Item 1. Business
Overview
We are a medical technology company primarily focusing on developing and commercializing higher resolution ambulatory Electrocardiogram (“ECG”) solutions that enable the detection and monitoring of cardiac disease both inside and outside a healthcare facility setting. Our ability to develop higher resolution ECG solutions is achieved through the development of our proprietary and patented Vector Electrocardiography (“VECG”) technology platform. Our VECG is capable of developing three-dimensional (“3D”) vector images of cardiac electrical activity by displaying the spatial locations of ECG waveforms that demonstrated in early studies to deliver equal or superior diagnostic capability than traditional hospital-based ECG systems.
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Our aim is to deliver innovative, ambulatory cardiac health monitoring technologies that can be used for patients anywhere, especially where critical cardiac care decisions need to be made on a more timely basis. Our products (hereinafter “Product” or “Products”) require Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) clearance and have not been cleared for marketing.
We believe our Products and services will benefit many stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, and healthcare payors. We are developing our telehealth Product (“HeartBeam AIMIGoTM”), to address the rapidly growing telehealth market. HeartBeam AIMIGo is comprised of a credit card sized electrocardiogram device and powerful cloud-based diagnostic expert software systems. We intend to show that our easy to use device (without external electrodes) provides signals equivalent to a standard 12L device, and therefore will have a number of applications for ambulatory use. We believe that we are uniquely positioned to play a central role in cardiac remote monitoring including high-risk coronary artery disease patients, because the initial studies have shown that our ischemia detection system may be more accurate than existing ambulatory monitoring solutions. Coronary artery disease (“CAD”) patients are at increased risk for a heart attack or Myocardial Infarction (“MI”).
HeartBeam AIMIGo device in planar and ready position
We are also applying our software platform to create a tool for detecting heart attacks in the Emergency Department (“ED”) environment using standard 12-lead ECG recordings. The software tool, (“HeartBeam AIMITM”) is designed to enable emergency physicians diagnose heart attacks more accurately and quickly than currently available tools. Market clearance of this Product is planned to precede HeartBeam AIMIGo.
To date, we have developed working prototypes for both HeartBeam AIMIGo and HeartBeam AIMI. HeartBeam AIMI has been submitted for FDA 510(k) clearance and we have received questions from the FDA within the statutory 30-day review deadline, discussed the questions via teleconference with the FDA review team and provided written responses addressing the questions to the primary reviewer.
The custom software and hardware of our Products, we believe, are classified as Class II medical devices by the FDA, running on an FDA approved Class I registered software platform. Class II medical devices are those for which general controls alone are insufficient to provide reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness and there is sufficient information to establish special controls. Special controls can include performance standards, post-market surveillance, patient histories and FDA guidance documents. Premarket review and clearance by the FDA for these devices is generally accomplished through the 510(k) or 510(k) de-novo premarket notification process.
HeartBeam has nine issued U.S. patents (U.S. 10,433,744, U.S. 10,117,592, U.S. 11,071,490, U.S. 11,419,538, U.S. 11,445,963, U.S. 11,529,085, U.S. 10,980,433, U.S. 11,412,972 and U.S. 11,234,658), and six pending U.S. applications. Four of the pending applications have been published, the remaining two pending cases are unpublished. Outside of the U.S., HeartBeam has four issued patents in Germany, France, Netherlands and United Kingdom and seven pending applications in Canada, China, the European Union, Japan and Australia. HeartBeam has three pending PCT applications. The issued patents are predicted to expire between April 11, 2036 and April 21, 2042.
Market Overview
Chronic diseases are the number one burden on the healthcare system, driving up costs each year, and cardiovascular illnesses are one of the top contributors. Regulators, payors, and providers are focused on shifting the diagnosis and management of these conditions to drive better outcomes at lower cost. Connected medical solutions are expanding rapidly and are projected to reach $155 billion by 2026, a compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of 17%. These solutions are
socio-technical models for healthcare management and delivery using technology to provide healthcare services remotely and aim to maximize healthcare resources and provide increased, flexible capabilities for patients to engage with clinicians and better self-manage their care, using readily available consumer-facing technologies to deliver patient care outside the hospital or doctor’s office.
The market for Remote Patient Monitoring (“RPM”) is projected to reach $31.3 billion by 2023. In 2019, 1,800 hospitals in the US were using mobile applications to improve risk management and quality of care. The number in 2020 was likely larger as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic greatly accelerated use and acceptance of telehealth by both patients and healthcare providers.
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cost to the healthcare system and is estimated to be responsible for 1 in every 6 healthcare dollars spent in the US. As cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, early detection, diagnosis, and management of chronic cardiac conditions are necessary to relieve the increasing burden on the healthcare infrastructure. Diagnostic tests such as ECGs are used to detect, diagnose, and track numerous cardiovascular conditions. With advances in mobile communications, diagnostic monitoring of cardiac conditions is increasingly occurring outside the hospital.
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We intend to show that our easy to use device (without external electrodes) provides signals equivalent to a standard 12L device, and therefore will have a number of applications for ambulatory use. Our initial telemedicine technology Product HeartBeam AIMIGo will first address the heart attack detection market as well as the market to monitor CAD patients who are typically at high risk for a heart attack. Additionally, we expect to cater to patients across different risk profiles interested in our cardiac monitoring solutions for different heart conditions. Currently there are no products on the market that are user friendly, easy to carry, and always with the patient to provide physicians and patients with timely and highly accurate information about all heart conditions that could be detected with a 12L ECG, including potential ischemic events. A tool that is always with the patient, that decreases time to intervention, and that decreases the number of unnecessary ED visits by chest pain patients would have a significant effect on saving lives and healthcare dollars. We believe our technology will address this problem and will provide a convenient, cost-effective, integrated telehealth solution, including software and hardware for physicians and their patients. There are approximately 20 million people in the US who are considered at high risk for a heart attack, including 8 million who already have had prior intervention for MI’s and are therefore considered to be at extreme risk.
In the US, mobile cardiac tests are primarily conducted through outsourced Independent Diagnostic Testing Facilities (“IDTFs”) or as part of an RPM/telehealth system. Reimbursement rates vary depending on the use case and generally are based on the value a technology offers to patients and healthcare providers. Actual reimbursed pricing is set by the Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”). Reimbursement rates for private insurers typically provide for similar or higher reimbursement rates when compared to those set by the government for Medicare and Medicaid.
In the ED environment, early and accurate diagnosis of a chest pain patient who is potentially having a heart attack is of immense importance. Guidelines state that every chest pain patient in an ED must receive an ECG within 10 minutes of presentation. The accuracy of these initial ECGs, interpreted by physicians, is only approximately 75%. The need for increased ECG accuracy in detecting a heart attack in the ED is well defined, and an improved solution could result in saved lives and healthcare dollars. A 510(k) for our ED Product, HeartBeam AIMI, was submitted for review on August 15, 2022 to the FDA. We believe this Product will offer an increase in the accuracy of heart attack detection in EDs. There are approximately 5,000 Emergency Departments in the US.
Products and Technology
The foundation of our novel technology is the concept of VECG, a technology that has long been seen as superior to ECGs in detecting MIs but is no longer used clinically because of the difficulty experienced by physicians interpreting the output. We solved the crucial problem of recording three orthogonal (x, y and z) projections of the heart vector with a device that is sized like a credit card. The thickness of our credit card sized ECG signal collection device is about 1/8 inch (4 mm), and it weighs about 1 ounce (28 grams). The core technology consists of a series of patented inventions and associated algorithms. In addition to using VECG to get a more complete 3D characterization of cardiac activity, we use the concept of a baseline. Our MI marker is a differential marker that measures the change in cardiac parameters between an asymptomatic (baseline) recording and the symptomatic recording. It is personalized for every patient as every patient has a unique baseline. Our increase in diagnostic performance in detecting MIs, when compared to a panel of cardiologists, is attributed to a richer cardiac information set offered by VECG and the fact that our MI marker compares the baseline and symptomatic recordings and does that in the 3D space of VECG.
This novel technology has resulted in two key Products to date: a telehealth Product for cardiovascular patients (HeartBeam AIMIGo) and a powerful cloud-based ECG interpretation based on a quantitative comparison of the patients 3D VECG baseline and symptomatic recordings for EDs (HeartBeam AIMI). Our telehealth ECG collection device is the size of a credit card and records cardiac signals with integrated electrodes rather than wires or self-adhesive electrodes. Unlike a standard 12-lead ECG machine that records signals in empirically determined locations on a human body, our approach is focused on recording three projections of the heart vector. The successful recording of the projections of the heart vector enables the synthesis, via a patented method, of a 12-lead signal set and internal algorithmic diagnostic work in the space of 3D heart vectors.
There are obvious ease of use advantages when comparing our handheld device that fits in a wallet and can be instantly self-applied versus the current 12-lead ECG machine that requires a trained professional to apply. In addition, there are diagnostic performance advantages, including, based on our initial study, increased accuracy in diagnosing MIs. The system is used by patients at home or elsewhere, and collected data is sent to a physician to assess whether the patient’s chest pain is truly the result of an MI.
Our telehealth HeartBeam AIMIGo system will be a prescription-only mobile health system intended for individuals with known or suspected heart disease, especially CAD. It helps guide physicians in choosing the best course of action for their patients who experience chest pain outside of a medical facility. HeartBeam AIMIGo will bring a medical grade ECG to patients and will enable them to receive a plan of action from a physician in a timely manner. At the time of onboarding and at regularly scheduled time intervals, patients record a baseline 30 second cardiac reading using our device. When a patient experiences symptoms, such as irregular heartbeats or chest pain, the patient can simply open the smartphone application and press the credit card sized device against the chest to collect signals that can be converted to a synthesized 12-lead ECG. This synthesized 12-lead ECG is sent to the physician overlayed with the patient’s synthesized baseline ECG recording. In addition, the patient provides input on their symptoms that is sent, along with the ECG data, to the cloud for interpretation by a physician. A cloud-based algorithm processes the signals and displays the symptom description and patient history to a physician to analyze and prescribe an action plan. From start to finish, the process takes just a few minutes.
The telehealth HeartBeam AIMIGo system consists of a number of capabilities that will be productized in an incremental fashion. These are:
1.A credit card sized cardiac electrical signal collection device. The device captures cardiac signals that represent x, y and z projections of the heart vector and transmits them via Bluetooth connection to a smartphone. It is always with the patient as it easily fits in a wallet. It is easy to use as all that is required of the patient is that the device be pressed against the chest.
2.A smartphone application that receives the cardiac signals from the HeartBeam signal collection device. The application has several functions: guiding the patient through the signal collection, asking about symptoms, displaying the status of the data collection including real time signal quality check, and notifying the patient of the plan of action as determined by a physician. In addition, the application will contain HIPAA-compliant video conferencing or text capabilities for the healthcare provider to communicate directly with the patient.
3.A cloud-based software system that serves four basic functions: (1) Performing a final check of the ECG signal quality, (2) Synthesizing a 12-lead ECG from the measured (recorded) 3 vector leads, (3) Creating a diagnostic suggestion based on 3D VECG interpretation, risk factors and symptoms and (4) Preparing a summary report for the physician. These software functions will be introduced to the HeartBeam AIMIGo product in a sequential manner. To facilitate a more accurate physician interpretation of the data, the software overlays the patient’s synthesized baseline 12 lead ECG waveform on the synthesized 12 lead ECG waveform from the current event. To ensure high signal quality, the system checks for noise levels in the recorded signals. Those signals that can be effectively filtered are accepted and those that have a noise level above an empirically established threshold are rejected. If a recorded signal is rejected, the user is asked to repeat the recording.
4.A web-based physician portal capable of displaying the following relevant information for the physician to analyze: diagnostic suggestion, patient history, symptoms, baseline and current, synthesized 12-lead ECG, and recorded 3 vector leads. Our physician portal assists physicians with their diagnostic interpretation by providing both the baseline 12-lead synthesized ECG and the 12-lead synthesized ECG that is under evaluation.
5.A dedicated ECG monitoring and reading team of medical professionals to offer 24/7/365 services in order to assist symptomatic patients when making a decision of whether they should go to the Emergency Department. This capability will be developed in-house or outsourced through a contracted third-party organization.
The market release of our telehealth Product will be in multiple versions.
The initial Product will have a limited feature set and introduce a 3-lead 3D VECG credit card-sized device, the HeartBeam AIMIGo 3L, that records the X,Y,Z cardiac activity and displays the signals for clinician review, providing the regulatory foundation for subsequent products in our product portfolio. The 510(k) submission to the FDA is planned for early 2023.
