that he has been employed by the Company
at the time of termination, up to a total of one year of his base
salary.
Chris
Sarner
On
November 7, 2018, we entered into an employment agreement with
Chris Sarner, our Vice President Regulatory Affairs and Quality
Assurance. Pursuant to the terms of her employment agreement, Ms.
Sarner’s start date was January 2, 2019 and provides for an annual
base salary of $225,000 as well as standard employee insurance and
other benefits. Pursuant to this agreement, Ms. Sarner is eligible
for annual salary increases at the discretion of our Chief
Executive Officer. In connection with her employment, Ms. Sarner
received an initial equity grant of an option to purchase 150,000
options with 50,000 options vesting on February 6, 2020 and the
remaining 100,000 vesting on a quarterly basis over the following
two-year period.
Ms.
Sarner’s employment agreement provides for severance payments in
the event of termination without Cause or she resigns for Good
Reason (as defined in the agreement), equal to three months of base
salary for each year that she has been employed by the Company at
the time of termination, up to a total of one year of her base
salary.
Ms.
Sarner’s employment with the Company is “at-will”, and may be
terminated at any time, with or without cause and with or without
notice by either Ms. Sarner or the Company.
Effective
December 2, 2019, Ms. Sarner resigned from the Company.
Potential
Payments Upon Termination or Change-in-Control
Pursuant
to the terms of the employment agreements discussed above, we will
pay severance in the event of certain terminations of employment.
In the event employment is terminated by us without cause and other
than by reason of disability or if the executive resigns for good
reason, subject to his or her timely executing a release of claims
in our favor and in addition to certain other accrued benefits, he
or she is entitled to receive severance pursuant to the terms of
his or her employment agreements discussed above.
Outstanding
Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End
The
following table sets forth information regarding equity awards held
by our named executive officers as of December 31, 2019.
Name |
|
Number of securities underlying unexercised options
(#)
exercisable |
|
|
Number
of securities
underlying
unexercised
options
(#)
unexercisable
|
|
|
Equity
incentive
plan
awards: Number of
securities
underlying
unexercised
unearned
options
(#)
|
|
Option
exercise
price
($)
|
|
|
Option
expiration
date
|
Robert A. Berman,
Chief Executive Officer |
|
|
972,186 |
(1) |
|
|
108,021 |
(1) |
|
N/A |
|
$ |
4.99 |
|
|
September 23, 2028 |
Robert A. Rankin
Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer |
|
|
62,500 |
(2) |
|
|
87,500 |
(2) |
|
N/A |
|
$ |
2.98 |
|
|
July 15, 2028 |
Marc H. Glickman, M.D. |
|
|
15,000 |
(3) |
|
|
165,000 |
(3) |
|
N/A |
|
$ |
2.00 |
|
|
July 25, 2029 |
Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice
President |
|
|
184,500 |
(3) |
|
|
- |
|
|
N/A |
|
$ |
2.00 |
|
|
October 1, 2026 |
|
(1) |
Options
were granted on September 24, 2018, and vested 20% on the date of
his Employment Agreement, March 30, 2018, and the remaining 80%
vests ratably on a monthly basis over the 24 months following the
date of his Employment Agreement. |
|
(2) |
Options
were granted on July 16, 2018, and 50,000 options vested on the
first anniversary of Mr. Rankin’s employment, July 16, 2019, with
the Company and the remaining 100,000 vest on a quarterly basis
over the following two-year period. |
|
(3) |
On
July 26, 2019, the Company entered a new employment agreement with
Dr. Glickman that superseded the terms of his existing employment
agreement. In connection with entering into the new employment
agreement, Dr. Glickman’s existing 184,500 options that were
granted on October 1, 2016 were repriced from $10.00 to $2.00 per
share. Additionally, on July 26, 2019, Dr. Glickman was granted
180,000 options at $2.00 per share vesting quarterly over a
three-year period. |
Employee
Benefit Plans
Amended
and Restated 2016 Omnibus Incentive Plan
On
October 1, 2016, our board of directors and our stockholders
adopted and approved the Hancock Jaffe Laboratories, Inc. 2016
Omnibus Incentive Plan, and, subsequently on April 26, 2018, our
board of directors and our stockholders adopted and approved the
Amended and Restated 2016 Omnibus Incentive Plan (“2016 Plan”). The
principal features of the 2016 Plan are summarized below. This
summary is qualified in its entirety by reference to the text of
the 2016 Plan, which is filed as an exhibit to the registration
statement of which this prospectus is a part.
Share
Reserve
We
have reserved 4,924,485 shares of our common stock for issuance
under the 2016 Plan, plus an annual increase on each anniversary of
April 26th equal to 3% of the total issued and
outstanding shares of our common stock as of such anniversary (or
such lesser number of shares as may be determined by our board of
directors), all of which may be granted as incentive stock options
under Code Section 422. The shares of common stock issuable under
the 2016 Plan will consist of authorized and unissued shares,
treasury shares or shares purchased on the open market or
otherwise, all as determined by our company from time to
time.
If
any award is canceled, terminates, expires or lapses for any reason
prior to the issuance of shares or if shares are issued under the
2016 Plan and thereafter are forfeited to us, the shares subject to
such awards and the forfeited shares will not count against the
aggregate number of shares of common stock available for grant
under the 2016 Plan. In addition, the following items will not
count against the aggregate number of shares of common stock
available for grant under the 2016 Plan: (1) shares issued under
the 2016 Plan repurchased or surrendered at no more than cost or
pursuant to an option exchange program, (2) any award that is
settled in cash rather than by issuance of shares of common stock,
(3) shares surrendered or tendered in payment of the option price
or purchase price of an award or any taxes required to be withheld
in respect of an award or (4) awards granted in assumption of or in
substitution for awards previously granted by an acquired
company.
Administration
The
2016 Plan may be administered by our board of directors or our
compensation committee. Our compensation committee, in its
discretion, selects the individuals to whom awards may be granted,
the time or times at which such awards are granted and the terms
and conditions of such awards. Our board of directors also has the
authority, subject to the terms of the 2016 Plan, to amend existing
options (including to reduce the option’s exercise price), to
institute an exchange program by which outstanding options may be
surrendered in exchange for options that may have different
exercise prices and terms, restricted stock, and/or cash or other
property.
Eligibility
Awards
may be granted under the 2016 Plan to officers, employees,
directors, consultants and advisors of us and our affiliates.
Incentive stock options may be granted only to employees of us or
our subsidiaries.
Awards
The
2016 Plan permits the granting of any or all of the following types
of awards:
|
● |
Stock
Options. Stock options entitle the holder to purchase a
specified number of shares of common stock at a specified price
(the exercise price), subject to the terms and conditions of the
stock option grant. Our compensation committee may grant either
incentive stock options, which must comply with Code Section 422,
or nonqualified stock options. Our compensation committee sets
exercise prices and terms and conditions, except that stock options
must be granted with an exercise price not less than 100% of the
fair market value of our common stock on the date of grant
(excluding stock options granted in connection with assuming or
substituting stock options in acquisition transactions). Unless our
compensation committee determines otherwise, fair market value
means, as of a given date, the closing price of our common stock.
At the time of grant, our compensation committee determines the
terms and conditions of stock options, including the quantity,
exercise price, vesting periods, term (which cannot exceed 10
years) and other conditions on exercise. |
|
|
|
|
● |
Stock
Appreciation Rights. Our compensation committee may grant SARs,
as a right in tandem with the number of shares underlying stock
options granted under the 2016 Plan or as a freestanding award.
