Filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3)
Registration No. 333-239858
PROSPECTUS
31,924,929 Shares
Common Stock
This
prospectus covers resales from time to time by the selling
stockholders named under “Selling
Stockholders” in this prospectus (collectively, the
“
Selling Stockholders”) of up to 31,924,929 shares
of common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “common stock”),
of GT Biopharma, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), that
(a) were issued to a Selling Stockholder pursuant to the terms of a
consulting agreement or (b) that may be issued to certain of the
Selling Stockholders either (i) upon conversion of the Applicable
Notes (as defined herein) issued by the Company in certain private
placement transactions, or (ii) at the option of the Selling
Stockholders as holders of the Applicable Notes, in lieu of cash
payments of interest on the Applicable Notes based upon the then
current conversion price for the Applicable Notes (collectively,
the “Registered Shares”).
The Selling Stockholders may sell the Registered
Shares at fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the time of
the sale, at varying prices determined at the time of sale, or at
negotiated prices, including, without limitation, in one or more
transactions that may take place by ordinary brokerage
transactions, privately-negotiated transactions or through sales to
one or more underwriters or broker-dealers for resale. See
“Plan of
Distribution.”
All of the Registered Shares sold pursuant to this
prospectus will be offered and sold by the Selling Stockholders. We
will not receive any proceeds from such sales. See
“Use of
Proceeds.” We will pay
all expenses incident to the
registration of the Registered Shares under the Securities Act of
1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).
Our common
stock is quoted on the OTCQB, one of the OTC Markets Group over-the-counter markets, under
the trading symbol “GTBP.” On July 28, 2020, the closing sale price
for our common stock was
$0.18.
The purchase of our common
stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully review
and consider “Risk Factors”
beginning on page 9 of this prospectus and any risks described in
any accompanying prospectus supplement.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
“SEC”) nor any state securities
commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or
determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any
representation to the contrary is a criminal
offense.
The
date of this prospectus is July 28, 2020.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CAUTIONARY
NOTICE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS
|
iii
|
|
|
ABOUT
THIS PROSPECTUS
|
iv
|
|
|
PROSPECTUS
SUMMARY
|
1
|
|
|
RISK
FACTORS
|
8
|
|
|
USE
OF PROCEEDS
|
26
|
|
|
MARKET
INFORMATION
|
26
|
|
|
MANAGEMENT’S
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF
OPERATIONS
|
27
|
|
|
DESCRIPTION
OF BUSINESS
|
34
|
|
|
DIRECTORS,
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE
|
44
|
|
|
EXECUTIVE
COMPENSATION
|
45
|
|
|
VOTING
SECURITIES AND PRINCIPAL HOLDERS
|
47
|
|
|
SELLING
STOCKHOLDERS
|
49
|
|
|
PLAN
OF DISTRIBUTION
|
51
|
|
|
DESCRIPTION
OF CAPITAL STOCK
|
53
|
|
|
LEGAL
MATTERS
|
56
|
|
|
EXPERTS
|
56
|
|
|
WHERE
YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
|
56
|
|
|
INDEX
TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
|
F-1
|
CAUTIONARY NOTICE
REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some of
the statements in this prospectus are “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the safe harbor from liability established by
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our current
beliefs, goals and expectations about matters such as our expected
financial position and operating results, our business strategy and
our financing plans. The forward-looking statements in this
prospectus are not based on historical facts, but rather reflect
the current expectations of our management concerning future
results and events. The forward-looking statements generally can be
identified by the use of terms such as “believe,” “expect,”
“anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “foresee,” “may,” “guidance,”
“estimate,” “potential,” “outlook,” “target,” “forecast,” “likely”
or other similar words or phrases. Similarly, statements that
describe our objectives, plans or goals are, or may be,
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may
cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be
different from any future results, performance and achievements
expressed or implied by these statements. We cannot guarantee that
our forward-looking statements will turn out to be correct or that
our beliefs and goals will not change. Our actual results could be
very different from and worse than our expectations for various
reasons. You should review carefully all information, including the
discussion under “Risk
Factors” and “Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations” in this prospectus or under similar headings in
any accompanying prospectus supplement. Any forward-looking
statements in this prospectus are made only as of the date hereof
and, except as may be required by law, we do not have any
obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements
contained in this prospectus to reflect subsequent events or
circumstances.
This prospectus is part of a registration
statement on Form S-1 that we filed with the SEC utilizing a
“shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration
process, the Selling Stockholders may offer from time to time the
Registered Shares in one or more transactions. The registration
statement of which this prospectus is a part is being filed in
accordance with certain registration rights agreements (collectively, the “Registration Rights Agreements”), each by and
among the Company and the applicable Selling Stockholders party
thereto. Pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreements, we have
agreed to indemnify and hold harmless, to the extent permitted by
law, each of the Selling Stockholders party to the such
Registration Rights Agreement and each of such Selling
Stockholder’s directors, officers, partners, members, employees,
agents, representatives of and each other person, if any, who
controls such Selling Stockholder within the meaning of the
Securities Act from and against certain losses, claims, damages and
liabilities, including certain liabilities under the Securities
Act.
At the time the Selling Stockholder offers shares
of our common stock registered
by this prospectus, if required, we will provide a prospectus
supplement that will contain specific information about the terms
of the offering and that may add to or update the information in
this prospectus. If the information in this prospectus is
inconsistent with a prospectus supplement, you should rely on the
information in that prospectus supplement. You should read this
prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement or free writing
prospectus, as well as any post-effective amendments to the
registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part,
together with the additional information described under
“Where You
Can Find More Information”
before you make any investment decision.
We are responsible for the information contained
in this prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement or in any
free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us that we have
referred to you. Neither we nor the Selling Stockholders have
authorized anyone to provide you with additional information or
information different from that contained in this prospectus or in
any applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus
filed with the SEC, and we take no responsibility for any other
information that others may give you. The Selling Stockholder are
offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, shares of our
common stock only in jurisdictions
where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in
this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus,
regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any
sale of shares of our common
stock. Our business, operating results or financial condition may
have changed since such date.
No action is being taken in any jurisdiction
outside the United States to permit a public offering of
common stock or possession or
distribution of this prospectus in that jurisdiction. Persons who
come into possession of this prospectus in jurisdictions outside
the United States are required to inform themselves about and to
observe any restrictions as to this offering and the distribution
of this prospectus applicable to those
jurisdictions.
Unless otherwise indicated, information contained
in this prospectus concerning our industry and the markets in which
we operate, including our general expectations and market position,
market opportunity and market share, is based on information from
our own management estimates and research, as well as from industry
and general publications and research, surveys and studies
conducted by third parties. Management estimates are derived from
publicly available information, our knowledge of our industry and
assumptions based on such information and knowledge, which we
believe to be reasonable. In addition, assumptions and estimates of
our and our industry’s future performance are necessarily subject
to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of
factors, including those described in “Risk
Factors.” These and other
factors could cause our future performance to differ materially
from our assumptions and estimates. See “Cautionary Notice Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements.”
This prospectus contains summaries of certain
provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but
reference is made to the actual documents for complete
information. All of the
summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents.
Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been, or
will be, filed or incorporated by reference as exhibits to the
registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you
may obtain copies of those documents as described below under the
heading “Where You Can Find More
Information.”
All product
and company names are
trademarks of their respective owners. Solely for convenience,
trademarks and trade names referred to in this prospectus,
including logos, artwork and other visual displays, may appear
without the ® or TM
symbols, but such references are not
intended to indicate, in any way, that their respective owners will
not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, their
rights thereto. We do not intend our use or display of other
companies’ trade names or trademarks
to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us
by, any other companies.
Throughout
this prospectus, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” and “our Company” and
“the Company” refer to GT Biopharma, Inc., a Delaware corporation,
and/or its related subsidiaries, as the context may
require.
|
PROSPECTUS SUMMARY
This summary highlights certain
information about us, this offering and selected information
contained elsewhere in this prospectus. Because this is only a
summary, it does not contain all of the information that may be important to
you or that you should consider before investing in our
common stock. You should read the
entire prospectus carefully, especially the information under
“Risk Factors” set forth in
this prospectus and the information included in any prospectus
supplement or free writing prospectus that we have authorized for
use in connection with this offering. This prospectus contains
forward-looking statements, based on current expectations and
related to future events and our future financial performance, that
involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may vary
materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements
as a result of various factors, including, without limitation,
those set forth under “Risk
Factors,” as well as other matters described in this prospectus.
See “Cautionary Notice
Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”
Overview
We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical
company focused on the development and
commercialization of novel immuno-oncology products based off our proprietary
Tri-specific Killer Engager
(TriKE™) and
Tetra-specific Killer Engager
(TetraKE™). Our
TriKE and TetraKE platforms generate
proprietary therapeutics designed to harness and enhance the cancer
killing abilities of a patient’s own natural killer cells
(“NK cells”). Once bound to an
NK cell, our moieties are designed to enhance the NK cell, and
precisely direct it to one or more specifically-targeted proteins
expressed on a specific type of cancer cell or virus infected cell,
ultimately resulting in the targeted cell’s death.
TriKEs and TetraKEs are made up of
recombinant fusion proteins, can be designed to target any number
of tumor antigens on hematologic malignancies, sarcomas or solid
tumors and do not require patient-specific
customization.
We are using our TriKE and TetraKE platforms with the intent to
bring to market immuno-oncology products that can treat a range of hematologic
malignancies, sarcoma and solid tumors. The platforms are scalable,
and we are putting processes in place to be able to produce
investigational new drug application (“IND”) ready moieties in a
timely manner after a specific TriKE or TetraKE conceptual design. After
conducting market and competitive research, specific moieties can
then be advanced into the clinic on our own or through potential
collaborations with larger companies. We are also evaluating, in conjunction
with our Scientific Advisory
Board, additional moieties designed to target different tumor
antigens. We believe our TriKEs
and TetraKEs may have the ability, if approved for marketing, to be
used on a stand-alone basis, augment the current monoclonal
antibody therapeutics, be used in conjunction with more traditional
cancer therapy and potentially overcome certain limitations of
current chimeric antigen receptor (“CAR-T”)
therapy.
We are also using our TriKE and TetraKE platforms to develop
therapeutics useful for the treatment of infectious disease such as
for the treatment of patients infected by the human
immunodeficiency virus (“HIV”). While the use of anti-retroviral
drugs has substantially improved the health and increased the
longevity of individuals infected with HIV, these drugs are
designed to suppress virus replication to help modulate progression
to AIDS and to limit further transmission of the virus. Despite the
use of anti-retroviral drugs, infected individuals retain
reservoirs of latent HIV-infected cells that, upon cessation of
anti-retroviral drug therapy, can reactivate and reestablish an
active HIV infection. For a curative therapy, destruction of these
latent HIV infected cells must take place. The HIV-TriKE contains the antigen binding fragment
(Fab) from a
broadly-neutralizing antibody targeting the HIV-Env protein. The HIV-TriKE is designed to target HIV while
redirecting NK cell killing specifically to actively replicating
HIV infected cells. The HIV-TriKE induced NK cell proliferation and
demonstrated the ability in vitro to reactivate and kill
HIV-infected T-cells. These findings indicate a potential role for
the HIV-TriKE in the
reactivation and elimination of the latently infected HIV reservoir
cells by harnessing the NK cell’s ability to mediate the
antibody-directed cellular cytotoxicity
(“ADCC”).
Our initial work has been conducted in
collaboration with the Masonic
Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota under a program led by
Dr. Jeffrey Miller, the Deputy
Director. Dr. Miller is a recognized leader in the field of NK cell
and IL-15 biology and their therapeutic potential. We have
exclusive rights to the TriKE
and TetraKE platforms and are generating additional intellectual
property around specific moieties.
Immuno-Oncology Product Candidates
GTB-3550
GTB-3550 is our first TriKE product
candidate. It is a tri-specific single-chain variable fragment
(“scFV”) recombinant fusion
protein conjugate composed of the variable regions of the heavy and
light chains of anti-CD16 and anti-CD33 antibodies and a modified
form of IL-15. We intend to study this
anti-CD16-IL-15-anti-CD33 TriKE
in CD33 positive leukemias, a marker expressed on tumor cells in
acute myelogenous leukemia (“AML”), myelodysplastic syndrome
(“MDS”) and other hematopoietic malignancies. CD33 is primarily a
myeloid differentiation antigen with endocytic properties broadly
expressed on AML blasts and, possibly, some leukemic stem cells.
CD33 or Siglec-3 (sialic acid
binding Ig-like lectin 3,
SIGLEC3, SIGLEC3, gp67, p67) is a transmembrane receptor expressed
on cells of myeloid lineage. It is usually considered
myeloid-specific, but it can also be found on some lymphoid cells.
The anti-CD33 antibody fragment that will be used for these studies
was derived from the M195 humanized anti-CD33 scFV and has been used in multiple human
clinical studies. It has been exploited as target for therapeutic
antibodies for many years. We believe the recent approval of the
antibody-drug conjugate gemtuzumab validates this targeted
approach.
|
|
|
The GTB-3550 IND will focus on AML. These patients
typically receive frontline therapy, usually chemotherapy,
including cytarabine and an anthracycline, a therapy that has not
changed in over 40 years. About half will have relapses and require
alternative therapies. In addition, MDS incidence rates have
dramatically increased in the population of the United States from
3.3 per 100,000 individuals from 2001-2004 to 70 per 100,000
annually. MDS is especially prevalent in elderly patients that have
a median age of 76 years at diagnosis. The survival of patients
with MDS is poor due to decreased eligibility, as a result of
advanced age, for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation
(Allo-HSCT), the only curative
MDS treatment (Cogle CR.
Incidence and Burden of the Myelodysplastic Syndromes. Curr Hematol
Malig Rep. 2015; 10(3):272-281). We believe GTB-3550 could serve as
a relatively safe, cost-effective and easy-to-use therapy for
resistant/relapsing AML and could also be combined with
chemotherapy as frontline therapy thus targeting the larger
market.
The IND for GTB-3550 was filed in June 2017 by the
University of Minnesota. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the
“FDA”) requested that additional preclinical toxicology be
conducted prior to initiating clinical trials. The FDA also
requested some additional information and clarifications on the
manufacturing and clinical packages. The requested additional
information and clarifications were completed and incorporated by
us into the IND in eCTD format.
We filed the IND amendment in June 2018 and announced on November
1, 2018 that we had received notification from the FDA that the IND
was open and the Company was authorized to initiate a
first-in-human Phase I study
with GTB-3550 in AML, MDS and severe mastocytosis. We began
the Phase I clinical trial in
January 2020.
GTB-C3550
GTB-C3550 is a next-generation, follow-on, to our
lead TriKE, GTB-3550. GTB-C3550
contains a modified CD16 moiety which has improved binding
characteristics and enhanced tumor cell killing based on functional
assays and animal models of AML. Using our platform technology, we
substituted the anti-CD16 scFv arm
in GTB-3550 with a novel humanized single-domain anti-CD16 antibody
to create this second-generation molecule which may have improved
functionality. Single-domain antibodies, such as GTB-C3550,
typically have several advantages, including better stability and
solubility, more resistance to pH changes, can better recognize
hidden antigenic sites, lack of a VL portion thus preventing VH/VL
mispairing and are suitable for construction of larger molecules.
GTB-C3550 induced a potent increase in NK cell degranulation,
measured by CD107a expression
against HL-60 AML tumor targets when compared to our
first-generation TriKE
(70.75±3.65% vs. 30.75±5.05%). IFN production was similarly
enhanced (29.2±1.8% vs. 6.55±1.07%). GTB-C3550 also exhibited a
robust increase in NK cell proliferation (57.65±6.05% vs.
20.75±2.55%). GTB-3550 studies will help inform the development of
GTB-C3550 which we expect will de-risk the GTB-C3550 program as
data will be generated to make an informed decision on which, or
both, will be brought into later phase studies.
GTB-1615
GTB-1615 is an example of our
first-generation TetraKEs
designed for the treatment of solid tumors. It is a single-chain
fusion protein composed of CD16-IL15-EpCAM-CD133. EpCAM is found on many solid tumor cells of
epithelial origin and CD133 is a marker for cancer stem cells.
This TetraKE is designed to
target not only the heterogeneous population of cancer cells found
in solid tumors but also the cancer stem cells that are typically
responsible for recurrences. Depending on the availability of drug
supply, we hope to initiate human clinical testing for certain of
our solid tumor product
candidates later this year.
GTB-1550
GTB-1550 is a bispecific scFV recombinant fusion
protein-drug conjugate composed of the variable regions of the
heavy and light chains of anti-CD19 and anti-CD22 antibodies and a
modified form of diphtheria toxin (DT390) as its cytotoxic drug
payload. CD19 is a membrane glycoprotein present on the surface
of all stages of B-lymphocyte
development and is also expressed on most B-cell mature lymphoma
cells and leukemia cells. CD22 is a glycoprotein expressed on
B-lineage lymphoid precursors, including precursor
ALL (as defined below), and often is
co-expressed with CD19 on mature B-cell malignancies such as
lymphoma.
GTB-1550 targets cancer cells expressing the CD19
receptor or CD22 receptor or both receptors. When GTB-1550 binds to
cancer cells, the cancer cells internalize GTB-1550 and are killed
due to the action of drug’s cytotoxic diphtheria toxin payload.
GTB-1550 has completed a Phase
I human clinical trial in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell
lymphoma or leukemia.
