ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
We operate in an environment that involves a number of significant risks and uncertainties. We caution you to read the following risk factors, which have affected, and/or in the future could affect, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition. The risks described below include forward-looking statements, and actual events and our actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition. Furthermore, additional risks and uncertainties are described under other captions in this report and should also be considered by our investors. For purposes of this section, references to our products encompass products marketed by us and/or our collaborators under our collaboration agreements with them, unless otherwise stated or required by the context.
Risks Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Our business may be further adversely affected by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, causing a disease referred to as COVID-19, was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China. It has since spread around the world, including the United States; and, in March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. This pandemic has adversely affected or has the potential to adversely affect, among other things, the economic and financial markets and labor resources of the countries in which we operate; our manufacturing and supply chain operations, research and development efforts, commercial operations and sales force, administrative personnel, third-party service providers, and business partners and customers; and the demand for our marketed products.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in travel and other restrictions to reduce the spread of the disease, including governmental orders across the globe, which, among other things, direct individuals to shelter at their places of residence, direct businesses and governmental agencies to cease non-essential operations at physical locations, prohibit certain non-essential gatherings, maintain social distancing, and order cessation of non-essential travel. As a result of these developments, we have implemented work-from-home policies for a significant part of our employees (except those deemed critical, including those working in our laboratories and manufacturing facilities). The effects of shelter-in-place and social distancing orders, government-imposed quarantines, and work-from-home policies may further negatively impact productivity, disrupt our business, and delay our clinical programs and development timelines beyond the delays we have already experienced and
disclosed, the magnitude of which will depend, in part, on the length and severity of the restrictions and other limitations on our ability to conduct our business in the ordinary course. Such restrictions and limitations may also further negatively impact our access to regulatory authorities (which are affected, among other things, by applicable travel restrictions and may be delayed in responding to inquiries, reviewing filings, and conducting inspections); our ability to perform regularly scheduled quality checks and maintenance; and our ability to obtain services from third-party specialty vendors and other providers or to access their expertise as fully and timely as needed. The COVID-19 pandemic may also result in the loss of some of our key personnel, either temporarily or permanently. In addition, our sales and marketing efforts have been negatively impacted and may be further negatively impacted by postponement or cancellation of face-to-face meetings and restrictions on access by non-essential personnel to hospitals or clinics to the extent such measures slow down adoption or further commercialization of our marketed products. The demand for our marketed products may also be adversely impacted by the restrictions and limitations adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly to the extent they affect the patients' ability or willingness to start or continue treatment with our marketed products. Any of the foregoing factors may result in lower net product sales of our marketed products. For example, net product sales of EYLEA in the United States decreased for the three months ended June 30, 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, due in part to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. See Part I, Item 2. "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Results of Operations" for a discussion of our net product sales. Demand for some or all of our marketed products may continue to be reduced while the shelter-in-place or social distancing orders are in effect and, as a result, some of our inventory may become obsolete and may need to be written off, impacting our operating results. These and similar, and perhaps more severe, disruptions in our operations may materially adversely impact our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Quarantines, shelter-in-place, social distancing, and similar government orders (or the perception that such orders, shutdowns, or other restrictions on the conduct of business operations could occur) related to COVID-19 or other infectious diseases are impacting personnel at our research and manufacturing facilities, our suppliers, and other third parties on which we rely, and are also impacting the availability or cost of materials produced by or purchased from such parties, resulting in supply chain strains or disruptions that may become material. While some materials may be obtained from more than one supplier, port closures and other restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic could materially disrupt our supply chain or limit our ability to obtain sufficient materials for the production, including fill/finish, of our products and development of our product candidates as well as our research efforts. If microbial, viral (including COVID-19), or other contaminations are discovered in our products, product candidates, the materials used for their production, or in our facilities, or in the facilities of our collaborators, third-party contract manufacturers, or other contractors or suppliers, the affected facilities may need to be closed or may otherwise be affected for an extended period of time, or the contamination may result in other delays or disruptions in our direct or indirect supply chain.
In addition, infections and deaths related to COVID-19 have disrupted and may continue to disrupt the United States' healthcare and healthcare regulatory systems. Such disruptions could divert healthcare resources away from, or materially delay, FDA review and potential approval of our product candidates and new indications for our marketed products. It is unknown how long these disruptions could continue. In addition, some of our clinical trials have been and may continue to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This impact includes delays in site initiation and patient enrollment due to prioritization of hospital resources toward the COVID-19 pandemic and patients' inability to comply with clinical trial protocols if quarantines impede patient movement or interrupt healthcare services. Similarly, our ability to recruit and retain patients and principal investigators and site staff who, as healthcare providers, may have heightened exposure to COVID-19, has been and may continue to be delayed or disrupted. For example, as noted above in Part I, Item 2. "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Overview - Programs in Clinical Development," we experienced an initial adverse impact on enrollment into new clinical studies and recruitment of new patients into open studies. While enrollment in both new and ongoing clinical studies started to resume as regions relaxed their restrictions and healthcare resources started to become more available for non-COVID-19 activities, there has been a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in many regions across the world, and any resurgence in the regions in which we or our collaborators conduct clinical trials may require our expectations relating to the impacted studies to adjust. We will continue to evaluate the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on an individual trial basis. The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may further negatively impact the progress of our clinical trials, including the readouts of trial results. Further, while we are focused on developing novel therapies to address the COVID-19 pandemic, our research programs and the development of our other product candidates may need to be further de-prioritized. Any elongation or de-prioritization of our research and development programs and clinical trials or delay in regulatory review resulting from such disruptions could materially affect the development and study of our product candidates, which would increase our operating expenses and may have a material adverse effect on our operating results.
The U.S. Government may exercise or assert certain rights with respect to our inventions, products, or product candidates. For example, under the Defense Production Act, the U.S. Government may, among other things, require domestic industries to provide essential goods and services needed for the national defense, such as drug material or other supplies needed to treat COVID-19 patients, which could require us to allocate manufacturing capacity in a way that impacts our regular operations. In addition, our agreements with the U.S. Government contain provisions granting the U.S. Government certain rights relating to products, product candidates, and related inventions (as applicable) covered by those agreements. For example, in July 2020, we entered into an agreement to manufacture and deliver REGN-COV2 to the U.S. Government over the remainder of 2020.
Among other rights, this agreement gives the U.S. Government the right to require us to grant a non-exclusive license to applicable inventions to a third party if such action is deemed necessary to alleviate certain health or safety needs. This right may be triggered if we, for example, do not manufacture or supply sufficient product to address such needs. If the U.S. Government exercises or asserts any such rights or imposes these or similar measures with respect to our products, product candidates, or related inventions (including REGN-COV2), it may adversely impact our business and results of operations. Foreign governments (including the government of Ireland, where we have manufacturing facilities) may have similar rights or attempt to assert any such rights.
While the potential economic impact brought by, and the duration of, the COVID-19 pandemic may be difficult to assess or predict, it recently caused significant disruption of global financial markets and could cause more economic disruption in the future. This disruption, if sustained or recurrent, could make it more difficult for us to access capital if needed. In addition, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of COVID-19 could materially affect our business and the value of our Common Stock.
The global COVID-19 pandemic continues to rapidly evolve. The ultimate impact of this pandemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. We do not yet know the full extent of potential delays or impacts on our business, our clinical trials, healthcare systems, or the global economy as a whole. These effects could have a material impact on our operations.
To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business, prospects, operating results, or financial condition, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this "Risk Factors" section.
Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Marketed Products, Product Candidates, and New Indications for Our Marketed Products
We are substantially dependent on the success of EYLEA and Dupixent.
EYLEA net sales represent a substantial portion of our revenues and this concentration of our net sales in a single product makes us substantially dependent on that product. For the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, EYLEA net sales in the United States represented 60% and 76% of our total revenues, respectively. If we were to experience difficulty with the commercialization of EYLEA in the United States or if Bayer were to experience any difficulty with the commercialization of EYLEA outside the United States (including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic discussed above), or if we and Bayer are unable to maintain current marketing approvals of EYLEA, we may experience a reduction in revenue and may not be able to sustain profitability, and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition would be materially harmed.
In addition, we have been increasingly dependent on our share of profits from the commercialization of Dupixent under our Antibody Collaboration with Sanofi. If we or Sanofi were to experience any difficulty with the commercialization of Dupixent or if we or Sanofi are unable to maintain current marketing approvals of Dupixent, we may experience a reduction in revenue and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition would be materially harmed.
If we or our collaborators are unable to continue to successfully commercialize our products, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition will be materially harmed.
We expect that the degree of commercial success of our marketed products will continue to depend on many factors, including the following (as applicable):
•the continued impact of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that has caused the COVID-19 pandemic) on our business and the demand for our marketed products, as well as its continued impact on, among other things, our employees, collaborators, suppliers, and other third parties on which we rely, our ability to continue to manage our supply chain, and the global economy (as further discussed above under "Risks Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic - Our business may be further adversely affected by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic");
•effectiveness of the commercial strategy in and outside the United States for the marketing of our products, including pricing strategy;
•sufficient coverage of, and reimbursement for, our marketed products by third-party payors, including Medicare and Medicaid in the United States and other government and private payors in the United States and foreign jurisdictions, as well as U.S. and foreign payor restrictions on eligible patient populations and the reimbursement process (including drug price control measures that may be introduced in the United States by various federal and state authorities);
•our ability and our collaborators' ability to maintain sales of our marketed products in the face of competitive products and to differentiate our marketed products from competitive products, including as applicable product candidates currently in clinical development; and, in the case of EYLEA, the existing and potential new competition for EYLEA (discussed further under "The commercial success of our products and product candidates is subject to significant competition - Marketed Products" below) and the willingness of retinal specialists and patients to start or continue treatment with EYLEA or to switch from another product to EYLEA;
•serious complications or side effects in connection with the use of our marketed products, as discussed under "Risks Related to Maintaining Approval of Our Marketed Products and the Development and Obtaining Approval of Our Product Candidates and New Indications for Our Marketed Products - Serious complications or side effects in connection with the use of our products and in clinical trials for our product candidates and new indications for our marketed products could cause our regulatory approvals to be revoked or limited or lead to delay or discontinuation of development of our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products, which could severely harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition" below;
•maintaining and successfully monitoring commercial manufacturing arrangements for our marketed products with third parties who perform fill/finish or other steps in the manufacture of such products to ensure that they meet our standards and those of regulatory authorities, including the FDA, which extensively regulate and monitor pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities;
•our ability to meet the demand for commercial supplies of our marketed products;
•the outcome of the pending patent infringement proceedings relating to Dupixent and Praluent (described further in Note 12 to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report), as well as other risks relating to our marketed products associated with intellectual property of other parties and pending or future litigation relating thereto (as discussed under "Risks Related to Intellectual Property and Market Exclusivity" below);
•the outcome of the pending government proceedings and investigations described in Note 12 to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report (including the civil complaint filed against us on June 24, 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts);
•the results of post-approval studies, whether conducted by us or by others and whether mandated by regulatory agencies or voluntary, and studies of other products that could implicate an entire class of products or are perceived to do so; and
•the effect of existing and new health care laws and regulations currently being considered or implemented in the United States, including price reporting and other disclosure requirements of such laws and regulations and the potential impact of such requirements on physician prescribing practices and payor coverage.
More detailed information about the risks related to the commercialization of our marketed products is provided in the risk factors below.
We and our collaborators are subject to significant ongoing regulatory obligations and oversight with respect to the products we or our collaborators commercialize. If we or our collaborators fail to maintain regulatory compliance for any of such products, the applicable marketing approval may be withdrawn, which would materially harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
We and our collaborators are subject to significant ongoing regulatory obligations and oversight with respect to the products we or they commercialize for the products' currently approved indications in the United States, EU, and other countries where such products are approved. If we or our collaborators fail to maintain regulatory compliance for such products' currently approved indications (including because the product does not meet the relevant endpoints of any required post-approval studies, or for any of the reasons discussed below under "Risks Related to Maintaining Approval of Our Marketed Products and the Development and Obtaining Approval of Our Product Candidates and New Indications for Our Marketed Products - Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval for drug products is costly, time-consuming, and highly uncertain"), the applicable marketing approval may be withdrawn, which would materially harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition. Failure to comply may also subject us to sanctions, product recalls, or withdrawals of previously approved marketing applications. See also "Risks Related to Manufacturing and Supply - Our or our collaborators' failure to meet the stringent requirements of governmental regulation in the manufacture of drug products or product candidates could result in incurring substantial remedial costs, delays in the development or approval of our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products and/or in their commercial launch if they obtain regulatory approval, and a reduction in sales" below.
Sales of our marketed products are dependent on the availability and extent of reimbursement from third-party payors, and changes to such reimbursement may materially harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
Sales of our marketed products in the United States are dependent, in large part, on the availability and extent of reimbursement from third-party payors, including private payor healthcare and insurance programs, health maintenance organizations, pharmacy benefit management companies, and government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Sales of our marketed products in other countries are dependent, in large part, on similar reimbursement mechanisms and programs in those countries.
Our future revenues and profitability will be adversely affected in a material manner if such third-party payors do not adequately defray or reimburse the cost of our marketed products to patients. If these entities do not provide coverage and reimbursement with respect to our marketed products or provide an insufficient level of coverage and reimbursement, such products may be too costly for many patients to afford them, and physicians may not prescribe them. Many third-party payors cover only selected drugs, or may prefer selected drugs, making drugs that are not covered or preferred by such payors more expensive for patients. Third-party payors may also require prior authorization for reimbursement, or require failure on another type of treatment before covering a particular drug, particularly with respect to higher-priced drugs. As our currently marketed products and product candidates are biologics, bringing them to market may cost more than bringing traditional, small-molecule drugs to market due to the complexity associated with the research, development, production, supply, and regulatory review of such products. Given cost sensitivities in many health care systems (which will likely be exacerbated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), our currently marketed products and product candidates are likely to be subject to continued pricing pressures, which may have an adverse impact on our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
In addition, in order for private insurance and governmental payors (such as Medicare and Medicaid in the United States) to reimburse the cost of our marketed products, we must maintain, among other things, our FDA registration and our National Drug Code, formulary approval by pharmacy benefits managers, and recognition by insurance companies and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (the "CMS"). There is no certainty that we will be able to obtain or maintain the applicable requirements for reimbursement (including relevant formulary coverage, as discussed further below) of our current and future marketed products, which may have a material adverse effect on our business.