Following this we will offer to the physician a pair of baseline and symptomatic 12-lead ECGs, both synthesized from 3-lead 3D VECG signals recorded by the HeartBeam AIMIGo device, and a symptoms report. It leverages recently issued patents for a personalized system for synthesizing 12-lead ECG waveforms. The 510(k) submission to the FDA is planned for late 2023.
Future versions may include our proprietary ECG interpretation MI marker and our overall MI diagnostic suggestion in addition to all features of the earlier Products and may as well offer an automated atrial fibrillation detection algorithm.
The same core technology built into the telehealth Product HeartBeam AIMIGo is used in the ED Product HeartBeam AIMI. In this application, the increased accuracy of detecting MIs by the ECG is of utmost importance. An ECG is the first diagnostic test a chest pain patient receives in the ED and it has a major impact on the patient’s subsequent clinical path. The ED Product has no hardware and introduces minimal change to the standard of care chest pain diagnostic path. It uses a baseline standard 12-lead ECG from the patient’s Electronic Medical Record (“EMR”) and the standard 12-lead ECG that is being evaluated. It converts the two ECGs to a VECG representation and utilizes our proprietary 3D VECG differential marker to generate an ECG interpretation suggestion to be used by the ED physician. The importance of increased accuracy of the first ECG interpretation for a chest pain patient presenting to an ED is significant, potentially leading to faster intervention or avoiding unnecessary activation of the cardiac catheterization lab.
FDA Regulatory Path
We have defined the FDA 510(k) clearance paths for both Products and have contracted with regulatory consultants to help us clear both products with the FDA.
The initial Product will have a limited feature set and introduce a 3-lead 3D VECG credit card-sized device, the HeartBeam AIMIGo 3L, that records the X, Y, Z cardiac activity and displays the signals for clinician review, providing the regulatory foundation for subsequent products in our product portfolio. The 510(k) submission to the FDA is planned for early Q2 2023.
We are planning a subsequent 510(k) submission, in Q4 2023, for the Product, which will include the ability to generate synthesized 12L ECG recordings. The submission is planned to contain results of a validation study comparing our synthesized 12-lead ECG recordings to standard 12-lead ECG recordings.
HeartBeam’s ED software product, HeartBeam AIMI, is hosted on LIVMOR’s Class I registered software platform and a predicate device for the cloud-based diagnostic engine for the ED product was identified. The predicate device is widely used as part of a software package produced by a leading ECG machine manufacturer. The predicate device software makes a diagnostic suggestion regarding a potential MI diagnosis. HeartBeam AIMI will also make a diagnostic suggestion to the ED physician. In the HIDES pilot study, we showed improved performance in detecting ischemia over a panel of cardiologists.
For the FDA 510(k) regulatory submission, a retrospective study was performed comparing patients’ baseline and asymptomatic ECG recordings and providing a diagnostic suggestion from the HeartBeam AIMI software. The diagnostic suggestion of the predicate device software, that was already recorded in the patient’s EMR, was compared to the diagnostic suggestion of our Product. The 510(k) regulatory submission for market clearance was filed with the FDA on August 15, 2022.
Market Opportunity
ECGs are key diagnostic tests utilized in the diagnosis and monitoring of cardiovascular disease, the number one cause of death worldwide. In the US in 2016, there were approximately 120 million adults living with cardiovascular disease and approximately 20 million adults with diagnosed coronary artery disease. The prevalence of these cardiac conditions and thus the market size is increasing, due to an aging population and lifestyle choices.
Every 40 seconds someone in the US has a heart attack, or MI. Unfortunately, there is no way for patients to tell whether the symptoms they are experiencing are due to an MI, or some other more benign condition such as indigestion. As a result, patients often ignore symptoms and delay seeking care, which leads to worse outcomes and increased mortality. On the other hand, many patients who go to the ED with chest pain are not experiencing an MI. Chest pain is the second most common reason for an ED visit in patients over 45, yet fewer than 20% of chest pain ED visits result in a diagnosis of a life-threatening condition. These unnecessary ED visits lead to well over $10 billion in unnecessary healthcare expenditures.
Most ECGs are conducted in a healthcare facility setting using a 12-lead ECG machine, the gold standard. ECGs taken outside of healthcare facilities are expected to grow more quickly than in-hospital ECGs. Monitoring cardiac patients outside of a hospital is a fast-growing trend, as it is less expensive and provides a better patient experience. However, while ambulatory cardiac monitoring devices are often much easier for patients to use, they have fewer leads than the gold standard and therefore cannot offer as comprehensive a picture of cardiac health.
While a standard 12-lead ECG readout is of great medical value, it is simply impractical to have a standard 12-lead machine next to patients when they experience symptoms outside the clinical setting, since recording the event requires attaching multiple electrodes to the patient’s body with professional assistance. While existing technologies use predominantly single lead ECG devices to monitor arrhythmias, these technologies do not provide information to the physician on the presence of life-threatening conditions of acute coronary syndrome (“ACS”) or heart attacks.
We believe our telehealth technology addresses these market needs and has several key attributes that make it a good fit for these patients. Our telehealth Product is generally used when symptoms occur and offers the potential for lifelong patient usage. The device is practically always near the patient and ready to be used for recording a cardiac event. It enables very
nearly real-time cardiac data transmission during a telemedicine visit. It offers a recorded 3 vector lead set of signals and a synthesized 12-lead ECG set of signals. We believe physicians will typically prescribe our solution to chronic cardiovascular patients for long term monitoring, thereby enabling prolonged data collection and delivering a more complete picture for diagnosis. This will also enable the use of artificial intelligence on our future database that will have a unique set of longitudinal synthesized 12-lead ECGs for patients.
As our VECG platform demonstrates 12-Lead equivalence and clinical & cost-effectiveness advantages, coupled with a patent protected technology, we believe this might open multiple licensing and/or partnering opportunities with players in the ECG, cardiac monitoring patch and smart watch verticals.
Market Strategy
Our goal is to establish our products as key solutions for cardiology practices and hospital EDs. Our efforts to enter the market involve establishing clinical evidence and demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of adopting our products. For both the telehealth (HeartBeam AIMIGo) and the ED Products (HeartBeam AIMI), the initial geographic market is the United States.
We believe that both the telehealth and ED Products will be subject to the US FDA’s 510(k) review process. A 510(k) for our HeartBeam AIMI was submitted to the FDA on August 15, 2022, for review and we are in the process of preparing a 510(k) submission for HeartBeam AIMIGo.
For HeartBeam AIMIGo, the primary customers are cardiology practices and the cardiology departments of hospitals. Healthcare insurers are another important customer, as they will potentially benefit from the reduced costs to the healthcare system. We are working to develop new clinical studies and publish results of completed clinical studies and plan to demonstrate real world cost-effectiveness of the use of the solution.
Our initial targets for HeartBeam AIMIGo are market segments that see value in an easy-to-use device that can generate synthesized 12L ECG recordings. These will be segments in which payment for the device will be outside of the established reimbursement system. These target segments include concierge practices, hospital-at-home segment and clinical trials. As we establish clinical data on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of HeartBeam AIMIGo, we will target at-risk cardiology practices, including high risk patients being discharged from hospitals after experiencing an MI.
Our long-term strategy is to generate sufficient evidence of clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness to generate reimbursement coverage and payment specifically for the HeartBeam AIMIGo solution. We expect to be able to demonstrate significant clinical benefits for patients and savings to the healthcare system, justifying appropriate reimbursement levels.
For the telehealth Product, our primary marketing strategy will focus on the medical community with continued validation of clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness and the establishment of reference sites. We will also create educational materials and provide other support to help educate our customers’ patients.
We will explore other business models. For example, hospitals face CMS penalties if their 30-day readmission rates for patients who are discharged after an MI exceed certain thresholds. These CMS penalties are levied on all hospital CMS payments, so the impact can be significant. Our telehealth Product can be a tool to help hospitals manage these patients after discharge. We will explore models in which hospitals pay for the device and for the initial 30 days of service. In addition, we will explore models for value-based care, in which the use of the telehealth Product reduces overall costs.
We are currently speaking with hospitals in large healthcare systems to educate them about our first two products. These are sophisticated customers, and we plan to use technical presentations, peer reviewed clinical data, and demonstration projects to achieve penetration of this market. We plan to continue to expand our medical advisory board, conduct clinical trials with leading cardiologists to increase the body of evidence, and establish reference sites among these customers.
For the ED Product, the primary customers are acute care facilities. As with the telehealth Product, we plan to publish clinical studies on the effectiveness of the Product. In addition, we plan to develop financial models demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of the approach and establish reference sites who are using the Product. We do not expect to obtain specific reimbursement for the ED Product but intend to demonstrate that the purchase of the software would result in clinical and economic benefits and potentially reduced malpractice legal exposure for ED provider institutions.
We expect our value proposition will be progressively increased as we gradually add additional functionality to our monitoring solutions and drive down the cost of continuous monitoring by increasing scale and automation. We expect our HeartBeam AIMIGo device and AIMI software to gradually incorporate internally developed algorithms with the capabilities of detecting heart conditions that can be exposed via a standard 12-L ECG device. Additionally, as we collect rich longitudinal data sets from our patients, we expect to train AI and ML algorithms that could potentially have predictive capabilities regarding different heart conditions. Over time and with scale we expect our costs to decrease and provide more and better services to our patients by improving our capabilities.
We plan to establish a direct sales network with relationships and experience selling to our target markets.
Clinical Data
HeartBeam has performed three clinical studies to assess performance of our technologies.
1. HIDES — Included 66 patients whose coronary arteries were occluded during a Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (“PCI”) and had electrical signals simultaneously collected by both a traditional 12-lead ECG and our vector signal-based device.
ECG recordings:
66 baseline recordings for each patient were taken during patient enrollment and prior to the balloon inflation. These were ischemia negative recordings. 120 recordings were taken during balloon occlusions in various arteries. These were ischemia positive recordings. There were a total of 186 diagnostic recordings: 66 ischemia negative recordings and 120 ischemia positive recordings.
Study design:
The HeartBeam automated ischemia marker is based on the vector difference between ST vectors of the symptomatic and baseline recordings. Human reading results were obtained by averaging results from three expert readers (two electrophysiologists and one invasive cardiologist) who were presented with the 186 standard 12-lead ECG recordings. These readings were performed in two sessions four weeks apart. A total of six readings were averaged to arrive at human readers’ ischemia detection performance.
Study results:
The automated HeartBeam ischemia marker was superior to human expert reading for detecting acute ischemia (66 patients, 120 balloon occlusions: 186 total recordings) using ECG signals only:
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | SENSITIVITY [%] | | SPECIFICITY [%] | | ACCURACY [%] |
Human readings | | 71.94 | | 70.96 | | 71.59 |
HeartBeam ischemia marker | | 91.7 | | 95.5 | | 93 |
| | p<0.01 | | p<0.01 | | p<0.01 |
The ischemia marker showed an area under the curve (“AUC”) in the receiver operating characteristic (“ROC”) curve of 93.6%. HeartBeam’s marker accuracy was consistent across the three culprit arteries (LAD, LCX, RCA), p=1.00. There was no statistically significant difference in accuracy between three human readers (p=1.00).
Synthetized vs, standard 12 lead ECG:
The synthesized 12 lead ECG was obtained using an individual transformation matrix obtained from standard 12 lead signals. Comparison of the standard 12 lead and synthetized 12 lead ECGs were performed with standard correlation analyses. Results for Pearson’s correlation coefficient R between standard 12 lead and synthetized 12 lead ECGs were:
P wave: R = 0.937;
QRS complex: R = 0.994;
T wave: R = 0.975
They are shown in the graphical form for all 186 pairs of signals (standard and synthesized 12-lead):
Pearson’s correlation coefficient is the test statistic that measures the statistical relationship between two continuous variables A value of 1 implies that a linear equation describes the relationship perfectly; value of 0 implies that there is no linear correlation between the variables
2. B Score — Evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of the HeartBeam diagnostic algorithm in diagnosing patients with ACS in the ED setting.
Study design and enrollment:
Enrolled were all patients presenting to an ED with chest pain or other symptoms suggestive of ACS who a) answered questions about risk factors and chest pain characteristics and b) had standard 12-lead ECG and HeartBeam ECG recorded 3 times with 10-15 minutes intervals between recordings. The final decision whether a patient was having ACS was determined by 3 cardiology experts (gold standard panel) based on discharge diagnosis and one week follow up data.
An additional HeartBeam ECG recording was taken between 9 and 12 months after the initial visit, when ST resolution was completed in most cases, and this recording was used as the baseline ECG in HeartBeam’s diagnostic algorithm. The same set of data — risk factors, chest pain characteristics and three recordings — were used for evaluation of the HeartBeam algorithm and presented to three expert cardiologists (evaluation panel) for a blinded evaluation.