The initial Phase I study enrolled 25 patients with mature or
precursor B-cell lymphoid malignancies expressing the CD19 receptor
or CD22 receptor or both receptors. All 25 patients received at least a single course
of therapy. The treatment at the higher doses produced objective
tumor responses with one patient in continuous partial remission
and the second in complete remission. A Phase I/II trial of GTB-1550 in 18 patients was
recently completed in patients with Non-Hodgins Lymphoma (“NHL”)/Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (“ALL”). The FDA-approved clinical trial was
conducted at the University of
Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center and concluded in March 2018.
Preliminary data assessment was made in August 2018, and final
assessment made June 24, 2020. Based on the lack of efficacy
demonstrated by GTB-1550 in patients evaluated in two
Phase I/II clinical trials (NHL, ALL
and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (“CLL”)), a decision has been made
to terminate further development. We are currently evaluating other
options for GTB-1550.
|
|
|
Recent Developments
Financings
July 2020 Financing
On July 7, 2020, we entered into a
securities purchase agreement
with ten purchasers pursuant to which we issued convertible
notes in an aggregate principal amount
of approximately $3.2 million (collectively, the “July 2020
Notes”).
The July 2020 Notes are convertible at any time,
at the holder’s option, into shares of our common stock at an initial conversion price of $0.20 per
share, subject to certain
beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum ownership limit of
9.99%). The
conversion
price is also subject to adjustment due to certain events,
including stock dividends, stock splits and in connection with the
issuance by the Company of common stock or
common
stock equivalents at an effective price per share lower than the
conversion rate then in effect.
The July 2020 Notes will be subject to mandatory conversion in the
event of the completion of a future financing in the amount of at
least $15 million at a conversion price equal to the lesser of (i)
the conversion price in effect
for the July 2020 Notes on the date of completion of such financing
or (ii) 75% of the lowest per share price at which
common stock may be issued in
connection with any conversion rights associated with the
financing, in each case, subject to the beneficial ownership
limitations described above.
The July 2020 Notes each have a term of six months
and mature on January 7, 2021, unless earlier converted or
repurchased. The July 2020 Notes accrue interest at a rate of 10%
per annum, subject to increase to 18% per annum upon and during the
occurrence of an event of default. Interest is payable in cash or,
at the holder’s option, in shares of common stock based on the conversion price then in effect. We may not prepay
the July 2020 Notes without the prior written consent of the
applicable holder.
May 2020 Financing
Between April 20, 2020 and May 7, 2020, we entered
into securities purchase
agreements with eight purchasers pursuant to which we issued
convertible notes in an
aggregate principal amount of approximately $2.0 million
(collectively, the “May 2020 Notes”).
The May 2020 Notes are convertible at any time, at
the holder’s option, into shares of our common stock at an initial conversion price of $0.20 per
share, subject to certain
beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum ownership limit of
9.99%). The
conversion
price is also subject to adjustment due to certain events,
including stock dividends, stock splits and in connection with the
issuance by the Company of common stock or
common
stock equivalents at an effective price per share lower than the
conversion rate then in effect.
The May 2020 Notes will be subject to mandatory conversion in the
event of the completion of a future financing in the amount of at
least $15 million at a conversion price equal to the lesser of (i)
the conversion price in effect
for the May 2020 Notes on the date of completion of such financing
or (ii) 75% of the lowest per share price at which
common stock may be issued in
connection with any conversion rights associated with the
financing, in each case, subject to the beneficial ownership
limitations described above.
The May 2020 Notes each have a term of six months
and mature between October 20, 2020 and November 7, 2020, unless
earlier converted or repurchased. The May 2020 Notes accrue
interest at a rate of 10% per annum, subject to increase to 18% per
annum upon and during the occurrence of an event of default.
Interest is payable in cash or, at the holder’s option, in shares
of common stock based on
the conversion price then in
effect. We may not prepay the May 2020 Notes without the prior
written consent of the applicable holder.
January 2020 Financing
On January 30, 2020, we entered into a
securities purchase agreement
with one purchaser pursuant to which we issued convertible notes in an aggregate principal amount of $0.2
million (the “January 2020 Notes”).
The January 2020 Notes are convertible at any
time, at the holder’s option, into shares of our
common stock at an initial
conversion price of $0.20 per
share, subject to certain
beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum ownership limit of
9.99%). The
conversion
price is also subject to adjustment due to certain events,
including stock dividends, stock splits and in connection with the
issuance by the Company of common stock or
common
stock equivalents at an effective price per share lower than the
conversion rate then in effect.
|
|
|
The January 2020 Notes have a term of eight months
and mature on September 30, 2020, unless earlier converted or
repurchased. The January 2020 Notes accrue interest at a rate of
10% per annum, subject to increase to 18% per annum upon and during
the occurrence of an event of default. Interest is payable in cash
or, at the holder’s option, in shares of common stock based on the conversion price then in effect. We may not prepay
the January 2020 Notes without the prior written consent of the
holder.
The January 2020 Notes, together with the July
2020 Notes, the May 2020 Notes and the $0.2 million aggregate
principal amount of convertible notes issued in December 2019 (the “December 2019
Notes”) pursuant to a securities purchase agreement, dated December 19, 2019,
between the Company and one purchaser, are referred to herein as
the “Applicable Notes.” For
more information about the December 2019 Notes, see Note 4 to our
audited financial statements, Debt.
For additional information regarding the terms of
our convertible notes
and debentures, including the
Applicable Notes, and the securities purchase agreements pursuant to which they were
issued, see “Management’s Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations—Indebtedness—Convertible
Notes/Debentures.”
Certain of the Registration Rights Agreements were
executed in connection with the issuance of the Applicable Notes
and the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part
is being filed to fulfill our obligations under such
agreements.
Forbearance Agreements
Effective as of June
23, 2020, we entered into Standstill and
Forbearance Agreements (collectively, the “Forbearance Agreements”)
with the holders of approximately $13.2 million aggregate principal
amount of our outstanding convertible notes and
debentures
(collectively, the “Default Notes”), which are currently in
default. Pursuant to the Forbearance Agreements, the holders of the
Default Notes have agreed to forbear from exercising their rights
and remedies under the Default Notes (including declaring such
Default Notes (together with default amounts and accrued and unpaid
interest) immediately due and payable) until the earlier of (i) the
date that we complete a future financing in the amount of at least
$15 million and, in connection therewith, commences listing on
NASDAQ (collectively, the “New Financing”) or (ii) October 1, 2020
(the “Termination Date”).
Pursuant to the
Forbearance Agreement, the holders of the Default Notes have also
agreed that the Default Notes (together with default amounts and
accrued and unpaid interest) will be converted into
common
stock upon the closing of a New Financing at a conversion price equal
to the lesser of (i) the conversion price in
effect for the Default Notes on the date of such New Financing or
(ii) 75% of the lowest per share price at
which common stock is or may
be issued in connection with such New Financing, in each case,
subject to certain beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum
ownership limit of 9.99%). Shares of our
Series J-1
preferred stock (the “Series J-1 Preferred Stock”), which are
convertible into the Company’s common stock, will be
issued in lieu of common stock to the
extent that conversion of the Default Notes is prohibited by such
beneficial ownership limitations.
For additional information regarding the terms of
the Forbearance Agreements, see “Management’s Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations—Indebtedness—Forbearance Agreements.”
Settlement with Empery Funds
Settlement Agreement
On June 19, 2020, we
entered into a settlement agreement (the
“Settlement Agreement”)
with Empery Asset Master Ltd., Empery Tax Efficient, LP and Empery
Tax Efficient II, LP (collectively, the “Empery Funds”), Anthony
Cataldo and Paul Kessler resolving all remaining disputes
between the parties pertaining to certain convertible
notes (the
“Original Notes”) and warrants to
purchase common stock, par value
$0.001 per share, of the Company (the “common stock”) (the
“Original Warrants” and,
together with the Original Notes, the “Original Securities”)
issued by the Company to the Empery Funds in January 2018 pursuant
to a securities purchase agreement. As
previously disclosed, the Empery Funds made various allegations
regarding failures by the Company to take certain actions required
by the terms of the Original
Securities, all of which the
Company denied. See “Description
of Business—Legal Proceedings.”
|
|
|
As a result of the
Settlement Agreement, the Company paid the Empery Funds cash
payments in an aggregate amount of $0.2 million. In addition,
pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, the Company issued to the
Empery Funds, solely in exchange for the outstanding
Original
Securities, (i) an aggregate of 3.5 million shares of
common
stock (the “Settlement Shares”), (ii) pre-funded
warrants to
purchase an aggregate of 5.5 million shares of common stock (the
“Settlement Warrants”) and (iii) senior convertible
notes in an
aggregate principal amount of $0.45 million (the “Settlement
Notes” and,
together with the Settlement Shares and the Settlement
Notes, the
“Settlement
Securities”).
Settlement Notes
The Settlement
Notes are
convertible at any time, at the holder’s option, into shares
of common stock at an
initial conversion rate of $0.20 per share, subject to certain
beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum ownership limit of
4.99%). The
conversion
price is also subject to adjustment due to certain events,
including stock dividends, stock splits and in connection with the
issuance by the Company of common stock or
common
stock equivalents at an effective price per share lower than the
conversion rate then in effect.
The Settlement
Notes have
a term of six months, maturing on December 19, 2020, and bear
interest at a rate of 10% per annum, subject to increase to 18% per
annum upon and during the occurrence of an event of default.
Interest is payable in cash or, at the holder’s option, in shares
of common stock based on
the conversion price then
in effect.
Pursuant to the terms
of the Settlement Notes, the Company is
required to make an offer to repurchase, at the holder’s option,
the Settlement Notes at price in cash
equal to 100% of the aggregate principal amount of the
Settlement Note plus accrued and
unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the date of repurchase
following the consummation by the Company of a capital raising
transactions, or a series of transactions, resulting in aggregate
gross proceeds to the Company in excess of $7.5 million. The
Company may not otherwise prepay the Settlement Notes without the prior
written consent of the applicable Empery Funds.
For additional information regarding the terms of
the Settlement Notes and Settlement Agreement, see
“Management’s Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations—Indebtedness— Convertible
Notes/Debentures.”
Settlement Warrants
The Settlement Warrants
provide for the purchase of up to an aggregate of 5.5 million
shares of common stock at an
exercise price of $0.20 per share, subject to adjustment in certain
circumstances, and expire on June 19, 2025. Exercise of the
warrant is
subject to certain additional terms and conditions, including
certain beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum ownership limit of
4.99%).
Collaboration Agreement
On March 10, 2020, we
entered into a collaboration agreement with
Cytovance®
Biologics, a USA-based contract development and manufacturing
organization and a subsidiary of the Shenzhen Hepalink
Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (“Hepalink”), to provide development
services for a TriKE therapeutic for
the treatment of the coronavirus infection. Under the terms of the
collaboration agreement, the
companies
will focus on preparing sufficient quantities of our
coronavirus TriKE drug
product for
preclinical evaluation using Cytovance’s E.
coli-based Keystone
Expression System™ and subsequently,
will scale-up production using Cytovance’s GMP
microbial manufacturing platform for evaluation of
TriKE in
humans to treat the coronavirus infection.
Corporate Information
Our principal executive offices are located at
9350 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 203, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, and our
telephone number is (800) 304¬9888. We maintain a website at
www.gtbiopharma.com.
Information contained on or accessible through our website is not,
and should not be considered, part of, or incorporated by reference
into, this prospectus.
|
|
|
The
Offering
|
|
|
Common stock
offered by the Selling Stockholders
|
Up to 31,924,929 shares of our common stock that (a) were issued to a Selling
Stockholder pursuant to the terms of a consulting agreement or (b)
that may be issued to certain of the Selling Stockholders either
(i) upon conversion of the Applicable Notes, or (ii) at the option
of the Selling Stockholders as holders of the Applicable Notes, in
lieu of cash payments of interest on the Applicable Notes based
upon the then current conversion price for the Applicable
Notes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Use of
Proceeds
|
All of the Registered Shares sold pursuant to this
prospectus will be offered and sold by the Selling Stockholders. We
will not receive any proceeds from such sales. See
“Use of
Proceeds.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Plan of
Distribution
|
The Selling Stockholders may sell the Registered
Shares at fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the time of
the sale, at varying prices determined at the time of sale, or at
negotiated prices, including, without limitation, in one or more
transactions that may take place by ordinary brokerage
transactions, privately-negotiated transactions or through sales to
one or more underwriters or broker-dealers for resale. See
“Plan of
Distribution.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Risk
Factors
|
The purchase of our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You
should carefully review and consider “Risk
Factors” beginning on page 9 of
this prospectus and any risks described in any accompanying
prospectus supplement.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Existing Trading
Market
|
Our common
stock is quoted on the OTCQB, one of the OTC Markets Group over-the-counter markets, under
the trading symbol “GTBP.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Summary Financial Information
|
|
|
The
tables and information below are derived from the Company’s
unaudited consolidated financial statements as of March 31, 2020,
and for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, and also as
of December 31, 2019.
|
|
Balance Sheet Summary (in
thousands)
|
|
|
Cash
and cash equivalents
|
$5
|
$28
|
Total
assets
|
$295
|
$396
|
Total
current liabilities
|
$21,150
|
$19,706
|
Total
(deficit) equity
|
$(20,855)
|
$(19,310)
|
Statement of Operations Summary
(in thousands except per share data)
|
|
|
Revenue
|
$-
|
$-
|
Selling,
general and administrative expenses
|
$746
|
$3,222
|
Research
and development
|
$324
|
$834
|
Loss
from operations
|
$(1,070)
|
$(4,056)
|
Net
loss
|
$(1,708)
|
$(4,510)
|
Net
loss per share – basic and diluted
|
$(0.02)
|
$(0.09)
|
|
The
tables and information below are derived from the Company’s audited
consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31,
2019 and 2019.
|
|
Balance Sheet Summary (in
thousands)
|
|
|
Cash
and cash equivalents
|
$28
|
$60
|
Total
assets
|
$396
|
$25,399
|
Total
current liabilities
|
$19,706
|
$14,029
|
Total
(deficit) equity
|
$(19,310)
|
$11,370
|
Statement of Operations
Summary (in thousands except per share data)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
$—
—
|
$—
—
|
Selling,
general and administrative expenses
|
$9,790
|
$12,487
|
Research
and development
|
$1,667
|
$9,067
|
Loss
from operations
|
$(16,056)
|
$(250,069)
|
Net
loss
|
$(38,674)
|
$(259,186)
|
Net
loss per share – basic and diluted
|
$(0.67)
|
$(5.16)
|
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You
should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described
below in addition to the other information contained in this
prospectus and any prospectus supplement before deciding whether to
invest in shares of our common
stock. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial
condition or operating results could be harmed. In that case, the
trading price of our common
stock could decline and you may lose part or all of your investment. In the opinion of
management, the risks discussed below represent the material risks
known to us. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known
to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our
business, financial condition and operating results and adversely
affect the market price of our common stock.
Risks Related to Our Business
Our business is at an early stage of
development and we may not develop therapeutic products that can be
commercialized.
Our business is at an early stage of development.
We do not have immune-oncology products in late stage clinical trials. We are
still in the early stages of identifying and conducting research on
potential therapeutic products.
Our potential therapeutic products will require significant research and
development and pre-clinical and clinical testing prior to
regulatory approval in the United States and other countries. We
may not be able to obtain regulatory approvals, enter clinical
trials for any of our product
candidates or commercialize any products. Our product candidates may prove to have undesirable
and unintended side effects or other characteristics adversely
affecting their safety, efficacy or cost effectiveness that could
prevent or limit their use. Any product using any of our technology may fail to
provide the intended therapeutic benefits or achieve therapeutic
benefits equal to or better than the standard of treatment at the
time of testing or production.
We have a history of operating losses and we expect to continue to
incur losses for the foreseeable future and we may never generate
revenue or achieve profitability.
As of March 31, 2020, we had an accumulated
deficit of $569 million. We have not generated any significant
revenue to date, are not profitable and have incurred losses in
each year since our inception. We do not expect to generate
any product sales or royalty
revenues for at least four years. We expect to incur significant
additional operating losses for the foreseeable future as we expand
research and development and clinical trial
efforts.
Our ability to achieve long-term profitability is
dependent upon obtaining regulatory approvals for our
products and successfully
commercializing our products
alone or with third parties, of which there can be no assurances.
However, our operations may not be profitable even if any of
our products under development
are successfully developed and produced and thereafter
commercialized. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we
may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent
periods.
Even if we succeed in commercializing one or more
of our product candidates, we
expect to continue to incur substantial research and development
and other expenditures to develop and market additional
product candidates. The size of our
future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future
growth of our expenses and our ability to generate revenue. Our
prior losses and expected future losses have had and will continue
to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working
capital.
Our independent auditor’s report for the years ended December 31,
2019 and 2018 is qualified as to our ability to continue as a going
concern.
Due to the uncertainty of our ability to meet our
current operating and capital expenses, in our audited consolidated
financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2019 and
2018, our independent auditors included a note to our consolidated financial statements
regarding our ability to continue as a going concern. Recurring
losses from operations and the dependence upon our ability to meet
future financing needs and succeed in our future operations in
order to realize a major portion of our assets have raised a
substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
The presence of the going concern note to our consolidated financial statements may
have an adverse impact on the relationships we are developing and
plan to develop with third parties as we continue the
commercialization of our products and could make it challenging and
difficult for us to raise additional financing, all of which could have a material adverse impact
on our business and prospects.
We will need additional capital to
conduct our operations and develop our products, and our ability to obtain the necessary
funding is uncertain.
We have used a significant amount of cash since
inception to finance the continued development and testing of
our product candidates, and we
expect to need substantial additional capital resources in order to
develop our product candidates
going forward and to launch and commercialize any
product candidates for which we
receive regulatory approval.