Government and other third-party payors (including pharmacy benefit management companies) are challenging the prices charged for healthcare products and increasingly limiting, and attempting to limit, both coverage and level of reimbursement for prescription drugs, such as by requiring outcomes-based or other pay-for-performance pricing arrangements. They are also imposing restrictions on eligible patient populations and the reimbursement process, including by means of required prior authorizations and utilization management criteria, such as step therapy (i.e., requiring the use of less costly medications before more costly medications are approved for coverage). Some states are also considering legislation that would control the prices and reimbursement of prescription drugs, and state Medicaid programs are increasingly requesting manufacturers to pay supplemental rebates and requiring prior authorization by the state program for use of any prescription drug for which supplemental rebates are not being paid. It is likely that federal and state legislatures and health agencies will continue to focus on additional health care reform measures in the future that will impose additional constraints on prices and reimbursements for our marketed products; this trend may be further accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Further, there have been several recent U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed federal and state legislation and policies designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, review the relationship between pricing and
manufacturer patient programs, reduce the out-of-pocket cost of prescription drugs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drugs. At the federal level, some of the Trump administration's prior budget proposals contained drug price control measures that may be included in future legislation, including, for example, measures to permit Medicare Part D plans to negotiate the price of certain drugs under Medicare Part B (such as EYLEA); to allow some states to negotiate drug prices under Medicaid; and to eliminate cost sharing for generic drugs for low-income patients. Additionally, on May 11, 2018, President Trump laid out his administration's "Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices and Reduce Out-of-Pocket Costs" to reduce the cost of prescription drugs while preserving innovation and cures. The Department of Health and Human Services has been soliciting feedback on some of these measures and may implement others impacting our business under its existing authority. CMS has also recently sought public comment on how best to leverage its authority provided under the Competitive Acquisition Program and introduce competition into Medicare Part B by allowing CMS to bring on vendors to negotiate payment amounts for Medicare Part B drugs. In addition, since January 1, 2019, CMS has allowed Medicare Advantage ("MA") plans to use step therapy for Part B drugs (such as EYLEA). On October 25, 2018, President Trump announced that CMS was evaluating a program that proposes to set the Medicare payment amount for Part B single-source drugs and biologics to more closely align with international drug prices (also referred to as reference or international price index ("IPI") drug pricing) and pay physicians and hospitals participating in such program a set drug add-on payment for administered drugs. CMS also issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that requested public comment on the proposed program, which is contemplated to initially cover fifty percent of Medicare Part B spending on separately payable Part B drugs (such as EYLEA), with the IPI-based price for each such drug to be phased in over a period of five years; notice of proposed rulemaking on this program is pending review by the Office of Management and Budget. In addition, in July 2019, President Trump indicated that his administration was considering an executive order to establish a "most favored nation" pricing plan; and, in July 2020, President Trump announced that an executive order (the text of which is not yet available) utilizing a "most favored nation" pricing mechanism and/or potentially other drug-pricing measures could go into effect in late August 2020 unless an alternative proposal that substantially reduces drug prices is advanced by the pharmaceutical industry. While the scope and details of these contemplated executive actions (including whether and how their mechanism may differ from that of the proposed IPI drug pricing program discussed above) are not clear, this continues to signal that the U.S. administration intends to pursue new measures to constrain drug costs and Medicare payments for drugs. Similarly, various members of the current U.S. Congress and 2020 presidential candidates have indicated that lowering drug prices continues to be a legislative and political priority, and some have introduced proposals aimed at drug pricing. At the state level, legislatures are becoming increasingly aggressive in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access, and price and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures. In some cases, these measures are designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. A reduction in the availability or extent of reimbursement from U.S. government programs (including as a result of the proposals, initiatives, and developments described above) could have a material adverse effect on the sales of EYLEA or our other marketed products. Economic pressure on state budgets may also have a similar impact.
In addition, pharmacy benefit management companies often develop formularies to reduce their cost for medications. The breadth of the products covered by formularies varies considerably from one pharmacy benefit management company to another. Failure to be included in such formularies or to achieve favorable formulary status may negatively impact the utilization and market share of our marketed products. If our marketed products are not included within an adequate number of formularies, adequate reimbursement levels are not provided, the eligible insured patient population for our products is limited, or a key payor refuses to provide reimbursement for our products in a particular jurisdiction altogether, this could have a material adverse effect on our and our collaborators' ability to commercialize the applicable product.
In certain foreign countries, pricing, coverage, and level of reimbursement of prescription drugs are subject to governmental control, and we and our collaborators may be unable to obtain coverage, pricing, and/or reimbursement on terms that are favorable to us or necessary for us or our collaborators to successfully commercialize our marketed products in those countries. In some foreign countries, the proposed pricing for a drug must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. The requirements governing drug pricing and reimbursement vary widely from country to country, and may take into account the clinical effectiveness, cost, and service impact of existing, new, and emerging drugs and treatments. For example, the EU provides options for its member states to restrict the range of medicinal products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement and to control the prices of medicinal products for human use. A member state may approve a specific price for the medicinal product or it may instead adopt a system of direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the medicinal product on the market. Our results of operations may suffer if we or our collaborators are unable to market our products in foreign countries or if coverage and reimbursement for our marketed products in foreign countries is limited or delayed.
The commercial success of our products and product candidates is subject to significant competition.
Marketed Products
There is substantial competition in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries from biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and chemical companies. Many of our competitors have substantially greater research, preclinical and clinical product development and manufacturing capabilities, as well as financial, marketing, and human resources, than we do. Our smaller competitors may also enhance their competitive position if they acquire or discover patentable inventions, form collaborative arrangements, or merge with larger pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. There is significant actual and potential future competition for each of our marketed products.
EYLEA faces significant competition in the marketplace. For example, EYLEA competes in one or more of its approved indications with other VEGF inhibitors, including Novartis and Genentech/Roche's Lucentis® (ranibizumab) and Novartis' Beovu® (brolucizumab). Ophthalmologists are also using off-label, third-party repackaged versions of Genentech/Roche's approved VEGF antagonist, bevacizumab, for the treatment of certain of EYLEA's indications, and we are aware of another company developing an ophthalmic formulation of such product. In DME and RVO, EYLEA also competes with intravitreal implants of corticosteroids. We are also aware of a number of companies working on the development of product candidates and extended delivery devices for the potential treatment of one or more of EYLEA's indications, including those that act by blocking VEGF and VEGF receptors (including therapies designed to extend the treatment interval) and/or other targets (such as Ang2). In addition, we are aware of several companies developing biosimilar versions of EYLEA and other approved anti-VEGF treatments. Other potentially competitive products in development include products for use in combination with EYLEA and/or other anti-VEGF treatments, small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors, gene therapies, and other eye-drop formulations, devices, and oral therapies. There also is a risk that third parties repackage ZALTRAP for off-label use and sale for the treatment of diseases of the eye, even though ZALTRAP has not been manufactured and formulated for use in intravitreal injections. We are aware of claims by third parties, including those based on published clinical data, alleging that ZALTRAP may be safely administered to the eye.
The market for Dupixent's current and potential future indications is also competitive. In atopic dermatitis, there are several topical ointments or agents either approved or in development. In addition, a number of companies are developing antibodies against IL-13, IL-13Ra1, OX40, IL-31R, and/or IL-1alpha. Several companies are also studying JAK inhibitors for atopic dermatitis. In asthma, competitors to Dupixent include antibodies against the IL-5 ligand or the IL-5 receptor or immunoglobulin E; and some of these antibodies, if approved in this indication, may also compete with Dupixent in CRSwNP. Dupixent also faces competition from orally administered small molecule agents and inhaled products in asthma and potential future indications. There are several other potentially competitive products in development that may compete with Dupixent in either or both of the atopic dermatitis and asthma indications, as well as potential future indications, including antibodies against thymic stromal lymphopoietin ("TSLP"), the IL-33 ligand, or the IL-33 receptor (ST2).
Libtayo also faces significant competition. There are several competitors that are marketing and/or developing antibodies against PD-1 and/or PDL-1, including Merck's Keytruda® (pembrolizumab), Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo® (nivolumab), Roche's Tecentriq® (atezolizumab), and AstraZeneca's Imfinzi® (durvalumab).
There is also significant actual and potential future competition for other products marketed by us and/or our collaborators under our collaboration agreements with them. For example, there are several companies that are marketing and/or developing antibodies or other molecules (such as siRNAs) against PCSK9 and IL-6 and/or IL-6R, which currently (or, for product candidates in development, may in the future if approved) compete with Praluent and Kevzara, respectively.
Product Candidates
Our other late-stage and earlier-stage clinical candidates in development are all fully human antibodies. Our VelocImmune® technology, other antibody generation technologies, and other late-stage and earlier-stage clinical candidates face competition from many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies using various technologies. We are aware of other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies actively engaged in the research and development of antibody-based products against targets that are also the targets of our early- and late-stage product candidates. We are also aware of other companies developing or marketing small molecules that may compete with our antibody-based product candidates in various indications, if such product candidates obtain regulatory approval in those indications. If any of these or other competitors announces a successful clinical study involving a product that may be competitive with one of our product candidates or the grant of marketing approval by a regulatory agency for a competitive product, such developments may have an adverse effect on our business or future prospects. In addition, the first product to reach the market in a therapeutic area is often at a significant competitive advantage relative to later entrants to the market. Accordingly, the relative speed with which we, or our collaborators, can develop our product candidates, complete the clinical trials and approval processes, and, if such product candidates are approved for marketing and sale, supply commercial quantities to the market is expected to continue to be an important competitive factor. Due to the
uncertainties associated with developing biopharmaceutical products, we may not be the first to obtain marketing approval for a product against any particular target, which may have a material adverse effect on our business or future prospects.
We rely on our collaborations with Bayer and Sanofi for commercializing some of our marketed products.
While we have established our own sales and marketing organization for EYLEA in the United States for its currently approved indications, we have no sales, marketing, commercial, or distribution capabilities for EYLEA outside the United States. Under the terms of our license and collaboration agreement with Bayer (which is terminable by Bayer at any time upon six or twelve months' advance notice, depending on the circumstances giving rise to termination), we rely on Bayer (and, in Japan, Santen pursuant to a Co-Promotion and Distribution Agreement with Bayer's Japanese affiliate, as in effect from time to time) for sales, marketing, and distribution of EYLEA in countries outside the United States.
In addition, under the terms of our Antibody Collaboration and our IO Collaboration, we and Sanofi co-commercialize Dupixent and Libtayo in the United States. As a result, we rely in part on Sanofi's sales and marketing organization in the United States for these products. If we and Sanofi fail to coordinate our United States sales and marketing efforts effectively, sales of any of such products may be materially affected. Sanofi also maintains other important responsibilities relating to Dupixent in the United States. For example, Sanofi records product sales for Dupixent in the United States and leads negotiations with payors relating to this product. We also rely on Sanofi for sales, marketing, and distribution of Dupixent and Libtayo in countries outside the United States. Effective April 1, 2020, we and Sanofi amended the Antibody Collaboration to remove Praluent from the LCA such that, among other things, the LCA no longer governs the development, manufacture, or commercialization of Praluent. Effective as of the same date, we and Sanofi entered into the Praluent Cross License & Commercialization Agreement whereby we, at our sole cost, are solely responsible for the development and commercialization of Praluent in the United States, and Sanofi, at its sole cost, is solely responsible for the development and commercialization of Praluent outside of the United States; and Sanofi pays us a 5% royalty on Sanofi's net product sales of Praluent outside the United States until March 31, 2032.
If we and our collaborators are unsuccessful in continuing to commercialize the marketed products subject to such collaborations, or if Bayer or Sanofi terminate their respective collaborations with us, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition would be materially impaired. We have limited commercial capabilities outside the United States and would have to develop or outsource these capabilities. Therefore, termination of the Bayer collaboration agreement, our Antibody Collaboration, or our IO Collaboration would create substantial new and additional risks to the successful commercialization of the applicable products, particularly outside the United States. For additional information regarding our collaborations with Bayer and Sanofi, see "Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties - If our collaboration with Bayer for EYLEA is terminated, or Bayer materially breaches its obligations thereunder, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition, and our ability to continue to develop EYLEA and commercialize EYLEA outside the United States in the time expected, or at all, would be materially harmed" below and "Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties - If our Antibody Collaboration or our IO Collaboration with Sanofi is terminated, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition, and our ability to develop, manufacture, and commercialize certain of our products and product candidates in the time expected, or at all, would be materially harmed" below.
Sales of our marketed products recorded by us and our collaborators could be reduced by imports from countries where such products may be available at lower prices.
Our sales of products we commercialize in the United States and our collaborators' sales of products they commercialize under our collaboration agreements with them in the United States and other countries (which impact our share of any profits or losses from the commercialization of these products under the relevant collaboration agreements and, therefore, our results of operations) may be reduced if the applicable product is imported into those countries from lower priced markets, whether legally or illegally (a practice known as parallel trading or reimportation). Parallel traders (who may repackage or otherwise alter the original product or sell it through alternative channels such as mail order or the Internet) take advantage of the price differentials between markets arising from factors including sales costs, market conditions (such as intermediate trading stages), tax rates, or national regulation of prices. Under our arrangement with Bayer, pricing and reimbursement for EYLEA outside the United States is the responsibility of Bayer. Similarly, under our Antibody Collaboration and IO Collaboration with Sanofi, pricing and reimbursement for the products commercialized thereunder outside the United States are the responsibility of Sanofi. Prices for our marketed products in jurisdictions outside the United States are based on local market economics and competition and are likely to differ from country to country. In the United States, prices for pharmaceuticals are generally higher than in the bordering nations of Canada and Mexico and sales of our marketed products in the United States may be reduced if the applicable product marketed in those bordering nations is imported into the United States. In addition, there are proposals to legalize the import of pharmaceuticals from outside the United States into the United States. If such proposals were implemented, our future revenues derived from sales of our marketed products could be reduced. Parallel-trading practices also are of particular relevance to the EU, where they have been encouraged by the current regulatory framework. These types of imports may exert pressure on the pricing of our marketed products in a particular market or reduce sales recorded by us or our collaborators, thereby adversely affecting our results of operations.