Study results:
110 ER patients presenting with chest pain of which 29 (26%) with ACS (per gold standard panel), underwent HeartBeam assessment as well as assessment by the evaluation cardiologist panel. Sensitivity of the HeartBeam algorithm was 97% (27/28) and specificity was 56% (45/81). The only positive patient missed by the algorithm had known coronary disease with typical anginal episode resulting in a troponin leak. The average sensitivity and specificity of the evaluation cardiologists panel was 94% and 54%, respectively. The diagnostic performance of the HeartBeam algorithm in determining presence of the ACS in these patients was statistically indifferent from the performance of the evaluation cardiologist panel (p>0.42).
This result indicates that the quality of the advice produced by our expert system will be extremely valuable to the physician who is assessing the condition of a patient in a telehealth environment.
3. ISPEC — evaluation of the ECG signal quality and specificity of the ACS detection (false positive rate) in real-life use of the HeartBeam device by non-symptomatic patients.
Study design and enrollment:
The study included 30 participants, healthy volunteers, and patients with different cardiac disturbances. The participants recorded three HeartBeam recordings three times daily, for 3 to 7 days. The ECG signal quality was evaluated as the percentage of recordings rejected by the HeartBeam cloud-based software due to insufficient signal quality. The specificity of HeartBeam in classification of non-ischemic recordings was performed by application of HeartBeam’s ACS detection
algorithm. It was assumed that none of the patients was ischemic during the study period, as none reported chest pain symptoms.
Study results:
The study generated a total of 1845 recordings; 19.5% (360/1845) of the recordings were rejected by HeartBeam due to insufficient signal quality and had to be repeated. The false positive rate of the HeartBeam algorithm in classification of non-ischemic recordings was zero. In other words, the specificity was 100% in real-life use of our system in asymptomatic patients.
Competition
The cardiac monitoring and detection market is characterized by rapid technological change and strong competition. There are numerous companies developing technologies that are competitive, in a broad sense, to our products, and many of these companies have significantly greater resources than HeartBeam.
In the category of ambulatory (telehealth) cardiac monitors — devices that are intended to be used outside of a health facility setting — there are two major segments: consumer devices and devices prescribed for ACS.
Consumer Devices
The consumer device segment consists of devices that are FDA cleared but are sold directly to patients, without a prescription. Generally, these devices are single lead ECG devices intended to recognize heart rhythm abnormalities, such as atrial fibrillation, but are not intended for ischemia detection or for life threatening conditions such as heart attack.
•Apple Inc, a public company located in Cupertino, CA, produces the Apple Watch, which includes ECG functionality. The Apple Watch is a single lead ECG with two electrodes that contact the wrist and the finger and is intended to detect some common cardiac arrhythmias, such as Atrial Fibrillation.
•AliveCor Inc, a private company located in Mountain View, CA, produces the KardiaMobile, KardiaMobile Card and KardiaMobile 6L devices. These devices are intended to detect some common cardiac arrhythmias, such as Atrial Fibrillation.
•Google Inc, a public company located in Mountain View, CA, produces the Fitbit Sense smartwatch and ECG app. The Fitbit Sense watch is a single lead ECG with two electrodes that contact the fingers and is intended to detect some common cardiac arrhythmias, such as Atrial Fibrillation.
•Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, based in Seoul, South Korea, is publicly traded in Korea. It produces the Galaxy Watch3 and Galaxy Watch Active2 smartwatches with ECG functionality, intended to detect some common cardiac arrhythmias, such as Atrial Fibrillation.
Devices prescribed for ischemia detection
There are a small number of devices that have been cleared by FDA to be used outside of healthcare facilities that provide information for patients with potential ischemic events such as MIs.
•Angel Medical Systems, Inc. is a private company based in Eatontown, NJ. The AngelMed Guardian is an implantable cardiac monitor for patients who are deemed to be extremely high risk for an MI. Physicians implant the AngelMed Guardian in patients. We believe that the HeartBeam AIMIGo device will be a viable alternative to the AngelMed Guardian, as it does not require an implant and does not have a high up-front cost.
•SHL Telemedicine Ltd., is based in Tel Aviv, Israel and is publicly traded. It produces Smartheart Pro, a 12 lead ECG indicated for patient use at home. Smartheart Pro is larger and more complex than our telehealth solution, requiring the placement of an electrode belt, two underarm electrodes and a waist electrode, and moistening the areas before use. Most patients would find this technology impractical to be carried with them at all times because of the large size and complex lead attachment procedure.
There are several competitors in the category of software that automatically analyzes 12 lead ECGs performed in healthcare facilities, specifically in an ED. Major competitors in this market include the following:
•General Electric, a publicly traded company based in Chicago, IL produces a line of ECG equipment. The Company also has developed the GE Marquette 12SL ECG analysis program, which analyzes the ST segment of the ECG to detect potential cardiac ischemia. It does not use the 3D vector approach in deriving a diagnostic suggestion.
•Koninklijke Philips N.V., a publicly traded company based in Amsterdam, NL, produces a range of ECG products, including products that feature the DXL algorithm for resting ECGs. The Philips DXL algorithm monitors the ST segment to detect STEMI. It does use the 3D vector approach in deriving a diagnostic suggestion.
Intellectual Property
We believe our intellectual property (“IP”) protects our innovations, and our goal is to become a leader in the ambulatory VECG sector. For some aspects of our proprietary technology, we rely on trade secret protection. It is our view that the combination of these two methods of IP protection maximizes our chances for success.
HeartBeam has nine issued U.S. patents (U.S. 10,433,744, U.S. 10,117,592, U.S. 11,071,490, U.S. 11,419,538, U.S. 11,445,963, U.S. 11,529,085, U.S. 10,980,433, U.S. 11,412,972 and U.S. 11,234,658), and six pending U.S applications. Four of the pending applications have been published, the remaining two pending cases are unpublished. Outside of the U.S., HeartBeam has four issued patents in Germany, France, Netherlands, and United Kingdom and seven pending applications in Canada, China, the European Union (“EU”), Japan and Australia. HeartBeam has three pending PCT applications. The issued patents are predicted to expire between April 11, 2036 and April 21, 2042.
Our issued and pending U.S. patent applications cover compact VECG systems for remote detection and/or diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (“AMI”). Outside of the U.S., the pending EU, Australian (“AU”), Japanese (“JP”) and Chinese (“CN”) patent applications correspond to the pending and issued US cases. The pending PCT applications cover methods and apparatuses for automatic cardiac diagnosis as well as compact systems including retractable electrodes.
The following table sets forth a brief description of issued and pending patents, including their respective titles:
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Patent Type | | Application No. Pat. No. | | Status | | Predicted Expiration | | Title Summary |
Utility (US) | | 15/096,159 US 10,433,744 | | Issued | | Sep 15, 2036 | | MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED DIAGNOSTICS Methods and apparatuses for remote and detection and/or diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). |
Utility (US) | | 15/632,155 US 10,117,592 | | Issued | | Apr 11, 2036 | | MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED DIAGNOSTICS Methods and apparatuses for remote and detection and/or diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). |
Utility (US) | | 17/092,152 | | Published | | Apr 11, 2036 | | MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED DIAGNOSTICS Methods and apparatuses for remote and detection and/or diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). |
Utility (US) | | 17/202,299 US 11,071,490 | | Issued | | Apr 11, 2036 | | ELECTROCARDIOGRAM PATCH DEVICES AND METHODS Methods and apparatuses for remote and detection and/or diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). |
Utility (CN) | | 201680030550.5 | | Published | | Apr 11, 2036 | | MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED DIAGNOSTICS Methods and apparatuses for remote and detection and/or diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). |
Utility (EU) | | 16777474.4 | | Allowed | | Apr 11, 2036 | | MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED DIAGNOSTICS Methods and apparatuses for remote and detection and/or diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). |
Utility (EU) | | 198948150 | | Pending | | Nov 18, 2039 | | HAND HELD DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC CARDIAC RISK AND DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT Method and apparatus for performing automatic cardiac diagnosis. |
Utility (US) | | 17/296,669 | | Pending | | Nov 18, 2039 | | HAND HELD DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC CARDIAC RISK AND DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT Method and apparatus for performing automatic cardiac diagnosis. |
Utility (US) | | 17/443,456 | | Pending | | Apr 11, 2036 | | ELECTROCARDIOGRAM PATCH DEVICES AND METHODS Adhesive patch methods and apparatuses for remote and detection and/or diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). |
Utility (US) | | 17/570,368 US 11,419,538 | | Issued | | Apr 11, 2036 | | ELECTROCARDIOGRAM PATCH DEVICES AND METHODS Adhesive patch methods and apparatuses for remote and detection and/or diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). |
Utility (US) | | 17/609,014 | | Pending | | May 20, 2040 | | COMPACT MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE Compact, mobile three-lead cardiac monitoring devices for remote detection and/or diagnosis of cardiac events. |
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Patent Type | | Application No. Pat. No. | | Status | | Predicted Expiration | | Title Summary |
Utility (AU) | | 2020275409 | | Pending | | May 20, 2040 | | COMPACT MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE Compact, mobile three-lead cardiac monitoring devices for remote detection and/or diagnosis of cardiac events. |
Utility (CA) | | 3137669 | | Pending | | May 20, 2040 | | COMPACT MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE Compact, mobile three-lead cardiac monitoring devices for remote detection and/or diagnosis of cardiac events. |
Utility (EU) | | 208063123 | | Pending | | May 20, 2040 | | COMPACT MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE Compact, mobile three-lead cardiac monitoring devices for remote detection and/or diagnosis of cardiac events. |
Utility (JP) | | 2021568329 | | Pending | | May 20, 2040 | | COMPACT MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE Compact, mobile three-lead cardiac monitoring devices for remote detection and/or diagnosis of cardiac events. |
Utility (PCT) | | PCTUS2021 059271 | | Pending | | N/A | | COMPACT MOBILE THREE-LEAD CARDIAC MONITORING DEVICE WITH HYBRID ELECTRODE Compact, mobile three-lead cardiac monitoring devices for remote detection and/or diagnosis of cardiac events. |
Utility (PCT) | | PCTUS2022 011075 | | Pending | | N/A | | AMBULATORY ELECTROCARDIOGRAM PATCH DEVICES AND METHODS Cardiac monitoring patch devices (e.g., an ECG patch for 12-lead detection) for remote detection and/or diagnosis of cardiac events (e.g., acute myocardial infarction). |
Utility (US) | | 17/494,806 US 11,445,963 | | Issued | | Oct 5, 2041 | | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECONSTRUCTING ELECTROCARDIOGRAM (ECG) DATA Synthesizing (generating) 12-lead ECG dataset from 3-lead ECG data. |
Utility (US) | | 17/726,497 US 11,529,085 | | Issued | | Oct 5, 2041 | | APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AN ELECTROCARDIOGRAM Wrist-worn device can be taken off of the wrist and held against the chest to detect three orthogonal cardiac leads, and methods of using a wrist-worn device to detect the three orthogonal cardiac leads. |
Utility (US) | | 16/362,527 US 10,980,433 | | Issued | | Nov 22, 2038 | | HEALTH MONITORING AND GUIDANCE Methods, systems and software for the determination of stress states utilizing PPG sensors. |
Utility (US) | | 16/368,568 US 11,412,972 | | Issued | | Apr 19, 2040 | | DETECTION OF ATRIAL FIBRILLATION Methods and software for determining atrial fibrillation utilizing PPG sensors. |
Utility (US) | | 16/368,571 US 11,234,658 | | Issued | | Apr 5, 2039 | | PHOTOPLETHYSMOGRAM DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION Methods, systems and software for the creation of ECG-type waveforms from PPG sensor data. |
We have entered, and generally plan to continue to enter into, non-disclosure, confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements with all new employees as a condition of employment. In addition, we intend to generally enter into confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with consultants, manufacturers’ representatives, distributors, suppliers, and others to attempt to limit access to, use and disclosure of our proprietary information. There can be no assurance, however, that these agreements will provide meaningful protection or adequate remedies for our trade secrets in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of such information.
The ownership of all filed patents is assigned to HeartBeam, Inc.
Research and Development
The primary objective of our research and development program is to provide innovative, user-friendly, ambulatory VECG solutions with high medical value. To date, we have been highly successful in developing our initial products. The emphasis has been on developing a user-friendly solution that is always with the patient and assists physicians in diagnosing heart attacks in chest pain patients.
Our Research team is largely based in Belgrade, Serbia as well as in California, USA. We have assembled a highly capable Belgrade team currently consisting of seven PhD level contributors who are credited with developing our key inventions and patents. The diverse group includes:
•Two nuclear physicists.