Upon exercise, SARs entitle the holder to receive payment per share
in stock or cash, or in a combination of stock and cash, equal to
the excess of the share’s fair market value on the date of exercise
over the grant price of the SAR. The grant price of a tandem SAR is
equal to the exercise price of the related stock option and the
grant price for a freestanding SAR is determined by our
compensation committee in accordance with the procedures described
above for stock options. Exercise of a SAR issued in tandem with a
stock option will reduce the number of shares underlying the
related stock option to the extent of the SAR exercised. The term
of a freestanding SAR cannot exceed 10 years, and the term of a
tandem SAR cannot exceed the term of the related stock
option. |
|
● |
Restricted
Stock, Restricted Stock Units and Other Stock-Based Awards. Our
compensation committee may grant awards of restricted stock, which
are shares of common stock subject to specified restrictions, and
restricted stock units, or RSUs, which represent the right to
receive shares of our common stock in the future. These awards may
be made subject to repurchase, forfeiture or vesting restrictions
at our compensation committee’s discretion. The restrictions may be
based on continuous service with us or the attainment of specified
performance goals, as determined by our compensation committee.
Stock units may be paid in stock or cash or a combination of stock
and cash, as determined by our compensation committee. Our
compensation committee may also grant other types of equity or
equity-based awards subject to the terms and conditions of the 2016
Plan and any other terms and conditions determined by our
compensation committee. |
|
|
|
|
● |
Performance
Awards. Our compensation committee may grant performance
awards, which entitle participants to receive a payment from us,
the amount of which is based on the attainment of performance goals
established by our compensation committee over a specified award
period. Performance awards may be denominated in shares of common
stock or in cash, and may be paid in stock or cash or a combination
of stock and cash, as determined by our compensation committee.
Cash-based performance awards include annual incentive
awards. |
Clawback
All
cash and equity awards granted under the 2016 plan will be subject
to all applicable laws regarding the recovery of erroneously
awarded compensation, any implementing rules and regulations under
such laws, any policies we adopted to implement such requirements
and any other compensation recovery policies as we may adopt from
time to time.
Change
in Control
Under
the 2016 Plan, in the event of a change in control (as defined in
the 2016 Plan), outstanding awards will be treated in accordance
with the applicable transaction agreement. If no treatment is
provided for in the transaction agreement, each award holder will
be entitled to receive the same consideration that stockholders
receive in the change in control for each share of stock subject to
the award holder’s awards, upon the exercise, payment or transfer
of the awards, but the awards will remain subject to the same
terms, conditions and performance criteria applicable to the awards
before the change in control, unless otherwise determined by our
compensation committee. In connection with a change in control,
outstanding stock options and SARs can be cancelled in exchange for
the excess of the per share consideration paid to stockholders in
the transaction, minus the option or SARs exercise
price.
Subject
to the terms and conditions of the applicable award agreements,
awards granted to non-employee directors will fully vest on an
accelerated basis, and any performance goals will be deemed to be
satisfied at target. For awards granted to all other service
providers, vesting of awards will depend on whether the awards are
assumed, converted or replaced by the resulting entity.
|
● |
For
awards that are not assumed, converted or replaced, the awards will
vest upon the change in control. For performance awards, the amount
vesting will be based on the greater of (1) achievement of all
performance goals at the “target” level or (2) the actual level of
achievement of performance goals as of our fiscal quarter end
preceding the change in control, and will be prorated based on the
portion of the performance period that had been completed through
the date of the change in control. |
|
|
|
|
● |
For
awards that are assumed, converted or replaced by the resulting
entity, no automatic vesting will occur upon the change in control.
Instead, the awards, as adjusted in connection with the
transaction, will continue to vest in accordance with their terms
and conditions. In addition, the awards will vest if the award
recipient has a separation from service within two years after a
change in control by us other than for “cause” or by the award
recipient for “good reason” (each as defined in the applicable
award agreement). For performance awards, the amount vesting will
be based on the greater of (1) achievement of all performance goals
at the “target” level or (2) the actual level of achievement of
performance goals as of our fiscal quarter end preceding the change
in control, and will be prorated based on the portion of the
performance period that had been completed through the date of the
separation from service. |
Amendment
and Termination of the 2016 Plan
Unless
earlier terminated by our board of directors, the 2016 Plan will
terminate, and no further awards may be granted, 10 years after
October 1, 2016, the date on which it was approved by our
stockholders. Our board of directors may amend, suspend or
terminate the 2016 Plan at any time, except that, if required by
applicable law, regulation or stock exchange rule, stockholder
approval will be required for any amendment. The amendment,
suspension or termination of the 2016 Plan or the amendment of an
outstanding award generally may not, without a participant’s
consent, materially impair the participant’s rights under an
outstanding award.
Limitation
of Liability and Indemnification Matters
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation, which became
effective upon the completion of our initial public offering,
limits the liability of our directors for monetary damages for
breach of their fiduciary duties, except for liability that cannot
be eliminated under the DGCL. Consequently, our directors will not
be personally liable for monetary damages for breach of their
fiduciary duties as directors, except liability for any of the
following:
|
● |
any
breach of their duty of loyalty to us or our
stockholders; |
|
● |
acts
or omissions not in good faith or that involve intentional
misconduct or a knowing violation of law; |
|
● |
unlawful
payments of dividends or unlawful stock repurchases or redemptions
as provided in Section 174 of the DGCL; or |
|
● |
any
transaction from which the director derived an improper personal
benefit. |
Our
amended and restated bylaws also provide that we will indemnify our
directors and executive officers and may indemnify our other
officers and employees and other agents to the fullest extent
permitted by law. Our amended and restated bylaws also permit us to
secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director, employee or
other agent for any liability arising out of his or her actions in
this capacity, regardless of whether our amended and restated
bylaws would permit indemnification. We have obtained directors’
and officers’ liability insurance.
We
have entered into separate indemnification agreements with our
directors and executive officers, in addition to indemnification
provided for in our amended and restated bylaws. These agreements,
among other things, provide for indemnification of our directors
and executive officers for expenses, judgments, fines and
settlement amounts incurred by this person in any action or
proceeding arising out of this person’s services as a director or
executive officer or at our request. We believe that these
provisions and agreements are necessary to attract and retain
qualified persons as directors and executive officers.
The
above description of the indemnification provisions of our amended
and restated bylaws and our indemnification agreements is not
complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to these
documents, each of which is incorporated by reference as an exhibit
to the registration statement to which this prospectus forms a
part.
The
limitation of liability and indemnification provisions in our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and
restated bylaws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit
against directors for breach of their fiduciary duties. They may
also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against
directors and officers, even though an action, if successful, might
benefit us and our stockholders. A stockholder’s investment may be
harmed to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage
awards against directors and officers pursuant to these
indemnification provisions. Insofar as indemnification for
liabilities under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors,
officers or persons controlling us pursuant to the foregoing
provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC
such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the
Securities Act and may be unenforceable. There is no pending
litigation or proceeding naming any of our directors or officers as
to which indemnification is being sought, nor are we aware of any
pending or threatened litigation that may result in claims for
indemnification by any director or officer.