We may be unsuccessful in continuing the commercialization of our marketed products or in commercializing our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products, if approved, which would materially and adversely affect our business, profitability, and future prospects.
Even if clinical trials demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of any of our product candidates for a specific disease and the necessary regulatory approvals are obtained, the commercial success of any of our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products will depend upon, among other things, their acceptance by patients, the medical community, and third-party payors and on our and our collaborators' ability to successfully manufacture, market, and distribute those products in substantial commercial quantities or to establish and manage the required infrastructure to do so, including large-scale information technology systems and a large-scale distribution network. Establishing and maintaining sales, marketing, and distribution capabilities are expensive and time-consuming. Even if we obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates or new indications, if they are not successfully commercialized, we will not be able to recover the significant investment we have made in developing such products and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition would be severely harmed.
The commercial success of our products may also be adversely affected by guidelines or recommendations to healthcare providers, administrators, payors, and patient communities that result in decreased use of our products. Such guidelines or recommendations may be published not only by governmental agencies, but also professional societies, practice management groups, private foundations, and other interested parties.
Our product candidates are delivered either by intravenous infusion or by intravitreal or subcutaneous injections, which are generally less well received by patients than tablet or capsule delivery and this could adversely affect the commercial success of those products if they receive marketing approval.
We are dependent upon a small number of customers for a significant portion of our revenue, and the loss of or significant reduction in sales to these customers would adversely affect our results of operations.
We sell EYLEA, Libtayo, Praluent, and ARCALYST in the United States to several distributors and specialty pharmacies, as applicable. Under this distribution model, the distributors and specialty pharmacies generally take physical delivery of product and generally sell the product directly to healthcare providers or other pharmacies (as applicable). For the six months ended June 30, 2020, our gross product sales of such products to two customers accounted on a combined basis for 87% of our total gross product revenue. We expect this significant customer concentration to continue for the foreseeable future. Our ability to generate and grow sales of these products will depend, in part, on the extent to which our distributors and specialty pharmacies are able to provide adequate distribution of these products to healthcare providers. Although we believe we can find additional distributors, if necessary, our revenue during any period of disruption could suffer and we might incur additional costs. In addition, these customers are responsible for a significant portion of our net trade accounts receivable balances. The loss of any large customer, a significant reduction in sales we make to them, any cancellation of orders they have made with us, or any failure to pay for the products we have shipped to them could adversely affect our results of operations.
If we are unable to establish commercial capabilities outside the United States for products we intend to commercialize or co-commercialize outside the United States, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition may be adversely affected.
We have limited commercial capabilities outside the United States and do not currently have an organization for the sales, marketing, and distribution of marketed products outside the United States. We will need to establish commercial capabilities outside the United States as a result of any exercise of our option to co-commercialize a product outside the United States. For example, we recently exercised our option under the Antibody Collaboration to co-commercialize Dupixent in certain jurisdictions outside the United States. In addition, there may be other circumstances in which we need to establish commercial capabilities outside the United States, including because we decide to commercialize a particular product independently; we are unable to find an appropriate collaborator; or our existing collaborator decides not to opt in, decides to opt out, or breaches its obligations to us with respect to a particular product.
In order to commercialize or co-commercialize any products outside the United States, we must build our sales, marketing, distribution, managerial, and other non-technical capabilities in the relevant markets or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services, which would likely be expensive and time consuming and could delay product launch or the co-commercialization of a product in one or more markets outside the United States. We cannot be certain that we will be able to successfully develop commercial capabilities outside the United States within an acceptable time frame or at all. These and other difficulties relating to commercializing our products outside the United States may severely harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
Risks Related to Maintaining Approval of Our Marketed Products and the Development and Obtaining Approval of Our Product Candidates and New Indications for Our Marketed Products
If we or our collaborators do not maintain regulatory approval for our marketed products, and obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products, we will not be able to market or sell them, which would materially and negatively impact our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
We cannot sell or market products without regulatory approval. If we or our collaborators do not maintain regulatory approval for our marketed products, and obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates or new indications of our marketed products (or are materially delayed in doing so), the value of our Company and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition may be materially harmed.
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval for drug products is costly, time-consuming, and highly uncertain.
In the United States, we (which, for purposes of this risk factor, includes our collaborators, unless otherwise stated or required by the context) must obtain and maintain approval from the FDA for each drug we intend to sell. Obtaining FDA approval is typically a lengthy and expensive process, and approval is highly uncertain. We cannot predict with certainty if or when we might submit for regulatory approval for any of our product candidates currently under development. Any approvals we may obtain may not cover all of the clinical indications for which we are seeking approval. Also, an approval might contain significant limitations in the form of narrow indications, warnings, precautions, or contra-indications with respect to conditions of use. The FDA has substantial discretion in the approval process (including with respect to setting specific conditions for submission) and may either refuse to accept an application for substantive review or may form the opinion after review of an application that the application is insufficient to allow approval of a product candidate. If the FDA does not accept our application for review or approve our application, it may require that we conduct additional clinical, preclinical, or manufacturing validation studies and submit the data before it will reconsider our application. Depending on the extent of these or any other studies that might be required, approval of any applications that we submit may be delayed significantly, or we may be required to expend more resources. It is also possible that any such additional studies, if performed and completed, may not be considered sufficient by the FDA to make our applications approvable. If any of these outcomes occur, we may be forced to delay or abandon our applications for approval.
In certain instances (such as when we use a biomarker-based test to identify and enroll specific patients in a clinical trial), regulatory approval of a companion diagnostic to our therapeutic product candidate may be required as a condition to regulatory approval of the therapeutic product candidate. We may need to rely on third parties to provide companion diagnostics for use with our product candidates. Such third parties may be unable or unwilling on terms acceptable to us to provide such companion diagnostics or to obtain timely regulatory approval of such companion diagnostics, which could negatively impact regulatory approval of our product candidates or may result in increased development costs or delays.
The FDA may also require us to conduct additional clinical trials after granting approval of a product. Its ability to do so has been enhanced by the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007, pursuant to which the FDA has the explicit authority to require postmarketing studies (also referred to as post-approval or Phase 4 studies), labeling changes based on new
safety information, and compliance with FDA-approved risk evaluation and mitigation strategies. Post-approval studies, whether conducted by us or by others and whether mandated by regulatory agencies or voluntary, and other data about our marketed products (or data about products similar to our marketed products that implicate an entire class of products or are perceived to do so) may result in changes in product labeling, restrictions on use, product withdrawal or recall, loss of approval, or lower sales of our products.
According to the FDA policies under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, the FDA system of review times for new drugs includes standard review and priority review. Standard review can be accomplished in a 10-month time frame from the time the application is filed by the FDA (filing date), which typically occurs approximately 60 days following submission of the application by the applicant. The FDA has stated the goal to act on 90% of standard new molecular entity ("NME") New Drug Application ("NDA") and original BLA submissions within 10 months of the filing date. A priority review designation is given to drugs that treat a serious condition and offer major advances in treatment, or provide a treatment where no adequate therapy exists, and may also be afforded to a human drug application based on a priority review voucher. The FDA has stated the goal to act on 90% of priority NME NDA and original BLA submissions within six months of the filing date. However, the FDA's review goals are subject to change and the duration of the FDA's review depends on a number of factors, including the number and types of other applications that are submitted to the FDA around the same time period or are pending. Even if any of our applications receives a priority review designation, we may not ultimately be able to obtain approval of our application within a time frame consistent with the FDA's stated review goals or at all, and such designation may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process.
The FDA enforces Good Clinical Practices ("GCPs") and other regulations through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, clinical research organizations ("CROs"), principal investigators, and trial sites. If we or any of the third parties conducting our clinical studies are determined to have failed to fully comply with GCPs, the study protocol or applicable regulations, the clinical data generated in those studies may be deemed unreliable. This could result in non-approval of our product candidates by the FDA, or we or the FDA may decide to conduct additional inspections or require additional clinical studies, which would delay our development programs, require us to incur additional costs, and could substantially harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
Before approving a new drug or biologic product, the FDA requires that the facilities at which the product will be manufactured or advanced through the supply chain be in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices, or cGMP, requirements and regulations governing the manufacture, shipment, and storage of the product. These cGMP requirements and regulations are not prescriptive instructions on how to manufacture products, but rather a series of principles that must be observed during manufacturing; as a result, their implementation may not be clearly delineated and may present a challenging task. Manufacturing product candidates in compliance with these regulatory requirements is complex, time-consuming, and expensive. To be successful, our products must be manufactured in compliance with regulatory requirements, and at competitive costs. If we or any of our third-party manufacturers, product packagers, labelers, or other parties performing steps in the supply chain are unable to maintain regulatory compliance, the FDA can impose regulatory sanctions, including, among other things, refusal to approve a pending application for a new drug or biologic product, or revocation of a pre-existing approval. For additional information, see "Risks Related to Manufacturing and Supply - Our or our collaborators' failure to meet the stringent requirements of governmental regulation in the manufacture of drug products or product candidates could result in incurring substantial remedial costs, delays in the development or approval of our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products and/or in their commercial launch if they obtain regulatory approval, and a reduction in sales." Our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition may be materially harmed as a result of noncompliance with the requirements and regulations described in this paragraph.
In addition to the FDA and other regulatory agency regulations in the United States, we are subject to a variety of foreign regulatory requirements governing human clinical trials, manufacturing, marketing and approval of drugs, and commercial sale and distribution of drugs in foreign countries. The foreign regulatory approval process is similarly a lengthy and expensive process, the result of which is highly uncertain, and foreign regulatory requirements include all of the risks associated with FDA approval as well as country specific regulations. We and our collaborators must maintain regulatory compliance for the products we or they commercialize in foreign jurisdictions. From time to time, we may hold a product's marketing approval in a jurisdiction outside the United States where we may have less experience and where our regulatory capabilities may be more limited. In addition, actions by a regulatory agency in a country or region with respect to a product candidate may have an impact on the approval process for that product candidate in another country or region. Foreign regulatory authorities often also have the authority to require post-approval studies, which involve various risks similar to those described above, and may ask for additional data in order to begin a clinical study. Whether or not we obtain FDA approval for a product in the United States, we must obtain approval of the product by the comparable regulatory authorities in foreign countries before we can market that product or any other product in those countries.
Preclinical and clinical studies required for our product candidates and new indications of our marketed products are expensive and time-consuming, and their outcome is highly uncertain. If any such studies are delayed or yield unfavorable results, regulatory approval for our product candidates or new indications of our marketed products may be delayed or become unobtainable.
As described above, we must conduct extensive testing of our product candidates and new indications of our marketed products before we can obtain regulatory approval to market and sell them. We need to conduct both preclinical animal testing and human clinical trials. Conducting such studies is a lengthy, time-consuming, and expensive process. These tests and trials may not achieve favorable results for many reasons, including, among others, failure of the product candidate to demonstrate safety or efficacy, the development of serious or life-threatening adverse events (or side effects) caused by or connected with exposure to the product candidate (or prior or concurrent exposure to other products or product candidates), difficulty in enrolling and maintaining subjects in a clinical trial, clinical trial design that may not make it possible to enroll a sufficient number of patients to achieve a statistically significant result or the desired level of statistical significance, lack of sufficient supplies of the product candidate or comparator drug, and the failure of clinical investigators, trial monitors, contractors, consultants, or trial subjects to comply with the trial plan, protocol, or applicable regulations related to the FDA's Good Laboratory Practice requirements ("GLPs") or GCPs. A clinical trial may also fail because it did not include and/or retain a sufficient number of patients to detect the endpoint being measured or reach statistical significance. A clinical trial may also fail because the dose(s) of the investigational drug included in the trial were either too low or too high to determine the optimal effect of the investigational drug in the disease setting.
We will need to reevaluate any drug candidate that does not test favorably and either conduct new studies, which are expensive and time consuming, or abandon that drug development program. If preclinical testing yields unfavorable results, product candidates may not advance to clinical trials. The failure of clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of our clinical candidates for the desired indication(s) would preclude the successful development of those candidates for such indication(s), in which event our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition may be materially harmed.
Furthermore, some of our products and product candidates (such as Libtayo and Dupixent) are studied in combination with agents and treatments developed by us or our collaborators. There may be additional risks and unforeseen safety issues resulting from such combined administration, any of which may materially adversely impact clinical development of these product candidates and our ability to obtain regulatory approval.
Successful development of our current and future product candidates is uncertain.
Only a small minority of all research and development programs ultimately result in commercially successful drugs. Clinical trials may not demonstrate statistically sufficient effectiveness and safety to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals for these product candidates in these indications. Many companies in the biopharmaceutical industry, including our Company, have suffered significant setbacks in clinical trials, even after promising results have been obtained in earlier trials. In a number of instances, we have terminated the development of product candidates due to a lack of or only modest effectiveness, and clinical trials evaluating our product candidates failed to meet the relevant endpoints. For example, in August 2017, we reported that the Phase 3 study evaluating suptavumab, an antibody to RSV, did not meet its primary endpoint of preventing medically-attended RSV infections in infants; as a result, we have discontinued further clinical development of this antibody. Moreover, even if we obtain positive results from preclinical testing or clinical trials, we may not achieve the same success in future trials, or the FDA and analogous foreign regulatory authorities may deem the results insufficient for an approval.
Many of our clinical trials are conducted under the oversight of independent Data Monitoring Committees ("DMCs"). These independent oversight bodies are made up of external experts who review the progress of ongoing clinical trials, including available safety and efficacy data, and make recommendations concerning a trial's continuation, modification, or termination based on interim, unblinded data. Any of our ongoing clinical trials may be discontinued or amended in response to recommendations made by responsible DMCs based on their review of such interim trial results. For example, in April 2018, the DMC monitoring the ongoing safety and efficacy of our Phase 3 clinical trials of fasinumab recommended that the higher dose-regimens be discontinued based on the risk-benefit assessment and that the program may continue with lower dose-regimens of fasinumab. As a result, the osteoarthritis trials were modified accordingly and we discontinued dosing patients in the clinical study of fasinumab in chronic low back pain in patients with concomitant osteoarthritis of the knee and hip since this study was using only higher doses. The recommended termination or material modification of any of our ongoing late-stage clinical trials by a DMC could negatively impact the future development of our product candidate(s), and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition may be materially harmed.