•Two Biomedical Engineers experienced in developed digital health applications.
•Two highly experienced Healthcare IT development professionals.
•Two Electrical Engineers (M.S.E.E) with strong signal processing and ECG analysis algorithm expertise from the medical device industry.
•An Electrical Engineer (M.S.E.E) with exceptional implantable medical device development and power optimization expertise.
•A Software Engineer, (PhD Computer Science), with deep expertise in developing mobile applications for medical devices.
Future research and development efforts will focus on the application of signal processing and artificial intelligence to address a range of cardiac conditions.
During 2022 we also added 3 development engineers led by our recently hired Chief Technology Officer Kenneth Persen. This is an experienced development team that worked together previously and was successful in delivering FDA cleared products.
Future Products
Our core technology — the heart vector approach adopted and invented by our research team — is a platform technology that can provide diagnostic solutions to a variety of cardiovascular patients. Our plans call for expanding solutions that diagnose all major cardiac conditions that are diagnosed by ECGs.
Future plans include the development of a VECG-based, synthesized 12-lead capable patch ECG monitor that will provide advantages over existing single-lead ECG patch products such as the Zio-XT from iRhythm Technologies, Inc. Our approach will offer a synthesized 12-lead ECG with a patch that is very similar, in dimensions and look and feel, to the currently available single lead ECG patches. We believe providing standard of care 12-lead ECG capabilities will have significant diagnostic advantages over a single lead patch.
We also plan to develop a synthesized 12-lead ECG smartwatch-based monitor intended for detection of heart attacks and complex cardiac arrhythmias. This invention eliminates the need for a dedicated ECG device while offering a synthesized 12-lead ECG capability enabling heart attack and complex arrhythmia detection.
While our initial telehealth Product is powered by a software expert system that serves as a diagnostic aid to a physician, we will develop an AI based diagnostic system that will supplement our diagnostic expert system.
We are committed to continue advancing the full potential inherent in our synthesized 12-lead 3D VECG technology as demonstrated in recently issued and allowed patents with potentially disruptive market impacts.
Government Regulation
General
Our proposed products are subject to regulation by the FDA and various other federal and state agencies, as well as by foreign governmental agencies. These agencies enforce laws and regulations that govern the development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, advertising, marketing and distribution, and market surveillance of our products.
In addition to those indicated below, the only other regulations we encounter are regulations that are common to all businesses, such as employment legislation, implied warranty laws, and environmental, health and safety standards, to the extent applicable. In the future we will be subject to industry-specific government regulations that govern our products when developed for commercial use. It is possible that other regulatory approvals will be required for the design and manufacture of our products and proposed products.
U.S. Regulation
The FDA governs the following activities that HeartBeam performs, and will perform, upon the clearance or approval of its Product, or that are performed on its behalf, to ensure that medical products distributed domestically or exported internationally are safe and effective for their intended uses:
•product design, and development
•product safety, testing, labeling and storage
•record keeping procedures; and
•product marketing.
There are numerous FDA regulatory requirements governing the approval or clearance and subsequent commercial marketing of our products. These include:
•the timely submission of product listing and establishment registration information, along with associated establishment user fees;
•continued compliance with the Quality System Regulation, or QSR, which require specification developers and manufacturers, including third-party manufacturers, to follow stringent design, testing, control, documentation and other quality assurance procedures during all aspects of the manufacturing process;
•labeling regulations and FDA prohibitions against the promotion of products for uncleared, unapproved or off-label use or indication;
•clearance or approval of product modifications that could significantly affect the safety or effectiveness of the device or that would constitute a major change in intended use;
•Medical Device Reporting regulations (“MDR”), which require that manufacturers keep detailed records of investigations or complaints against their devices and to report to the FDA if their device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or malfunctioned in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if it were to recur;
•adequate use of the Corrective and Preventive Actions process to identify and correct or prevent significant systemic failures of products or processes or in trends which suggest same;
•post-approval restrictions or conditions, including post-approval study commitments;
•post-market surveillance regulations, which apply when necessary, to protect the public health or to provide additional safety and effectiveness data for the device; and
•notices of correction or removal and recall regulations.
Depending on the classification of the device, before HeartBeam can commercially distribute medical devices in the United States, it must obtain, either prior 510(k) clearance, 510(k) de-novo clearance or premarket approval (“PMA”), from the FDA unless a respective exemption applies to the device under review by the FDA.
The FDA classifies medical devices into one of three classes based on the degree of risk associated with each medical device and the extent of regulatory controls needed to ensure the device’s safety and effectiveness:
•Class I medical devices, which are low risk and subject to only general controls (e.g., registration and listing, medical device labeling compliance, MDRs, Quality System Regulations, and prohibitions against adulteration and misbranding) and, in some cases, to the 510(k) premarket clearance requirements;
•Class II medical devices, which are moderate risk and generally require 510(k) or 510(k) de-novo premarket clearance before they may be commercially marketed in the United States as well as general controls and potentially special controls like performance standards or specific labeling requirements; and
•Class III medical devices, which are devices deemed by the FDA to pose the greatest risk, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or implantable devices, or devices deemed not substantially equivalent to a predicate device. Class III medical devices generally require the submission and approval of a PMA supported by clinical trial data.
The custom software and hardware of our products, we believe, are classified as Class II that will run on a Class I platform. Class II medical devices are those for which general controls alone are insufficient to provide reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness and there is sufficient information to establish special controls. Special controls can include performance standards, post-market surveillance, patient histories and FDA guidance documents. Premarket review and clearance by the FDA for these devices is generally accomplished through the 510(k). As part of the 510(k), the FDA may have required the following:
•Development of comprehensive product description and indications for use;
•Completion of extensive preclinical tests and preclinical animal studies, performed in accordance with the FDA’s Good Laboratory Practice (“GLP”) regulations;
•Comprehensive review of predicate devices and development of data supporting the new product’s substantial equivalence to one or more predicate devices; and
•If appropriate and required, certain types of clinical trials (IDE submission and approval may be required for conducting a clinical trial in the US).
Clinical trials involve use of the medical device on human subjects under the supervision of qualified investigators in accordance with current Good Clinical Practices (“GCPs”), including the requirement that all research subjects provide informed consent for their participation in the clinical study. A written protocol with predefined end points, an appropriate sample size and pre-determined patient inclusion and exclusion criteria, is required before initiating and conducting a clinical trial. All clinical investigations of devices to determine safety and effectiveness must be conducted in accordance with the FDA’s Investigational Device Exemption, or IDE, regulations that among other things, govern investigational device labeling, prohibit promotion of the investigational device, and specify recordkeeping, reporting and monitoring responsibilities of study sponsors and study investigators. If the device presents a “significant risk,” as defined by the FDA, the agency requires the device sponsor to submit an IDE application, which must become effective prior to commencing human clinical trials. The IDE will automatically become effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless the FDA denies the application or notifies the Company that the investigation is on hold and may not begin. If the FDA determines that there are deficiencies or other concerns with an IDE that 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 (“IRB”) for each clinical site. If the device presents a non-significant risk to the patient, a sponsor may begin the clinical trial after obtaining approval for the trial by one or more IRBs without separate approval from the FDA, but it must still follow abbreviated IDE requirements, such as monitoring the investigation, ensuring that the investigators obtain informed consent, and labeling and record-keeping requirements.
Given successful completion of all required testing, a detailed 510(k) premarket notification or 510(k) de-novo will be submitted to the FDA requesting clearance to market the product. This notification will include all relevant data from pertinent preclinical and clinical trials, together with detailed information relating to the product’s manufacturing controls and proposed labeling, and other relevant documentation.
A 510(k)-clearance letter from the FDA authorizes commercial marketing of the device for one or more specific indications of use.
After 510(k) clearance, HeartBeam is required to comply with several post-clearance requirements, including, but not limited to, Medical Device Reporting and complaint handling, and, if applicable, reporting of corrective actions. Also, quality control and manufacturing procedures must continue to conform to Quality System Regulations (“QSR”). The FDA periodically inspects manufacturing facilities to assess compliance with FDA’s QSR, which impose extensive procedural, substantive, and record keeping requirements on medical device manufacturers. In addition, changes to the manufacturing process are strictly regulated, and, depending on the change, validation activities may need to be performed. Accordingly,
manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain compliance with QSR and other types of regulatory controls.
After a device receives 510(k) clearance from the FDA, any modification that could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a major change in its intended use or technological characteristics, requires a new 510(k) clearance or could require a PMA. The FDA requires each manufacturer to make the determination of whether a modification requires a new 510(k) notification or PMA in the first instance, but the FDA can review any such decision. If the FDA disagrees with a manufacturer’s decision not to seek a new 510(k) clearance or PMA for a particular change, the FDA may retroactively require the manufacturer to seek 510(k) clearance or PMA. The FDA can also require the manufacturer to cease U.S. marketing and/or recall the modified device until additional 510(k) clearance or PMA approval is obtained.
The FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), will also regulate the advertising claims of HeartBeam’s products to ensure that the claims it makes are consistent with its regulatory clearances, that there is scientific data to substantiate the claims and that product advertising is neither false nor misleading.
We will apply for 510(k) clearance for both our cloud-based diagnostic engine for the ED product and the cloud-based diagnostic engine and hardware components of our telehealth Product. To obtain 510(k) clearance, a company must submit a notification to the FDA demonstrating that its proposed device is substantially equivalent to a predicate device (i.e., a device that was in commercial distribution before May 28, 1976, a device that has been reclassified from Class III to Class I or Class II, or a 510(k)-cleared device). The FDA’s 510(k) clearance process generally takes from three to 12 months from the date the application is submitted but also can take significantly longer. If the FDA determines that the device or its intended use is not substantially equivalent to a predicate device, the device is automatically placed into Class III, requiring the submission of a PMA. Once the information is submitted, there is no guarantee that the FDA will grant a company 510(k) clearance for its pipeline products, and failure to obtain the necessary clearances for its products would adversely affect its ability to grow its business. Delays in receipt or failure to receive the necessary clearances, or the failure to comply with existing or future regulatory requirements, could reduce its business prospects.
Devices that cannot be cleared through the 510(k)-process due to lack of a predicate device but would be considered low or moderate risk may be eligible for the 510(k) de-novo process. In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act (“FDAMA”) added the de novo classification pathway now codified in section 513(f)(2) of the FD&C Act. This law established an alternate pathway to classify new devices into Class I or II that had automatically been placed in Class III after receiving a Not Substantially Equivalent (“NSE”), determination in response to a 510(k) submission. Through this regulatory process, a sponsor who receives an NSE determination may, within 30 days of receipt, request FDA to make a risk-based classification of the device through what is called a “de novo request.” In 2012, section 513(f)(2) of the FD&C Act was amended by section 607 of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (“FDASIA”), to provide a second option for de novo classification. Under this second pathway, a sponsor who determines that there is no legally marketed device upon which to base a determination of substantial equivalence can submit a de novo request to FDA without first submitting a 510(k).
If a company receives a Not Substantially Equivalent determination in response to a 510(k) submission, the device may still be eligible for the 510(k) de novo classification process.
Devices that cannot be cleared through the 510(k) or 510(k) de novo classification process require the submission of a PMA. The PMA process is much more time consuming and demanding than the 510(k)-notification process. A PMA must be supported by extensive data, including but not limited to data obtained from preclinical and/or clinical studies and data relating to manufacturing and labeling, to demonstrate to the FDA’s satisfaction the safety and effectiveness of the device. After a PMA application is submitted, the FDA’s in-depth review of the information generally takes between one and three years and may take significantly longer.
We also need to establish a suitable and effective quality management system, which establishes controlled processes for our product design, manufacturing, and distribution. We plan to do this in compliance with the internationally recognized standard ISO 13485:2013 Medical Devices — Quality Management Systems — Requirements for Regulatory Purposes. Following the introduction of a product, the FDA and foreign agencies engage in periodic reviews of our quality systems, as well as product performance and advertising and promotional materials. These regulatory controls, as well as any changes in FDA policies, can affect the time and cost associated with the development, introduction, and continued availability of new products. Where possible, we anticipate these factors in our product development processes. These
agencies possess the authority to take various administrative and legal actions against us, such as product recalls, product seizures and other civil and criminal sanctions.
To reduce time and minimize the need to hire permanent technical and regulatory staffing in pursuing our FDA clearances we have contracted with a service provider to prepare our Products for FDA submission. This is the most efficient way to maximize our chances for timely FDA clearances.
Based on all available data and opinions from our well qualified external consultants who specialize in FDA submissions, we believe that both our initial products and the follow-on products qualify for the 510(k)-clearance path.