We
may not be successful in generating and/or maintaining operating
cash flow, and the timing of our capital expenditures and other
expenditures may not result in cash sufficient to sustain our
operations through the next 12 months. If financing is not
sufficient and additional financing is not available, or available
only on terms that are detrimental to our long-term survival, it
could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue as
a going concern. The timing and degree of any future capital
requirements will depend on many factors, including:
●
the accuracy of the
assumptions underlying our estimates for capital needs in 2020 and
beyond;
●
scientific and
clinical progress in our research and development
programs;
●
the magnitude and
scope of our research and development programs and our ability to
establish, enforce and maintain strategic arrangements for
research, development, clinical testing, manufacturing and
marketing;
●
our progress with
pre-clinical development and clinical trials;
●
the time and costs
involved in obtaining regulatory approvals;
●
the costs involved
in preparing, filing, prosecuting, maintaining, defending and
enforcing patent claims; and
●
the number and type
of product candidates that we pursue.
Additional financing through strategic
collaborations, public or private equity or debt financings or
other financing sources may not be available on acceptable terms,
or at all. The completion of
financings involving the issuance of additional common stock or other securities convertible into,
or exchangeable for, common
stock (such as warrants or
additional convertible notes)
could also result in significant dilution to our
stockholders.
Further, if we obtain additional funds
through arrangements with collaborative partners, these
arrangements may require us to relinquish rights to some of our
technologies, product
candidates or products that we
would otherwise seek to develop and commercialize on our
own.
If sufficient capital is not available, we may be
required to delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more of
our research or product
development initiatives, any of which could have a material adverse
effect on our financial condition or business
prospects.
Our current and future indebtedness may impose significant
operating and financial restrictions on us and affect our ability
to access liquidity.
As of the date of this prospectus, after giving
effect to (i) the issuance of the July 2020 Notes and the May 2020
Notes and (ii) the issuance of the Settlement Notes pursuant to the
Settlement Agreement (but excluding the impact of any conversions
of our convertible notes after the filing date of the registration
statement of which this prospectus forms a part), we had
approximately $18.8 million aggregate principal amount of
convertible notes and
debentures outstanding, a portion of
which are secured by a first priority security interest in
substantially all of the assets
of the Company and its subsidiaries. Our existing
convertible notes and
debentures do, and any future
instruments governing our indebtedness may, contain a number of
restrictive covenants that impose significant operating and
financial restrictions on us. For example, our existing
convertible notes and
debentures include restrictions on our
ability to, among other things:
●
incur
additional indebtedness;
●
place
liens on our or our subsidiaries’ assets;
●
repurchase shares of our common stock or repay existing
indebtedness;
●
pay
cash dividends or distributions on our equity
securities;
●
engage
in certain fundamental change transactions; and
●
engage
in transactions with affiliates.
A failure by us or our subsidiaries to comply with
the covenants and restrictions contained in the agreements governing our indebtedness could result
in an event of default under such indebtedness, which could
adversely affect our ability to respond to changes in our business
and manage our operations. Upon the occurrence of an event of
default under any of the agreements governing our indebtedness, the holders
could elect to declare all
amounts outstanding to be due and payable and exercise other
remedies as set forth in the agreements. Further, an event of default or
acceleration of indebtedness under one instrument may constitute an
event of default—or cross-default—under another instrument. For
example, in June 2020, we entered into the Forbearance Agreements
with holders of the Default Notes pursuant to which such holders
have agreed forbear from exercising
their rights and remedies under the Default
Notes (including declaring
such Default Notes (together with default amounts and accrued and
unpaid interest) immediately due and payable) for a specified
period of time.
If
any of our indebtedness (including the Default Notes) were to be
accelerated, there can be no assurance that our assets would be
sufficient to repay this indebtedness in full, which could have a
material adverse effect on our ability to continue to operate as a
going concern.
The cost of our research and
development programs may be significantly higher than expected and
there is no assurance that they will successful in a timely manner,
or at all.
Our
currently projected expenditures for 2020 include approximately $12
million to $15 million for research and development. The actual
cost of our programs could differ significantly from our current
projections if we change our planned development process. In the
event that actual costs of our clinical program, or any of our
other ongoing research activities, are significantly higher than
our current estimates, we may be required to significantly modify
our planned level of operations.
The successful development of any
product candidate is highly uncertain.
It is difficult to reasonably estimate or know the nature, timing
and costs of the efforts necessary to complete the development of,
or the period in which material net cash inflows are expected to
commence from any product
candidate, due to the numerous risks and uncertainties associated
with developing and commercializing drugs. Any failure to complete
any stage of the development of products in a timely manner could have a material
adverse effect on our operations, financial position and
liquidity.
We have identified material weaknesses
in our internal controls over financial reporting and have not yet
remedied these weaknesses. If we fail to maintain an effective
system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be
able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud.
As a result, stockholders could lose confidence in our financial
and other public reporting, which would harm our business and the
trading price of our common
stock.
Effective internal control over financial
reporting is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports
and, together with adequate disclosure controls and procedures, are
designed to prevent fraud. Any failure to implement required new or
improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their
implementation, could cause us to fail to meet our reporting
obligations. Ineffective internal control could also cause
investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information,
which could have a negative effect on the trading price of
our common
stock.
We have identified material weaknesses in our
internal control over financial reporting as a company. As defined in Regulation 12b-2 under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
“Exchange Act”), a “material
weakness” is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in
internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a
reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual
or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented,
or detected on a timely basis. Specifically, we determined that we
had the following material weaknesses in our internal control over
financial reporting as of December 31, 2019: (i) inadequate
segregation of duties; (ii) risks of executive override; and (iii)
insufficient written policies and procedures for accounting and
financial reporting with respect to the requirements and
application of both generally accepted accounting principles in the
United States of America (“GAAP”) and SEC regulations.
As
of the date of this prospectus, we have not remediated these
material weaknesses. We are taking steps, and intend to take
additional steps, to mitigate the issues identified and implement a
functional system of internal controls over financial reporting.
Such measures will include, but not be limited to: hiring of
additional employees in our finance and accounting department,
although the timing of such hires is largely dependent on our
securing additional financing to cover such costs; preparation of
risk-control matrices to identify key risks and develop and
document policies to mitigate those risks; and identification and
documentation of standard operating procedures for key financial
and SEC reporting activities. The implementation of these
initiatives may not fully address any material weakness or other
deficiencies that we may have in our internal control over
financial reporting.
Even
if we develop effective internal control over financial reporting,
such controls may become inadequate due to changes in conditions or
the degree of compliance with such policies or procedures may
deteriorate, which could result in the discovery of additional
material weaknesses and deficiencies. In any event, the process of
determining whether our existing internal control over financial
reporting is compliant with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
(“Section 404”) and sufficiently effective requires the investment
of substantial time and resources, including by certain members of
our senior management. As a result, this process may divert
internal resources and take a significant amount of time and effort
to complete. In addition, we cannot predict the outcome of this
process and whether we will need to implement remedial actions in
order to establish effective controls over financial reporting. The
determination of whether or not our internal controls are
sufficient and any remedial actions required could result in us
incurring additional costs that we did not anticipate, including
the hiring of outside consultants. We may also fail to timely
complete our evaluation, testing and any remediation required to
comply with Section 404.
We are required, pursuant to Section 404, to
furnish a report by management on, among other things, the
effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.
However, for as long as we are a “smaller reporting
company,” our independent registered
public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the
effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting
pursuant to Section 404. While we could be a smaller
reporting company for an
indefinite amount of time, and thus relieved of the above-mentioned
attestation requirement, an independent assessment of the
effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting
could detect problems that our management’s assessment might not.
Such undetected material weaknesses in our internal control over
financial reporting could lead to financial statement restatements
and require us to incur the expense of
remediation.
If our efforts to protect the proprietary nature of the
intellectual property related to our technologies are not adequate,
we may not be able to compete effectively in our market and our
business would be harmed.
We rely upon a combination of patents, trade
secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect the intellectual property
related to our technologies. Any disclosure to, or misappropriation
by, third parties of our trade secret or other confidential
information could enable competitors to quickly duplicate or
surpass our technological achievements, thus eroding any
competitive advantage we may derive from this intellectual
property.
The strength of patents in the biotechnology and
pharmaceutical field involves complex legal and scientific
questions and can be uncertain. The patent applications we own or
license may fail to result in issued patents in the United States
or in foreign countries. Third parties may challenge the validity,
enforceability or scope of any issued patents we own or license or
any applications that may issue as patents in the future, which may
result in those patents being narrowed, invalidated or held
unenforceable. Even if they are unchallenged, our patents and
patent applications may not adequately protect our intellectual
property or prevent others from developing similar
products that do not fall within the
scope of our patents. If the breadth or strength of protection
provided by the patents we hold or pursue is threatened, our
ability to commercialize any product candidates with technology protected by
those patents could be threatened. Further, if we encounter delays
in our clinical trials, the period of time during which we would
have patent protection for any covered product candidates that obtain regulatory approval
would be reduced.
In addition to the protection afforded by patents,
we seek to rely on trade secret protection and
confidentiality agreements to
protect proprietary know-how that is not patentable, processes for
which patents are difficult to enforce and any other elements of
our discovery platform and drug development processes that involve
proprietary know-how, information or technology that is not covered
by patents or not amenable to patent protection. Although we
require all of our employees
and certain consultants and advisors to enter into intellectual
property assignment agreements,
and all of our employees,
consultants, advisors and any third parties who have access to our
proprietary know-how, information or technology to enter into
confidentiality agreements, our
trade secrets and other proprietary information may be disclosed or
competitors may otherwise gain access to such information or
independently develop substantially equivalent information.
Further, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect
proprietary rights to the same extent or in the same manner as the
laws of the United States. As a result, we may encounter
significant difficulty in protecting and defending our intellectual
property both in the United States and abroad. If we are unable to
prevent material disclosure of the trade secret intellectual
property related to our technologies to third parties, we may not
be able to establish or maintain the competitive advantage that we
believe is provided by such intellectual property, which could
materially adversely affect our market position and business and
operational results.
Claims that we infringe the intellectual property rights of others
may prevent or delay our drug discovery and development
efforts.
Our research, development and commercialization
activities, as well as any product candidates or products resulting from those activities, may
infringe or be accused of infringing a patent or other form of
intellectual property under which we do not hold a license or other
rights. Third parties may assert that we are employing their
proprietary technology without authorization. There may be
third-party patents of which we are currently unaware, with claims
that cover the use or manufacture of our product candidates or the practice of our related
methods. Because patent applications can take many years to issue
and remain confidential for a period of time after filing, there
may be currently pending patent applications that may later result
in issued patents that our product candidates may infringe. In addition,
third parties may obtain patents in the future and claim that use
of our technologies infringes one or more claims of these patents.
If our activities or product
candidates infringe the patents or other intellectual property
rights of third parties, the holders of such intellectual property
rights may be able to block our ability to commercialize
such product candidates or
practice our methods unless we obtain a license under the
intellectual property rights or until any applicable patents expire
or are determined to be invalid or
unenforceable.
Defense of any intellectual property infringement
claims against us, regardless of their merit, would involve
substantial litigation expense and would be a significant diversion
of employee resources from our business. In the event of a
successful claim of infringement against us, we may have to pay
substantial damages, obtain one or more licenses from third
parties, limit our business to avoid the infringing activities, pay
royalties and/or redesign our infringing product candidates or methods, any or
all of which may be impossible or
require substantial time and monetary expenditure. Further, if we
were to seek a license from the third party holder of any
applicable intellectual property rights, we may not be able to
obtain the applicable license rights when needed or on commercially
reasonable terms, or at all.
The occurrence of any of the above events could prevent us from
continuing to develop and commercialize one or more of our
product candidates and our business
could materially suffer.
We may desire, or be forced, to seek
additional licenses to use intellectual property owned by third
parties, and such licenses may not be available on commercially
reasonable terms, or at all.
A third party may hold intellectual property,
including patent rights, that are important or necessary to the
development of our product
candidates, in which case we would need to obtain a license from
that third party or develop a different formulation of the
product that does not infringe upon
the applicable intellectual property, which may not be possible.
Additionally, we may identify product candidates that we believe are promising
and whose development and other intellectual property rights are
held by third parties. In such a case, we may desire to seek a
license to pursue the development of those product candidates. Any license that we may desire
to obtain or that we may be forced to pursue may not be available
when needed on commercially reasonable terms, or at
all. Any inability to secure a license
that we need or desire could have a material adverse effect on our
business, financial condition and prospects.
The patent protection covering some of
our product candidates may be
dependent on third parties, who may not effectively maintain that
protection.
While we expect that we will generally seek to
gain the right to fully prosecute any patents covering
product candidates we may in-license
from third-party owners, there may be instances when platform
technology patents that cover our product candidates remain controlled by our
licensors. If any of our current or future licensing partners that
retain the right to prosecute patents covering the
product candidates we license from
them fail to appropriately maintain that patent protection, we may
not be able to prevent competitors from developing and selling
competing products or
practicing competing methods and our ability to generate revenue
from any commercialization of the affected product candidates may suffer.
We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or
the patents of our licensors, which could be expensive,
time-consuming and unsuccessful.
Competitors
may infringe our patents or the patents of our current or potential
licensors. To attempt to stop infringement or unauthorized use, we
may need to enforce one or more of our patents, which can be
expensive and time-consuming and distract management. If we pursue
any litigation, a court may decide that a patent of ours or our
licensors is not valid or is unenforceable, or may refuse to stop
the other party from using the relevant technology on the grounds
that our patents do not cover the technology in question. Further,
the legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain
developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents,
which could reduce the likelihood of success of any infringement
proceeding we pursue in any such jurisdiction. An adverse result in
any infringement litigation or defense proceedings could put one or
more of our patents at risk of being invalidated, held
unenforceable, or interpreted narrowly and could put our patent
applications at risk of not issuing, which could limit our ability
to exclude competitors from directly competing with us in the
applicable jurisdictions.
Interference proceedings provoked by third parties
or brought by the U.S. PTO may be necessary to determine the
priority of inventions with respect to our patents or patent
applications or those of our licensors. An unfavorable outcome
could require us to cease using the related technology or to
attempt to license rights to use it from the prevailing party. Our
business could be harmed if the prevailing party does not offer us
a license on commercially reasonable terms, or at
all. Litigation or interference
proceedings may fail and, even if successful, may result in
substantial costs and distract our management and other
employees.
If we are unsuccessful in obtaining or maintaining patent
protection for intellectual property in development, our business
and competitive position would be harmed.
We are seeking patent protection for some of our
technology and product
candidates. Patent prosecution is a challenging process and is not
assured of success. If we are unable to secure patent protection
for our technology and product
candidates, our business may be adversely
impacted.
In
addition, issued patents and pending international applications
require regular maintenance. Failure to maintain our portfolio may
result in loss of rights that may adversely impact our intellectual
property rights, for example by rendering issued patents
unenforceable or by prematurely terminating pending international
applications.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade
secrets, our business and competitive position would be
harmed.
In addition to seeking patents for some of our
technology and product
candidates, we also rely on trade secrets, including unpatented
know-how, technology and other proprietary information, to maintain
our competitive position. We currently, and expect in the future to
continue to, seek to protect these trade secrets, in part, by
entering into confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to them,
such as our employees, consultants, advisors and other third
parties. We also require all of
our employees and certain consultants and advisors to enter into
intellectual property assignment agreements. Despite these efforts, any of these
parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary
information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to
obtain adequate remedies for any such disclosure. Enforcing a claim
that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret
is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is
unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the
United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade
secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained
or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right
to prevent them, or those to whom they disclose the trade secrets,
from using that technology or information to compete with us. If
any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently
developed by a competitor, our competitive position would be
harmed.
If we fail to meet our obligations
under our license agreements,
we may lose our rights to key technologies on which our business
depends.
Our business depends in part on licenses from
third parties. These third-party license agreements impose obligations on us, such as
payment obligations and obligations to diligently pursue
development of commercial products under the licensed patents. If a licensor
believes that we have failed to meet our obligations under a
license agreement, the licensor
could seek to limit or terminate our license rights, which could
lead to costly and time-consuming litigation and, potentially, a
loss of the licensed rights. During the period of any such
litigation, our ability to carry out the development and
commercialization of potential products could be significantly and negatively
affected. If our license rights were restricted or ultimately lost,
our ability to continue our business based on the affected
technology platform could be severely adversely
affected.
We will have to hire additional executive officers and employees to
operate our business. If we are unable to hire qualified personnel,
we may not be able to implement our business strategy.
We currently have only two full-time employees.
The loss of the services of any one of our employees could delay
our product development
programs and our research and development efforts. We do not
maintain key person life insurance on any of our officers,
employees, consultants or advisors. In order to develop our
business in accordance with our business strategy, we will have to
hire additional qualified personnel, including in the areas of
manufacturing, clinical trials management, regulatory affairs,
finance and business development. We will need to raise sufficient
funds to hire the necessary employees and have commenced our search
for additional key employees.
Moreover, there is intense competition for a
limited number of qualified personnel among biopharmaceutical,
biotechnology, pharmaceutical and other businesses. Many of the
other pharmaceutical companies
against which we compete for qualified personnel have greater
financial and other resources, different risk profiles, longer
histories in the industry and greater ability to provide valuable
cash or stock incentives to potential recruits than we do. They
also may provide more diverse opportunities and better chances for
career advancement. Some of these characteristics may be more
appealing to high quality candidates than what we are able to offer
as an early-stage company. If
we are unable to continue to attract and retain high quality
personnel, the rate and success at which we can develop and
commercialize product
candidates will be limited.