We are studying our antibody-based product candidates in a wide variety of indications in clinical trials. Many of these trials are exploratory studies designed to evaluate the safety profile of these compounds and to identify what diseases and uses, if any, are best suited for these product candidates. These product candidates may not demonstrate the requisite efficacy and/or safety
profile to support continued development for some or all of the indications that are being, or are planned to be, studied, which would diminish our clinical "pipeline" and could negatively affect our future prospects and the value of our Company.
Serious complications or side effects in connection with the use of our products and in clinical trials for our product candidates and new indications for our marketed products could cause our regulatory approvals to be revoked or limited or lead to delay or discontinuation of development of our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products, which could severely harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
During the conduct of clinical trials, patients report changes in their health, including illnesses, injuries, and discomforts, to their study doctor. Often, it is not possible to determine whether or not the drug candidate being studied caused these conditions. Various illnesses, injuries, and discomforts have been reported from time-to-time during clinical trials of our product candidates and new indications for our marketed products. It is possible that as we test our drug candidates or new indications in larger, longer, and more extensive clinical programs, or as use of these drugs becomes more widespread if they receive regulatory approval, illnesses, injuries, and discomforts that were observed in earlier trials, as well as conditions that did not occur or went undetected in previous trials, will be reported by patients. Many times, side effects are only detectable after investigational drugs are tested in large-scale, Phase 3 clinical trials or, in some cases, after they are made available to patients after approval. If additional clinical experience indicates that any of our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products has many side effects or causes serious or life-threatening side effects, the development of the product candidate may be delayed or fail, or, if the product candidate has received regulatory approval, such approval may be revoked, which would severely harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
With respect to EYLEA, there are many potential safety concerns associated with significant blockade of VEGF that may limit our ability to further successfully commercialize EYLEA. These serious and potentially life-threatening risks, based on clinical and preclinical experience of VEGF inhibitors, include bleeding, intestinal perforation, hypertension, proteinuria, congestive heart failure, heart attack, and stroke. Other VEGF blockers have reported side effects that became evident only after large-scale trials or after marketing approval when large numbers of patients were treated. There are risks inherent in the intravitreal administration of drugs like aflibercept (such as intraocular inflammation ("IOI"), sterile and culture positive endophthalmitis, corneal decomposition, retinal detachment, and retinal tear), which can cause injury to the eye and other complications. The side effects previously reported for EYLEA include conjunctival hemorrhage, macular degeneration, eye pain, retinal hemorrhage, and vitreous floaters. In addition, commercialization of EYLEA or our other products may be impacted by actions of third parties on which we rely, such as manufacturers of syringes or other devices used in the administration of our products. For example, in February 2018, we issued a letter to healthcare professionals providing updated guidance relating to reports of IOI following EYLEA injections. In this letter, we noted that while our review did not identify any association of IOI rates with the EYLEA drug itself, an association was seen with certain batches of the syringe that were included in specific lots of final packaged EYLEA kits. These and other complications or issues or side effects could harm further development and/or commercialization of EYLEA.
Dupixent and Libtayo are being studied in additional indications, as shown in the table under Part I, Item 2. "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Overview - Programs in Clinical Development." There is no guarantee that marketing approval of Dupixent or Libtayo (as applicable) in any of these indications will be successfully obtained. The side effects previously reported for Dupixent include hypersensitivity reactions, conjunctivitis and keratitis, injection-site reactions, eye and eyelid inflammation, cold sores, oropharyngeal pain, and eosinophilia; and the side effects previously reported for Libtayo include certain immune-mediated adverse reactions, such as pneumonitis, colitis, hepatitis, endocrinopathies, nephritis, and dermatologic reactions, as well as infusion-related reactions, cellulitis, sepsis, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, fatigue, rash, and diarrhea. These and other complications or side effects could harm further development and/or commercialization of Dupixent and Libtayo (as applicable).
There also are risks inherent in subcutaneous injections (which are used for administering most of our antibody-based products and product candidates), such as injection-site reactions (including redness, itching, swelling, pain, and tenderness) and other side effects. These and other complications or side effects could harm further development and/or commercialization of our antibody-based products and product candidates utilizing this method of administration.
Our product candidates in development are recombinant proteins that could cause an immune response, resulting in the creation of harmful or neutralizing antibodies against the therapeutic protein.
In addition to the safety, efficacy, manufacturing, and regulatory hurdles faced by our product candidates, the administration of recombinant proteins frequently causes an immune response, resulting in the creation of antibodies against the therapeutic protein. The antibodies can have no effect or can totally neutralize the effectiveness of the protein, or require that higher doses be used to obtain a therapeutic effect. In some cases, the antibody can cross-react with the patient's own proteins, resulting in an "auto-immune" type disease. Whether antibodies will be created can often not be predicted from preclinical or clinical experiments, and their detection or appearance is often delayed, so neutralizing antibodies may be detected at a later date, in some cases even after pivotal clinical trials have been completed.
We may be unable to formulate or manufacture our product candidates in a way that is suitable for clinical or commercial use, which would delay or prevent continued development of such candidates and/or receipt of regulatory approval or commercial sale, which could materially harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
If we are unable to continue to develop suitable product formulations or manufacturing processes to support large-scale clinical testing of our product candidates, including our antibody-based product candidates, we may be unable to supply necessary materials for our clinical trials, which would delay or prevent the development of our product candidates. Similarly, if we are unable, directly or through our collaborators or third parties, to supply sufficient quantities of our products or develop formulations of our product candidates suitable for commercial use, we will be unable to obtain regulatory approval for those product candidates.
Many of our products are intended to be used and, if approved, our product candidates may be used in combination with drug-delivery devices, which may result in additional regulatory, commercialization, and other risks.
Many of our products are used and some of our products and product candidates may be used, if approved, in combination with a drug-delivery device, including a pre-filled syringe, patch pump, auto-injector, or other delivery system. For example, in the United States EYLEA is approved in the 2mg pre-filled syringe. The success of our products and product candidates may depend to a significant extent on the performance of such devices, some of which may be novel or comprised of complex components. Given the increased complexity of the review process when approval of the product and device is sought under a single marketing application and the additional risks resulting from a product candidate's designation as a combination product discussed below, our product candidates used with such drug-delivery devices may be substantially delayed in receiving regulatory approval or may not be approved at all. The FDA review process and criteria for such applications are not well established, which could also lead to delays in the approval process. In addition, some of these drug-delivery devices may be provided by single-source, third-party providers or our collaborators. In any such case, we may be dependent on the sustained cooperation of those third-party providers or collaborators to supply and manufacture the devices; to conduct the studies and prepare related documentation required for approval or clearance by the applicable regulatory agencies; and to continue to meet the applicable regulatory and other requirements to maintain approval or clearance once it has been received. Failure to successfully develop or supply the devices, delays in or failure of the studies conducted by us, our collaborators, or third-party providers, or failure of our Company, our collaborators, or the third-party providers to obtain or maintain regulatory approval or clearance of the devices could result in increased development costs, delays in or failure to obtain regulatory approval, and associated delays in a product or product candidate reaching the market. Loss of regulatory approval or clearance of a device that is used with our product may also result in the removal of our product from the market. Further, failure to successfully develop or supply and manufacture these devices, or to gain or maintain their approval, could adversely affect sales of the related products.
In the United States, each component of a combination product is subject to the requirements established by the FDA for that type of component, whether a drug, biologic, or device. The determination whether a product is a combination product or two separately regulated products is made by the FDA on a case-by-case basis. Although a single marketing application is generally sufficient for the approval, clearance, or licensure of a combination product, the FDA may determine that separate marketing applications are necessary. In addition, submitting separate marketing applications may be necessary to receive some benefit that accrues only from approval under a particular type of application. This could significantly increase the resources and time required to bring a particular combination product to market.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property and Market Exclusivity
If we cannot protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, or our patents or other means of defending our intellectual property are insufficient to protect our proprietary rights, our business and competitive position will be harmed.
Our business requires using sensitive and proprietary technology and other information that we protect as trade secrets. We seek to prevent improper disclosure of these trade secrets through confidentiality agreements. If our trade secrets are improperly disclosed, by our current or former employees, our collaborators, or otherwise, it could help our competitors and adversely affect our business. We will be able to protect our proprietary rights only to the extent that our proprietary technologies and other information are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets. The patent position of biotechnology companies, including our Company, involves complex legal and factual questions and, therefore, enforceability cannot be predicted with certainty. Our patents may be challenged, invalidated, held to be unenforceable, or circumvented. Patent applications filed outside the United States may be challenged by other parties, for example, by filing third-party observations that argue against patentability or an opposition. Such opposition proceedings are increasingly common in the EU and are costly to defend. For example, our European Patent No. 2,264,163 is the subject of opposition proceedings in the European Patent Office (the "EPO") (currently pending before its Boards of Appeal), as described in Note 12 to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report. We have pending patent applications in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the "USPTO"), the EPO, and the patent offices of other foreign jurisdictions, and it is likely that we will need to defend patents from challenges by others from time to time in the future. Certain of our U.S. patents may also be challenged by parties who file a request for post-grant review or inter partes review under the America Invents Act of 2011 or ex parte reexamination. For example, on February 11, 2020, anonymous parties filed two requests for ex parte reexamination of two of our patents - U.S. Patent Nos. 10,406,226 (the "'226 Patent") and 10,464,992 (the "'992 Patent"). The '226 Patent concerns methods for manufacturing VEGF antagonist fusion proteins, including aflibercept, and the '992 Patent concerns formulations and vials containing VEGF antagonist fusion proteins, including aflibercept. The USPTO has granted both requests to initiate reexamination proceedings. Post-grant proceedings are increasingly common in the United States and are costly to defend. Our patent rights may not provide us with a proprietary position or competitive advantages against competitors. Furthermore, even if the outcome is favorable to us, the enforcement of our intellectual property rights can be extremely expensive and time consuming.
We also currently hold issued trademark registrations and have trademark applications pending in the United States and other jurisdictions, any of which may be the subject of a governmental or third-party objection, which could prevent the maintenance or issuance of the trademark. As our products mature, our reliance on our trademarks to differentiate us from our competitors increases and as a result, if we are unable to prevent third parties from adopting, registering, or using trademarks that infringe, dilute or otherwise violate our trademark rights, our business could be adversely affected.
We may be restricted in our development, manufacturing, and/or commercialization activities by patents or other proprietary rights of others, and could be subject to damage awards if we are found to have infringed such patents or rights.
Our commercial success depends significantly on our ability to operate without infringing the patents and other proprietary rights of others (including those relating to trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets). Other parties may allege that they own blocking patents to our products in clinical development or even to products that have received regulatory approval and are being or have been commercialized, either because they claim to hold proprietary rights to the composition of a product or the way it is manufactured or the way it is used. Moreover, other parties may allege that they have blocking patents to antibody-based products made using our VelocImmune technology, or any other of our technologies, either because of the way the antibodies are discovered or produced or because of a proprietary composition covering an antibody or the antibody's target.
We have been in the past, are currently, and may in the future be involved in patent litigation and other proceedings involving patents and other intellectual property. For example, we and/or Sanofi are currently party to patent infringement proceedings initiated by Amgen against us and/or Sanofi relating to Praluent and patent infringement proceedings relating to Dupixent, as described in Note 12 to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. In addition, we are currently party to patent infringement and other proceedings relating to the EYLEA pre-filled syringe, as described in Note 12 to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
We are aware of patents and pending patent applications owned by others that respectively claim antibodies to IL-4R and methods of treating conditions including atopic dermatitis and asthma with such antibodies; antibodies to IL-6R and methods of treating conditions including rheumatoid arthritis with such antibodies; antibodies to PCSK9 and methods of treating hypercholesterolemia with such antibodies; and antibodies to PD-1 and methods of treating cancer with such antibodies. In addition to Dupixent (dupilumab), Libtayo (cemiplimab), Praluent (alirocumab), and Kevzara (sarilumab), our late-stage antibody-based pipeline includes fasinumab, an antibody to NGF; evinacumab, an antibody to ANGPTL3; REGN-EB3, a multi-antibody therapy for Ebola; garetosmab, an antibody to Activin A; pozelimab, an antibody to C5; and REGN1979, a bispecific antibody targeting CD20 and CD3.
Although we do not believe that any of our products or our late-stage antibody-based product candidates infringe any valid claim in these patents or patent applications, these other parties could initiate lawsuits for patent infringement and assert that their patents are valid and cover our products or our late-stage antibody-based product candidates, similar to the patent infringement proceedings referred to above. Further, we are aware of a number of patent applications of others that, if granted with claims as currently drafted, may cover our current or planned activities. It could be determined that our products and/or actions in manufacturing or selling our products or product candidates infringe such patents.
Patent holders could assert claims against us for damages and seek to prevent us from manufacturing, selling, or developing our products or product candidates, and a court may find that we are infringing validly issued patents of others. In the event that the manufacture, use, or sale of any of our products or product candidates infringes on the patents or violates other proprietary rights of others, we may be prevented from pursuing product development, manufacturing, and commercialization of those drugs and may be required to pay costly damages. In addition, in the event that we assert our patent rights against other parties that we believe are infringing our patent rights, such parties may challenge the validity of our patents and we may become the target of litigation, which may result in an outcome that is unfavorable to us. Any of these adverse developments may materially harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition. In any event, legal disputes are likely to be costly and time consuming to defend.
We seek to obtain licenses to patents when, in our judgment, such licenses are needed or advisable. For example, in August 2018, we and Sanofi entered into a license agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb, E. R. Squibb & Sons, and Ono Pharmaceutical to obtain a license under certain patents owned and/or exclusively licensed by one or more of these parties that includes the right to develop and sell Libtayo. If any licenses are required, we may not be able to obtain such licenses on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. The failure to obtain any such license could prevent us from developing or commercializing any one or more of our products or product candidates, which could severely harm our business.
Loss or limitation of patent rights, and new regulatory pathways for biosimilar competition, could reduce the duration of market exclusivity for our products.
In the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, the majority of an innovative product's commercial value is usually realized during the period in which it has market exclusivity. In the United States and some other countries, when market exclusivity expires and generic versions of a product are approved and marketed, there usually are very substantial and rapid declines in the product's sales.