Director Compensation
The
Board determines the form and amount of director compensation after
its review of recommendations made by the Compensation Committee. A
substantial portion of each director’s annual retainer is in the
form of equity. Under the Company’s nonemployee director
compensation program members of the Board who are not also Company
employees (“Non-Employee Directors”) are granted twenty thousand
(20,000) options and restricted stock units (“RSUs”) worth up to
twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) per annum (the “Annual
Award”). A Non-Employee Director who is newly appointed to the
Board other than in connection with an annual meeting of
stockholders will generally receive a grant of sixty-thousand
(60,000) options and RSUs worth up to seventy-five thousand dollars
($75,000) upon appointment (an “Initial Award”), which covers their
compensation for their first three years of service. The Initial
Award and Annual Award to Non-Employee Directors will vest as long
as they remain directors in equal annual portions over three years
following the date in which the award is granted.
The
table below shows the compensation paid to our non-employee
directors during 2019 and 2018.
Name |
|
|
|
|
Fees
earned or paid in cash |
|
|
Stock
awards ($) |
|
|
Option
awards ($) |
|
|
Non-equity
incentive plan compensation ($) |
|
|
Nonqualified
deferred compensation earnings ($) |
|
|
All
other compensation($) |
|
|
Total
($) |
|
Francis
Duhay, |
|
2019 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
M.D. |
|
2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
57,491 |
(1) |
|
$ |
33,600 |
(2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
91,091 |
|
Dr.
Sanjay |
|
2019 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
Shrivastava |
|
2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
57,491 |
(1) |
|
$ |
33,600 |
(2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
91,091 |
|
Robert
Gray |
|
2019 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
75,000 |
(3) |
|
$ |
7,800 |
(4) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
82,800 |
|
Matthew
Jenusaitis |
|
2019 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
75,000 |
(3) |
|
$ |
7,800 |
(4) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
82,800 |
|
Yury
Zhivilo |
|
2019 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
Former
Chairman of the BOD (5) |
|
2018 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
Marcus
Robins, |
|
2019 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
Former
Director (6) |
|
2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
57,491 |
(1) |
|
$ |
33,600 |
(2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
91,091 |
|
Robert
A. Anderson, Former Director |
|
2018 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
$ |
9,960 |
(7) |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
$ |
9,960 |
|
Robert
W. Doyle, Former Director |
|
2018 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
$ |
9,960 |
(7) |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
9,960 |
|
Steven
Girgenti, Former Director |
|
2018 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
$ |
9,000 |
(7) |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
$ |
9,000 |
|
(1)
Under the Company’s nonemployee director compensation program, Dr.
Duhay and Dr. Shrivastava in connection with their appointment to
the BOD on October 2, 2018 were each granted 29,183 Restricted
Stock units on November 27, 2018, which based on the Company’s
closing stock price on the grant date were valued at $1.97 per
unit. These units vest in equal annual portions on the 10/2/2019,
10/2/2020 and 10/2/2021.
(2)
Under the Company’s nonemployee director compensation program, Dr.
Duhay and Dr. Shrivastava in connection with their appointment to
the BOD on October 2, 2018 were each granted 60,000 options to
purchase shares of our common stock on November 27, 2018 at an
exercise price of $2.57 per share. The options were valued at $.56
per share as of the date of the grant. All of these options vest in
equal quarterly portions over a 3 year period starting from October
2, 2018 and valued in accordance with FASB ASC Topic
718.
(3)
Under the Company’s nonemployee director compensation program,
Messrs. Gray and Jenusaitis in connection with their appointment to
the BOD on September 13, 2019 were each granted 78,125 Restricted
Stock units, which based on the Company’s closing stock price on
the grant date were valued at $.96 per unit. These units vest in
equal annual portions on the 9/13/2020, 9/13/2021 and
9/3/2022
(4)
Under the Company’s nonemployee director compensation program,
Messrs. Gray and Jenusaitis in connection with their appointment to
the BOD on September 13, 2019 were each granted 60,000 options to
purchase shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $2.00
per share. The options were valued at $.13 per share as of the date
of the grant. All of these options vest in equal quarterly portions
over a 3 year period starting from September 13, 2019 and valued in
accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718.
(5)
On May 23, 2019, Mr. Zhivilo resigned as chairman of the board of
directors for the Company.
(6)
In April 2019, Mr. Robins passed away.
(7)
Messrs. Anderson, Doyle and Girgenti resigned as Directors on Oct
1, 2018. Effective upon their resignation, each resigning director
received a grant of 10,000 options to purchase shares of our common
stock at an exercise price of $2.90, the closing price of our
common stock on October 1, 2018. The options were valued at $.50
per share as of the date of the grant. All of these options were
vested in full as of the date of grant and valued in accordance
with FASB ASC Topic 718. Per the Amended and Restated 2016 Omnibus
Incentive Plan, the options that were awarded in prior years to the
resigning directors and vested, would have to be exercised within
90 days of their resignation date or be forfeited As part of their
resignation agreement, all options granted to the Directors before
their resignation date were modified such that they can be
exercised by the resigning directors for a 10 year period from
their issuance dates. These options are treated as a modification
and valued in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718. The 40,000
options to purchase shares of our common stock issued to each of
our former directors Robert Doyle, Robert Anderson, and Steven
Girgenti in 2017 at an exercise price of $12.00 per share were
valued at $.10 per share as of the date of the modification. The
3,000 options to purchase shares of our common stock issued to each
of our former directors Robert Doyle and Robert Anderson in 2017 at
an exercise price of $7.00 per share were valued at $.32 per share
as of the date of the modification.
CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY
TRANSACTIONS
The
following is a description of transactions since January 1, 2018 to
which we were a party in which (i) the amount involved exceeded or
will exceed the lesser of (A) $120,000 or (B) one percent of our
average total assets at year end for the last two completed fiscal
years and (ii) any of our directors, executive officers or holders
of more than 5% of our capital stock, or any member of the
immediate family of, or person sharing the household with, any of
the foregoing persons, who had or will have a direct or indirect
material interest, other than equity and other compensation,
termination, change in control and other similar arrangements,
which are described under “Executive Compensation.”
Biodyne
On
April 26, 2018, the Company and Biodyne agreed to convert the
remaining aggregate principal and accrued interests of the loan
into shares of our common stock at a conversion price of $4.30 per
share. We issued to Biodyne 120,405 shares of common stock for the
conversion of the loan which carried $499,000 in aggregate
principal and approximately $18,742 in accrued
interests.
As of
December 31, 2019, Biodyne owned 3,837,043 shares of our common
stock, representing an ownership interest of approximately 21.0%.
Yury Zhivilo, who resigned as chairman of our board of directors on
May 23, 2019, is the majority shareholder of Biodyne.
Indemnification
of Officers and Directors
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and
restated bylaws provide that we will indemnify each of our
directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL.
Further, we intend to enter into indemnification agreements with
each of our directors and officers, and we intend to purchase a
policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures
our directors and officers against the cost of defense, settlement
or payment of a judgment under certain circumstances. For further
information, see “Executive Compensation—Limitations of Liability
and Indemnification Matters.”
To
the best of our knowledge, during the past two fiscal years, other
than as set forth above, there were no material transactions, or
series of similar transactions, or any currently proposed
transactions, or series of similar transactions, to which we were
or are to be a party, in which the amount involved exceeds the
lesser of (A) $120,000 or (B) one percent of our average total
assets at year end for the last two completed fiscal years, and in
which any director or executive officer, or any security holder who
is known by us to own of record or beneficially more than 5% of any
class of our common stock, or any member of the immediate family of
any of the foregoing persons, has an interest (other than
compensation to our officers and directors in the ordinary course
of business).