Foreign Regulation
As we plan to market our products in the EU and other foreign markets, in addition to regulations in the United States, we will be subject to a variety of foreign regulations governing clinical trials and commercial sales and distribution of our products in foreign countries. Whether or not we obtain FDA approval for a product, we must obtain approval of a product by the comparable regulatory authorities of foreign countries before we can commence clinical trials or marketing of the product in those countries. The approval process varies from country to country, and the time may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA approval. The requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary greatly from country to country.
Preparations for FDA Clearance Submissions and Design for Manufacturing
To date, we focused primarily on research and development of our first two Products. We have fully functional, pre-production versions of our first two Products which we were used in most of our medical studies. Production versions on the products will go through the required design control processes, and all required verification and validation testing, including all safety testing to the applicable standards. These documents will be provided in the 510(k) regulatory submission to the FDA for market clearance. We are not yet at a stage to commence volume production of our products.
We contracted with LIVMOR to prepare HeartBeam AIMI for clearance via a 510(k) submission to the FDA. The principal terms of this contract were to incorporate the product requirements, user needs, and 3D vector algorithm plugin developed by HeartBeam into this ED MI software Product. Our contract with Triple Ring, Inc., a US-based medical device and design engineering organization (“TRIPLE RING”) as the development partner is to turn the ECG Hardware prototype into a commercially ready product cleared by the FDA. The principal terms of the agreement require TRIPLE RING to perform the design, development, and testing of the ECG device and interface with the user application. With oversight from and in partnership with HeartBeam, TRIPLE RING will define all requirements, testing, detailed design, verification protocols, and test cases for all subsystems included in the ECG device product. Once the subsystems are complete, the service provider will perform system-level software testing. Once completed, the product will be provided to HeartBeam to perform system validation testing using clinical data from post-MI patients.
We plan to have a scalable manufacturing strategy. With initial HeartBeam AIMIGo devices we are working on a time and material basis with Evolve Manufacturing Technologies (“Evolve”), a contract medical device manufacturing company that provides end-to-end contract manufacturing for medical device and life sciences instrument companies. As manufacturing operations become more automated we plan to invest in appropriate tooling (e.g. molds) and we plan to enter into a separate manufacturing agreement to leverage Evolve’s manufacturing and packaging expertise to support commercialization of the HeartBeam AIMIGo device in anticipation of early market testing and FDA Clearance. Evolve has previously collaborated with TRIPLE RING, HeartBeam’s co-developer of the AIMIGo device, creating additional synergies as the device moves into manufacturing technology transfer. Evolve uses Design for Excellence (“DFX”) methodologies and its quality processes are integrated with TRIPLE RING. They offer turnkey contract manufacturing for our initial needs with low to medium production volumes, from first article builds to prototypes and clinical units.
We plan to consider other manufacturers, inside and outside the US, for our high-volume manufacturing.
Employees
As of December 31, 2022, we had 15 full-time employees. We have budgeted to hire additional full-time employees (including additional consultants or independent contractors) in the near future to execute our growth plans.
We consider our employee relations to be good.
Corporate Information
Our principal executive offices are located at 2118 Walsh Avenue, Suite 210, Santa Clara, CA 95050. Our telephone number is (408) 899-4443 and our web address is www.heartbeam.com. Financial and other information can be accessed on the “Investors” section of our website. We make available through our website, free of charge, copies of our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after filing such material electronically or otherwise furnishing it to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Also posted on our website are certain corporate governance documents, including our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. The reference to our website is textual in reference only, and the information included or referred to on, or accessible through, our website does not constitute part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this report or any other filing.
We also file periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Such reports may be obtained by visiting the Public Reference Room of the SEC at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room can be obtained by calling the SEC at (800) SEC-0330. In addition, the SEC maintains an internet site at http://www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
You should consider carefully the risks, uncertainties and other factors described below, in addition to the other information set forth in this Form 10-K, before making an investment decision. Any of these risks, uncertainties and other factors could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or prospects. In that case, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment in our common stock. See also “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”
Risks Related to Our Business
We have a limited operating history upon which investors can evaluate our future prospects.
We have a limited operating history upon which an evaluation of our business plan or performance and prospects can be made. The business and prospects of the Company must be considered in the light of the potential problems, delays, uncertainties and complications encountered in connection with a newly established business and new industry. The risks include, but are not limited to, the possibility that we will not be able to develop functional and scalable products and services, or that although functional and scalable, our products and services will not be economical to market; that our competitors hold proprietary rights that preclude us from marketing such products; that our competitors market a superior or equivalent product; that we are not able to upgrade and enhance our technologies and products to accommodate new features and expanded service offerings; or the failure to receive necessary regulatory clearances for our products. To successfully introduce and market our products at a profit, we must establish brand name recognition and competitive advantages for our products. There are no assurances that we can successfully address these challenges and if unsuccessful, we and our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.
The current and future expense levels of our business are based largely on estimates of planned operations and future revenues rather than experience. It is difficult to accurately forecast future revenues because our business is new and our market has not been developed. If our forecasts prove incorrect, the business, operating results and financial condition of the Company may be materially and adversely affected. Moreover, we may be unable to adjust our spending in a timely manner to compensate for any unanticipated reduction in revenues. As a result, any significant reduction in planned or actual revenues may immediately and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.
Our independent registered public accounting firm has expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
As described in Note 2 of our accompanying audited financial statements, our auditors have issued a going concern opinion on our December 31, 2022 financial statements, expressing substantial doubt that we can continue as an ongoing business for the next twelve months after issuance of their report based on our current development plans and our operating requirements and us having suffered recurring losses from operations and having a net capital deficiency. Our financial statements do not include any adjustments that may result from the outcome of this uncertainty. If we cannot raise the
necessary capital to continue as a viable entity, we could experience a material adverse effect on our business and our stockholders may lose some or all of their investment in us.
We can provide no assurances that any additional sources of financing will be available to us on favorable terms, if at all. Our forecast of the period of time through which our current financial resources will be adequate to support our operations and the costs to support our general and administrative, selling and marketing and research and development activities are forward-looking statements and involve risks and uncertainties.
We have no revenues and we cannot predict when we will achieve first revenues and sustained profitability.
We have no revenues and cannot definitely predict when we will achieve revenues and profitability. We do not anticipate generating significant revenues until we successfully develop, achieve regulatory clearance, commercialize and sell our proposed products, of which we can give no assurance. We are unable to determine when we will generate significant revenues from the sale of any such products.
We cannot predict when we will achieve profitability, if ever. Our inability to become profitable may force us to curtail or temporarily discontinue our research and development programs and our day-to-day operations. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that profitability, if achieved, can be sustained on an ongoing basis.
We may never complete the development and commercialization of products that we are currently developing and future development of new generations of any of our other proposed products.
We have no assurance of success as to the completion and of the commercial launch of our products or the completion and development of any new generations of products that are currently under development or other proposed or contemplated products, for any of our target markets. We continue to seek to improve our technologies while we are developing them so that they result in commercially viable products. Failure to improve on any of our technologies could delay or prevent their successful development for our target markets. Developing any technology into a marketable product is a risky, time consuming and expensive process. You should anticipate that we will encounter setbacks, discrepancies requiring time consuming and costly redesigns and changes, and that there is the possibility of outright failure.
We may not meet our product development and commercialization milestones.
We have established milestones, based upon our expectations regarding our technologies, which we use to assess our progress toward developing our products. These milestones relate to technology development and design improvements as well as dates for achieving development goals. If our products exhibit technical defects or are unable to meet cost or performance goals, our commercialization schedule could be delayed and potential purchasers of our initial commercial products may decline to purchase such products or may opt to pursue alternative products.
We may also experience shortages of the components used in our devices. The contract manufacturing operations that we will use could be disrupted by fire, earthquake or other natural disaster, a labor-related disruption, failure in supply or other logistical channels, electrical outages or other reasons. If there were a disruption to manufacturing facilities, we would be unable to manufacture devices until these manufacturing capabilities are restored or alternative manufacturing facilities are engaged.
Generally, we have met our milestone schedules when making technological advances in our product. We can give no assurance that our development and commercialization schedule will continue to be met as we further develop products currently under development or any of our other future products.
Our business is dependent upon physicians utilizing and prescribing our solution; if we fail to engage physicians to utilize our solution, our revenues may never materialize or may not meet our projections.
The success of our cardiac diagnosis and monitoring business is dependent upon physicians prescribing and utilizing our solution. The utilization of our solution by physicians for use in the prescription of cardiac monitoring is directly influenced by a number of factors, including:
•the ability of the physicians with whom we work to obtain sufficient reimbursement and be paid in a timely manner for the professional services they provide in connection with the use of our monitoring solutions;
•establishing ourselves as a cardiac monitoring technology company by publishing peer reviewed publications showing efficacy of our solutions,
•our ability to educate physicians regarding the benefits of our cardiac monitoring solutions over alternative diagnostic monitoring solutions,
•our demonstrating that our proposed products are reliable and supported by us in the field;
•supplying and servicing sufficient quantities of products directly or through marketing alliances; and
•pricing our devices and technology service fees in a medical device industry that is becoming increasingly price sensitive.
If we are unable to drive physician utilization, our revenues may never materialize or may not meet our projections.
We are subject to extensive governmental regulations relating to the manufacturing, labeling, and marketing of our products.
Our medical technology products and operations are subject to regulation by the FDA, and other foreign and local governmental authorities. These agencies enforce laws and regulations that govern the development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, advertising, marketing and distribution, and post market surveillance of our medical products.
Under the United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 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 control needed to ensure safety and effectiveness. We believe that our products currently under development and planned products will be Class II medical devices. Class II medical devices are subject to additional controls, including full applicability of the Quality System Regulations, and requirements for 510(k) pre-market notification.
The FDA may disagree with the classification of a new Class II medical device and require the manufacturer of that device to apply for approval as a Class III medical device. If the FDA determines that our Class II medical Products should be classified as Class III medical devices, we could be precluded from marketing the devices for clinical use within the United States for a period of time, the length of which depends on the specific change in the classification. Reclassification of our Class II medical Products as Class III medical devices could significantly increase our regulatory costs, including the timing and expense associated with required clinical trials and other costs.
In addition to regulations in the United States, we will be subject to a variety of foreign regulations governing clinical trials and commercial sales and distribution of our products in foreign countries. Whether or not we obtain FDA approval for a product, we must obtain approval of a product by the comparable regulatory authorities of foreign countries before we can commence clinical trials or marketing of the product in those countries. The approval process varies from country to country, and the time may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA approval. The requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary greatly from country to country.
The policies of the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted which could prevent or delay regulatory approval of our products and could also increase the cost of regulatory compliance. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of adverse governmental regulation that might arise from future legislative or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad.
The FDA and non-U.S. regulatory authorities require that our products be manufactured according to rigorous standards. These regulatory requirements may significantly increase our production costs and may even prevent us from making our products in quantities sufficient to meet market demand. If we change our approved manufacturing process, the FDA may need to review the process before it may be used. Failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements discussed could subject us to enforcement actions, including warning letters, fines, injunctions, and civil penalties, product recall or seizure of our products, operating restrictions, partial suspension or total shutdown of our production, and even criminal prosecution.
Federal, state, and non-U.S. regulations regarding the manufacture and sale of medical devices are subject to future changes. The complexity, timeframes and costs associated with obtaining marketing clearances are unknown. Although we cannot predict the impact, if any, these changes might have on our business, the impact could be material.
Following the introduction of a product, these agencies will also periodically review our design and manufacturing processes and product performance. The process of complying with the applicable good manufacturing practices, adverse event reporting, clinical trial and other requirements can be costly and time consuming, and could delay or prevent the production, manufacturing, or sale of our products. In addition, if we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, it could result in fines, delays or suspensions of regulatory clearances, closure of manufacturing sites, seizures or recalls of products and damage to our reputation. Recent changes in enforcement practice by the FDA and other agencies have resulted in increased enforcement activity, which increases the compliance risk for the Company and other
companies in our industry. In addition, governmental agencies may impose new requirements regarding registration, labeling or prohibited materials that may require us to modify or re-register products already on the market or otherwise impact our ability to market our products in those countries. Once clearance or approval has been obtained for a product, there is an obligation to ensure that all applicable FDA, and other regulatory requirements continue to be met.
Additionally, injuries caused by the malfunction or misuse of cardiac devices, even where such malfunction or misuse occurs with respect to one of our competitor’s products, could cause regulatory agencies to implement more conservative regulations on the medical cardiac monitoring industry, which could significantly increase our operating costs.
If we are not able to both obtain and maintain adequate levels of third-party reimbursement for our products, it would have a material adverse effect on our business.
