1. Nature of Business
Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the “Company” or “we”) is a global, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients living with rare neuroendocrine diseases. We are focused on advancing our melanocortin-4 (MC4R) receptor agonists, including our lead asset, IMCIVREE® (setmelanotide), as a precision medicine designed to treat hyperphagia and severe obesity caused by rare MC4R pathway diseases. While obesity affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, we are developing therapies for a subset of individuals who have hyperphagia, a pathological hunger that leads to abnormal food-seeking behaviors, and severe obesity due to impaired MC4R pathway signaling, which may be caused by genetic variants or injury to the hypothalamic region. The MC4R pathway is an endocrine pathway in the brain that is responsible for regulating hunger, caloric intake and energy expenditure, which consequently affect body weight. IMCIVREE, an MC4R agonist for which we hold worldwide rights, is the first-ever therapy developed for patients with certain rare diseases that is approved or authorized in the United States, European Union, and Great Britain, Canada, and other countries and regions.
The Company is a Delaware corporation organized in February 2013 under the name Rhythm Metabolic, Inc., and as of October 2015, under the name Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The Company has wholly owned subsidiaries in the US, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Canada.
The Company is subject to risks and uncertainties common to commercial-stage companies in the biotechnology industry, including but not limited to, risks associated with the commercialization of approved products, completing preclinical studies and clinical trials, receiving regulatory approvals for product candidates, development by competitors of new biopharmaceutical products, dependence on key personnel, protection of proprietary technology, compliance with government regulations and the ability to secure additional capital to fund operations. Commercialization of approved products will require significant resources and in order to market IMCIVREE, the Company must continue to build its sales, marketing, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services. Product candidates currently under development will require significant additional research and development efforts, including preclinical and clinical testing and regulatory approval, prior to commercialization. These efforts require significant amounts of additional capital, adequate personnel and infrastructure and extensive compliance-reporting capabilities. Even though the Company has an approved product, and even if the Company’s further product development efforts are successful, it is uncertain when, if ever, the Company will realize sufficient revenue from product sales to fund operations.
Liquidity
The Company has incurred operating losses and negative cash flows from operations since inception. As of September 30, 2024, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $1.1 billion. The Company has primarily funded these losses through the proceeds from the sales of common and preferred stock, asset sales, royalty financing, out-license arrangements, as well as capital contributions received from the former parent company, Rhythm Holdings LLC. While the Company is generating product revenue, management expects operating losses to continue for the foreseeable future. The Company has devoted substantially all of its resources to its drug development efforts, comprised of research and development, the acquisition of in process research and development assets, manufacturing, conducting clinical trials for its product candidates, protecting its intellectual property, commercialization activities and general and administrative functions relating to these operations. The future success of the Company is dependent on its ability to develop its product candidates and ultimately upon its ability to attain profitable operations.
At September 30, 2024, the Company had $298,390 of cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments on hand. On April 1, 2024, the Company entered into an Investment Agreement (the “Investment Agreement”) with certain affiliates of Perceptive Advisors LLC (“Perceptive”) and a life sciences focused institutional investor (each, an “Investor”