We depend on key personnel for our continued operations and future
success, and a loss of certain key personnel could significantly
hinder our ability to move forward with our business
plan.
Because
of the specialized nature of our business, we are highly dependent
on our ability to identify, hire, train and retain highly qualified
scientific and technical personnel for the research and development
activities we conduct or sponsor. The loss of one or more key
executive officers, or scientific officers, would be significantly
detrimental to us. In addition, recruiting and retaining qualified
scientific personnel to perform research and development work is
critical to our success. Our anticipated growth and expansion into
areas and activities requiring additional expertise, such as
clinical testing, regulatory compliance, manufacturing and
marketing, will require the addition of new management personnel
and the development of additional expertise by existing management
personnel. There is intense competition for qualified personnel in
the areas of our present and planned activities. Accordingly, we
may not be able to continue to attract and retain the qualified
personnel, which would adversely affect the development of our
business.
We may be subject to claims by third parties asserting that our
employees or we have misappropriated their intellectual property,
or claiming ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual
property.
Many of our employees, consultants and advisors
were previously employed at universities or other biotechnology or
pharmaceutical companies,
including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try
to ensure that our employees, consultants and advisors do not use
the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for
us, with contractual provisions and other procedures, we may be
subject to claims that these employees, consultants or advisors
have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade
secrets or other proprietary information, of any such employee’s,
consultant’s or advisor’s former employers. Litigation may be
necessary to defend against any such claims.
In addition, while it is our policy to require our
employees, consultants and advisors who may be involved in the
development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to
us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who in fact contributes
to the development of intellectual property that we regard as our
own. Further, the terms of such assignment agreements may be breached and we may not be able
to successfully enforce their terms, which may force us to bring
claims against third parties, or defend claims they may bring
against us, to determine the ownership of intellectual property
rights we may regard and treat as our own.
Our employees, consultants and advisors may engage in misconduct or
other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory
standards and requirements, which could cause our business to
suffer.
We
are exposed to the risk of fraud or other misconduct by our
employees, consultants or advisors. Misconduct by employees,
consultants or advisors could include intentional failures to
comply with regulations of governmental authorities, such as the
FDA or the European Medicines Agency (the “EMA”), to provide
accurate information to the FDA or EMA, to comply with
manufacturing standards we have established, to comply with
federal, state and international healthcare fraud and abuse laws
and regulations as they may become applicable to our operations, to
report financial information or data accurately or to disclose
unauthorized activities to us. Such misconduct could also involve
the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical
trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm
to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter
such misconduct, and the precautions we currently take and the
procedures we may establish in the future as our operations and
employee base expand to detect and prevent this type of activity
may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or
losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or
other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure by our employees,
consultants or advisors to comply with such laws or regulations. If
any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not
successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those
actions could have a significant impact on our business and results
of operations, including the imposition of significant fines or
other sanctions.
Our reliance on the activities of our
non-employee consultants, research institutions and scientific
contractors, whose activities are not wholly within our control,
may lead to delays in development of our proposed
products.
We rely extensively upon and have relationships
with scientific consultants at academic and other institutions,
some of whom conduct research at our request, and other consultants
with expertise in clinical development strategy or other matters.
These consultants are not our employees and may have commitments
to, or consulting or advisory contracts with, other entities that
may limit their availability to us. We have limited control over
the activities of these consultants and, except as otherwise
required by our collaboration and consulting agreements to the extent they exist,
can expect only limited amounts of their time to be dedicated to
our activities. These research facilities may have commitments to
other commercial and non-commercial entities. We have limited
control over the operations of these laboratories and can expect
only limited amounts of time to be dedicated to our research
goals.
It may take longer to complete our
clinical trials than we project, or we may not be able to complete
them at all.
For budgeting and planning purposes, we have
projected the date for the commencement, continuation and
completion of our various clinical trials. However, a number of
factors, including scheduling conflicts with participating
clinicians and clinical institutions, and difficulties in
identifying and enrolling patients who meet trial eligibility
criteria, may cause significant delays. We may not commence or
complete clinical trials involving any of our products as projected or may not conduct them
successfully.
We expect to rely on medical institutions,
academic institutions or clinical research organizations to
conduct, supervise or monitor some or all aspects of clinical trials involving
our products. We will have less
control over the timing and other aspects of these clinical trials
than if we conducted them entirely on our own. If we fail to
commence or complete, or experience delays in, any of our planned
clinical trials, our stock price and our ability to conduct our
business as currently planned could be harmed.
Clinical drug development is costly, time-consuming and uncertain,
and we may suffer setbacks in our clinical development program that
could harm our business.
Clinical drug development for our
product candidates is costly,
time-consuming and uncertain. Our product candidates are in various stages of
development and while we expect that clinical trials for
these product candidates will
continue for several years, such trials may take significantly
longer than expected to complete. In addition, we, the FDA, an
institutional review board
(“IRB”) or other regulatory authorities, including state and local
agencies and counterpart agencies in foreign countries, may
suspend, delay, require modifications to or terminate our clinical
trials at any time, for various reasons,
including:
●
discovery of safety
or tolerability concerns, such as serious or unexpected toxicities
or side effects or exposure to otherwise unacceptable health risks,
with respect to study participants;
●
lack of
effectiveness of any product candidate during clinical trials or
the failure of our product candidates to meet specified
endpoints;
●
delays in subject
recruitment and enrollment in clinical trials or inability to
enroll a sufficient number of patients in clinical trials to ensure
adequate statistical ability to detect statistically significant
treatment effects;
●
difficulty in
retaining subjects and volunteers in clinical trials;
●
difficulty in
obtaining IRB approval for studies to be conducted at each clinical
trial site;
●
delays in
manufacturing or obtaining, or inability to manufacture or obtain,
sufficient quantities of materials for use in clinical
trials;
●
inadequacy of or
changes in our manufacturing process or the product formulation or
method of delivery;
●
delays or failure
in reaching agreement on acceptable terms in clinical trial
contracts or protocols with prospective contract research
organizations (“CROs”), clinical trial sites and other third-party
contractors;
●
inability to add a
sufficient number of clinical trial sites;
●
uncertainty
regarding proper formulation and dosing;
●
failure by us, our
employees, our consultants or advisors, our CROs or their employees
or other third-party contractors to comply with contractual and
applicable regulatory requirements or to perform their services in
a timely or acceptable manner;
●
scheduling
conflicts with participating clinicians and clinical
institutions;
●
failure to design
appropriate clinical trial protocols;
●
inability or
unwillingness of medical investigators to follow our clinical
protocols;
●
difficulty in
maintaining contact with subjects during or after treatment, which
may result in incomplete data; or
●
changes in
applicable laws, regulations and regulatory policies.
If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of
patients in clinical trials, those clinical trials could take
longer than expected to complete and our receipt of necessary
regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.
We may not be able to initiate or continue
clinical trials for our product
candidates if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient
number of eligible patients to participate in these trials as
required by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the
United States. In particular, because we are focused on patients
with molecularly defined cancers, our pool of suitable patients may
be smaller and more selective and our ability to enroll a
sufficient number of suitable patients may be limited or take
longer than anticipated. In addition, some of our competitors have
ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that treat the same indications
as our product candidates, and
patients who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials
may instead enroll in clinical trials of our competitors’
product
candidates.
Patient
enrollment for any of our clinical trials may also be affected by
other factors, including without limitation:
●
the severity of the
disease under investigation;
●
the frequency of
the molecular alteration we are seeking to target in the applicable
trial;
●
the eligibility
criteria for the study in question;
●
the perceived risks
and benefits of the product candidate under study;
●
the extent of the
efforts to facilitate timely enrollment in clinical
trials;
●
the patient
referral practices of physicians;
●
the ability to
monitor patients adequately during and after
treatment;
●
the proximity and
availability of clinical trial sites for prospective
patients.
●
unforeseen safety
issues;
●
determination of
dosing issues;
●
inability to
demonstrate effectiveness during clinical trials;
●
slower than
expected rates of patient recruitment;
●
inability to
monitor patients adequately during or after treatment;
and
●
inability or
unwillingness of medical investigators to follow our clinical
protocols.
In
addition, we or the FDA, may suspend our clinical trials at any
time if it appears that we are exposing participants to
unacceptable health risks or if the FDA finds deficiencies in our
IND submissions or the conduct of these trials.
We are subject to extensive
regulation, which can be costly and time consuming and can subject
us to unanticipated delays. even if we obtain regulatory approval
for some of our products,
those products may still face
regulatory difficulties.
All of our potential products, processing and manufacturing activities,
are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA in the United
States and by comparable authorities in other countries. The
process of obtaining FDA and other required regulatory approvals,
including foreign approvals, is expensive and often takes many
years and can vary substantially based upon the type, complexity
and novelty of the products
involved. In addition, regulatory agencies may lack experience with
our technologies and products,
which may lengthen the regulatory review process, increase our
development costs and delay or prevent their
commercialization.
If we violate regulatory requirements at any
stage, whether before or after we obtain marketing approval, the
FDA may take enforcement action(s) against us, which could include
issuing a warning or untitled letter, placing a clinical hold on an
ongoing clinical trial, product
seizure, enjoining our operations, refusal to consider our
applications for pre-market approval, refusal of an investigational
new drug application, fines, or even civil or criminal liability,
any of which could materially harm our reputation and financial
results. Additionally, we may not be able to obtain the labeling
claims necessary or desirable for the promotion of our
products. We may also be required to
undertake post-marketing trials to provide additional evidence of
safety and effectiveness. In addition, if we or others identify
side effects after any of our adoptive therapies are on the market,
or if manufacturing problems occur, regulators may withdraw their
approval and reformulations, additional clinical trials, changes in
labeling of our products, and
additional marketing applications may be
required.
Any of the following factors, among others, could
cause regulatory approval for our product candidates to be delayed, limited or
denied:
●
the product
candidates require significant clinical testing to demonstrate
safety and effectiveness before applications for marketing approval
can be filed with the FDA and other regulatory
authorities;
●
data obtained from
pre-clinical and nonclinical animal testing and clinical trials can
be interpreted in different ways, and regulatory authorities may
not agree with our respective interpretations or may require us to
conduct additional testing;
●
negative or
inconclusive results or the occurrence of serious or unexpected
adverse events during a clinical trial could cause us to delay or
terminate development efforts for a product candidate;
and/or
●
FDA and other
regulatory authorities may require expansion of the size and scope
of the clinical trials.
Any difficulties or failures that we encounter in
securing regulatory approval for our product candidates would likely have a substantial
adverse impact on our ability to generate product sales and could make any search for a
collaborative partner more difficult.
Obtaining regulatory approval even after clinical trials that are
believed to be successful is an uncertain process.
Even
if we complete our planned clinical trials and believe the results
were successful, obtaining regulatory approval is a lengthy,
expensive and uncertain process, and the FDA or other regulatory
agencies may delay, limit or deny approval of any of our
applications for pre-market approval for many reasons,
including:
●
we may not be able
to demonstrate to the FDA’s satisfaction that our product
candidates are safe and effective for any indication;
●
the results of
clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical significance
or clinical significance required by the FDA for
approval;
●
the FDA may
disagree with the number, design, size, conduct or implementation
of our clinical trials;
●
the FDA may not
find the data from pre-clinical studies and clinical trials
sufficient to demonstrate that the clinical and other benefits of
our product candidates outweigh their safety risks;
●
the FDA may
disagree with our interpretation of data from pre-clinical studies
or clinical trials, or may not accept data generated at our
clinical trial sites;
●
the data collected
from pre-clinical studies and clinical trials of our product
candidates may not be sufficient to support the submission of
applications for regulatory approval;
●
the FDA may have
difficulties scheduling an advisory committee meeting in a timely
manner, or the advisory committee may recommend against approval of
our application or may recommend that the FDA require, as a
condition of approval, additional pre-clinical studies or clinical
trials, limitations on approved labeling, or distribution and use
restrictions;
●
the FDA may require
development of a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy as a
condition of approval;
●
the FDA may
identify deficiencies in the manufacturing processes or facilities
of third-party manufacturers with which we enter into agreements
for clinical and commercial supplies;
●
the FDA may change
their approval policies or adopt new regulations that adversely
affect our applications for pre-market approval; and
●
the FDA may require
simultaneous approval for both adults and for children and
adolescents delaying needed approvals, or we may have successful
clinical trial results for adults but not children and adolescents,
or vice versa.
Before we can submit an application for regulatory
approval in the United States, we must conduct a pivotal,
Phase III trial. We will also need to
agree on a protocol with the FDA for a clinical trial before
commencing the trial. Phase III
clinical trials frequently produce unsatisfactory results even
though prior clinical trials were successful. Therefore, even if
the results of our Phase II
trials are successful, the results of the additional trials that we
conduct may or may not be successful. Further, our
product candidates may not be approved
even if they achieve their primary endpoints in Phase III clinical trials. The FDA or other
foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our trial design
and our interpretation of data from preclinical studies and
clinical trials. Any of these regulatory authorities may change
requirements for the approval of a product candidate even after reviewing and
providing comments or advice on a protocol for a clinical trial.
The FDA or other regulatory agencies may require that we conduct
additional clinical, nonclinical, manufacturing validation or
drug product quality studies
and submit those data before considering or reconsidering the
application. Depending on the extent of these or any other studies,
approval of any applications that we submit may be delayed by
several years, or may require us to expend more resources than we
have available. It is also possible that additional studies, if
performed and completed, may not be considered sufficient by the
FDA or other regulatory agencies.
In addition, the FDA or other regulatory agencies
may also approve a product
candidate for fewer or more limited indications than we request,
may impose significant limitations related to use restrictions for
certain age groups, warnings, precautions or contraindications or
may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-
marketing clinical trials or risk mitigation
requirements.
We will continue to be subject to
extensive FDA regulation following any product approvals, and if we fail to comply with
these regulations, we may suffer a significant setback in our
business.
Even if we are successful in obtaining regulatory
approval of our product
candidates, we will continue to be subject to the requirements of
and review by, the FDA and comparable regulatory authorities in the
areas of manufacturing processes, post-approval clinical data,
adverse event reporting, labeling, advertising and promotional
activities, among other things. In addition, any marketing approval
we receive may be limited in terms of the approved
product indication or require costly
post-marketing testing and surveillance. Discovery after approval
of previously unknown problems with a product, manufacturer or manufacturing process, or
a failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in
enforcement actions such as:
●
warning letters or
other actions requiring changes in product manufacturing processes
or restrictions on product marketing or distribution;
●
product recalls or
seizures or the temporary or permanent withdrawal of a product from
the market;
●
suspending any
ongoing clinical trials;
●
temporary or
permanent injunctions against our production
operations;
●
refusal of our
applications for pre-market approval or an investigational new drug
application; and
●
fines, restitution
or disgorgement of profits or revenue, the imposition of civil
penalties or criminal prosecution.
The
occurrence of any of these actions would likely cause a material
adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Many of our business practices are subject to scrutiny and
potential investigation by regulatory and government enforcement
authorities, as well as to lawsuits brought by private citizens
under federal and state laws. We could become subject to
investigations, and our failure to comply with applicable law or an
adverse decision in lawsuits may result in adverse consequences to
us. If we fail to comply with U.S. healthcare laws, we could face
substantial penalties and financial exposure, and our business,
operations and financial condition could be adversely
affected.
While payment is not yet available from
third-party payors (government or commercial) for our
products, our goal is to obtain such
coverage as soon as possible after product approval and commercial launch in
the U.S. If this occurs, the
availability of such payment would mean that many healthcare laws
would place limitations and requirements on the manner in which we
conduct our business (including our sales and promotional
activities and interactions with healthcare professionals and
facilities) and could result in liability and exposure to us. In
some instances, our interactions with healthcare professionals and
facilities that occurred prior to commercialization could have
implications at a later date. The laws that may affect our ability
to operate include, among others: (i) the federal healthcare
programs Anti-Kickback Statute,
which prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and
willfully soliciting, receiving, offering or paying remuneration,
directly or indirectly, in exchange for or to induce either the
referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or
recommendation of, any good or service for which payment may be
made under federal healthcare programs such as Medicare or
Medicaid, (ii) federal false claims laws which prohibit, among
other things, individuals or entities from knowingly presenting, or
causing to be presented, claims for payment from Medicare,
Medicaid, or other third-party payors that are false or fraudulent,
and which may apply to entities like us under theories of “implied
certification” where the government and qui tam relators may allege
that device companies are
liable where a product that was
paid for by the government in whole or in part was promoted
“off-label,” lacked necessary approval, or failed to comply with
good manufacturing practices or other laws; (iii) transparency laws
and related reporting and/or disclosures such as the Sunshine Act;
and/or (iv) state law equivalents of each of the above federal
laws, such as anti-kickback and false claims laws which may apply
to items or services reimbursed by any third-party payor, including
commercial insurers, many of which differ from their federal
counterparts in significant ways, thus complicating compliance
efforts.
If
our operations are found to be in violation of any of the laws
described above or any other governmental regulations that apply to
us, we may be subject to penalties, including civil and criminal
penalties, exclusion from participation in government healthcare
programs, damages, fines and the curtailment or restructuring of
our operations. Any penalties, damages, fines, curtailment or
restructuring of our operations could adversely affect our ability
to operate our business and our financial results. The risk of our
being found in violation of these laws is increased by the fact
that their provisions are open to a variety of evolving
interpretations and enforcement discretion. Any action against us
for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against
it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert
our management’s attention from the operation of our
business.