Healthcare providers and related facilities are generally reimbursed for their services through payment systems managed by various governmental agencies worldwide, private insurance companies, and managed care organizations. The manner and level of reimbursement in any given case may depend on the site of care, the procedure(s) performed, the final patient diagnosis, the device(s) utilized, available budget, the efficacy, safety, performance and cost-effectiveness of our planned products and services, or a combination of these or other factors, and coverage and payment levels are determined at each payer’s discretion. The coverage policies and reimbursement levels of these third-party payers may impact the decisions of healthcare providers and facilities regarding which medical products they purchase and the prices they are willing to pay for those products. Thus, changes in reimbursement levels or methods may impact sales of our products.
We have no direct control over payer decision-making with respect to coverage and payment levels for our medical device products and services. Additionally, we expect many payers to continue to explore cost-containment strategies (e.g., comparative, and cost- effectiveness studies, so-called “pay-for-performance” programs implemented by various public and private payers, and expansion of payment bundling schemes such as Accountable Care Organizations, and other such methods that shift medical cost risk to providers) that may potentially impact coverage and/or payment levels for our products and services.
The ability of physicians and other providers to successfully utilize our cardiac diagnostic and monitoring solutions and successfully allow payors to reimburse for the physicians’ technical and professional fees is critical to our business because physicians and their patients will select solutions other than ours in the event that payors refuse to adequately reimburse our technical fees and physicians’ professional fees.
Changes in reimbursement practices of third-party payers could affect the demand for our products and services and our revenue levels.
The sales of our proposed products and services could depend, in part, on the extent to which healthcare providers and facilities or individual users are reimbursed by government authorities, private insurers and other third-party payers for the costs of our products, or the services performed with our products. The coverage policies and reimbursement levels of third-party payers, which can vary among public and private sources and by country, may affect which products customers purchase and the prices they are willing to pay for those products and services in a particular jurisdiction. Reimbursement rates can also affect the acceptance rate of new technologies. Legislative or administrative reforms to reimbursement systems in the United States or abroad, or changes in reimbursement rates by private payers, could significantly reduce reimbursement for medical actions using the Company’s products or result in denial of reimbursement for those products, which would adversely affect customer demand, or the price customers may be willing to pay for such products and services.
We may experience difficulty in obtaining reimbursement for our services from commercial payors that consider our technology to be experimental and investigational, which would adversely affect our revenue and operating results.
Many commercial payors refuse to enter into contracts to reimburse the fees associated with medical devices or services that such payors determine to be “experimental and investigational.” Commercial payors typically label medical devices or services as “experimental and investigational” until such devices or services have demonstrated product superiority evidenced by a randomized clinical trial.
For example, clinical trials have been performed on some mobile cardiac telemetry devices, proving higher diagnostic yield than monitoring devices and services that are already being reimbursed. Certain remaining commercial payors, however, have stated that they do not believe the data from the clinical trials justifies the removal of the experimental designation for mobile cardiac telemetry solutions. As a result, certain commercial payors may refuse to reimburse the technical and professional fees associated with cardiac monitoring solutions such as the one expected to be offered by the Company.
If commercial payors decide not to reimburse physicians or providers for their services during the utilization of our cardiac monitoring solutions, our revenue could fail to materialize or meet our projections.
Reimbursement by Medicare is highly regulated and subject to change; our failure to comply with applicable regulations could decrease our expected revenue and may subject us to penalties or have an adverse impact on our business.
The Medicare program is administered by CMS, which imposes extensive and detailed requirements on medical services providers, including, but not limited to, rules that govern how we structure our relationships with physicians, and how and where we provide our cardiac solutions. Our failure to comply with applicable Medicare rules could result in the inability of physicians to receive reimbursement as they will likely utilize our cardiac monitoring solution under the Medicare payment program.
Consolidation of commercial payors could result in payors eliminating coverage of mobile cardiac monitoring solutions or reducing reimbursement rates.
When payors combine their operations, the combined company may elect to reimburse physicians for cardiac monitoring services at the lowest rate paid by any of the participants in the consolidation. If one of the payors participating in the consolidation does not reimburse for these services at all, the combined company may elect not to reimburse at any rate. Reimbursement rates tend to be lower for larger payors. As a result, as payors consolidate, our expected average reimbursement rate may decline.
Product defects could adversely affect the results of our operations.
The design, manufacture and marketing of our hardware and software products involve certain inherent risks. Manufacturing or design defects, unanticipated use of our products, or inadequate disclosure of risks relating to the use of our products can lead to injury or other adverse events. These events could lead to recalls or safety alerts relating to our products (either voluntary or required by the FDA, or similar governmental authorities in other countries), and could result, in certain cases, in the removal of a product from the market. A recall could result in significant costs, as well as negative publicity and damage to our reputation that could reduce demand for our products. Personal injuries or deaths relating to the use of our products could also result in product liability claims being brought against us. In some circumstances, such adverse events could also cause delays in new product approvals.
Interruptions or delays in telecommunications systems or in the data services provided to us by cellular communication providers or the loss of our wireless or data services could impair the delivery of our cardiac monitoring services.
The success of our cardiac monitoring services will be dependent upon our ability to transmit, store, retrieve, process and manage data and to maintain and upgrade our data processing and communication capabilities. Our monitoring solution relies on a third-party wireless carrier to transmit data over its data network. All data sent by our monitors via this wireless data network is expected to be routed directly to healthcare providers and data centers or third-party ECG monitoring centers. We are therefore dependent upon a third party wireless carrier to provide data transmission services to us.
As we expand our commercial activities, an increased burden is expected to be placed upon our data processing systems and the equipment upon which they rely. Interruptions of our data networks, or the data networks of our wireless carrier, for any extended length of time, loss of stored data or other computer problems could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results. Frequent or persistent interruptions in our cardiac monitoring services could cause permanent harm to our reputation and could cause current or potential users or prescribing physicians to believe that our systems are unreliable, leading them to switch to our competitors. Such interruptions could result in liability, claims and litigation against us for damages or injuries resulting from the disruption in service.
Our systems are also expected to be vulnerable to damage to or interruption of telecommunication services from earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunication failures, terrorist attacks, computer viruses, break-ins, sabotage, and acts of vandalism. Despite any precautions that we may take, the occurrence of a natural disaster or other unanticipated problems could result in lengthy interruptions in these services. We do not carry business interruption insurance to protect against losses that may result from interruptions in service as a result of system failures. Moreover, the communications and information technology industries are subject to rapid and significant changes, and our ability to operate and compete is dependent on our ability to update and enhance the communication technologies used in our systems and services.
Interruptions in computing and data management cloud systems could impair the delivery of our cardiac monitoring services.
The success of our cardiac monitoring services will be dependent upon our ability to perform computing functions associated with our cardiac signal processing algorithms and data management. The diagnostic and monitoring functions rely on the uninterrupted availability of third-party cloud based computational and data management services. Availability of the cloud-based infrastructure is a critical link in our ability to deliver our services and could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results. Furthermore, loss of data due to catastrophic events at the sites for these cloud based computer systems could cause permanent harm to our customers. These adverse events associated with unavailability of our cloud based computational infrastructure could result in liability, claims and litigation against us for damages or injuries resulting from the disruption in service.
Our systems are also expected to be vulnerable to damage or interruption in cloud computational services from earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, technical failures, terrorist attacks, computer viruses, break-ins, sabotage, and acts of vandalism. Despite any precautions that we may take, the occurrence of a natural disaster or other unanticipated problems could result in lengthy interruptions in these services.
We could be exposed to significant liability claims if we are unable to obtain insurance at acceptable costs and adequate levels or otherwise protect ourselves against potential product liability claims.
The testing, manufacture, marketing and sale of medical devices entail the inherent risk of liability claims or product recalls. Product liability insurance is expensive and, if available, may not be available on acceptable terms at all periods of time. A successful product liability claim or product recall could inhibit or prevent the successful commercialization of our products, cause a significant financial burden on the Company, or both, which in either case could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
We require additional capital to support our present business plan and our anticipated business growth, and such capital may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all, which would adversely affect our ability to operate.
We will require additional funds to further develop our business plan. We may choose to raise additional capital in order to expedite and propel growth more rapidly. We can give no assurance that we will be successful in raising any additional funds. We may need to raise additional funds, doing so through debt and equity offerings, in order to meet our expected future liquidity and capital requirements, including capital required for the development completion and introduction of our future products and technologies. Any such financing that we undertake will likely be dilutive to current stockholders.
We intend to continue to make investments to support our business growth, including patent or other intellectual property asset creation. In addition, we may also need additional funds to respond to business opportunities and challenges, including our ongoing operating expenses, protecting our intellectual property, satisfying debt payment obligations, developing new lines of business and enhancing our operating infrastructure. While we may need to seek additional funding for such purposes, we may not be able to obtain financing on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, the terms of our financings may be dilutive to, or otherwise adversely affect, holders of our Common Stock. We may also seek to raise additional funds through arrangements with collaborators or other third parties. We may not be able to negotiate any such arrangements on acceptable terms, if at all. If we are unable to obtain additional funding on a timely basis, we may be required to curtail or terminate some or all our business plans.
We cannot predict our future capital needs and we may not be able to secure additional financing.
We will need to raise additional funds in the future to fund our working capital needs and to fund further expansion of our business. We may require additional equity or debt financings, collaborative arrangements with corporate partners or funds from other sources for these purposes. No assurance can be given that necessary funds will be available for us to finance our development on acceptable terms, if at all. Furthermore, such additional financings may involve substantial dilution of our stockholders or may require that we relinquish rights to certain of our technologies or products. In addition, we may experience operational difficulties and delays due to working capital restrictions. If adequate funds are not available from operations or additional sources of financing, we may have to delay or scale back our growth plans.
The results of our research and development efforts are uncertain and there can be no assurance of the commercial success of our products.
We believe that we will need to incur additional research and development expenditures to continue development of our existing proposed products as well as research and development expenditures to develop new products and services. The products and services we are developing and may develop in the future may not be technologically successful. In addition, the length of our product and service development cycle may be greater than we originally expected, and we may
experience delays in product development. If our resulting products and services are not technologically successful, they may not achieve market acceptance or compete effectively with our competitors’ products and services.
If we fail to retain certain of our key personnel and attract and retain additional qualified personnel, we might not be able to pursue our growth strategy.
Our future success will depend upon the continued service of Dr. Branislav Vajdic and other members of our key management team and our technical contributors. Though no individual is indispensable, the loss of the services of these individuals could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, revenues or prospects. We do not currently maintain key man life insurance on the lives of these individuals.
We will not be profitable unless we can demonstrate that our products can be manufactured at low prices.
To date, we have focused primarily on research and development of the first versions of our software and hardware products, as well as other technologies we plan to introduce in our eco-system, and their proposed marketing and distribution. Consequently, we have little experience in manufacturing these products on a commercial basis. We plan to manufacture our products through third-party manufacturers. We can offer no assurance that either we or our manufacturing partners will develop efficient, automated, low-cost manufacturing capabilities and processes to meet the quality, price, engineering, design and production standards or production volumes required to successfully mass market our products, especially at the low-cost levels we require to absorb the cost of near free distribution of our products pursuant to our proposed business plan. Even if we or our manufacturing partners are successful in developing such manufacturing capability and processes, we do not know whether we or they will be timely in meeting our product commercialization schedule or the production and delivery requirements of potential customers. A failure to develop such manufacturing processes and capabilities could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results. If we or our suppliers fail to achieve or maintain regulatory approval of manufacturing facilities, our growth could be limited and our business could be harmed.
In order to maintain compliance with FDA and other regulatory requirements, our development and manufacturing facilities must be periodically re-evaluated and qualified under a quality system to ensure they meet production and quality standards. Suppliers of components and products used to manufacture our devices must also comply with FDA regulatory requirements, which often require significant resources and subject us and our suppliers to potential regulatory inspections and stoppages. If we or our suppliers do not maintain regulatory approval for our manufacturing operations, our business could be adversely affected.
Our dependence on a limited number of suppliers may prevent us from delivering our devices on a timely basis.