Policies
and Procedures for Related Party Transactions
All
future transactions between us and our officers, directors or five
percent stockholders, and respective affiliates will be on terms no
less favorable than could be obtained from unaffiliated third
parties and will be approved by a majority of our independent
directors who do not have an interest in the transactions and who
had access, at our expense, to our legal counsel or independent
legal counsel.
PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS
The
following table sets forth certain information concerning the
ownership of our common stock as of the date of this prospectus
with respect to: (i) each person known to us to be the beneficial
owner of more than five percent of our common stock; (ii) all
directors; (iii) all named executive officers; and (iv) all
directors and executive officers as a group. Beneficial ownership
is determined in accordance with the rules of the SEC that deem
shares to be beneficially owned by any person who has voting or
investment power with respect to such shares. Shares of common
stock subject to options or warrants that are exercisable as of the
date of this prospectus or are exercisable within 60 days of such
date are deemed to be outstanding and to be beneficially owned by
the person holding such options for the purpose of calculating the
percentage ownership of such person but are not treated as
outstanding for the purpose of calculating the percentage ownership
of any other person. Applicable percentage ownership is based on
49,775,443 shares of common stock outstanding as the date of this
prospectus.
|
|
Beneficial Ownership |
|
|
|
|
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner
(1) |
|
Number of
Shares(4) |
|
|
Percentage |
|
Named
Executive Officers and Directors |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Robert
A. Berman (2) |
|
|
1,237,478 |
|
|
|
2.4 |
% |
Marc
Glickman, M.D.(2) |
|
|
383,389 |
|
|
|
|
* |
Francis Duhay, M.D. (2) |
|
|
158,556 |
|
|
|
|
* |
Craig
Glynn(2) |
|
|
13,889 |
|
|
|
|
* |
Dr.
Sanjay Shrivastava (2) |
|
|
149,278 |
|
|
|
|
* |
Robert
Gray(2) |
|
|
146,583 |
|
|
|
|
* |
Matthew Jenusaitis (2) |
|
|
145,833 |
|
|
|
|
* |
All directors and executive
officers as a group (7 persons) |
|
|
2,235,006 |
|
|
|
4.2 |
% |
*
Represents beneficial ownership of less than 1%.
(1) |
Except
as otherwise noted below, the address for each person or entity
listed in the table is c/o Hancock Jaffe Laboratories, Inc., 70
Doppler, Irvine, California 92618. |
|
|
(2) |
Includes
shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options that are
currently exercisable or exercisable within 60 days of November 2,
2020. |
DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES TO BE
REGISTERED
General
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the
issuance of up to 250,000,000 shares of common stock, par value
$0.00001 per share, and 10,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred
stock, par value $0.00001 per share. As of the date of this
prospectus, we had 49,775,443 shares of common stock issued and
outstanding and 4,205,406 shares of common stock issuable upon
exercise of listed warrants issued and outstanding.
Common
Stock
Under
the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation,
holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share
held on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders, including
the election of directors, and do not have cumulative voting
rights. The holders of outstanding shares of common stock are
entitled to receive dividends out of assets or funds legally
available for the payment of dividends of such times and in such
amounts as our board of directors from time to time may determine.
Our common stock is not entitled to pre-emptive rights and is not
subject to conversion or redemption. Upon liquidation, dissolution
or winding up of our company, the assets legally available for
distribution to stockholders are distributable ratably among the
holders of our common stock after payment of liquidation
preferences, if any, on any outstanding payment of other claims of
creditors. The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of
common stock are subject to and may be adversely affected by the
rights of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock
that we may designate and issue in the future.
Delaware
Anti-Takeover Law and Provisions of Our Amended and Restated
Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated
Bylaws
Some
provisions of Delaware law, our amended and restated certificate of
incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws contain
provisions that could make the following transactions more
difficult: an acquisition of us by means of a tender offer; an
acquisition of us by means of a proxy contest or otherwise; or the
removal of our incumbent officers and directors. It is possible
that these provisions could make it more difficult to accomplish or
could deter transactions that stockholders may otherwise consider
to be in their best interest or in our best interests, including
transactions which provide for payment of a premium over the market
price for our shares.
These
provisions, summarized below, are intended to discourage coercive
takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids. These provisions
are also designed to encourage persons seeking to acquire control
of us to first negotiate with our board of directors. We believe
that the benefits of the increased protection of our potential
ability to negotiate with the proponent of an unfriendly or
unsolicited proposal to acquire or restructure us outweigh the
disadvantages of discouraging these proposals because negotiation
of these proposals could result in an improvement of their
terms.
Delaware
Anti-Takeover Law
We
are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL. Section 203 generally
prohibits a publicly traded corporation from engaging in a
“business combination” with an “interested stockholder” for a
period of three years after the date of the transaction in which
the person became an interested stockholder, unless:
|
● |
prior
to the date of the transaction, the board of directors of the
corporation approved either the business combination or the
transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an
interested stockholder; |
|
● |
upon
consummation of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder
becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder
owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation
outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding
specified shares; or |
|
● |
at or
subsequent to the date of the transaction, the business combination
is approved by the board of directors and authorized at an annual
or special meeting of stockholders, and not by written consent, by
the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3 % of the outstanding voting
stock which is not owned by the interested stockholder. |
Section
203 defines a “business combination” to include:
|
● |
any
merger or consolidation involving the corporation and the
interested stockholder; |
|
● |
any
sale, lease, exchange, mortgage, pledge, transfer or other
disposition of 10% or more of the assets of the corporation to or
with the interested stockholder; |
|
● |
subject
to exceptions, any transaction that results in the issuance or
transfer by the corporation of any stock of the corporation to the
interested stockholder; |
|
● |
subject
to exceptions, any transaction involving the corporation that has
the effect of increasing the proportionate share of the stock of
any class or series of the corporation beneficially owned by the
interested stockholder; or |
|
● |
the
receipt by the interested stockholder of the benefit of any loans,
advances, guarantees, pledges or other financial benefits provided
by or through the corporation. |
In
general, Section 203 defines an “interested stockholder” as any
person that is:
|
● |
the
owner of 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the
corporation; |
|
● |
an
affiliate or associate of the corporation who was the owner of 15%
or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation at any
time within three years immediately prior to the relevant date;
or |
|
● |
the
affiliates and associates of the above. |
Under
specific circumstances, Section 203 makes it more difficult for an
“interested stockholder” to effect various business combinations
with a corporation for a three-year period, although the
stockholders may, by adopting an amendment to the corporation’s
certificate of incorporation or bylaws, elect not to be governed by
this section, effective 12 months after adoption.
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and
restated bylaws do not exclude us from the restrictions of Section
203. We anticipate that the provisions of Section 203 might
encourage companies interested in acquiring us to negotiate in
advance with our board of directors since the stockholder approval
requirement would be avoided if a majority of the directors then in
office approve either the business combination or the transaction
that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested
stockholder.
Undesignated
Preferred Stock
The
ability of our board of directors, without action by the
stockholders, to issue up to 10,000,000 shares of undesignated
preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences as
designated by our board of directors could impede the success of
any attempt to change control of us. These and other provisions may
have the effect of deferring hostile takeovers or delaying changes
in control or management of our company.
Stockholder
Meetings
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and
restated bylaws provide that a special meeting of stockholders may
be called only by our chairman of the board, chief executive
officer or president, or by a resolution adopted by a majority of
our board of directors.