Both federal and state government agencies have
heightened civil and criminal enforcement efforts. There are
numerous ongoing investigations of healthcare pharmaceutical
companies and others in the healthcare
space, as well as their executives and managers. In addition,
amendments to the Federal False Claims Act, have made it easier for
private parties to bring qui tam (whistleblower) lawsuits
against companies under which
the whistleblower may be entitled to receive a percentage of any
money paid to the government. In addition, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care and Health
Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010
(collectively, the “Affordable Care Act”) amended the federal civil
False Claims Act to provide that a claim that includes items or
services resulting from a violation of the federal anti-kickback
statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the
federal civil False Claims Act. Penalties include substantial fines
for each false claim, plus three times the amount of damages that
the federal government sustained because of the act of that person
or entity and/or exclusion from the Medicare program. In addition,
a majority of states have adopted similar state whistleblower and
false-claims provision. There can be no assurance that our
activities will not come under the scrutiny of regulators and other
government authorities or that our practices will not be found to
violate applicable laws, rules and regulations or prompt lawsuits
by private citizen “relators” under federal or state false claims
laws. Any future investigations of our business or executives, or
enforcement action or prosecution, could cause us to incur
substantial costs and result in significant liabilities or
penalties, as well as damage to our reputation.
Laws impacting the U.S. healthcare system are subject to a great
deal of uncertainty, which may result in adverse consequences to
our business.
There have been a number of legislative and
regulatory proposals to change the healthcare system, reduce the
costs of healthcare and change medical reimbursement policies.
Doctors, clinics, hospitals and other users of our
products may decline to purchase
our products to the extent
there is uncertainty regarding coverage from government or
commercial payors. Further proposed legislation, regulation and
policy changes affecting third-party reimbursement are likely.
Among other things, Congress
has in the past proposed changes to and the repeal of the
Affordable Care Act, and lawsuits have been brought challenging
aspects of the law at various points. There have been repeated
recent attempts by Congress to
repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act. At this time, it remains
unclear whether there will be any changes made to or any repeal or
replacement of the Affordable Care Act, with respect to certain of
its provisions or in its entirety. We are unable to predict what
legislation or regulation, if any, relating to the health care
industry or third-party coverage and reimbursement may be enacted
in the future at the state or federal level, or what effect such
legislation or regulation may have on us. Denial of coverage and
reimbursement of our products,
or the revocation or changes to coverage and reimbursement
policies, could have a material adverse effect on our business,
results of operations and financial condition.
We may not be successful in our
efforts to build a pipeline of product candidates.
A key element of our strategy is to use and expand
our product platform to build a
pipeline of product candidates
and progress those product
candidates through clinical development for the treatment of a
variety of different types of cancer. Even if we are successful in
building a product pipeline,
the potential product
candidates that we identify may not be suitable for clinical
development for a number of reasons, including causing harmful side
effects or demonstrating other characteristics that indicate a low
likelihood of receiving marketing approval or achieving market
acceptance. If our methods of identifying potential
product candidates fail to produce a
pipeline of potentially viable product candidates, then our success as a business
will be dependent on the success of fewer potential
product candidates, which introduces
risks to our business model and potential limitations to any
success we may achieve.
Our product candidates may cause undesirable side
effects or have other properties that could delay or prevent their
regulatory approval, limit the commercial profile of an approved
label, or result in significant negative consequences following
marketing approval, if any.
Additionally, if one or more of our
product candidates receives marketing
approval, and we or others later identify undesirable side effects
caused by such products, a
number of potentially significant negative consequences could
result, including:
●
regulatory
authorities may withdraw approvals of such product;
●
regulatory
authorities may require additional warnings on the product’s
label;
●
we may be required
to create a medication guide for distribution to patients that
outlines the risks of such side effects;
●
we could be sued
and held liable for harm caused to patients; and
●
our reputation may
suffer.
Any of these events could prevent us from
achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular
product candidate, if approved, and
could significantly harm our business, results of operations and
prospects.
We may expend our limited resources to
pursue a particular product
candidate or indication that does not produce any commercially
viable products and may fail to
capitalize on product
candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which
there is a greater likelihood of success.
Because we have limited financial and managerial
resources, we must focus our efforts on particular research
programs and product candidates
for specific indications. As a result, we may forego or delay
pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that
later prove to have greater commercial potential. Further, our
resource allocation decisions may result in our use of funds for
research and development programs and product candidates for specific indications that
may not yield any commercially viable products. If we do not accurately evaluate the
commercial potential or target market for a particular
product candidate, we may relinquish
valuable rights to that product
candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty
arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous
for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to
such product candidate. Any
such failure to improperly assess potential product candidates could result in missed
opportunities and/or our focus on product candidates with low market potential,
which would harm our business and financial
condition.
Our products may be expensive to manufacture, and they
may not be profitable if we are unable to control the costs to
manufacture them.
Our products
may be significantly more expensive to manufacture than we expect
or than other therapeutic products currently on the market today. We hope to
substantially reduce manufacturing costs through process
improvements, development of new methods, increases in
manufacturing scale and outsourcing to experienced manufacturers.
If we are not able to make these, or other improvements, and
depending on the pricing of the product, our profit margins may be significantly
less than that of other therapeutic products on the market today. In addition, we may
not be able to charge a high enough price for any
product we develop, even if they are
safe and effective, to make a profit. If we are unable to realize
significant profits from our potential product candidates, our business would be
materially harmed.
We currently lack manufacturing
capabilities to produce our therapeutic product candidates at commercial-scale quantities
and do not have an alternate manufacturing supply, which would
negatively impact our ability to meet any demand for the
product.
We expect that we would need to significantly
expand our manufacturing capabilities to meet potential demand for
our therapeutic product
candidates, if approved. Such expansion would require additional
regulatory approvals. Even if we increase our manufacturing
capabilities, it is possible that we may still lack sufficient
capacity to meet demand.
We do not currently have any alternate supply for
our products. If the facilities
where our products are
currently being manufactured or equipment were significantly
damaged or destroyed, or if there were other disruptions, delays or
difficulties affecting manufacturing capacity or availability of
drug supply, including, but not limited to, if such facilities are
deemed not in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practice
(“cGMP”) requirements, future clinical studies and commercial
production for our products
could be significantly disrupted and delayed. It would be both
time-consuming and expensive to replace this capacity with third
parties, particularly since any new facility would need to comply
with the regulatory requirements.
Ultimately, if we are unable to supply our
products to meet commercial demand,
whether because of processing constraints or other disruptions,
delays or difficulties that we experience, our production costs
could dramatically increase and sales of our products and their long-term commercial prospects
could be significantly damaged.
To be successful, our proposed
products must be accepted by the
healthcare community, which can be very slow to adopt or
unreceptive to new technologies and products.
Our proposed products and those developed by our collaborative
partners, if approved for marketing, may not achieve market
acceptance since hospitals, physicians, patients or the medical
community in general may decide not to accept and use these
products. The products that we are attempting to develop
represent substantial departures from established treatment methods
and will compete with a number of more conventional therapies
manufactured and marketed by major pharmaceutical
companies. The degree of market
acceptance of any of our developed products will depend on a number of factors,
including:
●
our establishment
and demonstration to the medical community of the clinical efficacy
and safety of our proposed products;
●
our ability to
create products that are superior to alternatives currently on the
market;
●
our ability to
establish in the medical community the potential advantage of our
treatments over alternative treatment methods; and
●
reimbursement
policies of government and third-party payers.
If the healthcare community does not accept
our products for any of these
reasons, or for any other reason, our business would be materially
harmed.
Our business is based on novel technologies that are inherently
expensive and risky and may not be understood by or accepted in the
marketplace, which could adversely affect our future
value.
The clinical development, commercialization and
marketing of immuno-oncology therapies are at an early-stage,
substantially research-oriented and financially speculative. To
date, very few companies have
been successful in their efforts to develop and commercialize an
immuno-oncology therapeutic product. In general, such products may be susceptible to various risks,
including undesirable and unintended side effects, unintended
immune system responses, inadequate therapeutic efficacy, or other
characteristics that may prevent or limit their approval or
commercial use. Furthermore, the number of people who may use such
therapies is difficult to forecast with accuracy. Our future
success is dependent on the establishment of a significant market
for such therapies and our ability to capture a share of this
market with our product
candidates.
Our development efforts with our
therapeutic product candidates
are susceptible to the same risks of failure inherent in the
development and commercialization of therapeutic
products based on new technologies.
The novel nature of immuno-oncology therapeutics creates
significant challenges in the areas of product development and optimization,
manufacturing, government regulation, third-party reimbursement and
market acceptance. For example, the FDA has relatively limited
experience regulating such therapies, and there are few approved
treatments using such therapy.
Our competition includes fully
integrated biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies that have significant advantages over
us.
The market for therapeutic immuno-oncology
products is highly competitive. We
expect that our most significant competitors will be fully
integrated and more established pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies or
institutions, including major multinational pharmaceutical
companies, biotechnology
companies and universities and other
research institutions. These companies are developing similar
products, and they have significantly
greater capital resources and research and development,
manufacturing, testing, regulatory compliance and marketing
capabilities. Many of these potential competitors may be further
along in the process of product
development and also operate large, company-funded research and development programs.
As a result, our competitors may develop more competitive or
affordable products, or achieve
earlier patent protection or product commercialization than we are able to
achieve. Competitive products
may render any products
or product candidates that we
develop obsolete.
Many of our competitors have substantially greater
financial, technical and other resources than we do, such as larger
research and development staff and experienced marketing and
manufacturing organizations. Additional mergers and acquisitions in
the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may result in even
more resources being concentrated in certain of our competitors. As
a result, these companies may
be able to obtain regulatory approval more rapidly than we can and
may be more effective in selling and marketing their
products. Smaller or
early-stage companies may also
prove to be significant competitors, particularly through
collaborative arrangements with large, established
companies. Competition may increase
further as a result of advances in the commercial applicability of
technologies and greater availability of capital for investment in
these industries. Our competitors may succeed in developing,
acquiring or licensing drug products that are more effective or less costly to
produce or purchase on the market than any product candidate we are currently developing or
that we may seek to develop in the future. If approved, our
product candidates will face
competition from commercially available drugs as well as drugs that
are in the development pipelines of our
competitors.
Established pharmaceutical companies may invest heavily to accelerate
discovery and development of or in-license novel compounds that
could make our product
candidates less competitive. In addition, any new
product that competes with an
approved product must
demonstrate compelling advantages in efficacy, convenience,
tolerability and safety in order to overcome price competition and
to be commercially successful. Accordingly, our competitors may
succeed in obtaining patent protection, receiving FDA, EMA or other
regulatory approval, or discovering, developing and commercializing
medicines before we do, which could have a material adverse impact
on our business and ability to achieve profitability from future
sales of our approved product
candidates, if any.
If competitors develop and
market products that are more
effective, safer or less expensive than our product candidates or offer other advantages, our
commercial prospects will be limited.
Our therapeutic immuno-oncology development
programs face, and will continue to face, intense competition from
pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies, as well as numerous
academic and research institutions and governmental agencies
engaged in drug discovery activities or funding, both in the United
States and abroad. Some of these competitors are pursuing the
development of drugs and other therapies that target the same
diseases and conditions that we are targeting with our
product candidates. According to a
recent analysis by InVentiv Health, there are over 800
companies developing approximately
1,500 cancer immunotherapies via 4,000 development projects across
535 targets. According to the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Research Association
Medicines in Development for Cancer 2018 Report, there were 135
drugs in development for the treatment of lymphoma,
including non-Hodgkin lymphoma,
which accounts for nearly five percent of all new cancer diagnoses.
As a general matter, we also face competition from
many companies that are
researching and developing cell therapies. Many of these
companies have financial and other
resources substantially greater than ours. In addition, many of
these competitors have significantly greater experience in testing
pharmaceutical and other therapeutic products, obtaining FDA and other regulatory
approvals, and marketing and selling. If we ultimately obtain
regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we also will be competing with
respect to manufacturing efficiency and marketing capabilities,
areas in which we have limited or no commercial-scale experience.
Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
industries may result in even more resources’ being concentrated by
our competitors. Competition may increase further as a result of
advances made in the commercial applicability of our technologies
and greater availability of capital for investment in these
fields.
If we are unable to keep up with rapid technological changes in our
field or compete effectively, we will be unable to operate
profitably.
We are engaged in activities in the biotechnology
field, which is characterized by extensive research efforts and
rapid technological progress. If we fail to anticipate or respond
adequately to technological developments, our ability to operate
profitably could suffer. Research and discoveries by other
biotechnology, agricultural, pharmaceutical or other
companies may render our technologies
or potential products or
services uneconomical or result in products superior to those we develop. Similarly,
any technologies, products or
services we develop may not be preferred to any existing or newly
developed technologies, products or services.
We may not be able to obtain
third-party patient reimbursement or favorable product pricing, which would reduce our ability to
operate profitably.
Our ability to successfully commercialize certain
of our proposed products in the
human therapeutic field may depend to a significant degree on
patient reimbursement of the costs of such products and related treatments at acceptable
levels from government authorities, private health insurers and
other organizations, such as health maintenance organizations.
Reimbursement in the United States or foreign countries may not be
available for any products we
may develop, and, if available, may be decreased in the future.
Also, reimbursement amounts may reduce the demand for, or the price
of, our products with a
consequent harm to our business. We cannot predict what additional
regulation or legislation relating to the healthcare industry or
third-party coverage and reimbursement may be enacted in the future
or what effect such regulation or legislation may have on our
business. If additional regulations are overly onerous or
expensive, or if healthcare-related legislation makes our business
more expensive or burdensome than originally anticipated, we may be
forced to significantly downsize our business plans or completely
abandon our business model.
We may be subject to business litigation that will be costly to
defend or pursue and uncertain in its outcome.
Our business may bring us into conflict with our
licensees, licensors or others with whom we have contractual or
other business relationships, or with our competitors or others
whose interests differ from ours. If we are unable to resolve those
conflicts on terms that are satisfactory to all parties, we may become involved in litigation
brought by or against us. That litigation is likely to be expensive
and may require a significant amount of management’s time and
attention, at the expense of other aspects of our business. The
outcome of litigation is always uncertain, and in some cases could
include judgments against us that require us to pay damages, enjoin
us from certain activities, or otherwise affect our legal or
contractual rights, which could have a significant adverse effect
on our business.
We are exposed to the risk of liability claims, for which we may
not have adequate insurance.
Since
we participate in the pharmaceutical industry, we may be subject to
liability claims by employees, customers, end users and third
parties. We intend to obtain proper insurance, however, there can
be no assurance that any liability insurance we purchase will be
adequate to cover claims asserted against us or that we will be
able to maintain such insurance in the future. We intend to adopt
prudent risk-management programs to reduce these risks and
potential liabilities, however, we have not taken any steps to
create these programs and have no estimate as to the cost or time
required to do so and there can be no assurance that such programs,
if and when adopted, will fully protect us. We may not be able to
put risk management programs in place, or obtain insurance, if we
are unable to retain the necessary expertise and/or are
unsuccessful in raising necessary capital in the future. Our
failure to obtain appropriate insurance, or to adopt and implement
effective risk-management programs, as well as any adverse rulings
in any legal matters, proceedings and other matters could have a
material adverse effect on our business.
Preclinical and clinical trials are conducted
during the development of potential products and other treatments to determine their
safety and efficacy for use by humans. Notwithstanding these
efforts, when our treatments are introduced into the marketplace,
unanticipated side effects may become evident. Manufacturing,
marketing, selling and testing our product candidates under development or to be
acquired or licensed, entails a risk of product liability claims. We could be subject
to product liability claims in
the event that our product
candidates, processes, or products under development fail to perform as
intended. Even unsuccessful claims could result in the expenditure
of funds in litigation and the diversion of management time and
resources, and could damage our reputation and impair the
marketability of our product
candidates and processes. While we plan to maintain liability
insurance for product liability
claims, we may not be able to obtain or maintain such insurance at
a commercially reasonable cost. If a successful claim were made
against us, and we lacked insurance or the amount of insurance were
inadequate to cover the costs of defending against or paying such a
claim or the damages payable by us, we would experience a material
adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
We could be subject to
product liability lawsuits based on
the use of our product
candidates in clinical testing or, if obtained, following marketing
approval and commercialization. If product liability lawsuits are brought against us,
we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to cease
clinical testing or limit commercialization of our
product
candidates.
We could be subject to product liability lawsuits if any
product candidate we develop allegedly
causes injury or is found to be otherwise unsuitable for human use
during product testing,
manufacturing, marketing or sale. Any such product liability claims may include allegations
of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, a failure to warn
of dangers inherent in the product, negligence, strict liability and a breach
of warranties. Claims could also be asserted under state consumer
protection acts. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves
against product liability
claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to
limit commercialization of our product candidates, if approved. Even successful
defense would require significant financial and management
resources. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability
claims may result in:
●
decreased demand
for our product candidates;
●
withdrawal of
clinical trial participants;
●
initiation of
investigations by regulators;
●
costs to defend the
related litigation;
●
a diversion of
management’s time and our resources;
●
substantial
monetary awards to trial participants or patients;
●
product recalls,
withdrawals or labeling, marketing or promotional
restrictions;
●
loss of revenues
from product sales; and
●
the inability to
commercialize our product candidates.
Our inability to retain sufficient
product liability insurance at an
acceptable cost to protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit
the clinical testing and commercialization of products we develop. We may wish to obtain
additional such insurance covering studies or trials in other
countries should we seek to expand those clinical trials or
commence new clinical trials in other jurisdictions or increase the
number of patients in any clinical trials we may pursue. We also
may determine that additional types and amounts of coverage would
be desirable at later stages of clinical development of our
product candidates or upon commencing
commercialization of any product candidate that obtains required approvals.