We currently rely on a limited number of suppliers of components for our prototype devices. If these suppliers became unable to provide components in the volumes needed or at an acceptable price, we would have to identify and qualify acceptable replacements from alternative sources of supply. The process of qualifying suppliers is lengthy. Delays or interruptions in the supply of our requirements could limit or stop our ability to provide sufficient quantities of devices on a timely basis or meet demand for our devices or services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely significantly on information technology and any failure, inadequacy, or security lapse of that technology,including any cybersecurity incidents, could harm us.We believe that companies have been increasingly subject to a wide variety of security incidents, cyberattacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access. These threats can come from a variety of sources, ranging in sophistication from an individual hacker to a state-sponsored attack. Cyber threats may be generic, or they may be custom-crafted against our information systems. Over the past few years, cyber-attacks have become more prevalent and much harder to detect and defend against. Several key areas of our business depend on the use of information technologies, including production, manufacturing, marketing, and logistics, as well as clinical and regulatory matters. We also utilize systems that allow for the secure storage and transmission of proprietary or confidential information regarding our customers, employees, and others, including personal information. Despite our efforts to prevent such behavior, third parties may nonetheless attempt to hack into our systems and obtain data relating to our pre-clinical studies, clinical trials, patients using our VCG technology and our telehealth ECG collection device or other information relating to us or our business. If we fail to maintain or protect our information systems and data integrity effectively, we could have problems in determining product cost estimates and establishing appropriate pricing, have difficulty preventing, detecting, and controlling fraud, have disputes with physicians, and other health care professionals, have regulatory sanctions or penalties imposed, have increases in operating expenses, incur expenses or lose revenues as a result of a data privacy breach, or suffer other adverse consequences and reputational damages. While we have invested in the protection of data and information technology, there can be no assurance that our efforts or those of our third-party
collaborators, if any, or manufacturers, to implement adequate security and quality measures for data processing would be sufficient to protect against data deterioration or loss in the event of a system malfunction, or to prevent data from being stolen or corrupted in the event of a security breach. Any such loss or breach could harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We have identified weaknesses in our internal controls, and we cannot provide assurances that these weaknesses will be effectively remediated or that additional material weaknesses will not occur in the future.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We expect that the requirements of these rules and regulations will continue to increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time consuming and costly, and place significant strain on our personnel, systems and resources.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures, and internal controls over financial reporting.
We do not yet have effective disclosure controls and procedures, or internal controls over all aspects of our financial reporting. We are continuing to develop and refine our internal controls over financial reporting. Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over our financial reporting, as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act. We will be required to expend time and resources to further improve our internal controls over financial reporting, including by expanding our staff. However, we cannot assure you that our internal control over financial reporting, as modified, will enable us to identify or avoid material weaknesses in the future.
We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. 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 financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weaknesses identified to date include (i) lack of formal risk assessment under COSO framework (ii) policies and procedures which are not adequately documented, (iii) lack of proper approval processes, review processes and documentation for such reviews, (iv) insufficient GAAP experience regarding complex transactions and ineffective review processes over period end financial disclosure and reporting and (v) insufficient segregation of duties.
We will be required to expend time and resources to further improve our internal controls over financial reporting. However, we cannot assure you that our internal control over financial reporting, as modified, will enable us to identify or avoid material weaknesses in the future.
Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. Further, weaknesses in our disclosure controls or our internal control over financial reporting may be discovered in the future. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls, or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in a restatement of our financial statements for prior periods. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could also adversely affect the results of management reports and independent registered public accounting firm audits of our internal control over financial reporting that we will eventually be required to include in our periodic reports that will be filed with the SEC. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures, and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information, which would likely have a negative effect on the market price of our common stock.
Our independent registered public accounting firm is not required to audit the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until after we are no longer an "emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act and meet other requirements. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed or operating. Any failure to maintain effective disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting could have a material and adverse effect on our business and operating results, and cause a decline in the market price of our common stock.
Risks Related to Economic Conditions
We maintain our cash at financial institutions, often in balances that exceed federally insured limits.
Our cash is held in accounts at U.S. banking institutions that we believe are of high quality. Cash held in non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing operating accounts may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) insurance limits. If such banking institutions were to fail, we could lose all or a portion of those amounts held in excess of such insurance limitations. The FDIC took control of one such banking institution, Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”), on March 10, 2023 and as a result, we stood to lose approximately $0.6 million. The FDIC also took control of Signature Bank (“Signature Bank”) on March 12, 2023 we do not hold any accounts at this bank.
The Federal Reserve on March 13, 2023 announced that account holders would not bear the loss of SVB’s collapse. Thus, we do not view the risk as material to our financial condition. However, as the FDIC continues to address the situation with SVB, Signature Bank and other similarly situated banking institutions, the risk of loss in excess of insurance limitations has generally increased. Any material loss that we may experience in the future could have an adverse effect on our ability to pay our operational expenses or make other payments and may require us to move our accounts to other banks, which could cause a temporary delay in making payments to our vendors and employees and cause other operational inconveniences.
Changes in tax laws or regulations may increase tax uncertainty and adversely affect results of our operations and our effective tax rate.
We are subject to taxes in the United States and in the future expect to be subject to certain foreign jurisdictions. Due to economic and political conditions, tax rates in various jurisdictions, including the United States, may be subject to change. Our future effective tax rates could be affected by changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities and changes in tax laws or their interpretation. In addition, we may be subject to income tax audits by various tax jurisdictions. Although we believe our income tax liabilities are reasonably estimated and accounted for in accordance with applicable laws and principles, an adverse resolution by one or more taxing authorities could have a material impact on the results of our operations.
Escalating global trade tensions, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the adoption or expansion of tariffs and trade restrictions could negatively impact us.
The current military conflict between Russia and Ukraine could lead to disruption, instability and volatility in global markets and industries that could negatively impact our operations and could adversely affect our business and/or our supply chain, business partners or customers in other countries beyond Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. government and other governments in jurisdictions in which we operate have imposed severe sanctions and export controls against Russia and Russian interests and threatened additional sanctions and controls. It is not possible to predict the broader consequences of this conflict, which could include sanctions, embargoes, regional instability, geopolitical shifts and adverse effects on macroeconomic conditions, currency exchange rates and financial markets. The impact of these measures, as well as potential responses to them by Russia, is currently unknown and they could adversely affect our business, supply chain, partners or customers. More specifically, while it is difficult to anticipate the impact the sanctions announced to date may have on our Research and Development team is largely based in Belgrade, Serbia any further sanctions imposed or actions taken by the U.S. or other countries, and any retaliatory measures by Russia in response, such as restrictions on energy supplies from Russia to countries in the region, could increase our costs, reduce our sales and earnings or otherwise have an adverse effect on our operations.
Natural disasters and other events beyond our control could materially adversely affect us.
Natural disasters or other catastrophic events may cause damage or disruption to our operations, international commerce and the global economy, and thus could have a strong negative effect on us. Our business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, fire, power shortages, pandemics and other events beyond our control. Such events could make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver our products and services to our customers and could decrease demand for our products and services.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to present operational, health, labor, logistics and other challenges, and it is difficult to assess the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, financial condition and cash flows.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic in 2020. Based on current COVID-19 trends, the Department of Health and Human Services is planning for the federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19, declared under Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, to expire at the end of the day on May 11, 2023.
There are many variables and uncertainties regarding the COVID -19 pandemic, including the emergence, contagiousness and threat of new and different strains of the virus and their severity; the effectiveness of treatments or vaccines against the virus or its new strains; travel restrictions, business closures and other measures that are or may be imposed in affected areas or countries by governmental authorities; disruptions in the supply chain; an increasingly competitive labor market due to a sustained labor shortage or increased turnover caused by the COVID -19 pandemic; increased logistics costs; additional costs due to remote working arrangements, adherence to social distancing guidelines and other COVID-19 related challenges. Further, there remain increased risks of cyberattacks on information technology systems used in remote working environment; increased privacy-related risks due to processing health-related personal information; absence of workforce due to illness; and other factors that are currently unknown or considered immaterial. It is difficult to assess the ultimate impact of the COVID -19 pandemic on our business, financial condition and cash flows.
Risks Related to Our Industry
The industry in which we operate is highly competitive and subject to rapid technological change. If our competitors are better able to develop and market products that are safer, more effective, less costly, easier to use, or are otherwise more attractive, we may be unable to compete effectively with other companies.
The medical technology industry is characterized by intense competition and rapid technological change, and we will face competition on the basis of product features, clinical outcomes, price, services and other factors. Competitors may include large medical device and other companies, some of which have significantly greater financial and marketing resources than we do, and firms that are more specialized than we are with respect to particular markets. Our competition may respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies, undertake more extensive marketing campaigns, have greater financial, marketing and other resources than ours or may be more successful in attracting potential customers, employees and strategic partners.
Our competitive position will depend on multiple, complex factors, including our ability to achieve regulatory clearance and market acceptance for our products, develop new products, implement production and marketing plans, secure regulatory approvals for products under development and protect our intellectual property. In some instances, competitors may also offer, or may attempt to develop, alternative systems that may be delivered without a medical device or with a medical device superior to ours. The development of new or improved products, processes or technologies by other companies may render our products or proposed products obsolete or less competitive. The entry into the market of manufacturers located in low-cost manufacturing locations may also create pricing pressure, particularly in developing markets. Our future success depends, among other things, upon our ability to compete effectively against current technology, as well as to respond effectively to technological advances or changing regulatory requirements, and upon our ability to successfully implement our marketing strategies and execute our research and development plan. Our research and development efforts are aimed, in part, at solving increasingly complex problems, as well as creating new technologies, and we do not expect that all of our projects will be successful. If our research and development efforts are unsuccessful, our future results of operations could be materially harmed.
We face competition from other medical device companies that focus on similar markets.
We face competition from other companies that have longer operating histories and may have greater name recognition and substantially greater financial, technical and marketing resources than us. Many of these companies also have FDA or other applicable governmental approval to market and sell their products, and more extensive customer bases, broader customer relationships and broader industry alliances than us, including relationships with many of our potential customers. Increased competition from any of these sources could result in our failure to achieve and maintain an adequate level of customers and market share to support the cost of our operations.
Unsuccessful clinical trials or procedures relating to products under development could have a material adverse effect on our prospects.
The regulatory approval process for new products and new indications for existing products requires extensive clinical trials and procedures, including early clinical experiences and regulatory studies. Unfavorable or inconsistent clinical data from current or future clinical trials or procedures conducted by us, our competitors, or third parties, or perceptions regarding this clinical data, could adversely affect our ability to obtain necessary approvals and the market’s view of our future prospects. Such clinical trials and procedures are inherently uncertain and there can be no assurance that these trials or procedures will be completed in a timely or cost- effective manner or result in a commercially viable product. Failure to successfully complete these trials or procedures in a timely and cost-effective manner could have a material adverse effect on our prospects. Clinical trials or procedures may experience significant setbacks even after earlier trials have shown promising results. Further, preliminary results from clinical trials or procedures may be contradicted by subsequent clinical
analysis. In addition, results from our already completed clinical trials or procedures may not be supported by actual long-term studies or clinical experience. If preliminary clinical results are later contradicted, or if initial results cannot be supported by actual long-term studies or clinical experience, our business could be adversely affected. Clinical trials or procedures may be suspended or terminated by us, the FDA or other regulatory authorities at any time if it is believed that the trial participants face unacceptable health risks.
Intellectual property litigation and infringement claims could cause us to incur significant expenses or prevent us from selling certain of our products.
The medical device industry in which we operate is characterized by extensive intellectual property litigation and, from time to time, we might be the subject of claims by third parties of potential infringement or misappropriation. Regardless of outcome, such claims are expensive to defend and divert the time and effort of our management and operating personnel from other business issues. A successful claim or claims of patent or other intellectual property infringement against us could result in our payment of significant monetary damages and/or royalty payments, or it could negatively impact our ability to sell current or future products in the affected category and could have a material adverse effect on business, cash flows, financial condition or results of operations.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.
In addition to obtaining intellectual property protections we rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information, to maintain our competitive position. We will seek to protect these trade secrets, in part, by entering into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors and other third parties. We will seek to protect our confidential proprietary information, in part, by entering into confidentiality and invention or intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees and consultants. Moreover, to the extent we enter into such agreements, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor, our competitive position would be harmed. In general, any loss of trade secret protection or other unpatented proprietary rights could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If we are unable to protect our proprietary rights, or if we infringe on the proprietary rights of others, our competitiveness and business prospects may be materially damaged.
We have filed for and were granted a number of utility patents in the U.S as well as through PCT covering international markets. We will continue to seek patent protection for our inventions and may seek patent protection for our proprietary designs if warranted. Seeking patent protection is a lengthy and costly process, and there can be no assurance that patents will be issued from any pending applications, or that any claims allowed from existing or pending patents will be sufficiently broad or strong to protect our designs or our proprietary technology. There is also no guarantee that any patents we hold will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, or that the patent rights granted will provide competitive advantages to us. Our competitors have developed and may continue to develop and obtain patents for technologies that are similar or superior to our technologies. In addition, the laws of foreign jurisdictions in which we develop, manufacture or sell our products may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent, as do the laws the United States.