If our late-stage product candidates or other clinical candidates are approved for marketing in the United States or elsewhere, market exclusivity for those products will generally be based upon patent rights and/or certain regulatory forms of exclusivity. As described above under "If we cannot protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, or our patents or other means of defending our intellectual property are insufficient to protect our proprietary rights, our business and competitive position will be harmed," the scope and enforceability of our patent rights may vary from country to country. The failure to obtain patent and other intellectual property rights, or limitations on the use, or the loss, of such rights could materially harm us. Absent patent protection or regulatory exclusivity for our products, it is possible, both in the United States and elsewhere, that generic, biosimilar, and/or interchangeable versions of those products may be approved and marketed, which would likely result in substantial and rapid reductions in revenues from sales of those products.
Under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the "PPACA"), there is an abbreviated path in the United States for regulatory approval of products that are demonstrated to be "biosimilar" or "interchangeable" with an FDA-approved biological product. The PPACA provides a regulatory mechanism that allows for FDA approval of biologic drugs that are similar to innovative drugs on the basis of less extensive data than is required by a full BLA. Under this regulation, an application for approval of a biosimilar may be filed four years after approval of the innovator product. However, qualified innovative biological products receive 12 years of regulatory exclusivity, meaning that the FDA may not approve a biosimilar version until 12 years after the innovative biological product was first approved by the FDA. However, the term of regulatory exclusivity may not remain at 12 years in the United States and could be shortened if, for example, the PPACA is amended.
A number of jurisdictions outside of the United States have also established abbreviated pathways for regulatory approval of biological products that are biosimilar to earlier versions of biological products. For example, the EU has had an established regulatory pathway for biosimilars since 2005.
The increased likelihood of biosimilar competition has increased the risk of loss of innovators' market exclusivity. It is also not possible to predict changes in United States regulatory law that might reduce biological product regulatory exclusivity. Due to this risk, and uncertainties regarding patent protection, it is not possible to predict the length of market exclusivity for any particular product we currently or may in the future commercialize with certainty based solely on the expiration of the relevant patent(s) or the current forms of regulatory exclusivity. We are aware of several companies developing biosimilar versions of EYLEA. In the United States, the regulatory exclusivity period for EYLEA (i.e., the period during which no biosimilar product
can be approved by the FDA) expires on November 18, 2023, with the possibility of an additional six months of regulatory exclusivity (i.e., until May 18, 2024) if the FDA grants pediatric exclusivity based on our completion of certain studies evaluating EYLEA in pediatric patients with retinopathy of prematurity and submission of the data from these studies to the FDA no later than 15 months before the date on which regulatory exclusivity would otherwise expire. The loss of market exclusivity for a product (such as EYLEA) would likely materially and negatively affect revenues from product sales of that product and thus our financial results and condition.
Risks Related to Manufacturing and Supply
We rely on limited internal and contracted manufacturing and supply chain capacity, which could adversely affect our ability to commercialize our marketed products and, if approved, our product candidates and to advance our clinical pipeline.
We have large-scale manufacturing operations in Rensselaer, New York and Limerick, Ireland. Manufacturing facilities operated by us and by third-party contract manufacturers engaged by us would be inadequate to produce the active pharmaceutical ingredients of our current marketed products and our product candidates in sufficient clinical quantities if our clinical pipeline advances as planned. For example, our internal manufacturing capacity will likely not be sufficient to cover the demand for REGN-COV2, our novel investigational antibody "cocktail" treatment designed to prevent and treat infection from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, if clinical trials evaluating this treatment are successful and we receive regulatory approval. In addition to expanding our internal capacity, we intend to continue to rely on our collaborators, and may also rely on contract manufacturers, to produce commercial quantities of drug material needed for commercialization of our products. As we increase our production in anticipation of potential regulatory approval for our product candidates, our current manufacturing capacity will likely not be sufficient, and our dependence on our collaborators and/or contract manufacturers may increase, to produce adequate quantities of drug material for both commercial and clinical purposes. We rely entirely on other parties and our collaborators for filling and finishing services, including with respect to drug-delivery devices (such as a pre-filled syringe, patch pump, auto-injector, or other delivery system). Generally, in order for other parties to perform any step in the manufacturing and supply chain, we must transfer technology to the other party, which can be time consuming and may not be successfully accomplished without considerable cost and expense, or at all. We will have to depend on these other parties to perform effectively on a timely basis and to comply with regulatory requirements. If for any reason they are unable to do so, and as a result we are unable to directly or through other parties manufacture and supply sufficient commercial and clinical quantities of our products on acceptable terms, or if we should encounter delays or other difficulties with our collaborators, contract manufacturers, warehouses, shipping, testing laboratories, or other parties involved in our supply chain which adversely affect the timely manufacture and supply of our products or product candidates, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition may be materially harmed.
Expanding our manufacturing capacity and establishing fill/finish capabilities will be costly and we may be unsuccessful in doing so in a timely manner, which could delay or prevent the launch and successful commercialization of our marketed products and product candidates or other indications for our marketed products if they are approved for marketing and could jeopardize our current and future clinical development programs.
In addition to our existing manufacturing facilities in Rensselaer, New York and Limerick, Ireland, we may lease, operate, purchase, or construct additional facilities to conduct expanded manufacturing or other related activities in the future. Expanding our manufacturing capacity to supply commercial quantities of the active pharmaceutical ingredients for our marketed products and our product candidates if they are approved for marketing, and to supply clinical drug material to support the continued growth of our clinical programs, will require substantial additional expenditures, time, and various regulatory approvals and permits. This also holds true for establishing fill/finish capabilities in the future, for which we have taken initial steps. Further, we will need to hire and train significant numbers of employees and managerial personnel to staff our expanding manufacturing and supply chain operations, as well as any future fill/finish activities. Start-up costs can be large, and scale-up entails significant risks related to process development and manufacturing yields. In addition, we may face difficulties or delays in developing or acquiring the necessary production equipment and technology to manufacture sufficient quantities of our product candidates at reasonable costs and in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. The FDA and analogous foreign regulatory authorities must determine that our existing and any expanded manufacturing facilities and any future fill/finish activities comply, or continue to comply, with cGMP requirements for both clinical and commercial production and license them, or continue to license them, accordingly, and such facilities must also comply with applicable environmental, safety, and other governmental permitting requirements. We may not successfully expand or establish sufficient manufacturing or any future fill/finish capabilities or manufacture our products economically or in compliance with cGMPs and other regulatory requirements, and we and our collaborators may not be able to build or procure additional capacity in the required timeframe to meet commercial demand for our product candidates if they receive regulatory approval, and to continue to meet the requirements of our clinical programs. This would interfere with our efforts to successfully commercialize our
marketed products, and could also delay or require us to discontinue one or more of our clinical development programs. As a result, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition could be materially harmed.
Our ability to manufacture products may be impaired if any of our or our collaborators' manufacturing activities, or the activities of other third parties involved in our manufacture and supply chain, are found to infringe patents of others.
Our ability to continue to manufacture products in our Rensselaer, New York and Limerick, Ireland facilities and at additional facilities (if any) in the future (including our ability to conduct any fill/finish activities in the future), the ability of our collaborators to manufacture products at their facilities, and our ability to utilize other third parties to produce our products, to supply raw materials or other products, or to perform fill/finish services or other steps in our manufacture and supply chain, depends on our and their ability to operate without infringing the patents or other intellectual property rights of others. Other parties may allege that our or our collaborators' manufacturing activities, or the activities of other third parties involved in our manufacture and supply chain (which may be located in jurisdictions outside the United States), infringe patents or other intellectual property rights. For example, we are currently party to patent infringement and other proceedings relating to the EYLEA pre-filled syringe, as described in Note 12 to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. A judicial or regulatory decision in favor of one or more parties making such allegations could directly or indirectly preclude the manufacture of our products to which those intellectual property rights apply on a temporary or permanent basis, which could materially harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
If sales of our marketed products do not meet the levels currently expected, or if the launch of any of our product candidates is delayed or unsuccessful, we may face costs related to excess inventory or unused capacity at our manufacturing facilities and at the facilities of third parties or our collaborators.
We use our manufacturing facilities primarily to produce bulk product for commercial supply of our marketed products and clinical and preclinical candidates for ourselves and our collaborations. We also plan to use such facilities to produce bulk product for commercial supply of new indications of our marketed products and new product candidates if they are approved for marketing. If our clinical candidates are discontinued or their clinical development is delayed, if the launch of new indications for our marketed products or new product candidates is delayed or does not occur, or if such products are launched and the launch is unsuccessful or the product is subsequently recalled or marketing approval is rescinded, we may have to absorb one hundred percent of related overhead costs and inefficiencies, as well as similar costs of third-party contract manufacturers performing services for us. In addition, if we or our collaborators experience excess inventory, it may be necessary to write down or write off such excess inventory or incur an impairment charge with respect to the facility where such product is manufactured, which could adversely affect our operating results.
Third-party service or supply failures, or other failures, business interruptions, or other disasters affecting our manufacturing facilities in Rensselaer, New York and Limerick, Ireland, the manufacturing facilities of our collaborators, or the facilities of any other party participating in the supply chain, would adversely affect our ability to supply our products.
Bulk drug materials are currently manufactured at our manufacturing facilities in Rensselaer, New York and Limerick, Ireland, as well as at our collaborators' facilities. We and our collaborators would be unable to manufacture these materials if the relevant facility were to cease production due to regulatory requirements or actions, business interruptions, labor shortages or disputes, contaminations, fire, natural disasters, acts of war or terrorism, or other problems.
Many of our products and product candidates are very difficult to manufacture. As our products and product candidates are biologics, they require processing steps that are more difficult than those required for most chemical pharmaceuticals. Accordingly, multiple steps are needed to control the manufacturing processes. Problems with these manufacturing processes, even minor deviations from the normal process or from the materials used in the manufacturing process (which may not be detectable by us or our collaborators in a timely manner), could lead to product defects or manufacturing failures, resulting in lot failures, product recalls, product liability claims, and insufficient inventory. Also, the complexity of our manufacturing process may make it difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to transfer our technology to our collaborators or contract manufacturers.
Also, certain raw materials or other products necessary for the manufacture and formulation of our marketed products and product candidates, some of which are difficult to source, are provided by single-source unaffiliated third-party suppliers. In addition, we rely on certain third parties or our collaborators to perform filling, finishing, distribution, laboratory testing, and other services related to the manufacture of our marketed products and product candidates, and to supply various raw materials and other products. We would be unable to obtain these raw materials, other products, or services for an indeterminate period of time if any of these third parties were to cease or interrupt production or otherwise fail to supply these materials, products, or services to us for any reason, including due to regulatory requirements or actions (including recalls), adverse financial developments at or affecting the supplier, failure by the supplier to comply with cGMPs, contaminations, business interruptions, or labor shortages or disputes (in each case, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic). In any such circumstances, we may not be able to engage a backup or alternative supplier or service provider in a timely manner or at all. This, in turn, could materially and adversely affect our or our collaborators' ability to manufacture or supply marketed products and product candidates, which could materially and adversely affect our business and future prospects.
Certain of the raw materials required in the manufacture and testing of our products and product candidates may be derived from biological sources, including mammalian tissues, bovine serum, and human serum albumin. There are certain regulatory restrictions on using these biological source materials. If we or our collaborators are required to substitute for these sources to comply with such regulatory requirements, our clinical development or commercial activities may be delayed or interrupted.
Our or our collaborators' failure to meet the stringent requirements of governmental regulation in the manufacture of drug products or product candidates could result in incurring substantial remedial costs, delays in the development or approval of our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products and/or in their commercial launch if they obtain regulatory approval, and a reduction in sales.
We and our collaborators and other third-party providers are required to maintain compliance with cGMPs, and are subject to inspections by the FDA or comparable agencies in other jurisdictions to confirm such compliance. Changes of suppliers or modifications of methods of manufacturing may require amending our application(s) to the FDA or such comparable foreign agencies and acceptance of the change by the FDA or such comparable foreign agencies prior to release of product(s). Because we produce multiple products and product candidates at our facilities in Rensselaer, New York and Limerick, Ireland, there are increased risks associated with cGMP compliance. Our inability, or the inability of our collaborators and third-party fill/finish or other service providers, to demonstrate ongoing cGMP compliance could require us to engage in lengthy and expensive remediation efforts, withdraw or recall product, halt or interrupt clinical trials, and/or interrupt commercial supply of any marketed products, and could also delay or prevent our obtaining regulatory approval for our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products. Any delay, interruption, or other issue that arises in the manufacture, fill/finish, packaging, or storage of any drug product or product candidate as a result of a failure of our facilities or the facilities or operations of our collaborators or other third parties to pass any regulatory agency inspection or maintain cGMP compliance could significantly impair our ability to develop, obtain approval for, and successfully commercialize our products, which would substantially harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition. Any finding of non-compliance could also increase our costs, cause us to delay the development of our product candidates, result in delay in our obtaining, or our not obtaining, regulatory approval of product candidates or new indications for our marketed products, and cause us to lose revenue from any marketed products, which could be seriously detrimental to our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
Regulatory and Litigation Risks
If the testing or use of our products harms people, or is perceived to harm them even when such harm is unrelated to our products, we could be subject to costly and damaging product liability claims.
The testing, manufacturing, marketing, and sale of drugs for use in people expose us to product liability risk. Any informed consent or waivers obtained from people who enroll in our clinical trials may not protect us from liability or the cost of litigation. We may also be subject to claims by patients who use our approved products, or our product candidates if those product candidates receive regulatory approval and become commercially available, that they have been injured by a side effect associated with the drug. Even in a circumstance in which we do not believe that an adverse event is related to our products or product candidates, the related investigation may be time consuming or inconclusive and may have a negative impact on our reputation or business. We may face product liability claims and be found responsible even if injury arises from the acts or omissions of third parties who provide fill/finish or other services. To the extent we maintain product liability insurance in relevant periods, such insurance may not cover all potential liabilities or may not completely cover any liability arising from any such litigation. Moreover, in the future we may not have access to liability insurance or be able to maintain our insurance on acceptable terms.
If we market and sell approved products in a way that violates federal or state healthcare laws, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties.
The FDA regulates the marketing and promotion of our products, which must comply with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and applicable FDA implementing standards. The FDA's review of promotional activities includes healthcare provider-directed and direct-to-consumer advertising as well as sales representatives' communications. The FDA may take enforcement action for promoting unapproved uses of a product or other violations of its advertising laws and regulations.