However, we may not be able to obtain any such additional insurance
coverage when needed on acceptable terms or at all. If we do not obtain or retain
sufficient product liability
insurance, we could be responsible for some or all of the financial costs associated with
a product liability claim
relating to our preclinical and clinical development activities, in
the event that any such claim results in a court judgment or
settlement in an amount or of a type that is not covered, in whole
or in part, by any insurance policies we may have or that is in
excess of the limits of our insurance coverage. We may not have, or
be able to obtain, sufficient capital to pay any such amounts that
may not be covered by our insurance policies.
We rely on third parties to conduct
preclinical and clinical trials of our product candidates. If these third parties do not
successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected
deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or
commercialize our product
candidates and our business could be substantially
harmed.
We rely, and expect to continue to rely, upon
third-party CROs to execute our preclinical and clinical trials and
to monitor and manage data produced by and relating to those
trials. However, we may not be able to establish arrangements with
CROs when needed or on terms that are acceptable to us, or
at all, which could negatively
affect our development efforts with respect to our drug
product candidates and materially harm
our business, operations and prospects.
We will have only limited control over the
activities of the CRO we will engage to conduct our clinical trials
including the University of Minnesota for our Phase II clinical trial for GTB-1550 and
Phase I clinical trial for GTB-3550.
Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our
studies is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol,
legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on any
CRO does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. Based
on our present expectations, we, our CROs and our clinical trial
sites are required to comply with good clinical practices (“GCPs”)
for all of our
product candidates in clinical
development. Regulatory authorities enforce GCPs through periodic
inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial
sites. If we or any of our CROs fail to comply with applicable
GCPs, the clinical data generated in the applicable trial may be
deemed unreliable and the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory
authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials
before approving a product
candidate for marketing, which we may not have sufficient cash or
other resources to support and which would delay our ability to
generate revenue from any sales of such product candidate. In addition, our clinical
trials are required to be conducted with product produced in compliance with cGMPs. Our or
our CROs’ failure to comply with those regulations may require us
to repeat clinical trials, which would also require significant
cash expenditures and delay the regulatory approval
process.
Agreements governing relationships with CROs
generally provide those CROs with certain rights to terminate a
clinical trial under specified circumstances. If a CRO that we have
engaged terminates its relationship with us during the performance
of a clinical trial, we would be forced to seek an engagement with
a substitute CRO, which we may not be able to do on a timely basis
or on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, and the applicable trial would experience
delays or may not be completed. In addition, our CROs are not our
employees, and except for remedies available to us under any
agreements we enter with them, we are
unable to control whether or not they devote sufficient time and
resources to our clinical, nonclinical and preclinical programs. If
CROs do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or
obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced
or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is
compromised due to a failure to adhere to our clinical protocols,
regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials
may be extended, delayed or terminated and we may not be able to
obtain regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize, the
affected product candidates. As
a result, our operations and the commercial prospects for the
effected product candidates
would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to
generate revenues could be delayed.
We contract with third parties for the
supply of product candidates
for clinical testing and expect to contract with third parties for
the manufacturing of our product candidates for large-scale testing and
commercial supply. This reliance on third parties increases the
risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our
product candidates or
products or such quantities at an
acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our
development or commercialization efforts.
We anticipate continuing our engagement of third
parties to provide our clinical supply as we advance our
product candidates into and through
clinical development, and we depend on third parties to produce and
maintain sufficient quantities of material to supply our clinical
trials. If these third parties do not produce and maintain adequate
supplies of clinical material, our development efforts could be
significantly delayed, or could incur substantially higher costs.
We expect in the future to use third parties for the manufacture of
our product candidates for
clinical testing, as well as for commercial manufacture. We plan to
enter into long-term supply agreements with several manufacturers for
commercial supplies. We may be unable to reach agreement on satisfactory terms with contract
manufacturers to manufacture our product candidates. Additionally, the facilities
to manufacture our product
candidates must be the subject of a satisfactory inspection before
the FDA or other regulatory authorities approve a marketing
authorization for the product
candidate manufactured at that facility. We will depend on these
third-party manufacturers for compliance with the FDA’s and
international regulatory authority requirements for the manufacture
of our finished products. We do
not control the manufacturing process of, and are completely
dependent on, our contract manufacturers for compliance with cGMPs.
If our manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that
conforms to our specifications and the FDA and other regulatory
authorities’ cGMP requirements, they will not be able to secure
and/or maintain regulatory approval for their manufacturing
facilities. In addition, we have no control over the ability of our
contract manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control,
quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA or a
comparable foreign regulatory authority does not approve these
facilities for the manufacture of our product candidates or if it withdraws any such
approval in the future, we may need to find alternative
manufacturing facilities, which would significantly impact our
ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market
our product candidates, if
approved, and may subject us to recalls or enforcement action
for products already on the
market.
If any of our product candidates are approved and contract
manufacturers fail to deliver the required commercial quantities of
finished product on a timely
basis and at commercially reasonable prices, and we are unable to
find one or more replacement manufacturers capable of production at
a substantially equivalent cost, in substantially equivalent
volumes and quality and on a timely basis, we would likely be
unable to meet demand for our products and could lose potential revenue. It may
take several years to establish an alternative source of supply for
our product candidates and to
have any such new source approved by the FDA or any other relevant
regulatory authorities.
We currently have no marketing and
sales force. If we are unable to establish effective marketing and
sales capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell
our product candidates, we may
not be able to effectively market and sell our product candidates, if approved, or
generate product
revenues.
We currently do not have a marketing or sales team
for the marketing, sales and distribution of any of our
product candidates that are able to
obtain regulatory approval. In order to commercialize any
product candidates, we must build on a
territory-by-territory basis marketing, sales, distribution,
managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make
arrangements with third parties to perform these services, and we
may not be successful in doing so. If our product candidates receive regulatory approval, we
intend to establish an internal sales and marketing team with
technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to
commercialize our product
candidates, which will be expensive and time consuming and will
require significant attention of our executive officers to manage.
Any failure or delay in the development of our internal sales,
marketing and distribution capabilities would adversely impact the
commercialization of any of our products that we obtain approval to market. With
respect to the commercialization of all or certain of our product candidates, we may choose to collaborate,
either globally or on a territory-by-territory basis, with third
parties that have direct sales forces and established distribution
systems, either to augment our own sales force and distribution
systems or in lieu of our own sales force and distribution systems.
If we are unable to enter into such arrangements when needed on
acceptable terms or at all, we
may not be able to successfully commercialize any of our
product candidates that receive
regulatory approval or any such commercialization may experience
delays or limitations. If we are not successful in commercializing
our product candidates, either
on our own or through collaborations with one or more third
parties, our future product
revenue will suffer and we may incur significant additional
losses.
Our business and operations would suffer in the event of system
failures.
Despite the implementation of security measures,
our internal computer systems and those of our contractors and
consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses,
unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war and
telecommunication and electrical failures. While we have not
experienced any such system failure, accident or security breach to
date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our
operations, it could result in a material disruption of our drug
development programs. For example, the loss of clinical trial data
from completed or ongoing or planned clinical trials could result
in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and we may incur
substantial costs to attempt to recover or reproduce the data. If
any disruption or security breach resulted in a loss of or damage
to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of
confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability
and/or the further development of our product candidates could be
delayed.
Our operations are vulnerable to interruption by natural disasters,
power loss, terrorist activity and other events beyond our control,
the occurrence of which could materially harm our
business.
Businesses
located in California have, in the past, been subject to electrical
blackouts as a result of a shortage of available electrical power,
and any future blackouts could disrupt our operations. We are
vulnerable to a major earthquake, wildfire and other natural
disasters, and we have not undertaken a systematic analysis of the
potential consequences to our business as a result of any such
natural disaster and do not have an applicable recovery plan in
place. We do not carry any business interruption insurance that
would compensate us for actual losses from interruption of our
business that may occur, and any losses or damages incurred by us
could cause our business to materially suffer.
Epidemic or pandemic outbreaks such as COVID-19 (coronavirus),
natural disasters, whether or not caused by climate change, unusual
weather conditions, terrorist acts and political events, could
disrupt business and result in halting our clinical trials and
otherwise adversely affect our financial performance.
The occurrence of one or more natural disasters,
such as tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods and earthquakes,
unusual weather conditions, epidemic outbreaks, terrorist attacks
or disruptive political events in certain regions where our
operations are located could adversely affect our business.
Epidemic or pandemic outbreaks, such as COVID-19 (coronavirus)
could impact our management and our ability to conduct clinical
trials. For example, we were required to temporarily halt
our Phase I clinical trial with
GTB-3550 for 30 days in March 2020 as result of restrictions on
hospital operation implemented in reaction to the coronavirus
pandemic. This also may affect the market conditions that would
limit our ability to raise additional capital. This could have a
sustained material adverse effect on our business, financial
condition and results of operations.
We have not held regular annual meetings in the past, and if we are
required by the Delaware Court of Chancery to hold an annual
meeting pursuant to Section 211(c) of the Delaware General
Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) it could result in the unanticipated
expenditure of funds, time and other Company
resources.
Section 2.2 of our bylaws provides that an annual
meeting shall be held each year on a date and at a time designated
by our Board of Directors (the “Board”), and Section 211(b) of the DGCL provides
for an annual meeting of stockholders to be held for the election
of directors. Section 211(c) of the DGCL provides that if there is
a failure to hold the annual meeting for a period of 13 months
after the latest to occur of the organization of the corporation,
its last annual meeting or last action by written consent to elect
directors in lieu of an annual meeting, the Delaware Court of
Chancery may order a meeting to be held upon the application of any
stockholder or director. Section 211(c) also provides that the
failure to hold an annual meeting shall not affect otherwise valid
corporate acts or result in a forfeiture or dissolution of the
corporation.
We have not held regular annual meetings in the
past because a substantial majority of our stock is owned by a
small number of stockholders, making it easy to obtain written
consent in lieu of a meeting when necessary. In light of our
historical liquidity constraints, handling matters by written
consent has allowed our Company to save on the financial and
administrative resources required to prepare for and hold such
annual meetings. To our knowledge, no stockholder or director has
requested our Company’s management to hold such an annual meeting
and no stockholder or director has applied to the Delaware Court of
Chancery seeking an order directing our company to hold a meeting. However, if one or more
stockholders or directors were to apply to the Delaware Court of
Chancery seeking such an order, and if the Delaware Court of
Chancery were to order an annual meeting before we are prepared to
hold one, the preparation for the annual meeting and the meeting
itself could result in the unanticipated expenditure of funds, time
and other Company resources.
Risks Related to this Offering and Our Common Stock
There has been a limited public market
for our common stock, and we do
not know whether one will develop to provide you adequate
liquidity. Furthermore, the trading price for our
common stock, should an active trading
market develop, may be volatile and could be subject to wide
fluctuations in per-share price.
Our common
stock is quoted on the OTCQB under the trading symbol “GTBP”;
historically, however, there has been a limited public market for
our common stock. We cannot
assure you that an active trading market for our
common stock will develop or be
sustained. The liquidity of any market for the shares of our
common stock will depend on a number
of factors, including:
●
the number of
stockholders;
●
our operating
performance and financial condition;
●
the market for
similar securities;
●
the extent of
coverage of us by securities or industry analysts; and
●
the interest of
securities dealers in making a market in the shares of our common
stock.
Even if an active trading market develops, the
market price for our common
stock may be highly volatile and could be subject to wide
fluctuations. In addition, the price of shares of our
common stock could decline
significantly if our future operating results fail to meet or
exceed the expectations of market analysts and investors and actual
or anticipated variations in our quarterly operating results could
negatively affect our share price.
The volatility of the price of our
common stock may also be impacted by
the risks discussed under this “Risk Factors” section, in addition
to other factors, including:
●
developments in the
financial markets and worldwide or regional economies;
●
announcements of
innovations or new products or services by us or our
competitors;
●
announcements by
the government relating to regulations that govern our
industry;
●
significant sales
of our common stock or other securities in the open
market;
●
variations in
interest rates;
●
changes in the
market valuations of other comparable companies; and
●
changes in
accounting principles.
Our outstanding warrants and preferred stock may affect the market
price and liquidity of the common stock.
As of the date of this prospectus, after giving
effect to the issuance of the Settlement Shares and the Settlement
Warrants pursuant to the Settlement Agreement (but excluding the
impact of any conversions of our convertible notes after the filing
date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a
part), we had approximately 74.2 million shares of
common stock outstanding and had
outstanding warrants for the
purchase of up to approximately 6.8 million additional shares
of common stock at an exercise
price of $0.20 per share, all
of which are exercisable as of the date of this prospectus (subject
to certain beneficial ownership limitations). We also had
outstanding 96,230 shares of Series C preferred stock (the “Series C Preferred
Stock”) and 2,353,548 shares of Series J-1 Preferred Stock as of
the date of this prospectus, which preferred stock is convertible
into up to approximately 11.8 million additional shares of
common stock at any time (subject to
certain beneficial ownership limitations). In addition, as
described more fully below, holders of our convertible
notes and debentures may elect to receive a substantial
number of shares of common
stock upon conversion of the notes and, at each holder’s option, we will pay
accrued interest on such notes
in shares of our common stock.
The amount of common stock
reserved for issuance may have an adverse impact on our ability to
raise capital and may affect the price and liquidity of our
common stock in the public market. In
addition, the issuance of these shares of common stock will have a dilutive effect on
current stockholders’ ownership.
The conversion of outstanding
convertible notes and
debentures into shares of
common stock, and the issuance
of common stock by us as
payment of accrued interest upon our convertible
notes and debentures, could materially dilute our current
stockholders.
As of the date of this prospectus, after giving
effect to (i) the issuance of the July 2020 Notes and the May 2020
Notes and (ii) the issuance of the Settlement Notes pursuant to the
Settlement Agreement (but excluding the impact of any conversions
of our convertible notes after the filing date of the registration
statement of which this prospectus forms a part), we had
approximately $18.8 million aggregate principal amount of
convertible notes and
debentures outstanding. The
convertible notes and
debentures are convertible into shares
of our common stock at
fixed conversion prices, which
may be less than the market price of our common stock at the time of conversion, and which
may be subject to future adjustment due to certain events,
including the issuance by the Company of common stock or
common
stock equivalents at an effective price per share lower than the
conversion rate then in effect.
If the entire principal is converted into shares of
common stock (including approximately
$3.9 million in default amounts accrued with respect to the Default
Notes), we would be required to issue an aggregate of no less than
114 million shares of common
stock. If we issue all of these
shares, the ownership of our current stockholders will be
diluted.
Further, at each holder’s option, we will pay
interest on the convertible notes and debentures in shares of common stock based on the then current
conversion price. To date, we have
issued approximately 16.7 million shares of common stock as in-kind interest payments on our
convertible notes and
debentures. Such interest payments
could further dilute our current stockholders.
Because our common stock may be deemed a low-priced
“penny” stock, an investment in
our common stock should be
considered high-risk and subject to marketability
restrictions.
Historically, the trading price of our
common stock has been $5.00 per share
or lower, and deemed a penny stock, as defined in Rule 3a51-1 under
the Exchange Act, and subject to the penny stock rules of the
Exchange Act specified in rules 15g-1 through 15g-100. Those rules
require broker–dealers, before effecting transactions in any penny
stock, to:
●
deliver to the
customer, and obtain a written receipt for, a disclosure
document;
●
disclose certain
price information about the stock;
●
disclose the amount
of compensation received by the broker-dealer or any associated
person of the broker-dealer;
●
send monthly
statements to customers with market and price information about the
penny stock; and
●
in some
circumstances, approve the purchaser’s account under certain
standards and deliver written statements to the customer with
information specified in the rules.
Consequently, the penny stock rules may restrict
the ability or willingness of broker-dealers to sell the
common stock and may affect the
ability of holders to sell their common stock in the secondary market and the price
at which such holders can sell any such securities. These
additional procedures could also limit our ability to raise
additional capital in the future.
Financial Industry Regulatory
Authority (“FINRA”) sales practice requirements may also limit a
stockholder’s ability to buy and sell our common stock, which could depress the price of
our common
stock.
In addition to the “penny stock” rules described
above, FINRA has adopted rules that require a broker-dealer to have
reasonable grounds for believing that the investment is suitable
for that customer before recommending an investment to a customer.
Prior to recommending speculative low-priced securities to their
non-institutional customers, broker-dealers must make reasonable
efforts to obtain information about the customer’s financial
status, tax status, investment objectives and other information.
Under interpretations of these rules, FINRA believes that there is
a high probability that speculative low-priced securities will not
be suitable for at least some customers. Thus, the FINRA
requirements make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend
that their customers buy our common stock, which may limit your ability to buy
and sell our shares of common
stock, have an adverse effect on the market for our shares
of common stock, and thereby
depress our price per share of common stock.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or
reports about our business, or if they issue an adverse or
misleading opinion regarding our stock, our stock price and trading
volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock may be influenced by the research and
reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or
our business. We do not currently have, and may never obtain,
research coverage by securities and industry analysts. If no or few
securities or industry analysts commence coverage of us, the
trading price for our common
stock may be negatively affected. In the event that we receive
securities or industry analyst coverage, if any of the analysts who
cover us issue an adverse or misleading opinion regarding us, our
business model, our intellectual property or our stock performance,
or if our operating results fail to meet the expectations of
analysts, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of
these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on
us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets,
which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to
decline.