Requirements
for Advance Notification of Stockholder Nominations and
Proposals
Our
amended and restated bylaws establish advance notice procedures
with respect to stockholder proposals to be brought before a
stockholder meeting and the nomination of candidates for election
as directors, other than nominations made by or at the direction of
the board of directors or a committee of the board of
directors.
Elimination
of Stockholder Action by Written Consent
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and
restated bylaws eliminate the right of stockholders to act by
written consent without a meeting.
Removal
of Directors
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that no
member of our board of directors may be removed from office by our
stockholders except for cause and, in addition to any other vote
required by law, upon the approval of not less than two-thirds of
the total voting power of all of our outstanding voting stock then
entitled to vote in the election of directors.
Stockholders
Not Entitled to Cumulative Voting
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not permit
stockholders to cumulate their votes in the election of directors.
Accordingly, the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of
our common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors can
elect all of the directors standing for election, if they choose,
other than any directors that holders of our preferred stock may be
entitled to elect.
Choice
of Forum
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the
Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive
forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our
behalf; any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty; any action
asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the DGCL, our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended
and restated bylaws; any action to interpret, apply, enforce, or
determine the validity of our amended and restated certificate of
incorporation or amended and bylaws; or any action asserting a
claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine.
The enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other
companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in
legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find these
types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable.
Amendment
Provisions
The
amendment of any of the above provisions, except for the provision
making it possible for our board of directors to issue preferred
stock, would require approval by holders of at least a majority of
the total voting power of all of our outstanding voting
stock.
The
provisions of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of
incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws could have the
effect of discouraging others from attempting hostile takeovers
and, as a consequence, they may also inhibit temporary fluctuations
in the market price of our common stock that often result from
actual or rumored hostile takeover attempts. These provisions may
also have the effect of preventing changes in the composition of
our board and management. It is possible that these provisions
could make it more difficult to accomplish transactions that
stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best
interests.
Elimination
of Monetary Liability for Officers and Directors
Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation incorporates
certain provisions permitted under the DGCL relating to the
liability of directors. The provisions eliminate a director’s
liability for monetary damages for a breach of fiduciary duty. Our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation also contains
provisions to indemnify the directors and officers to the fullest
extent permitted by the DGCL. We believe that these provisions will
assist us in attracting and retaining qualified individual to serve
as directors.
Exchange
Listing
Our
common stock is listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol “HJLI”.
Certain of our warrants are listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol
“HJLIW.”
Transfer
Agent and Registrar
The
transfer agent and registrar for our common stock and warrants is
VStock Transfer, LLC. The transfer agent and registrar’s address is
18 Lafayette Pl, Woodmere, New York 11598.
SELLING STOCKHOLDERS
The
shares of common stock being registered for resale hereby consist
of shares that have been issued or are issuable upon exercise of
outstanding warrants that were issued to the selling stockholders
in a past private placement of the Company. We are registering the
shares of common stock in order to permit the selling stockholders
to offer the shares for resale from time to time. Except as set
forth in this prospectus and except for certain ownership of our
securities, the selling stockholders have not had any material
relationship with us within the past three years.
The
table below lists the selling stockholders and other information
regarding the ownership of the shares of common stock (including
shares of common stock issuable upon conversion or exercise of
outstanding securities registered hereunder) by the selling
stockholders. The second column lists the number of shares of
common stock (including shares of common stock issuable upon
conversion or exercise of outstanding securities registered
hereunder) owned by the selling stockholders prior to this
offering. The third column lists the shares of common stock
(including shares of common stock issuable upon conversion or
exercise of outstanding securities registered hereunder) being
offered by this prospectus by the selling stockholders. The fourth
and fifth columns list the number and percentage, respectively, of
shares of common stock owned by the selling stockholders after the
closing of the offering, based on their ownership as of the date of
this prospectus, based on 49,775,443 shares of common stock
outstanding, and assuming the sale of all of the shares offered by
the selling stockholders pursuant to this prospectus.
Name of Selling Stockholder |
|
Number of Shares Owned Prior to Offering(1) |
|
|
Maximum Number of Shares to be Sold Pursuant to this Prospectus
(1) |
|
|
Number of Shares Owned After Offering(2) |
|
|
Percentage of Shares Owned After Offering(2) |
|
Anson
Investments Master Fund LP (3) |
|
|
3,084,112 |
|
|
|
3,084,112 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
Empery Asset Master,
LTD (4) |
|
|
1,644,271 |
|
|
|
1,519,182 |
|
|
|
125,089 |
|
|
|
* |
|
Empery Tax Efficient
III, LP (5) |
|
|
1,135,943 |
|
|
|
1,049,527 |
|
|
|
86,416 |
|
|
|
* |
|
Empery Tax Efficient,
LP (6) |
|
|
557,837 |
|
|
|
515,403 |
|
|
|
42,434 |
|
|
|
* |
|
Intracoastal Capital,
LLC (7) |
|
|
3,084,112 |
|
|
|
3,084,112 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
Warberg WF VII LP
(8) |
|
|
168,223 |
|
|
|
168,223 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
Warberg WF VIII LP
(9) |
|
|
421,875 |
|
|
|
112,150 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
*
Less than 1%.
(1) |
The
number of shares is based upon the number of shares of common stock
(including shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of
outstanding warrants registered hereby) held by each selling
stockholder on the books and records of the company and its
transfer agent. This column does not include any other securities
that a selling stockholder may hold, including any other warrants
that such selling stockholder may hold, that are not applicable to
this registration statement. |
|
|
(2) |
The
“Number of Shares Owned After Offering” assumes the sale of all of
the shares offered by the Selling Stockholders pursuant to this
Selling Stockholder Prospectus. The “Percentage of Shares Owned
After Offering” are based on 49,775,443 shares of our common stock
outstanding and assumes for each Selling Stockholder that all
shares registered for such Selling Stockholder herein are issued to
the Selling Stockholders and sold and assuming the exercise of all
warrants, held by the applicable Selling Stockholders. This
column does not include any other securities that a selling
stockholder may hold, including any other warrants that such
selling stockholder may hold, that are not applicable to this
registration statement. |
|
|
(3) |
Anson
Advisors Inc. and Anson Funds Management LP, the Co-Investment
Advisers of Anson Investments Master Fund LP (“Anson”), hold voting
and dispositive power over the Common Shares held by Anson. Bruce
Winson is the managing member of Anson Management GP LLC, which is
the general partner of Anson Funds Management LP. Moez Kassam and
Amin Nathoo are directors of Anson Advisors Inc. Mr. Winson, Mr.