In addition to FDA and related regulatory requirements, we are subject to health care "fraud and abuse" laws, such as the federal False Claims Act, the anti-kickback provisions of the federal Social Security Act, and other state and federal laws and regulations. Federal and state anti-kickback laws prohibit, among other things, payments or other remuneration to induce or reward someone to purchase, prescribe, endorse, or recommend a product that is reimbursed under federal or state healthcare programs. If we provide payments or other remuneration to a healthcare professional to induce the prescribing of our products, we could face liability under state and federal anti-kickback laws. Recently, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 increased the criminal and civil penalties that can be imposed for violating certain federal health care laws, including the federal anti-kickback statute.
Federal false claims laws prohibit any person from knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, a false claim for payment to the federal government, or knowingly making, or causing to be made, a false statement to get a false claim paid. Pharmaceutical companies have been prosecuted under these laws for a variety of alleged promotional and marketing activities, such as allegedly providing free product to customers with the expectation that the customers would bill federal programs for the product; reporting to pricing services inflated average wholesale prices that were then used by federal programs to set reimbursement rates; engaging in promotion for uses that the FDA has not approved, known as off-label uses, that caused claims to be submitted to Medicaid for non-covered off-label uses; and submitting inflated best price information to the Medicaid Rebate program. The majority of states also have statutes or regulations similar to the federal anti-kickback law and false claims laws, which apply to items and services reimbursed under Medicaid and other state programs, or, in several states, apply regardless of the payor. Sanctions under these federal and state laws may include civil monetary penalties, exclusion of a manufacturer's products from reimbursement under government programs, criminal fines, and imprisonment. Even if it is determined that we have not violated these laws, government investigations into these issues typically require the expenditure of significant resources and generate negative publicity, which would harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition. Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the safe harbors, it is possible that some of our business activities could be challenged under one or more of such laws. As described further in Note 12 to our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this report, we are party to a civil complaint filed in June 2020 by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts concerning our support of 501(c)(3) organizations that provide financial assistance to patients; and we are cooperating with a pending government investigation concerning certain other business activities. Any adverse decision, finding, allegation, or exercise of enforcement or regulatory discretion in any such proceedings or investigations could harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
As part of the PPACA, the federal government requires that pharmaceutical manufacturers record any "transfers of value" made to U.S. prescribers and certain other healthcare providers and teaching hospitals. Information provided by companies is aggregated and posted annually on an "Open Payments" website, which is managed by CMS, the agency responsible for implementing these disclosure requirements. We continue to dedicate significant resources to comply with these requirements and need to be prepared to comply with additional reporting obligations outside of the United States that may apply in the future. The PPACA also includes various provisions designed to strengthen fraud-and-abuse enforcement, such as increased funding for enforcement efforts and the lowering of the intent requirement of the federal anti-kickback statute and criminal health care fraud statute such that a person or entity no longer needs to have actual knowledge of this statute or specific intent to violate it. In addition, several states have legislation requiring pharmaceutical companies to establish marketing compliance programs, file periodic reports with the state, or make periodic public disclosures on sales, marketing, pricing, clinical trials, and other activities. Many of these requirements and standards are new or uncertain, and the penalties for failure to comply with these requirements may be unclear. If we are found not to be in full compliance with these laws, we could face enforcement actions, fines, and other penalties, and could receive adverse publicity, which would harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition. Additionally, access to such data by fraud-and-abuse investigators and industry critics may draw scrutiny to our collaborations with reported entities.
Risks from the improper conduct of employees, agents, contractors, or collaborators could adversely affect our reputation and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
We cannot ensure that our compliance controls, policies, and procedures will in every instance protect us from acts committed by our employees, agents, contractors, or collaborators that would violate the laws or regulations of the jurisdictions in which we operate, including, without limitation, healthcare, employment, foreign corrupt practices, trade restrictions and sanctions, environmental, competition, and privacy laws and regulations. Such improper actions could subject us to civil or criminal investigations, and monetary and injunctive penalties, and could adversely impact our ability to conduct business, operating results, and reputation.
In particular, our business activities outside of the United States are subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and similar anti-bribery or anti-corruption laws, regulations or rules of other countries in which we operate, including the U.K. Bribery Act. The FCPA generally prohibits offering, promising, giving, or authorizing others to give anything of value, either directly or indirectly, to a non-U.S. government official in order to influence official action, or otherwise obtain or retain business. The FCPA also requires public companies to make and keep books and records that accurately and fairly reflect the transactions of the corporation and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls. Our business is heavily regulated and therefore involves significant interaction with public officials, including officials of non-U.S. governments. Additionally, in many other countries, the health care providers who prescribe pharmaceuticals are employed by their government, and the purchasers of pharmaceuticals are government entities; therefore, our dealings with these prescribers and purchasers are subject to regulation under the FCPA. Recently the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and Department of Justice have increased their FCPA enforcement activities with respect to pharmaceutical companies. There is no certainty that all of our employees, agents, contractors, or collaborators, or those of our affiliates, will comply with all applicable laws and regulations, particularly given the high level of complexity of these laws. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees, requirements to obtain export licenses, cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries, implementation of compliance programs, and prohibitions on the conduct of our business. Any such violations could include prohibitions on our ability to offer our products in one or more countries and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our ability to expand internationally, our ability to attract and retain employees, and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
Our operations may involve hazardous materials and are subject to environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations. Compliance with these laws and regulations is costly, and we may incur substantial liability arising from our activities involving the use of hazardous materials.
As a fully integrated biotechnology company with significant research and development and manufacturing operations, we are subject to extensive environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations, including those governing the use of hazardous materials. Our research and development and manufacturing activities involve the controlled use of chemicals, infectious agents (such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi), radioactive compounds, and other hazardous materials. The cost of compliance with environmental, health, and safety regulations is substantial. If an accident involving these materials or an environmental discharge were to occur, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, or face regulatory actions, which could exceed our resources or insurance coverage.
Our business is subject to increasingly complex corporate governance, public disclosure, and accounting requirements and regulations that could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We are subject to changing rules and regulations of various federal and state governmental authorities as well as the stock exchange on which our Common Stock is listed. These entities, including the SEC and The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, have issued a significant number of new and increasingly complex requirements and regulations over the course of the last several years and continue to develop additional requirements and regulations in response to laws enacted by Congress, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act, or the Dodd-Frank Act. There are significant corporate governance and executive compensation-related provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act that expressly authorized or required the SEC to adopt additional rules in these areas, a number of which have yet to be fully implemented. Our efforts to comply with these requirements and regulations have resulted in, and are likely to continue to result in, an increase in expenses and a diversion of management's time from other business activities.
Changes in laws and regulations affecting the healthcare industry could adversely affect our business.
All aspects of our business, including research and development, manufacturing, marketing, pricing, sales, intellectual property rights, and the framework for dispute resolution and asserting our rights against others, are subject to extensive legislation and regulation. Changes in applicable federal and state laws and agency regulations could have a materially negative impact on our business. These include:
•changes in the FDA and foreign regulatory processes for new therapeutics that may delay or prevent the approval of any of our current or future product candidates;
•new laws, regulations, or judicial decisions related to healthcare availability or the payment for healthcare products and services, including prescription drugs, that would make it more difficult for us to market and sell products once they are approved by the FDA or foreign regulatory agencies;
•changes in FDA and foreign regulations that may require additional safety monitoring prior to or after the introduction of new products to market, which could materially increase our costs of doing business; and
•changes in FDA and foreign cGMPs that may make it more difficult and costly for us to maintain regulatory compliance and/or manufacture our marketed product and product candidates in accordance with cGMPs.
As described above, the PPACA and potential regulations thereunder easing the entry of competing follow-on biologics into the marketplace, other new legislation or implementation of existing statutory provisions on importation of lower-cost competing drugs from other jurisdictions, and legislation on comparative effectiveness research are examples of previously enacted and possible future changes in laws that could adversely affect our business.
The Trump administration and Congress could carry out significant changes in legislation, regulation, and government policy (including with respect to the possible repeal of all or portions of the PPACA, government reimbursement changes and drug price control measures, and changes in the existing treaty and trade relationships with other countries), as evidenced by statements and actions of President Trump and certain members of Congress (including those discussed above under "Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Marketed Products, Product Candidates, and New Indications for Our Marketed Products - Sales of our marketed products are dependent on the availability and extent of reimbursement from third-party payors, and changes to such reimbursement may materially harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition"). While it is not possible to predict whether and when any such changes will occur, changes in the laws, regulations, and policies governing the development and approval of our product candidates and the commercialization, importation, and reimbursement of our products could adversely affect our business. In addition, our development and commercialization activities could be harmed or delayed by a shutdown of the U.S. government, including the FDA. For example, a prolonged shutdown may significantly delay the FDA's ability to timely review and process any submissions we have filed or may file or cause other regulatory delays, which could materially and adversely affect our business.
Risks associated with our operations outside of the United States could adversely affect our business.
We have operations and conduct business outside the United States and we plan to expand these activities. Consequently, we are, and will continue to be, subject to risks related to operating in foreign countries, which include:
•unfamiliar foreign laws or regulatory requirements or unexpected changes to those laws or requirements;
•other laws and regulatory requirements to which our business activities abroad are subject, such as the FCPA and the U.K. Bribery Act (discussed in greater detail above under "Risks from the improper conduct of employees, agents, contractors, or collaborators could adversely affect our reputation and our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition");
•changes in the political or economic condition of a specific country or region;
•fluctuations in the value of foreign currency versus the U.S. dollar;
•tariffs, trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements, trade embargoes, and sanctions (including those administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury), and other trade barriers;
•difficulties in attracting and retaining qualified personnel; and
•cultural differences in the conduct of business.
For example, effective January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom commenced an exit from the EU, commonly referred to as "Brexit." During a transition period (set to expire on December 31, 2020), the British government will continue to negotiate the terms of the United Kingdom's future relationship with the EU. The outcome of these negotiations is uncertain, and we do not know to what extent Brexit will ultimately impact the business and regulatory environment in the United Kingdom, the rest of the EU, or other countries. We have large-scale manufacturing operations in Limerick, Ireland and have also established an office in the vicinity of London. Changes impacting our ability to conduct business in the United Kingdom or other EU countries, or changes to the regulatory regime applicable to our operations in those countries (such as with respect to the approval of our product candidates), may materially and adversely impact our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
We may incur additional tax liabilities related to our operations.
We are subject to income tax in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide tax liabilities, and our effective tax rate is derived from a combination of the applicable statutory rates in the various jurisdictions in which we operate. We record liabilities that involve significant management judgment for uncertain tax positions. The Internal Revenue Service or other domestic or foreign taxing authorities may disagree with our interpretation of tax law as applied to the operations of Regeneron and its subsidiaries or with the positions we may take with respect to particular tax issues on our tax returns. Consequently, our reported effective tax rate and our after-tax cash flows may be materially and adversely affected by tax assessments or judgments in excess of accrued amounts we have estimated in preparing our financial statements. Further, our effective tax rate may also be adversely affected by numerous other factors, including changes in the mix of our profitability from country to country, changes in tax laws and regulations, and tax effects of the accounting for stock-based compensation (which depend in part on the price of our stock and, therefore, are beyond our control). Recommendations by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Union Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive require companies to disclose more information to tax authorities on operations around the world, which may lead to greater audit scrutiny. Even though we regularly assess the information provided to tax authorities in determining the appropriateness of our tax reserves, such tax authorities could take a position that is contrary to our expectations, and the result could adversely affect our provision for income tax and our current rate.
We face potential liability related to the personal information we collect from individuals, data brokers, or research institutions or obtain from clinical trials sponsored by us or our collaborators.
Most U.S. health care providers, including research institutions from which we or our collaborators obtain patient health information, are subject to privacy and security regulations promulgated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. For example, as part of our human genetics initiative, our wholly-owned subsidiary, Regeneron Genetics Center LLC, has entered into collaborations with research institutions, including the Geisinger Health System, which are subject to such regulations. Regeneron is not currently classified as a covered entity or business associate under HIPAA and thus is not subject to its requirements or penalties. However, we could be prosecuted under HIPAA's criminal provisions either directly or under aiding-and-abetting or conspiracy principles. Consequently, depending on the facts and circumstances, we could face substantial criminal penalties if we knowingly receive individually identifiable health information from a HIPAA-covered health care provider or research institution that has not satisfied HIPAA's requirements for disclosure of individually identifiable health information. There are instances where we collect and maintain sensitive personally identifiable information, which may include health information outside of the scope of HIPAA. This information may be received throughout the clinical trial process, in the course of our research collaborations, directly from individuals who enroll in our patient assistance programs, and from our own employees in a pandemic response process (such as in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic). In the case of a breach of personal information we may be subject to state breach notification laws requiring notification of affected individuals and state regulators.
Our patient assistance programs and product marketing activities as part of which we collect California resident personal data are subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the "CCPA"). The CCPA is a consumer protection law that provides California residents with personal data privacy rights and became effective on January 1, 2020. The CCPA requires us, among other things, to update our notices and develop new processes internally and with our partners. There are fines, penalties, and a private right of action resulting from non-compliance with the CCPA. Several other U.S. states have introduced similar consumer protection laws that may go into effect in the near future.
Our clinical trial programs and research collaborations outside the U.S. (such as our consortium with a group of companies to fund the generation of genetic exome sequence data from the UK Biobank health resource) implicate international data protection laws, including the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR"). The GDPR has created a range of new compliance obligations, including increased transparency requirements and new data subject rights. Violations of the GDPR carry significant financial penalties for noncompliance (including possible fines of up to 4% of global annual turnover for the preceding financial year or €20 million (whichever is higher)). In addition to the GDPR, certain EU Member States have issued or will be issuing their own implementation legislation. While we continue to monitor these developments, there remains some uncertainty surrounding the legal and regulatory environment for these evolving privacy and data protection laws. Complying with varying jurisdictional requirements could increase the costs and complexity of compliance, including the risk of substantial financial penalties for insufficient notice and consent, failure to respond to data subject rights requests, lack of a legal basis for the transfer of personal information out of the EU, or improper processing of personal data under the GDPR. Failure by our collaborators to comply with the strict rules on the transfer of personal data outside of the EU into the U.S. may result in the imposition of criminal and administrative sanctions on such collaborators, which could adversely affect our business and could create liability for us.