Anti-takeover provisions may limit the ability of another party to
acquire us, which could cause our stock price to
decline.
Delaware law and our restated certificate of
incorporation (“certificate of
incorporation”), our restated bylaws (“bylaws”) and other governing documents contain
provisions that could discourage, delay or prevent a third party
from acquiring us, even if doing so may be beneficial to our
stockholders, which could cause our stock price to decline. In
addition, these provisions could limit the price investors would be
willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.
We do not currently or for the
foreseeable future intend to pay dividends on our
common stock.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends
on our common stock. We
currently anticipate that we will retain future earnings for the
development, operation and expansion of our business and do not
anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends for the
foreseeable future. As a result, any return on your investment in
our common stock will be
limited to the appreciation in the price of our common stock, if any.
All of the Registered Shares sold pursuant to this
prospectus will be offered and sold by the Selling Stockholders. We
will not receive any proceeds from such sales. We, and not the
Selling Stockholders, will pay all expenses incident to the registration of the
Registered Shares under the Securities Act.
Our common
stock is quoted on the OTCQB under the symbol “GTBP.” Our
common stock is also quoted on several
European based exchanges, including Berlin (GTBP.BE), Frankfurt (GTBP.DE), the Euronext
(GTBP.NX) and Paris
(GTBP.PA).
Stockholders
As of July 13, 2020, there were 33 stockholders of
record, which total does not include stockholders who hold their
shares in “street name.” The transfer agent for our
common stock is Computershare, whose address is 8742
Lucent Blvd., Suite 225, Highland Ranch, CO
80129.
Dividends
We have not paid any dividends on our
common stock to date and do not
anticipate that we will pay dividends in the foreseeable future.
Any payment of cash dividends on our common stock in the future will be dependent upon
the amount of funds legally available, our earnings, if any, our
financial condition, our anticipated capital requirements and other
factors that the Board may think are relevant. However, we
currently intend for the foreseeable future to follow a policy of
retaining all of our earnings,
if any, to finance the development and expansion of our business
and, therefore, do not expect to pay any dividends on our
common stock during such
time.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL
CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Overview
We are a clinical stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on the
development and commercialization of novel immuno-oncology
products
based off our proprietary Tri-specific Killer Engager (TriKE™) and Tetra-specific Killer Engager (TetraKE™). Our
TriKE and
TetraKE platforms generate proprietary therapeutics designed to
harness and enhance the cancer killing abilities of a patient’s own
NK cells. Once bound to an NK cell, our moieties are designed to
enhance the NK cell and precisely direct it to one or more
specifically-targeted proteins expressed on a specific type of
cancer cell or virus infected cell, ultimately resulting in the
targeted cell’s death. TriKEs and TetraKEs are
made up of recombinant fusion proteins, can be designed to target
any number of tumor antigens on hematologic malignancies, sarcomas
or solid tumors and do not require patient-specific
customization.
Recent Developments
Financings
July 2020 Financing
On July 7, 2020, we entered into a
securities purchase agreement
with ten purchasers pursuant to which we issued the July 2020 Notes
in an aggregate principal amount of approximately $3.2
million.
The July 2020 Notes are convertible at any time,
at the holder’s option, into shares of our common stock at an initial conversion price of $0.20 per
share, subject to certain
beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum ownership limit of
9.99%). The
conversion
price is also subject to adjustment due to certain events,
including stock dividends, stock splits and in connection with the
issuance by the Company of common stock or
common
stock equivalents at an effective price per share lower than the
conversion rate then in effect.
The July 2020 Notes will be subject to mandatory conversion in the
event of the completion of a future financing in the amount of at
least $15 million at a conversion price equal to the lesser of (i)
the conversion price in effect
for the July 2020 Notes on the date of completion of such financing
or (ii) 75% of the lowest per share price at which
common stock may be issued in
connection with any conversion rights associated with the
financing, in each case, subject to the beneficial ownership
limitations described above.
The July 2020 Notes each have a term of six months
and mature on January 7, 2021, unless earlier converted or
repurchased. The July 2020 Notes accrue interest at a rate of 10%
per annum, subject to increase to 18% per annum upon and during the
occurrence of an event of default. Interest is payable in cash or,
at the holder’s option, in shares of common stock based on the conversion price then in effect. We may not prepay
the July 2020 Notes without the prior written consent of the
applicable holder.
May 2020 Financing
Between April 20, 2020 and May 7, 2020, we entered
into securities purchase
agreements with eight purchasers pursuant to which we issued
convertible notes in an
aggregate principal amount of approximately $2.0
million.
The May 2020 Notes are convertible at any time, at
the holder’s option, into shares of our common stock at an initial conversion price of $0.20 per
share, subject to certain
beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum ownership limit of
9.99%). The
conversion
price is also subject to adjustment due to certain events,
including stock dividends, stock splits and in connection with the
issuance by the Company of common stock or
common
stock equivalents at an effective price per share lower than the
conversion rate then in effect.
The May 2020 Notes will be subject to mandatory conversion in the
event of the completion of a future financing in the amount of at
least $15 million at a conversion price equal to the lesser of (i)
the conversion price in effect
for the May 2020 Notes on the date of completion of such financing
or (ii) 75% of the lowest per share price at which
common stock may be issued in
connection with any conversion rights associated with the
financing, in each case, subject to the beneficial ownership
limitations described above.
The May 2020 Notes each have a term of six months
and mature between October 20, 2020 and November 7, 2020, unless
earlier converted or repurchased. The May 2020 Notes accrue
interest at a rate of 10% per annum, subject to increase to 18% per
annum upon and during the occurrence of an event of default.
Interest is payable in cash or, at the holder’s option, in shares
of common stock based on
the conversion price then in
effect. We may not prepay the May 2020 Notes without the prior
written consent of the applicable holder.
January 2020 Financing
On January 30, 2020, we entered into a
securities purchase agreement
with one purchaser pursuant to which we issued the January 2020 Notes in an aggregate
principal amount of $0.2 million.
The January 2020 Notes are convertible at any
time, at the holder’s option, into shares of our
common stock at an initial
conversion price of $0.20 per
share, subject to certain
beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum ownership limit of
9.99%). The
conversion
price is also subject to adjustment due to certain events,
including stock dividends, stock splits and in connection with the
issuance by the Company of common stock or
common
stock equivalents at an effective price per share lower than the
conversion rate then in effect.
The January 2020 Notes have a term of eight months
and mature on September 30, 2020, unless earlier converted or
repurchased. The January 2020 Notes accrue interest at a rate of
10% per annum, subject to increase to 18% per annum upon and during
the occurrence of an event of default. Interest is payable in cash
or, at the holder’s option, in shares of common stock based on the conversion price then in effect. We may not prepay
the January 2020 Notes without the prior written consent of the
holder.
For additional information regarding the terms of
our convertible notes
and debentures, including the
Applicable Notes, and the securities purchase agreements pursuant to which they were
issued, see “Indebtedness—Convertible
Notes/Debentures”
below.
Forbearance Agreements
Effective as of June 23, 2020, we entered into the Forbearance
Agreements with the holders of approximately $13.2 million
aggregate principal amount of the Default Notes, which are
currently in default. Pursuant to the Forbearance Agreements, the
holders of the Default Notes have agreed to forbear from exercising
their rights and remedies under the Default Notes (including
declaring such Default Notes (together with default amounts and
accrued and unpaid interest) immediately due and payable) until the
earlier of (i) the date that we complete a New Financing or (ii)
the Termination Date.
Pursuant to the
Forbearance Agreement, the holders of the Default Notes have also
agreed that the Default Notes (together with default amounts and
accrued and unpaid interest) will be converted into
common
stock upon the closing of a New Financing at a conversion price equal
to the lesser of (i) the conversion price in
effect for the Default Notes on the date of such New Financing or
(ii) 75% of the lowest per share price at which common stock is or may
be issued in connection with such New Financing, in each case,
subject to certain beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum
ownership limit of 9.99%). Shares of our Series
J-1 Preferred Stock, which are convertible into the
Company’s common stock, will be
issued in lieu of common stock to the
extent that conversion of the Default Notes is prohibited by such
beneficial ownership limitations.
For additional information regarding the terms of
the Forbearance Agreements, see “Indebtedness—Forbearance
Agreements” below.
Settlement with Empery Funds
Settlement Agreement
On June 19, 2020, we
entered into the Settlement Agreement with the Empery Funds,
Anthony Cataldo and Paul Kessler resolving all remaining disputes
between the parties pertaining to the Original Securities
issued by the Company to the Empery Funds in January 2018 pursuant
to a securities purchase agreement. See
“Description
of Business—Legal Proceedings.”
As a result of the
Settlement Agreement, the Company paid the Empery Funds cash
payments in an aggregate amount of $0.2 million. In addition,
pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, the Company issued to the
Empery Funds, solely in exchange for the outstanding
Original
Securities, (i) an aggregate of 3.5 million shares of
common
stock, (ii) pre-funded warrants to purchase an
aggregate of 5.5 million shares of common stock and (iii)
senior convertible notes in an aggregate
principal amount of $0.45 million.
Settlement Notes
The Settlement
Notes are
convertible at any time, at the holder’s option, into shares
of common stock at an
initial conversion rate of $0.20 per share, subject to certain
beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum ownership limit of
4.99%). The
conversion
price is also subject to adjustment due to certain events,
including stock dividends, stock splits and in connection with the
issuance by the Company of common stock or
common
stock equivalents at an effective price per share lower than the
conversion rate then in effect.
The Settlement
Notes have
a term of six months, maturing on December 19, 2020, and bear
interest at a rate of 10% per annum, subject to increase to 18% per
annum upon and during the occurrence of an event of default.
Interest is payable in cash or, at the holder’s option, in shares
of common stock based on
the conversion price then
in effect.
Pursuant to the terms
of the Settlement Notes, the Company is
required to make an offer to repurchase, at the holder’s option,
the Settlement Notes at price in cash
equal to 100% of the aggregate principal amount of the
Settlement Note plus accrued and
unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the date of repurchase
following the consummation by the Company of a capital raising
transactions, or a series of transactions, resulting in aggregate
gross proceeds to the Company in excess of $7.5 million. The
Company may not otherwise prepay the Settlement Notes without the prior
written consent of the applicable Empery Funds.
For additional information regarding the terms of
the Settlement Notes and Settlement Agreement, see
“Indebtedness—Convertible
Notes/Debentures”
below.
Settlement Warrants
The Settlement Warrants
provide for the purchase of up to an aggregate of 5.5 million
shares of common stock at an
exercise price of $0.20 per share, subject to adjustment in certain
circumstances, and expire on June 19, 2025. Exercise of the
warrant is
subject to certain additional terms and conditions, including
certain beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum ownership limit of
4.99%).
Collaboration Agreement
On March 10, 2020, we
entered into a collaboration agreement with
Cytovance®
Biologics, a USA-based contract development and manufacturing
organization and a subsidiary of Hepalink, to provide development
services for a TriKE therapeutic for
the treatment of the coronavirus infection. Under the terms of the
collaboration agreement, the
companies
will focus on preparing sufficient quantities of our
coronavirus TriKE drug
product for
preclinical evaluation using Cytovance’s E.
coli-based Keystone
Expression System™ and subsequently,
will scale-up production using Cytovance’s GMP
microbial manufacturing platform for evaluation of
TriKE in
humans to treat the coronavirus infection.
Results of Operations
Comparison of the Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 and
2019
Research and Development Expenses
During the three months ended March 31, 2020 and
2019, we incurred $324,000 and $834,000 of research and development
expenses, respectively. Research and development costs decreased
due primarily to reductions in employees, consultants and
preclinical expenses. We anticipate our direct clinical costs to
increase in second half of 2020 upon the continuation of a
Phase I clinical trial of our most
advanced TriKe
product candidate,
GTB-3550.
Selling, general and administrative expenses
During
the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, we incurred
$746,000 and $3,222,000 of selling, general and administrative
expenses, respectively. The decrease in selling, general and
administrative expenses is primarily attributable the reduction of
salaries.
Interest Expense
Interest expense was $638,000 and $454,000 for the
three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The
increase is primarily due to the accrual of interest on outstanding
convertible notes and
debentures.
Comparison of the Fiscal Years Ended December 31, 2019 and
2018
Research and Development Expenses
During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018,
we incurred $1.7 million and $9.1 million of research and
development expenses, respectively. Research and development costs
in 2018 were high due primarily to the addition of new employees,
increased regulatory and preclinical consultant costs to support
the GTB-3550 IND, higher costs to advance the central nervous
system (“CNS”) portfolio and position the assets for licensing
efforts, and higher preclinical and clinical expenses incurred at
the University of Minnesota to continue development of our
immune-oncology assets. Expenses in 2018 also include non-cash
compensation of $6.8 million. We anticipate our direct clinical and
preclinical costs to continue to increase throughout 2020, totaling
approximately $12 million to $15 million, as we have initiated
the Phase I clinical trial of
our most advanced TriKe
product candidate, GTB-3550 in January
2020, and initiate IND-enabling activities for GTB-C3550 and
GTB-1615 later in 2020.
Selling, general and administrative expenses
During
the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, we incurred $9.7
million and $12.5 million of selling, general and administrative
expenses, respectively. Additional selling, general, and
administrative expenses in 2018 were due to increased spending on
investor relations campaigns to broaden awareness of the Company
and increased legal costs primarily associated with regulatory and
financing efforts. We anticipate selling, general and
administrative expenses, excluding stock compensation, to range
between $1 million and $2 million in the coming
quarters.
Loss on impairment
For the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company
recorded an intangible asset impairment charge of $228.5 million
related to the CNS
In-Process Research & Development
(“IPR&D”) assets, which represents the excess carrying value
compared to fair value. The impairment charge was the result of
both internal and external factors. In the 3rd quarter of 2018, the
Company experienced changes in key senior management, led by the
appointment of a CEO with extensive experience in oncology drug
development. These changes resulted in the prioritization for
immuno-oncology development candidates relative to the CNS
development candidates acquired from Georgetown Translational
Pharmaceuticals. In conjunction with these strategic changes,
limited internal resources have delayed the development of the CNS
IPR&D assets. The limited resources, changes in senior
leadership, and favorable market conditions for immuno-oncology
development candidates have resulted in the Company choosing to
focus on development of its immuno-oncology
portfolio.
On September 19, 2019, the Company entered into an
Asset Purchase Agreement (the
“APA”), pursuant to which the Company sold its rights, titles and
interests, including associated patents, to the pharmaceutical
product designated by the Company as GTB-004 (the “Product”). Under the APA, the Product was
purchased by DAS Therapeutics, Inc. which the Company believes is
well positioned to take over the clinical development of the
Product including obtaining timely approval by the
FDA.
The
Company received $200,000 at closing. The Company will also
participate in any future commercial value of the Product by
receiving $6,000,000 upon the achievement of certain sales
objectives. In addition, the Company will receive a royalty equal
to 1.5% of U.S. sales until such time as the last of the patents
associated with the Product expires. The Company reflected a loss
in the year ended December 31, 2019 totaling
$20,463,000.
As
a result of the loss reported on the sale of the Product, as well
as the response received on inquiries related to the other two
projects, the Company determined that the remaining value related
to these remaining projects should be fully impaired. During the
year ended December 31, 2019, the Company reported an impairment
charge for these projects totaling $4,599,000.
Interest Expense
Interest expense was $2.1 million and $9.1 million
for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The
decrease is due to a decrease in non-cash amortization of debt
issuance costs associated with convertible notes and debentures and warrants issued in January
2018.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
The Company’s current operations have focused on
business planning, raising capital, establishing an intellectual
property portfolio, hiring and conducting preclinical studies and
clinical trials. The Company does not have any product candidates approved for sale and has not
generated any revenue from product sales. The Company has sustained operating
losses since inception and expects such losses to continue over the
foreseeable future. During the three months ended March 31, 2020,
the Company raised $200,000 through the issuance of the January
2020 Notes. In the second quarter and third quarter of 2020, the
Company has also issued an additional approximately $5.7 million
aggregate principal amount of the May 2020 Notes and the July 2020
Notes. We anticipate that cash
utilized for selling, general and administrative expenses will
range between $1 and $2 million in the coming quarters, while
research and development expenses will vary depending on clinical
activities. The Company is pursuing several alternatives to address
this situation, including the raising of additional funding through
equity or debt financings. In order to finance existing operations
and pay current liabilities over the next 12 months, the Company
will need to raise an additional $15 million of capital in
2020.
The
financial statements of the Company have been prepared on a
going-concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets
and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of
business. Accordingly, the financial statements do not include any
adjustments that might be necessary should the Company be unable to
continue in existence.
The Company has incurred substantial losses and
negative cash flows from operations since its inception and has an
accumulated deficit of $569 million and cash of $5 thousand as of
March 31, 2020. The Company anticipates incurring additional losses
until such time, if ever, that it can generate significant sales or
revenue from out-licensing of its products currently in development. Substantial
additional financing will be needed by the Company to fund its
operations and to commercially develop its product candidates. These factors raise
substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a
going concern.
Management is currently evaluating different
strategies to obtain the required funding for future operations.
These strategies may include but are not limited to: public
offerings of equity and/or debt securities, payments from potential
strategic research and development, licensing and/or marketing
arrangements with pharmaceutical companies. Management has also implemented cost
saving efforts, including reduction in executive salaries and
reduced travel. Management believes that these ongoing and planned
financing endeavors, if successful, will provide adequate financial
resources to continue as a going concern for at least the next six
months from the date the financial statements are issued; however,
there can be no assurance in this regard. If the Company is unable
to secure adequate additional funding, its business, operating
results, financial condition and cash flows may be materially and
adversely affected.