Kassam and Mr. Nathoo each disclaim beneficial ownership of these
Common Shares except to the extent of their pecuniary interest
therein. The principal business address of Anson is Walkers
Corporate Limited, Cayman Corporate Centre, 27 Hospital Road,
George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-9008, Cayman Islands. |
(4) |
Empery Asset Management LP, the authorized agent
of Empery Asset Master Ltd (“EAM”), has discretionary authority to
vote and dispose of the shares held by EAM and may be deemed to be
the beneficial owner of these shares. Martin Hoe and Ryan Lane, in
their capacity as investment managers of Empery Asset Management
LP, may also be deemed to have investment discretion and voting
power over the shares held by EAM. EAM, Mr. Hoe and Mr. Lane each
disclaim any beneficial ownership of these shares. |
|
|
(5) |
Empery Asset Management LP, the authorized agent
of Empery Tax Efficient III, LP (“ETE III”), has discretionary
authority to vote and dispose of the shares held by ETE III and may
be deemed to be the beneficial owner of these shares. Martin Hoe
and Ryan Lane, in their capacity as investment managers of Empery
Asset Management LP, may also be deemed to have investment
discretion and voting power over the shares held by ETE III. ETE
III, Mr. Hoe and Mr. Lane each disclaim any beneficial ownership of
these shares. |
|
|
(6) |
Empery Asset Management LP, the authorized agent
of Empery Tax Efficient, LP (“ETE”), has discretionary authority to
vote and dispose of the shares held by ETE and may be deemed to be
the beneficial owner of these shares. Martin Hoe and Ryan Lane, in
their capacity as investment managers of Empery Asset Management
LP, may also be deemed to have investment discretion and voting
power over the shares held by ETE. ETE, Mr. Hoe and Mr. Lane each
disclaim any beneficial ownership of these shares. |
|
|
(7)
|
Mitchell P. Kopin (“Mr. Kopin”) and Daniel B.
Asher (“Mr. Asher”), each of whom are managers of Intracoastal
Capital LLC (“Intracoastal”), have shared voting control and
investment discretion over the securities reported herein that are
held by Intracoastal. As a result, each of Mr. Kopin and Mr. Asher
may be deemed to have beneficial ownership (as determined under
Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
(the “Exchange Act”)) of the securities reported herein that are
held by Intracoastal. |
|
|
(8) |
Daniel Warsh is the Manager of Warberg WF VII LP
and has the voting and investment control over the securities held
by Warberg WF VII LP. |
|
|
(9) |
Daniel Warsh is the Manager of Warberg WF VIII LP
and has the voting and investment control over the securities held
by Warberg WF VIII LP. |
PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION
We
are registering the shares of common stock to permit the resale of
these shares of common stock (including shares of common stock
issuable upon conversion or exercise of outstanding securities) by
the holders thereof (and such holders’ successors and assigns) from
time to time after the date of this prospectus. We will not receive
any of the proceeds from the sale by the selling stockholders of
the shares of common stock. We will bear all fees and expenses
incident to our obligation to register the shares of common
stock.
The
selling stockholders may sell all or a portion of the shares of
common stock owned by them and offered hereby from time to time
directly or through one or more underwriters, broker-dealers or
agents. If the shares of common stock are sold through underwriters
or broker-dealers, the selling stockholders will be responsible for
underwriting discounts or commissions or agent’s commissions. The
shares of common stock may be sold in one or more transactions at
fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the time of the sale,
at varying prices determined at the time of sale, or at negotiated
prices. These sales may be effected in transactions, which may
involve crosses or block transactions,
|
● |
on
any national securities exchange or quotation service on which the
securities may be listed or quoted at the time of sale; |
|
|
|
|
● |
in
the over-the-counter market; |
|
|
|
|
● |
in
transactions otherwise than on these exchanges or systems or in the
over-the-counter market; |
|
|
|
|
● |
through
the writing of options, whether such options are listed on an
options exchange or otherwise; |
|
|
|
|
● |
ordinary
brokerage transactions and transactions in which the broker-dealer
solicits purchasers; |
|
|
|
|
● |
block
trades in which the broker-dealer will attempt to sell the shares
as agent but may position and resell a portion of the block as
principal to facilitate the transaction; |
|
|
|
|
● |
purchases
by a broker-dealer as principal and resale by the broker-dealer for
its account; |
|
|
|
|
● |
an
exchange distribution in accordance with the rules of the
applicable exchange; |
|
|
|
|
● |
privately
negotiated transactions; |
|
|
|
|
● |
short
sales; |
|
|
|
|
● |
sales
pursuant to Rule 144; |
|
|
|
|
● |
broker-dealers
may agree with the selling securityholders to sell a specified
number of such shares at a stipulated price per share; |
|
|
|
|
● |
a
combination of any such methods of sale; and |
|
|
|
|
● |
any
other method permitted pursuant to applicable law. |
If
the selling stockholders effect such transactions by selling shares
of common stock to or through underwriters, broker-dealers or
agents, such underwriters, broker-dealers or agents may receive
commissions in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions
from the selling stockholders or commissions from purchasers of the
shares of common stock for whom they may act as agent or to whom
they may sell as principal (which discounts, concessions or
commissions as to particular underwriters, broker-dealers or agents
may be in excess of those customary in the types of transactions
involved). In connection with sales of the shares of common stock
or otherwise, the selling stockholders may enter into hedging
transactions with broker-dealers, which may in turn engage in short
sales of the shares of common stock in the course of hedging in
positions they assume. The selling stockholders may also sell
shares of common stock short and deliver shares of common stock
covered by this prospectus to close out short positions and to
return borrowed shares in connection with such short sales. The
selling stockholders may also loan or pledge shares of common stock
to broker-dealers that in turn may sell such shares.
The
selling stockholders may pledge or grant a security interest in
some or all of the shares of common stock owned by them and, if
they default in the performance of their secured obligations, the
pledgees or secured parties may offer and sell the shares of common
stock from time to time pursuant to this prospectus or any
amendment to this prospectus under Rule 424(b)(3) or other
applicable provision of the Securities Act, amending, if necessary,
the list of selling stockholders to include the pledgee, transferee
or other successors in interest as selling stockholders under this
prospectus. The selling stockholders also may transfer and donate
the shares of common stock in other circumstances in which case the
transferees, donees, pledgees or other successors in interest will
be the selling owners for purposes of this prospectus.
The
selling stockholders and any broker-dealer participating in the
distribution of the shares of common stock may be deemed to be
“underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and any
commission paid, or any discounts or concessions allowed to, any
such broker-dealer may be deemed to be underwriting commissions or
discounts under the Securities Act. At the time a particular
offering of the shares of common stock is made, a prospectus
supplement, if required, will be distributed which will set forth
the aggregate amount of shares of common stock being offered and
the terms of the offering, including the name or names of any
broker-dealers or agents, any discounts, commissions and other
terms constituting compensation from the selling stockholders and
any discounts, commissions or concessions allowed or reallowed or
paid to broker-dealers.
Under
the securities laws of some states, the shares of common stock may
be sold in such states only through registered or licensed brokers
or dealers. In addition, in some states the shares of common stock
may not be sold unless such shares have been registered or
qualified for sale in such state or an exemption from registration
or qualification is available and is complied with.
There
can be no assurance that any selling stockholder will sell any or
all of the shares of common stock registered pursuant to the
registration statement, of which this prospectus forms a
part.
The
selling stockholders and any other person participating in such
distribution will be subject to applicable provisions of the
Exchange Act and the rules and regulations thereunder, including,
without limitation, Regulation M of the Exchange Act, which may
limit the timing of purchases and sales of any of the shares of
common stock by the selling stockholders and any other
participating person. Regulation M may also restrict the ability of
any person engaged in the distribution of the shares of common
stock to engage in market-making activities with respect to the
shares of common stock. All of the foregoing may affect the
marketability of the shares of common stock and the ability of any
person or entity to engage in market-making activities with respect
to the shares of common stock.
Once
sold under the registration statement, of which this prospectus
forms a part, the shares of common stock will be freely tradable in
the hands of persons other than our affiliates.
LEGAL MATTERS
Certain
legal matters with respect to the shares of common stock offered
hereby will be passed upon by Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP,
New York, New York.