Furthermore, health privacy laws, data breach notification laws, consumer protection laws, data localization laws, and genetic testing laws may apply directly to our operations and/or those of our collaborators and may impose restrictions on our collection, use, and dissemination of individuals' health and other personal information. Moreover, individuals about whom we or our collaborators obtain health or other personal information, as well as the providers and third parties who share this information with us, may have statutory or contractual limits that impact our ability to use and disclose the information. We are likely to be required to expend significant capital and other resources to ensure ongoing compliance with applicable privacy and data security laws both inside and outside the United States. Claims that we have violated individuals' privacy rights or breached our contractual obligations, even if we are not found liable, could be expensive and time-consuming to defend and could result in adverse publicity that could harm our business.
If we or any collaborators fail to comply with applicable federal, state, local, or foreign regulatory requirements, we could be subject to a range of regulatory actions that could affect our or any collaborators' ability to commercialize our products and could harm, prevent, or substantially increase the cost of marketing and sales of any affected products that we are able to commercialize. Any threatened or actual government enforcement action could also generate adverse publicity and require that we devote substantial resources that could otherwise be used in other aspects of our business.
Increasing use of social media could give rise to liability, breaches of data security, or reputational damage.
We and our employees are increasingly utilizing social media tools as a means of communication both internally and externally. Despite our efforts to monitor evolving social media communication guidelines and comply with applicable rules, there is a risk that the use of social media by us or our employees to communicate about our products or business may cause us to be found in violation of applicable requirements. In addition, our employees may knowingly or inadvertently make use of social media in ways that may not comply with our social media policy or other legal or contractual requirements, which may give rise to liability, lead to the loss of trade secrets or other intellectual property, or result in public exposure of personal information of our employees, clinical trial patients, customers, and others. Furthermore, negative posts or comments about us or our products in social media could seriously damage our reputation, brand image, and goodwill. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition and could adversely affect the price of our Common Stock.
Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties
If our Antibody Collaboration or our IO Collaboration with Sanofi is terminated, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition, and our ability to develop, manufacture, and commercialize certain of our products and product candidates in the time expected, or at all, would be materially harmed.
We rely on funding and support from Sanofi to develop, manufacture, and commercialize certain of our products and product candidates. With respect to the products that we are co-developing with Sanofi under our Antibody Collaboration (currently consisting of Dupixent, Kevzara, and REGN3500), Sanofi funds a significant portion of development expenses incurred in connection with the development of these products. In addition, we rely on Sanofi to lead much of the clinical development efforts, assist with or lead efforts to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals, and lead the commercialization efforts for these products and product candidates.
As a result of the amendment and restatement of our IO Discovery and Development Agreement with Sanofi (which forms part of our IO Collaboration), we have all rights to, and we fund and conduct on our own all research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization activities to support, all of our immuno-oncology product candidates other than MUC16xCD3 Program antibodies (such as REGN4018) and BCMAxCD3 Program antibodies (such as REGN5458 and REGN5459). If Sanofi does not elect to co-develop MUC16xCD3 Program antibodies or BCMAxCD3 Program antibodies under our IO Collaboration, or opts out of their development under our IO Collaboration, we will be required to fund and conduct on our own all such efforts to support those product candidates, unless we enter into arrangements with other parties.
If Sanofi elects to co-develop BCMAxCD3 Program antibodies and/or MUC16xCD3 Program antibodies under our IO Collaboration, Sanofi will initially fund the development expenses incurred in connection with the development of BCMAxCD3 Program antibodies, for which Sanofi will be the principal controlling party, and half of the development expenses incurred in connection with the clinical development of MUC16xCD3 Program antibodies, for which we will be the principal controlling party. Under our IO Collaboration, Sanofi also funds half of the development expenses incurred in connection with the clinical development of Libtayo, subject to an agreed-upon development budget. In addition, if Sanofi elects to co-develop BCMAxCD3 Program antibodies, Sanofi will lead much of the clinical development efforts and assist with obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval. We also rely on Sanofi to lead commercialization efforts outside the United States for Libtayo. Following regulatory approval, we will rely on Sanofi to lead (i) the commercialization efforts in the United States for BCMAxCD3 Program antibodies and (ii) the commercialization efforts outside the United States for MUC16xCD3 Program antibodies and BCMAxCD3 Program antibodies.
If Sanofi terminates the Antibody Collaboration or the IO Collaboration or fails to comply with its payment obligations under any of our collaborations, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition would be materially harmed. We would be required to either expend substantially more resources than we have anticipated to support our research and development efforts, which could require us to seek additional funding that might not be available on favorable terms or at all, or materially cut back on such activities. If Sanofi does not perform its obligations with respect to the product candidates that it elects to co-develop, our ability to develop, manufacture, and commercialize these product candidates will be significantly adversely affected. We have limited commercial capabilities outside the United States and would have to develop or outsource these capabilities for products commercialized under our Antibody Collaboration or our IO Collaboration (see also "Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Marketed Products, Product Candidates, and New Indications for Our Marketed Products - If we are unable to establish commercial capabilities outside the United States for products we intend to commercialize or co-commercialize outside the United States, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition may be adversely affected" above). Termination of the Antibody Collaboration or the IO Collaboration would create substantial new and additional risks to the successful development and commercialization of the products subject to such collaborations, particularly outside the United States.
If our collaboration with Bayer for EYLEA is terminated, or Bayer materially breaches its obligations thereunder, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition, and our ability to continue to commercialize EYLEA outside the United States would be materially harmed.
We rely heavily on Bayer with respect to the commercialization of EYLEA outside the United States. Bayer is responsible for obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval outside the United States, as well as providing all sales, marketing, and commercial support for the product outside the United States. In particular, Bayer has responsibility for selling EYLEA outside the United States using its sales force and, in Japan, in cooperation with Santen pursuant to a Co-Promotion and Distribution Agreement, as in effect from time to time, with Bayer's Japanese affiliate. If Bayer and, in Japan, Santen do not perform their obligations in a timely manner, or at all, our ability to commercialize EYLEA outside the United States will be significantly adversely affected. Bayer has the right to terminate its collaboration agreement with us at any time upon six or twelve months' advance notice, depending on the circumstances giving rise to termination. If Bayer were to terminate its collaboration agreement with us, we may not have the resources or skills to replace those of our collaborator, which could require us to seek another collaboration that might not be available on favorable terms or at all, and could cause significant issues for the commercialization of EYLEA outside the United States and result in substantial additional costs and/or lower revenues to us. We have limited commercial capabilities outside the United States and would have to develop or outsource these capabilities (see also "Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Marketed Products, Product Candidates, and New Indications for Our Marketed Products - If we are unable to establish commercial capabilities outside the United States for products we intend to commercialize or co-commercialize outside the United States, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition may be adversely affected" above). Termination of the Bayer collaboration agreement would create substantial new and additional risks to the successful commercialization of EYLEA outside the United States.
Our collaborators and service providers may fail to perform adequately in their efforts to support the development, manufacture, and commercialization of our drug candidates and current and future products.
We depend upon third-party collaborators, including Sanofi and Bayer, and service providers such as CROs, outside testing laboratories, clinical investigator sites, third-party manufacturers, fill/finish providers, and product packagers and labelers, to assist us in the manufacture and preclinical and clinical development of our product candidates. We also depend, or will depend, on some of these third parties in connection with the commercialization of our marketed products and our product candidates and new indications for our marketed products if they are approved for marketing. If any of our existing collaborators or service providers breaches or terminates its agreement with us or does not perform its development or manufacturing services under an agreement in a timely manner (including as a result of its inability to perform due to financial or other relevant constraints) or in compliance with applicable GMPs, GLPs, or GCP standards, we could experience additional costs, delays, and difficulties in the manufacture or development of, or in obtaining approval by regulatory authorities for, or successfully commercializing our product candidates.
We and our collaborators rely on third-party service providers to support the distribution of our marketed products and for many other related activities in connection with the commercialization of these marketed products. Despite our or our collaborators' arrangements with them, these third parties may not perform adequately. If these service providers do not perform their services adequately, sales of our marketed products will suffer.
Risk Related to Employees
We are dependent on our key personnel and if we cannot recruit and retain leaders in our research, development, manufacturing, and commercial organizations, our business will be harmed.
We are highly dependent on certain of our executive officers, other key members of our senior management team, and our Chairman. If we are not able to retain (or for any other reason lose the services of) any of these persons, our business may suffer. In particular, we depend on the services of P. Roy Vagelos, M.D., the Chairman of our board of directors; Leonard S. Schleifer, M.D., Ph.D., our President and Chief Executive Officer; and George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., our President and Chief Scientific Officer. We are also highly dependent on the expertise and services of other senior management members leading our research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization efforts. There is intense competition in the biotechnology industry for qualified scientists and managerial personnel in the research, development, manufacture, and commercialization of drugs. We may not be able to continue to attract and retain the qualified personnel necessary to continue to advance our business and achieve our strategic objectives.
Information Technology Risks
Significant disruptions of information technology systems or breaches of data security could adversely affect our business.
Our business is increasingly dependent on critical, complex, and interdependent information technology systems, including Internet-based systems, to support business processes as well as internal and external communications. These systems are also critical to enable remote working arrangements, which have been growing in importance due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and our implementation of work-from-home policies for a significant part of our employees. The size and complexity of our computer systems make us potentially vulnerable to IT system breakdowns, internal and external malicious intrusion, and computer viruses, which may impact product production and key business processes. We also have outsourced significant elements of our information technology infrastructure and operations to third parties, which may allow them to access our confidential information and may also make our systems vulnerable to service interruptions or to security breaches from inadvertent or intentional actions by such third parties or others.
In addition, our systems are potentially vulnerable to data security breaches - whether by employees or others - which may expose sensitive data to unauthorized persons. Data security breaches could lead to the loss of trade secrets or other intellectual property, result in demands for ransom or other forms of blackmail, or lead to the public exposure of personal information (including sensitive personal information) of our employees, clinical trial patients, customers, and others. Such attacks are of ever-increasing levels of sophistication and are made by groups and individuals with a wide range of motives (including industrial espionage) and expertise, including by organized criminal groups, "hacktivists," nation states, and others. As a company with an increasingly global presence, our systems are subject to frequent attacks. Due to the nature of some of these attacks, there is a risk that an attack may remain undetected for a period of time. While we continue to make investments to improve the protection of data and information technology, there can be no assurance that our efforts will prevent service interruptions or security breaches.
Such disruptions and breaches of security could result in legal proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, disruptions to our operations, and damage to our reputation, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
Risks Related to Our Financial Results, Liquidity, and Need for Additional Financing
If we cannot sustain profitability, our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition would be materially harmed.
If we cannot sustain profitability, we may be unable to continue our operations. In the absence of substantial revenue from the sale of products on an ongoing basis, including our net product sales of EYLEA and funding we receive under our collaboration agreements (including our share of profits in connection with commercialization of EYLEA and Dupixent under our collaboration agreements with Bayer and Sanofi, respectively), or from other sources, the amount, timing, nature, or source of which cannot be predicted, we may incur substantial losses again as we conduct our research and development activities, commercialize our approved products, and prepare for possible commercialization of our other product candidates and new indications of our marketed products.
We may need additional funding in the future, which may not be available to us, and which may force us to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development programs or commercialization efforts.
We expend substantial resources for research and development, including costs associated with clinical testing of our product candidates and new indications of our marketed products, the commercialization of products, and capital expenditures. We believe our existing capital resources and borrowing availability under our revolving credit facility, together with funds generated by our current and anticipated EYLEA net product sales and funding we are entitled to receive under our collaboration agreements (including our share of profits in connection with commercialization of EYLEA and Dupixent under our collaboration agreements with Bayer and Sanofi, respectively), will enable us to meet our anticipated operating needs for the foreseeable future. However, one or more of our collaboration agreements may terminate, our revenues may fall short of our projections or be delayed, or our expenses may increase, any of which could result in our capital being consumed significantly faster than anticipated. Our expenses may increase for many reasons, including expenses in connection with the commercialization of our marketed products and the potential commercial launches of our product candidates and new indications for our marketed products, manufacturing scale-up, expenses related to clinical trials testing of antibody-based product candidates we are developing on our own (without a collaborator), and expenses for which we are responsible in accordance with the terms of our collaboration agreements.
We cannot be certain that our existing capital resources and our current and anticipated revenues will be sufficient to meet our operating needs. We may require additional financing in the future and we may not be able to raise additional funds on acceptable terms or at all. For example, we intend to refinance the Bridge Facility (which we entered into in May 2020, as described in Part I, Item 2. "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations") prior to its maturity in May 2021 by entering into new debt financing arrangements. In addition, in March 2017, we completed a $720.0 million lease financing for our existing corporate headquarters and other rentable area consisting of approximately 150 acres of predominately office buildings and laboratory space located in Tarrytown, New York, which will become due and payable in full on the five-year anniversary of the closing date unless extended with the consent of all the participants and subject to certain other conditions. Our ability to refinance or to obtain additional financing could be adversely affected if there is a significant decline in the demand for our products or other significantly unfavorable changes in economic conditions. Volatility in the financial markets could increase borrowing costs or affect our ability to raise capital. If additional financing is necessary and we obtain it through the sale of equity securities, such sales will likely be dilutive to our shareholders. Debt financing arrangements may require us to pledge certain assets or enter into covenants that would restrict our business activities or our ability to incur further indebtedness and may be at interest rates and contain other terms that are not favorable to our shareholders. Should we require and be unable to raise sufficient funds (i) to complete the development of our product candidates, (ii) to successfully commercialize our product candidates or new indications for our marketed products if they obtain regulatory approval, and (iii) to continue our manufacturing and marketing of our marketed products, we may face delay, reduction, or elimination of our research and development or preclinical or clinical programs and our commercialization activities, which would significantly limit our potential to generate revenue.
Our indebtedness could adversely impact our business.
We have certain indebtedness and contingent liabilities, including milestone and royalty payment obligations. As of June 30, 2020, we had an aggregate of $2.216 billion of outstanding indebtedness under the Bridge Facility and the lease financing facility. We may also incur additional debt in the future. Any such indebtedness could:
•limit our ability to access capital markets and incur additional debt in the future;
•require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to payments on our indebtedness, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow for other purposes, including business development efforts, research and development, and mergers and acquisitions; and
•limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate, thereby placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to competitors that have less debt.
Changes in foreign currency exchange rates could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.