Adverse outcomes in legal disputes regarding patent and other intellectual property rights could result in the loss of our intellectual property rights, subject us to significant liabilities to third parties, require us to seek licenses from third parties on terms that may not be reasonable or favorable to us, prevent us from manufacturing, importing or selling our products, or compel us to redesign our products to avoid infringing third parties’ intellectual property. As a result, we may be required to incur substantial costs to prosecute, enforce or defend our intellectual property rights if they are challenged. Any of these circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and resources or results of operations.
Dependence on our proprietary rights and failing to protect such rights or to be successful in litigation related to such rights may result in our payment of significant monetary damages or impact offerings in our product portfolios.
Our long-term success largely depends on our ability to market technologically competitive products. If we fail to obtain or maintain adequate intellectual property protection, we may not be able to prevent third parties from using our proprietary technologies or may lose access to technologies critical to our products. Also, our currently pending industrial design patent or any future patents applications may not result in issued patents, and issued patents are subject to claims concerning priority, scope and other issues.
Furthermore, to the extent we do not file applications for patents domestically or internationally, we may not be able to prevent third parties from using our proprietary technologies or may lose access to technologies critical to our products in other countries.
Enforcement of federal and state laws regarding privacy and security of patient information may adversely affect our business, financial condition or operations.
The use and disclosure of certain health care information by health care providers and their business associates have come under increasing public scrutiny. Recent federal standards under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, establish rules concerning how individually-identifiable health information may be used, disclosed and protected. Historically, state law has governed confidentiality issues, and HIPAA preserves these laws to the extent they are more protective of a patient’s privacy or provide the patient with more access to his or her health information. As a result of the implementation of the HIPAA regulations, many states are considering revisions to their existing laws and regulations that may or may not be more stringent or burdensome than the federal HIPAA provisions. We must operate our business in a manner that complies with all applicable laws, both federal and state, and that does not jeopardize the ability of our customers to comply with all applicable laws. We believe that our operations are consistent with these legal standards. Nevertheless, these laws and regulations present risks for health care providers and their business associates that provide services to patients in multiple states. Because these laws and regulations are recent, and few have been interpreted by government regulators or courts, our interpretations of these laws and regulations may be incorrect. If a challenge to our activities is successful, it could have an adverse effect on our operations, may require us to forego relationships with customers in certain states and may restrict the territory available to us to expand our business. In addition, even if our interpretations of HIPAA and other federal and state laws and regulations are correct, we could be held liable for unauthorized uses or disclosures of patient information as a result of inadequate systems and controls to protect this information or as a result of the theft of information by unauthorized computer programmers who penetrate our network security. Enforcement of these laws against us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may become subject, directly or indirectly, to federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws and regulations and if we are unable to fully comply with such laws, the Company could face substantial penalties.
Although not affected at this time, our operations may in the future become directly or indirectly affected by various broad state and federal health care fraud and abuse laws, including the Federal Healthcare Programs’ Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark law, which among other things, prohibits a physician from referring Medicare and Medicaid patients to an entity with which the physician has a financial relationship, subject to certain exceptions. If our future operations are found to be in violation of these laws, we or our officers may be subject to civil or criminal penalties, including large monetary penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment and exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid program participation. If enforcement action were to occur, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected.
We may be subject to federal and state false claims laws which impose substantial penalties.
Many of the physicians and patients whom we expect to use our services will file claims for reimbursement with government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. As a result, we may be subject to the federal False Claims Act if we knowingly “cause” the filing of false claims. Violations may result in substantial civil penalties, including treble damages. The federal False Claims Act also contains “whistleblower” or “qui tam” provisions that allow private individuals to bring actions on behalf of the government alleging that the defendant has defrauded the government. In recent years, the number of suits brought in the medical industry by private individuals has increased dramatically. Various states have enacted laws modeled after the federal False Claims Act, including “qui tam” provisions, and some of these laws apply to claims filed with commercial insurers. We are unable to predict whether we could be subject to actions under the federal False Claims Act, or the impact of such actions. However, the costs of defending claims under the False Claims Act, as well as sanctions imposed under the False Claims Act, could adversely affect our results of operations.
Risks Related To Common Stock
The price of our Common Stock and Warrants may be subject to wide fluctuations.
A consistently active trading market for our Common Stock and Warrants does not exist and may not develop or be maintained. You may not be able to sell your shares quickly or at the current market price if trading in our stock is not active. You may lose all or a part of your investment. The market price of our Common Stock and Warrants may be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to a variety of factors and risks, many of which are beyond our control. In addition to the risks noted elsewhere in this prospectus, some of the other factors affecting our stock price may include:
•variations in our operating results;
•announcements by us or our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;
•announcements by third parties of significant claims or proceedings against us;
•future sales of our Common Stock or other equity securities;
•any delay in our regulatory filings for our product and any adverse development or perceived adverse development with respect to the applicable regulatory authority’s review of such filings, including without limitation the FDA’s issuance of a “refusal to file” letter or a request for additional information;
•adverse results or delays in clinical trials;
•our decision to initiate a clinical trial, not to initiate a clinical trial or to terminate an existing clinical trial;
•adverse regulatory decisions, including failure to receive regulatory approval of our product;
•changes in laws or regulations applicable to our products, including but not limited to clinical trial requirements for approvals;
•adverse developments concerning our manufacturers;
•our inability to obtain adequate product supply for any approved product or inability to do so at acceptable prices;
•our inability to establish collaborations if needed;
•additions or departures of key scientific or management personnel;
•introduction of new products or services offered by us or our competitors;
•announcements of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments by us or our competitors;
•our ability to effectively manage our growth;
•the size and growth of our initial target markets;
•our ability to successfully treat additional types of indications or at different stages;
•actual or anticipated variations in annual and quarterly operating results;
•our cash position;
•our failure to meet the estimates and projections of the investment community or that we may otherwise provide to the public;
•publication of research reports about us or our industry, or positive or negative recommendations or withdrawal of research coverage by securities analysts;
•changes in the market valuations of similar companies;
•overall performance of the equity markets;
•sales of our Common Stock by our stockholders in the future;
•trading volume of our Common Stock;
•changes in accounting practices;
•ineffectiveness of our internal controls;
•disputes or other developments relating to proprietary rights, including patents, litigation matters and our ability to obtain patent protection for our or our licensee’s technologies;
•significant lawsuits, including patent or stockholder litigation;
•general political and economic conditions, including war and its unknown impact on our Serbia development team; and
•other events or factors, many of which are beyond our control.
We are an “emerging growth company,” and any decision on our part to comply with certain reduced disclosure requirements
We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act, and, for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may choose to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies including, but (i) not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (ii) not being required to comply with any new requirements adopted by the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”), requiring mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report in which the auditor would be required to provide additional information about the audit and the financial statements of the issuer, (iii) not being required to comply with any new audit rules adopted by the PCAOB after April 5, 2012 unless the SEC determines otherwise, (iv) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and (v) exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
We could remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of: (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenues of $1.24 billion or more; (ii) the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of our first sale of common equity securities pursuant to an effective registration statement; (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in nonconvertible debt during the previous three years; or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer. We cannot predict if investors will find our securities less attractive if we choose to rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of any choices to reduce future disclosure, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and our stock price may be more volatile. Further, as a result of these scaled regulatory requirements, our disclosure may be more limited than that of other public companies and you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of such companies.
Section 107 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 (the “Securities Act”), for complying with new or revised accounting standards. We have opted for taking advantage of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards pursuant to Section 107(b) of the Jobs Act.
Future sales and issuances of our Common Stock or rights to purchase Common Stock, including pursuant to our equity incentive plans and other equity securities could result in dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our stock price to fall.
We expect that significant additional capital may be needed in the future to continue our planned operations, including conducting clinical trials, commercialization efforts, expanded research and development activities and costs associated with operating a public company. To raise capital, we may sell Common Stock or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. If we sell Common Stock or other equity securities, investors may be materially diluted by subsequent sales. Such sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights, preferences and privileges senior to the holders of our Common Stock. Our Certificate of Incorporation authorizes the issuance of 100,000,000 shares of Common Stock and 10,000,000 shares of Preferred Stock. Initially, the aggregate number of shares of our Common Stock that may be issued pursuant to stock awards under our 2022 Equity Incentive Plan (“2022 Plan”) is 1,900,000 shares. As of December 31, 2022, there are 747,364 shares available for issuance under the 2022 Plan. The number of shares available for issuance under the 2022 Plan will be increased on the first day of each fiscal year beginning with the 2023 fiscal year by five percent (5%) of the total number of shares of common stock outstanding on the last day of the immediately preceding fiscal year as defined in the Plan. Further increases in the number of shares available for future grant or purchase may result in additional dilution, which could cause our stock price to decline.
Nasdaq Capital Market, may delist our Common Stock if we fail to comply with ongoing listing standards.
Nasdaq Capital Market requires us to meet certain financial, public float, bid price and liquidity standards on an ongoing basis in order to continue the listing of our Common Stock and Warrants. If we fail to meet these continued listing requirements, our Common Stock or Warrants may be subject to delisting. If our Common Stock or Warrants are delisted and we are not able to list such Common Stock and Warrants on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities would be quoted on an over-the-counter market; However, if this were to occur, our stockholders could face significant material adverse consequences, including limited availability of market quotations for our Common Stock and Warrants and reduced liquidity for the trading of our securities. In addition, in the event of such delisting, we could experience a decreased ability to issue additional securities and obtain additional financing in the future.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our Common Stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our stock or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price may decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our Company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which might cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.
Our need for future financing may result in the issuance of additional securities which will cause investors to experience dilution.
Our cash requirements may vary from those now planned depending upon numerous factors, including the result of future research and development activities, our ability to estimate future expenses and acceptance of our products in the market.
There are no significant commitments for future financing of the commercial phase of our telehealth Product and other future products. In the future, our securities may be offered to other investors at a price lower than the price per share paid by our investors, or upon terms which may be deemed more favorable than previously offered. In addition, the issuance of securities in any future financing using our securities may dilute an investor’s equity ownership. Moreover, we may issue other equity securities with derivative features to procure qualified personnel or for other business reasons. The issuance of any such derivative securities, which is at the discretion of our board of directors, may further dilute the equity ownership of our stockholders, including the investors in this offering. No assurance can be given as to our ability to procure additional financing, if required, and on terms deemed favorable to us. To the extent additional capital is required and cannot be raised successfully, we may then have to limit our then current operations and/or may have to curtail certain, if not all, of our business objectives and plans.
If our shares become subject to the penny stock rules, it would become more difficult to trade our shares.
The SEC has adopted regulations, which generally define “penny stock” to be an equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to specific exemptions. The market price of our Common Stock is less than $5.00 per share and therefore may be a “penny stock.” Brokers and dealers effecting transactions in “penny stock” must disclose certain information concerning the transaction, obtain a written agreement from the purchaser and determine that the purchaser is reasonably suitable to purchase the securities. These rules may restrict the ability of brokers or dealers to sell our Common Stock and may affect your ability to sell shares of our Common Stock in the future.
Liability of directors for breach of duty is limited under Delaware law.
Our certificate of incorporation limits the liability of directors to the maximum extent permitted by Delaware law. Delaware law provides that directors of a corporation will not be personally liable for monetary damages for breach of their fiduciary duties as directors, except for liability for any:
•breach of their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders;
•act or omission not in good faith or that involves 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 Delaware General Corporation Law; or
•transaction from which the directors derived an improper personal benefit.
These limitations of liability do not apply to liabilities arising under the federal or state securities laws and do not affect the availability of equitable remedies such as injunctive relief or rescission.
Our bylaws provide that we will indemnify for our directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by law, and may indemnify employees and other agents. Our bylaws also provide that we are obligated to advance expenses incurred by a director or officer in advance of the final disposition of any action or proceeding.
We entered into separate indemnification agreements with our directors and officers. These agreements, among other things, require us to indemnify our directors and officers for any and all expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees, retainers, court costs, transcript costs, fees of experts, witness fees, travel expenses, duplicating costs, printing and binding costs, telephone charges, postage, delivery service fees) judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such directors or officers or on his or her behalf in connection with any action or proceeding arising out of their services as one of our directors or officers, or any of our subsidiaries or any other company or enterprise to which the person provides services at our request provided that such person follows the procedures for determining entitlement to indemnification and advancement of expenses set forth in the indemnification agreement. We believe that these bylaw provisions and indemnification agreements are necessary to attract and retain qualified persons as directors and officers.
The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions in our certificate of incorporation and 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 provide a
benefit to us and our stockholders. Our results of operations and financial condition may be harmed to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
In so far as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling us, we have been informed that, in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.
At present, there is no pending litigation or proceeding involving any of our directors or officers as to which indemnification is required or permitted, and we are not aware of any threatened litigation or proceeding that may result in a claim for indemnification.
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 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.