EXPERTS
The
financial statements of Hancock Jaffe Laboratories, Inc. as of
December 31, 2019 and 2018 and for each of the years ended December
31, 2019 and 2018 have been audited by Marcum LLP, an independent
registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report
appearing herein. Such financial statements are included in this
prospectus and registration statement in reliance upon the report
(which report includes an explanatory paragraph relating to our
ability to continue as a going concern) of Marcum LLP, appearing
elsewhere herein, and upon the authority of such firm as experts in
accounting and auditing.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE
INFORMATION
We
have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-1 under
the Securities Act with respect to the shares of our common stock
offered by this prospectus. This prospectus, which constitutes a
part of the registration statement, does not contain all of the
information set forth in the registration statement, some of which
is contained in exhibits to the registration statement as permitted
by the rules and regulations of the SEC. For further information
with respect to us and our common stock, we refer you to the
registration statement, including the exhibits filed as a part of
the registration statement. Statements contained in this prospectus
concerning the contents of any contract or any other document is
not necessarily complete. If a contract or document has been filed
as an exhibit to the registration statement, please see the copy of
the contract or document that has been filed. Each statement is
this prospectus relating to a contract or document filed as an
exhibit is qualified in all respects by the filed exhibit. The SEC
maintains an Internet website that contains reports, proxy
statements and other information about issuers, like us, that file
electronically with the SEC. The address of that website is
www.sec.gov.
HANCOCK
JAFFE LABORATORIES, INC.
INDEX TO FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED
PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To
the Shareholders and Board of Directors of
Hancock
Jaffe Laboratories, Inc.
Opinion
on the Financial Statements
We
have audited the accompanying balance sheets of Hancock Jaffe
Laboratories (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the
related statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ equity
(deficiency) and cash flows for each of the two years in the period
ended December 31, 2019, and the related notes (collectively
referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the
financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the
financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2019 and 2018,
and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of
the two years in the period ended December 31, 2019, in conformity
with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States
of America.
Explanatory
Paragraph – Going Concern
The
accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that
the Company will continue as a going concern. As more fully
described in Note 2, the Company has a significant working capital
deficiency, has incurred significant losses and needs to raise
additional funds to meet its obligations and sustain its
operations. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the
Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s
plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 2. The
financial statements do not include any adjustments that might
result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Basis
for Opinion
These
financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s
management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the
Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public
accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting
Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be
independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S.
federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of
the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We
conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB.
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to
obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements
are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.
The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to
perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting.
As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of
internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose
of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s
internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express
no such opinion.
Our
audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of
material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to
error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those
risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis,
evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting
principles used and significant estimates made by management, as
well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial
statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis
for our opinion.
/s/
Marcum LLP |
|
Marcum
LLP |
|
|
|
We
have served as the Company’s auditor since 2015. |
|
|
|
New
York, NY |
|
March
18, 2020 |
|
HANCOCK JAFFE LABORATORIES,
INC.
BALANCE
SHEETS
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2019 |
|
|
2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Assets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current
Assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash
and cash equivalents |
|
$ |
1,307,231 |
|
|
$ |
2,740,645 |
|
Accounts
receivable |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
32,022 |
|
Prepaid expenses and other current assets |
|
|
116,647 |
|
|
|
64,306 |
|
Total Current
Assets |
|
|
1,423,878 |
|
|
|
2,836,973 |
|
Property and
equipment, net |
|
|
344,027 |
|
|
|
26,153 |
|
Restricted
cash |
|
|
810,055 |
|
|
|
- |
|
Operating lease
right-of-use assets, net |
|
|
826,397 |
|
|
|
- |
|
Intangible assets,
net |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
666,467 |
|
Security deposits and other assets |
|
|
29,843 |
|
|
|
29,843 |
|
Total
Assets |
|
$ |
3,434,200 |
|
|
$ |
3,559,436 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Liabilities and
Stockholders’ Equity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current
Liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accounts
payable |
|
$ |
1,221,189 |
|
|
$ |
1,077,122 |
|
Accrued expenses
and other current liabilities |
|
|
333,438 |
|
|
|
412,871 |
|
Deferred revenue -
related party |
|
|
33,000 |
|
|
|
33,000 |
|
Current portion of operating lease liabilities |
|
|
288,685 |
|
|
|
- |
|
Total Current
Liabilities |
|
|
1,876,312 |
|
|
|
1,522,993 |
|
Long-term operating lease liabilities |
|
|
567,948 |
|
|
|
- |
|
Total
Liabilities |
|
|
2,444,260 |
|
|
|
1,522,993 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Commitments and
Contingencies (Note 9) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stockholders’
Equity: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Preferred stock, par value $0.00001, 10,000,000 shares authorized:
no shares issued or outstanding |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
Common
stock, par value $0.00001, 50,000,000 shares authorized, 17,931,857
and 11,722,647 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31,
2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively |
|
|
179 |
|
|
|
117 |
|
Additional paid-in
capital |
|
|
57,177,686 |
|
|
|
50,598,854 |
|
Accumulated deficit |
|
|
(56,187,925 |
) |
|
|
(48,562,528 |
) |
Total
Stockholders’ Equity |
|
|
989,940 |
|
|
|
2,036,443 |
|
Total
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity |
|
$ |
3,434,200 |
|
|
$ |
3,559,436 |
|
The
accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial
statements.
HANCOCK JAFFE LABORATORIES,
INC.
STATEMENTS
OF OPERATIONS
|
|
For
the Years Ended |
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2019 |
|
|
2018 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenues: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Royalty income |
|
$ |
31,243 |
|
|
$ |
116,152 |
|
Contract research - related party |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
70,400 |
|
Total
Revenues |
|
|
31,243 |
|
|
|
186,552 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Selling, general and administrative
expenses |
|
|
4,911,613 |
|
|
|
6,482,953 |
|
Research and development expenses |
|
|
2,206,120 |
|
|
|
1,238,749 |
|
Loss on
impairment of intangible asset |
|
|
588,822 |
|
|
|
319,635 |
|
Loss
from Operations |
|
|
(7,675,312 |
) |
|
|
(7,854,785 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other (Income)
Expense: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amortization of
debt discount |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
6,562,736 |
|
Gain on
extinguishment of convertible notes payable |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(1,481,317 |
) |
Interest (income)
expense, net |
|
|
(49,915 |
) |
|
|
298,161 |
|
Change in fair value of derivative liabilities |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(191,656 |
) |
Total Other (Income) Expense |
|
|
(49,915 |
) |
|
|
5,187,924 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net Loss |
|
|
(7,625,397 |
) |
|
|
(13,042,709 |
) |
Deemed dividend to preferred stockholders |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(3,310,001 |
) |
Net
Loss Attributable to Common Stockholders |
|
$ |
(7,625,397 |
) |
|
$ |
(16,352,710 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
Loss Per Basic and Diluted Common Share: |
|
$ |
(0.48 |
) |
|
$ |
(1.75 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted Average Number of Common
Shares Outstanding: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic
and Diluted |
|
|
15,760,444 |
|
|
|
9,362,474 |
|
The
accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial
statements.
HANCOCK JAFFE LABORATORIES,
INC.