Our revenue from outside of the United States will increase as our products, whether marketed by us or our collaborators, gain marketing approval in such jurisdictions. Our primary foreign currency exposure relates to movements in the Japanese yen, euro, British pound sterling, Canadian dollar, and Australian dollar. If the U.S. dollar weakens against a specific foreign currency, our revenues will increase, having a positive impact on net income, but our overall expenses will increase, having a negative impact. Conversely, if the U.S. dollar strengthens against a specific foreign currency, our revenues will decrease, having a negative impact on net income, but our overall expenses will decrease, having a positive impact. Therefore, significant changes in foreign exchange rates can impact our operating results and the financial condition of our Company.
Our investments are subject to risks and other external factors that may result in losses or affect the liquidity of these investments.
As of June 30, 2020, we had $1.992 billion in cash and cash equivalents and $3.740 billion in marketable securities (including $805.1 million in equity securities). Our investments consist primarily of debt securities, including investment-grade corporate bonds. These fixed-income investments are subject to external factors that may adversely affect their market value or liquidity, such as interest rate, liquidity, market, and issuer credit risks, including actual or anticipated changes in credit ratings. The equity securities we hold may experience significant volatility and may decline in value or become worthless if the issuer experiences an adverse development. Furthermore, our equity investments could be subject to dilution (and decline in value) as a result of the issuance of additional equity interests by the applicable issuer. If any of our investments suffer market price declines, such declines may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.
The elimination of LIBOR could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
In July 2017, the United Kingdom regulator that regulates the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") announced its intention to phase out LIBOR rates by the end of 2021. No consensus exists as to what rate or rates may become accepted alternatives to LIBOR or whether LIBOR rates will cease to be published or supported before or after 2021. A transition away from LIBOR as a benchmark for establishing the applicable interest rate may adversely affect our outstanding variable-rate indebtedness and interest rate swaps, as well as floating-rate debt securities we hold. For example, if a published U.S. dollar LIBOR rate is unavailable after 2021, the rent payments for the leased facilities in Tarrytown, New York and the interest payments under the Bridge Facility, which are indexed to LIBOR, will be determined using various alternative methods, any of which may result in interest obligations which are more than, or do not otherwise correlate over time with, the payments that would have been made on such debt if U.S. dollar LIBOR was available in its current form.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
Our stock price is extremely volatile.
There has been significant volatility in our stock price and generally in the market prices of biotechnology companies' securities. Various factors and events may have a significant impact on the market price of our Common Stock. These factors include, by way of example:
•net product sales of our marketed products (as recorded by us or our collaborators), in particular EYLEA, Dupixent, and Libtayo, as well as our overall operating results;
•if any of our product candidates or our new indications for our marketed products receive regulatory approval, net product sales of, and profits from, these product candidates and new indications;
•market acceptance of, and the market share for, our marketed products, especially EYLEA, Dupixent, and Libtayo;
•whether our net product sales and net profits underperform, meet, or exceed the expectations of investors or analysts;
•announcement of actions by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities or their respective advisory committees regarding our, or our collaborators', or our competitors', currently pending or future application(s) for regulatory approval of product candidate(s) or new indications for marketed products;
•announcement of submission of an application for regulatory approval of one or more of our, or our competitors', product candidates or new indications for marketed products;
•progress, delays, or results in clinical trials of our or our competitors' product candidates or new indications for marketed products;
•impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;
•announcement of technological innovations or product candidates by us or competitors;
•claims by others that our products or technologies infringe their patents;
•challenges by others to our patents in the EPO and in the USPTO;
•public concern as to the safety or effectiveness of any of our marketed products or product candidates or new indications for our marketed products;
•pricing or reimbursement actions, decisions, or recommendations by government authorities, insurers, or other organizations (such as health maintenance organizations and pharmacy benefit management companies) affecting the coverage, reimbursement, or use of any of our marketed products or competitors' products;
•our ability to raise additional capital as needed on favorable terms;
•developments in our relationships with collaborators or key customers;
•developments in the biotechnology industry or in government regulation of healthcare, including those relating to compounding (i.e., a practice in which a pharmacist, a physician, or, in the case of an outsourcing facility, a person under the supervision of a pharmacist, combines, mixes, or alters ingredients of a drug to create a medication tailored to the needs of an individual patient);
•large sales of our Common Stock by our executive officers or other employees, directors, or significant shareholders (or the expectation of any such sales);
•changes in tax rates, laws, or interpretation of tax laws;
•arrivals and departures of key personnel;
•general market conditions;
•our ability to repurchase our Common Stock under any share repurchase program on favorable terms or at all;
•trading activity that results from the rebalancing of stock indices in which our Common Stock is included, or the inclusion or exclusion of our Common Stock from such indices;
•other factors identified in these "Risk Factors"; and
•the perception by the investment community or our shareholders of any of the foregoing factors.
The trading price of our Common Stock has been, and could continue to be, subject to wide fluctuations in response to these and other factors, including the sale or attempted sale of a large amount of our Common Stock in the market. As discussed in greater detail under "Future sales of our Common Stock by our significant shareholders or us may depress our stock price and impair our ability to raise funds in new share offerings" below, a large percentage of our Common Stock is owned by a small number of our principal shareholders. As a result, the public float of our Common Stock (i.e., the portion of our Common Stock held by public investors, as opposed to the Common Stock held by our directors, officers, and principal shareholders) may be lower than the public float of other large public companies with broader public ownership. Therefore, the trading price of our Common Stock may fluctuate significantly more than the stock market as a whole. These factors may exacerbate the volatility in the trading price of our Common Stock and may negatively impact your ability to liquidate your investment in Regeneron at the time you wish at a price you consider satisfactory. Broad market fluctuations may also adversely affect the market price of our Common Stock. In the past, securities class action litigation has often been initiated against companies following periods of volatility in their stock price. This type of litigation could result in substantial costs and divert our management's attention and
resources, and could also require us to make substantial payments to satisfy judgments or to settle litigation, which may harm our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition.
Future sales of our Common Stock by our significant shareholders or us may depress our stock price and impair our ability to raise funds in new share offerings.
A small number of our shareholders beneficially own a substantial amount of our Common Stock. As of June 30, 2020, our five largest shareholders plus Dr. Schleifer, our Chief Executive Officer, beneficially owned approximately 35.2% of our outstanding shares of Common Stock, assuming, in the case of our Chief Executive Officer, the conversion of his Class A Stock into Common Stock and the exercise of all options held by him which are exercisable within 60 days of June 30, 2020. If our significant shareholders or we sell substantial amounts of our Common Stock in the public market, or there is a perception that such sales may occur, the market price of our Common Stock could fall. Sales of Common Stock by our significant shareholders also might make it more difficult for us to raise funds by selling equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem appropriate.
There can be no assurance that we will continue to repurchase shares of our Common Stock or that we will repurchase shares at favorable prices.
Our board of directors previously authorized a share repurchase program to repurchase up to $1.0 billion of our Common Stock (of which $473.1 million remained available as of June 30, 2020). Any share repurchases will depend upon, among other factors, our cash balances and potential future capital requirements, our results of operations and financial condition, the price of our Common Stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, and other factors that we may deem relevant. We can provide no assurance that we will continue to repurchase shares of our Common Stock at favorable prices, if at all.
Our existing shareholders may be able to exert significant influence over matters requiring shareholder approval and over our management.
Holders of Class A Stock, who are generally the shareholders who purchased their stock from us before our initial public offering, are entitled to ten votes per share, while holders of Common Stock are entitled to one vote per share. As of June 30, 2020, holders of Class A Stock held 15.1% of the combined voting power of all shares of Common Stock and Class A Stock then outstanding. These shareholders, if acting together, would be in a position to significantly influence the election of our directors and the vote on certain corporate transactions that require majority or supermajority approval of the combined classes, including mergers and other business combinations. This may result in our taking corporate actions that other shareholders may not consider to be in their best interest and may affect the price of our Common Stock. As of June 30, 2020:
•our current executive officers and directors beneficially owned 8.9% of our outstanding shares of Common Stock, assuming conversion of their Class A Stock into Common Stock and the exercise of all options held by such persons which are exercisable within 60 days of June 30, 2020, and 20.1% of the combined voting power of our outstanding shares of Common Stock and Class A Stock, assuming the exercise of all options held by such persons which are exercisable within 60 days of June 30, 2020; and
•our five largest shareholders plus Dr. Schleifer, our Chief Executive Officer, beneficially owned approximately 35.2% of our outstanding shares of Common Stock, assuming, in the case of our Chief Executive Officer, the conversion of his Class A Stock into Common Stock and the exercise of all options held by him which are exercisable within 60 days of June 30, 2020. In addition, these five shareholders plus our Chief Executive Officer held approximately 43.0% of the combined voting power of our outstanding shares of Common Stock and Class A Stock, assuming the exercise of all options held by our Chief Executive Officer which are exercisable within 60 days of June 30, 2020.
The anti-takeover effects of provisions of our charter, by-laws, and of New York corporate law, as well as the contractual provisions in our investor and collaboration agreements and certain provisions of our compensation plans and agreements, could deter, delay, or prevent an acquisition or other "change of control" of us and could adversely affect the price of our Common Stock.
Our certificate of incorporation, our by-laws, and the New York Business Corporation Law contain various provisions that could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of our Company or our management that shareholders may consider favorable or beneficial. Some of these provisions could discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for shareholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our Common Stock. These provisions include:
•authorization to issue "blank check" preferred stock, which is preferred stock that can be created and issued by the board of directors without prior shareholder approval, with rights senior to those of our Common Stock and Class A Stock;
•a staggered board of directors, so that it would take three successive annual shareholder meetings to replace all of our directors;
•a requirement that removal of directors may only be effected for cause and only upon the affirmative vote of at least eighty percent (80%) of the outstanding shares entitled to vote for directors, as well as a requirement that any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled only by the remaining directors;
•a provision whereby any action required or permitted to be taken at any meeting of shareholders may be taken without a meeting, only if, prior to such action, all of our shareholders consent, the effect of which is to require that shareholder action may only be taken at a duly convened meeting;
•a requirement that any shareholder seeking to bring business before an annual meeting of shareholders must provide timely notice of this intention in writing and meet various other requirements; and
•under the New York Business Corporation Law, in addition to certain restrictions which may apply to "business combinations" involving our Company and an "interested shareholder," a plan of merger or consolidation of our Company must be approved by two-thirds of the votes of all outstanding shares entitled to vote thereon. See the risk factor above captioned "Our existing shareholders may be able to exert significant influence over matters requiring shareholder approval and over our management."
Pursuant to the January 2014 amended and restated investor agreement between us and Sanofi, as amended, Sanofi is bound by certain "standstill" provisions, which contractually prohibit Sanofi from seeking to directly or indirectly exert control of our Company or acquiring more than 30% of our Class A Stock and Common Stock (taken together). This prohibition will remain in place until the earliest of (i) the later of the fifth anniversaries of the expiration or earlier termination of our License and Collaboration Agreement with Sanofi relating to our Antibody Collaboration or our ZALTRAP collaboration agreement with Sanofi, each as amended; (ii) our announcement recommending acceptance by our shareholders of a tender offer or exchange offer that, if consummated, would constitute a change of control involving us; (iii) the public announcement of any definitive
agreement providing for a change of control involving us; (iv) the date of any issuance of shares of Common Stock by us that would result in another party having more than 10% of the voting power of our outstanding Class A Stock and Common Stock (taken together) unless such party enters into a standstill agreement containing certain terms substantially similar to the standstill obligations of Sanofi; or (v) other specified events, such as a liquidation or dissolution of our Company.
Similarly, pursuant to our 2016 ANG2 license and collaboration agreement with Bayer (which was terminated on November 1, 2018 by agreement of the parties but whose "standstill" provisions continue to be in effect as described below), Bayer is bound by certain "standstill" provisions, which contractually prohibit Bayer from seeking to influence the control of our Company or acquiring more than 20% of our outstanding Class A Stock and Common Stock (taken together). This prohibition will remain in place until the earliest of (i) November 1, 2023; (ii) the public announcement of a tender offer, exchange offer, or other proposal that would constitute a change of control of our Company; (iii) the acquisition by a third party or a group of third parties (other than by Dr. Schleifer or his affiliates) of more than 20% of the voting power of our outstanding Class A Stock and Common Stock (taken together); (iv) the issuance of shares of capital stock to another party (other than to an underwriter in a public offering) that would result in such party's having more than 7% of the voting power of our outstanding Class A Stock and Common Stock (taken together) unless such third party enters into a standstill agreement containing terms substantially similar to the standstill obligations of Bayer; or (v) other specified events, such as a liquidation or dissolution of our Company. A similar "standstill" prohibition applies to Bayer pursuant to our 2014 PDGFR-beta license and collaboration agreement with Bayer (which agreement was terminated on July 31, 2017 by agreement of the parties but whose "standstill" provisions continue to be in effect until July 31, 2022 unless they expire earlier upon the occurrence of certain specified events).
Further, pursuant to the 2016 collaboration agreement between us and Teva, Teva and its affiliates are bound by certain "standstill" provisions, which contractually prohibit them from seeking to directly or indirectly exert control of our Company or acquiring more than 5% of our Class A Stock and Common Stock (taken together). This prohibition will remain in place until the earliest of (i) the fifth anniversary of the expiration or earlier termination of the agreement; (ii) our announcement recommending acceptance by our shareholders of a tender offer or exchange offer that, if consummated, would constitute a change of control involving us; (iii) the public announcement of any definitive agreement providing for a change of control involving us; (iv) the acquisition by a third party or a group of third parties of more than 30% of the voting power of our outstanding Class A Stock and Common Stock (taken together); (v) the date of any issuance of shares of capital stock by us that would result in another party having more than 10% of the voting power of our outstanding Class A Stock and Common Stock (taken together) unless such party enters into a standstill agreement containing certain terms substantially similar to the standstill obligations of Teva; or (vi) other specified events, such as a liquidation or dissolution of our Company.
In addition, our Change in Control Severance Plan and the employment agreement with our Chief Executive Officer, each as amended and restated, provide for severance benefits in the event of termination as a result of a change in control of our Company. Also, equity awards issued under our long-term incentive plans may become fully vested in connection with a "change in control" of our Company, as defined in the plans. These contractual provisions may also have the effect of deterring, delaying, or preventing an acquisition or other change in control.