STATEMENTS
OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Additional |
|
|
|
|
|
Stockholders’ |
|
|
|
Common Stock |
|
|
Paid-in |
|
|
Accumulated |
|
|
Equity |
|
|
|
Shares |
|
|
Amount |
|
|
Capital |
|
|
Deficit |
|
|
(Deficiency) |
|
Balance at January 1, 2018 |
|
|
6,133,678 |
|
|
|
61 |
|
|
|
24,389,307 |
|
|
|
(35,519,819 |
) |
|
|
(11,130,451 |
) |
Common
stock issued in initial public offering [1] |
|
|
1,725,000 |
|
|
|
17 |
|
|
|
6,082,427 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
6,082,444 |
|
Derivative liabilities reclassified to equity |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
3,594,002 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
3,594,002 |
|
Redeemable convertible preferred stock converted to common
stock |
|
|
1,743,231 |
|
|
|
18 |
|
|
|
5,170,737 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
5,170,755 |
|
Common
stock issued in connection with May Bridge Notes |
|
|
55,000 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
228,965 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
228,966 |
|
Common
stock issued in satisfaction of Advisory Board fees payable |
|
|
30,000 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
90,000 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
90,000 |
|
Common
stock issued upon conversion of convertible debt and interest |
|
|
1,650,537 |
|
|
|
17 |
|
|
|
8,252,669 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
8,252,686 |
|
Common
stock issued upon conversion of related party convertible debt and
interest |
|
|
120,405 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
517,741 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
517,742 |
|
Common
stock issued upon exchange of related party notes payable and
interest |
|
|
35,012 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
150,553 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
150,553 |
|
Common
stock issued in satisfaction of deferred salary |
|
|
44,444 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
200,000 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
200,000 |
|
Stock-based
compensation: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amortization of
stock options |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
864,625 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
864,625 |
|
Common stock
issued to consultants |
|
|
185,340 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
878,828 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
878,830 |
|
Warrants granted
to consultants |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
179,000 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
179,000 |
|
Net
loss |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(13,042,709 |
) |
|
|
(13,042,709 |
) |
Balance at December 31, 2018 |
|
|
11,722,647 |
|
|
$ |
117 |
|
|
$ |
50,598,854 |
|
|
$ |
(48,562,528 |
) |
|
$ |
2,036,443 |
|
[1]
net of offering costs of $2,542,555.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Additional |
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
|
Common Stock |
|
|
Paid-in |
|
|
Accumulated |
|
|
Stockholders |
|
|
|
Shares |
|
|
Amount |
|
|
Capital |
|
|
Deficit |
|
|
Equity |
|
Balance at January 1, 2019 |
|
|
11,722,647 |
|
|
$ |
117 |
|
|
$ |
50,598,854 |
|
|
$ |
(48,562,528 |
) |
|
$ |
2,036,443 |
|
Common
stock issued in private
placement offering [2] |
|
|
2,347,997 |
|
|
|
24 |
|
|
|
2,317,252 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
2,317,276 |
|
Common
stock issued in public
offering [3] |
|
|
3,615,622 |
|
|
|
36 |
|
|
|
3,319,620 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
3,319,656 |
|
Stock-based
compensation: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amortization
of stock options and restricted stock units
[4] |
|
|
9,728 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
492,084 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
492,084 |
|
Common
stock issued to consultants/settlement, net
[5] |
|
|
235,863 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
419,377 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
419,379 |
|
Warrants
granted to consultants/settlement |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
30,499 |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
30,499 |
|
Net
loss |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(7,625,397 |
) |
|
|
(7,625,397 |
) |
Balance at December 31, 2019 |
|
|
17,931,857 |
|
|
$ |
179 |
|
|
$ |
57,177,686 |
|
|
$ |
(56,187,925 |
) |
|
$ |
989,940 |
|
[2]
net of offering costs of $386,724.
[3]
net of offering costs of $549,060.
[4]
stock issued for vested restricted stock units.
[5]
net of forfeiture of 6,137 shares.
The
accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial
statements.
HANCOCK JAFFE LABORATORIES,
INC.
STATEMENTS
OF CASH FLOWS
|
|
For
the Years Ended |
|
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2019 |
|
|
2018 |
|
Cash Flows from
Operating Activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
loss |
|
$ |
(7,625,397 |
) |
|
$ |
(13,042,709 |
) |
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating
activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amortization of
debt discount |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
6,562,736 |
|
Gain on
extinguishment of convertible notes payable |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(1,481,317 |
) |
Stock-based
compensation |
|
|
941,962 |
|
|
|
1,922,455 |
|
Depreciation and
amortization |
|
|
123,660 |
|
|
|
133,419 |
|
Amortization of
right-of-use assets |
|
|
273,005 |
|
|
|
- |
|
Change in fair
value of derivatives |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(191,656 |
) |
Loss on
impairment |
|
|
588,822 |
|
|
|
319,635 |
|
Changes in
operating assets and liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accounts
receivable |
|
|
32,022 |
|
|
|
3,159 |
|
Prepaid expenses
and other current assets |
|
|
(52,341 |
) |
|
|
(6,762 |
) |
Security deposit
and other assets |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
700 |
|
Accounts
payable |
|
|
144,067 |
|
|
|
(294,122 |
) |
Accrued
expenses |
|
|
(56,960 |
) |
|
|
(210,976 |
) |
Deferred
revenues |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(70,400 |
) |
Payments on lease liabilities |
|
|
(265,240 |
) |
|
|
- |
|
Total
adjustments |
|
|
1,728,997 |
|
|
|
6,686,871 |
|
Net
Cash Used in Operating Activities |
|
|
(5,896,400 |
) |
|
|
(6,355,838 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash Flows from
Investing Activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Purchase of property and equipment |
|
|
(363,891 |
) |
|
|
(12,422 |
) |
Net
Cash Used in Investing Activities |
|
|
(363,891 |
) |
|
|
(12,422 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash Flows from
Financing Activities |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proceeds
from private placement, net [1] |
|
|
2,317,276 |
|
|
|
- |
|
Proceeds
from public offering, net [2] |
|
|
3,319,656 |
|
|
|
- |
|
Proceeds
from initial public offering, net [3] |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
7,657,427 |
|
Initial public
offering costs paid in cash |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(706,596 |
) |
Repayments of
notes payable |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(1,125,000 |
) |
Repayments of
notes payable - related party |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
(120,864 |
) |
Proceeds from
issuance of notes payable, net |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
722,500 |
|
Proceeds
from issuance of convertible notes, net [4] |
|
|
- |
|
|
|
2,603,750 |
|
Net
Cash Provided by Financing Activities |
|
|
5,636,932 |
|
|
|
9,031,217 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net Increase
(Decrease) in Cash, Cash Equivalent, and Restricted Cash |
|
|
(623,359 |
) |
|
|
2,662,957 |
|
Cash, cash
equivalents and restricted cash - Beginning of period |
|
|
2,740,645 |
|
|
|
77,688 |
|
Cash, cash
equivalents and restricted cash - End of period |
|
$ |
2,117,286 |
|
|
$ |
2,740,645 |
|
[1]
Net of cash offering costs of $386,724.
[2]
Net of cash offering costs of $549,060.
[3]
Net of cash offering costs of $967,573.
[4]
Net of cash offering costs of $293,750.
The
accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial
statements.
HANCOCK
JAFFE LABORATORIES, INC.
STATEMENTS
OF CASH FLOWS - continued
|
|
Year
Ended |
|
|
|
December
31, |
|
|
|
2019 |
|
|
2018 |
|
Supplemental
Disclosures of Cash Flow Information: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash
Paid During the Period For: |
|
|
|
|