Indebtedness
Convertible Notes/Debentures
As of the date of this prospectus, after giving
effect to (i) the issuance of the July 2020 Notes and the May 2020
Notes and (ii) the issuance of the Settlement Notes pursuant to the
Settlement Agreement (but excluding the impact of any conversions
of our convertible notes after the filing date of the registration
statement of which this prospectus forms a part), we had
approximately $18.8 million aggregate principal amount of
convertible notes and
debentures outstanding that were
issued pursuant to securities purchase agreements (or, in the case of the
Settlement Notes, the
Settlement Agreement) entered into with numerous
investors.
The convertible notes and debentures are convertible at any time, at the
holder’s option, into shares of our common stock at an initial conversion rate,
subject to certain beneficial ownership limitations (which vary
between maximum ownership of between 4.99% and 9.99%). The
conversion price is also generally
subject to adjustment due to certain events, including stock
dividends, stock splits and in connection with the issuance by the
Company of common stock
or common stock equivalents at
an effective price per share lower than the conversion rate then in
effect. The conversion price
for each of our outstanding convertible notes and debentures is currently $0.20 per share. In
addition, the July 2020 Notes and the May 2020 Notes will be
subject to mandatory conversion in connection with the completion
of a future financing in the amount of at least $15 million,
subject to the beneficial ownership limitations described
above.
The convertible notes and debentures generally have terms of six months to
one year. The convertible notes
and debentures each accrue
interest at a rate of 10% per annum, subject to increase to 18% per
annum upon and during the occurrence of an event of default with
respect to certain of our convertible notes and debentures. Interest is payable in cash or, with
respect to certain of our convertible notes and debentures, and at the holder’s option, in shares
of common stock based on
the conversion price then in
effect.
Pursuant to the terms of the Settlement
Notes, the Company is required to make
an offer to repurchase, at the holder’s option, the
Settlement Notes at price in
cash equal to 100% of the aggregate principal amount of the
Settlement Note plus accrued
and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding, the date of
repurchase following the consummation by the Company of a capital
raising transactions, or a series of transactions, resulting in
aggregate gross proceeds to the Company in excess of $7.5 million.
Generally, we otherwise do not have the right to prepay any of the
convertible notes and
debentures without the prior written
consent of the holders of such securities.
The convertible notes and debentures contain a number of affirmative and
negative covenants and customary events of default. See
“Risk
Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—Our current and future
indebtedness may impose significant operating and financial
restrictions on us and affect our ability to access
liquidity.”
The securities purchase agreements and Settlement Agreement, as
applicable, also generally contain certain ongoing covenants of the
Company, including rights of participation in certain future
financing transactions, limitations on future variable rate transactions at “at-the-market”
offerings and “most favored nation” provisions giving holders of
certain of the convertible notes and debentures the benefit of any terms or conditions
under which the Company agrees to issue or sell any
common stock or common stock equivalents that are more favorable
to an investor than the terms and conditions granted to such holder
under the applicable securities purchase agreement and the transactions
contemplated thereby.
The convertible notes and debentures are senior obligations of the Company.
In addition, approximately $1.4 million aggregate principal amount
of the convertible note
and debenture are secured by a
first priority security interest in substantially
all of the assets of the Company and
its subsidiaries. Certain convertible note and debentures are also secured by individual pledges
by certain of our current and former officers and directors of
our common stock owned by such
officer and directors.
For additional information about our
convertible notes and
debentures, see Note 2 to our unaudited financial
statements, Debt.
Forbearance Agreements
Effective as of June 23, 2020, we entered into the Forbearance
Agreements with the holders of $13.2 million aggregate principal
amount of the Default Notes, which are currently in default.
Pursuant to the Forbearance Agreements, the holders of the Default
Notes have agreed to forbear from exercising their rights and
remedies under the Default Notes (including declaring such Default
Notes (together with default amounts and accrued and unpaid
interest) immediately due and payable) until the earlier of (i) the
date that we complete a New Financing or (ii) the Termination Date.
As a result of the ongoing default, the Default Notes are currently
accruing interest at the default rate of 18% per annum and have
also accrued defaults in an aggregate amount of $3.9
million.
The obligations of the holders to forbear from exercising their
rights and remedies under the Default Notes pursuant to the
Forbearance Agreements will terminate on the earliest of (i) the
Termination Date, (ii) the date of any bankruptcy filing by the
Company or its subsidiaries, (iii) the date on which the Company
defaults on any of the terms and conditions of the Forbearance
Agreements or (iv) the date the Forbearance Agreements are
otherwise terminated or expire.
The Forbearance
Agreements contain various customary and other representations,
warranties and covenants of the Company and the holders of the
Default Notes, including an agreement that the
Default Notes (together with default amounts and accrued and unpaid
interest) will be converted into common stock upon the
closing of a New Financing at a conversion price equal
to the lesser of (i) the conversion price in
effect for the Default Notes on the date of such New Financing or
(ii) 75% of the lowest per share price at which common stock is or may
be issued in connection with such New Financing, in each case,
subject to certain beneficial ownership limitations (with a maximum
ownership limit of 9.99%). Shares of our Series
J-1 Preferred Stock, which are convertible into the
Company’s common stock, will be
issued in lieu of common stock to the
extent that conversion of the Default Notes is prohibited by such
beneficial ownership limitations.
Gemini Financing Agreement
On November 8, 2010, the Company entered into a
financing arrangement with Gemini Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a
product development and manufacturing
partner of the Company, pursuant to which Gemini Pharmaceuticals
made a $250,000 strategic equity investment in the Company and
agreed to make a $750,000 purchase order line of credit facility
available to the Company. The outstanding principal of
all advances under the line of credit
bear interest at the rate of interest of prime plus 2% per annum.
There is $31,000 due on this credit line at March 31,
2020.
Critical Accounting Policies
We
consider the following accounting policies to be critical given
they involve estimates and judgments made by management and are
important for our investors’ understanding of our operating results
and financial condition.
Basis of Consolidation
The consolidated financial statements contained in
this report include the accounts of GT Biopharma, Inc. and its
subsidiaries. All intercompany
balances and transactions have been eliminated.
Long-Lived Assets
Our long-lived assets include property, plant and
equipment, capitalized costs of filing patent applications and
goodwill and other assets. We evaluate our long-lived assets for
impairment in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification
(“ASC”) 360, whenever events or
changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such
assets may not be recoverable. Estimates of future cash flows and
timing of events for evaluating long-lived assets for impairment
are based upon management’s judgment. If any of our intangible or
long-lived assets are considered to be impaired, the amount of
impairment to be recognized is the excess of the carrying amount of
the assets over its fair value.
Applicable
long-lived assets are amortized or depreciated over the shorter of
their estimated useful lives, the estimated period that the assets
will generate revenue, or the statutory or contractual term in the
case of patents. Estimates of useful lives and periods of expected
revenue generation are reviewed periodically for appropriateness
and are based upon management’s judgment. Goodwill and other assets
are not amortized.
Certain Expenses and Liabilities
On
an ongoing basis, management evaluates its estimates related to
certain expenses and accrued liabilities. We base our estimates on
historical experience and on various other assumptions that we
believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of
which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values
of liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources.
Actual results may differ materially from these estimates under
different assumptions or conditions.
Inflation
We
believe that inflation has not had a material adverse impact on our
business or operating results during the periods
presented.
Off-balance Sheet
Arrangements
We
have no off-balance sheet arrangements as of March 31,
2020.
DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS
We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical
company focused on the development and
commercialization of novel immuno-oncology products based off our proprietary
Tri-specific Killer Engager
(TriKE™) and
Tetra-specific Killer Engager
(TetraKE™). Our
TriKE and TetraKE platforms generate
proprietary therapeutics designed to harness and enhance the cancer
killing abilities of a patient’s own NK cells. Once bound to an NK
cell, our moieties are designed to enhance the NK cell and
precisely direct it to one or more specifically-targeted proteins
expressed on a specific type of cancer cell or virus infected cell,
ultimately resulting in the targeted cell’s death.
TriKEs and TetraKEs are made up of
recombinant fusion proteins, can be designed to target any number
of tumor antigens on hematologic malignancies, sarcomas or solid
tumors and do not require patient-specific
customization.
We are using our TriKE and TetraKE platforms with the intent to
bring to market immuno-oncology products that can treat a range of hematologic
malignancies, sarcoma and solid tumors. The platforms are scalable,
and we are putting processes in place to be able to produce
IND-ready moieties in a timely manner after a specific
TriKE or TetraKE conceptual design.
After conducting market and competitive research, specific moieties
can then be advanced into the clinic on our own or through
potential collaborations with larger companies. We are also evaluating, in conjunction
with our Scientific Advisory
Board, additional moieties designed to target different tumor
antigens. We believe our TriKEs
and TetraKEs may have the ability, if approved for marketing, to be
used on a stand-alone basis, augment the current monoclonal
antibody therapeutics, be used in conjunction with more traditional
cancer therapy and potentially overcome certain limitations of
current CAR-T therapy.
We are also using our TriKE and TetraKE platforms to develop
therapeutics useful for the treatment of infectious disease such as
for the treatment of patients infected by HIV. While the use of
anti-retroviral drugs has substantially improved the health and
increased the longevity of individuals infected with HIV, these
drugs are designed to suppress virus replication to help modulate
progression to AIDS and to limit further transmission of the virus.
Despite the use of anti-retroviral drugs, infected individuals
retain reservoirs of latent HIV-infected cells that, upon cessation
of anti-retroviral drug therapy, can reactivate and reestablish an
active HIV infection. For a curative therapy, destruction of these
latent HIV infected cells must take place. The HIV-TriKE contains the antigen binding fragment
(Fab) from a
broadly-neutralizing antibody targeting the HIV-Env protein. The HIV-TriKE is designed to target HIV while
redirecting NK cell killing specifically to actively replicating
HIV infected cells. The HIV-TriKE induced NK cell proliferation and
demonstrated the ability in vitro to reactivate and kill
HIV-infected T-cells. These findings indicate a potential role for
the HIV-TriKE in the
reactivation and elimination of the latently infected HIV reservoir
cells by harnessing the NK cell’s ability to mediate the
ADCC.
Our initial work has been conducted in
collaboration with the Masonic
Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota under a program led by
Dr. Jeffrey Miller, the Deputy
Director. Dr. Miller is a recognized leader in the field of NK cell
and IL-15 biology and their therapeutic potential. We have
exclusive rights to the TriKE
and TetraKE platforms and are generating additional intellectual
property around specific moieties.
Immuno-Oncology Platform
Tri-specific Killer Engagers
(TriKEs) and
Tetra-specific Killer Engagers
(TetraKEs)
The generation of chimeric antigen receptor
(“CAR”) expressing T cells from monoclonal antibodies has
represented an important step forward in cancer therapy. These
therapies involve the genetic engineering of T cells to express
either CARs, or T cell receptors, (“TCRs”), and are designed such that the modified T
cells can recognize and destroy cancer cells. While a great deal of
interest has recently been placed upon CAR-T therapy, it has
certain limitations for broad potential applicability because it
can require an individual approach that is expensive and time
consuming, and may be difficult to apply on a large scale. NK cells
represent an important immunotherapeutic target as they are
involved in tumor immune-surveillance, can mediate ADCC, contain
pre-made granules with perforin and granzyme B and can quickly
secrete inflammatory cytokines, and unlike T cells they do not
require antigen priming and can kill cells in the absence of major
histocompatibility complex (“MHC”) presentation of antigens. We
believe there is a continued unmet medical need for targeted
immuno-oncology therapies that can have the potential to be dosed
in a patient-friendly outpatient setting, can be used on a
stand-alone basis, augment the current monoclonal antibody
therapeutics or be used in conjunction with more traditional cancer
therapy. We believe our TriKE
and TetraKE constructs have this potential and therefore we have
generated, and intend to continue to generate, a pipeline of
product candidates to be advanced into
the clinic on our own or through potential collaborations with
larger companies.
GTB-3550 TriKE™ and GTB-3550 TriKE™ Phase I/II Clinical
Trial
GTB-3550 is the Company’s first
TriKE™ product candidate which is a single-chain,
tri-specific recombinant fusion protein construct composed of the
variable regions of the heavy and light chains of anti-CD16 and
anti-CD33 antibodies and a modified form of IL-15. The
GTB-3550 Phase I/II clinical
trial for treatment of patients with CD33-expressing, high
risk MDSs, refractory/relapsed
acute myeloid leukemia or advanced systemic mastocytosis opened for
patient enrollment September 2019. The clinical trial is being
conducted at the University of
Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota under
the direction of Dr. Erica Warlick.
NK
cells represent an important immunotherapeutic target as they are
involved in tumor immune-surveillance, can mediate ADCC, contain
pre-made granules with perforin and granzyme B and can quickly
secrete inflammatory cytokines, and unlike T cells they do not
require antigen priming and can kill cells in the absence of MHC
presentation.
Unlike full-length antibodies, TriKEs and TetraKEs are small single-chain fusion
proteins that bind the CD16 receptor of NK cells directly producing
a potent and lasting response, as demonstrated by preclinical
studies. An additional benefit they may have is attractive
biodistribution, as a consequence of their smaller size, which we
expect to be important in the treatment of solid tumors. In
addition to these advantages, TriKEs and TetraKEs are designed to be
non-immunogenic, have appropriate clearance properties and can be
engineered quickly to target a variety of tumor
antigens.
Background and Select Non-Clinical Data
In conjunction with our research
agreement with the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of
Minnesota, the exploration of targeting NK cells to a variety of
tumors initially focused on novel bi-specific killer engagers
(“BiKEs”) composed of the variable portions of antibodies targeting
the CD16 activating receptor on NK cells and CD33 (AML and MDS; see
figure below), CD19/CD22 (B cell lymphomas), or EpCAM (epithelial tumors (breast, colon and lung))
on the tumor cells.
Subsequently, a tri-specific (TriKE) construct that replaced the linker molecule
between the CD16
scFv and the CD33 scFv with
a modified IL-15 molecule, containing flanking sequences, was
generated and tested. Data indicate that the CD16 x IL-15 x CD33
and CD16 x IL-15 x EpCAM TriKEs
potently induce proliferation of healthy donor NK cells, possibly
greater than that induced by exogenous IL-15, which is absent in
the BiKE platform. Targeted delivery of the IL-15 through
the TriKE also resulted in
specific expansion of the NK cells without inducing T cell
expansion on post-transplant patient samples.
When compared to the CD16 x CD33 BiKE, the CD16 x IL-15 x CD33 TriKE is also capable of potently restoring
killing capacity of post-transplant NK cells against
CD33-expressing HL-60 targets
and primary AML blasts. These results demonstrated the ability to
functionally incorporate an IL-5 cytokine into the BiKE platform
and also demonstrated the possibility of targeting a variety of
cytokines directly to NK cells while reducing off-target effects
and the amount of cytokines needed to obtain biologically relevant
function.
The figure below is a schematic of a BiKE
construct (top) and a TriKE
construct (bottom), which has the modified IL-15 linker between
the CD16 scFv and the CD33 scFv
components.
The TriKE
constructs were also tested against three separate human tumor cell
lines: HL-60 (promyelocitic leukemia), Raji (Burkitt’s lymphoma) and HT29 (colorectal
adenocarcinoma), in addition to a model for ovarian cancer.
All cell lines contained the
Luc reporter to allow for in vivo
imaging of the tumors. These systems were used to show in vivo
efficacy of BiKEs (1633) and TriKEs (GTB-3550) against relevant human tumor
targets (HL-60-luc) over an extended period of time. The system
consisted of initial conditioning of mice using radiation
(250-275 cGy), followed by
injection of the tumor cells (I.V. for HL-60-luc and
Raji-luc, intra-splenic for HT29-luc
and IP for ovarian for MA-148-luc), a three-day growth phase,
injection of human NK cells and repeated injection of the drugs of
interest, BiKE and TriKE (three
to five times a week). Imaging was carried out at day 7, 14 and 21,
and extended as needed.
Figure A below shows the results (tumor burden and
mortality) when dosing NK cells alone (top panel), the BiKE version
(lacking IL-15) of GTB-3550 (middle panel; called 1633) and
the TriKE, GTB-3550 (bottom
panel; then called 161533) in the above described human tumor
model, HL-60-luc. In the NK-cell-only arm, two out of the five mice
were dead by day 21 with two of the surviving mice having extensive
tumor burden as depicted by the colored images. In contrast,
all five mice in each of the
BiKE and TriKE arms survived. In
addition, the tumor burden in the TriKE-treated mice was significantly less than in
the BiKE-treated mice,
demonstrating the improved efficacy from NK cells in the
TriKE-treated
mice.
Based on these results, and others, the IND for
GTB-3550 was filed in June 2017 by the University of Minnesota. The
FDA requested that additional preclinical toxicology be conducted
prior to initiating clinical trials. The FDA also requested some
additional information and clarifications on the manufacturing and
clinical packages. The requested additional information and
clarifications were completed and incorporated by us into
the IND in eCTD format. We
filed the IND amendment in June 2018 and announced on November 1,
2018 that we had received notification from the FDA that the IND
was open and the Company was authorized to initiate a
first-in-human Phase I study
with GTB-3550 in AML, MDS and severe mastocytosis. We began
the Phase I clinical trial in
January 2020.
Generation of humanized single-domain
antibody targeting CD16 for incorporation into the
TriKE platform
To develop second generation TriKEs, we designed a new humanized CD16 engager
derived from a single-domain antibody. While scFvs consist of a heavy and a light variable
chain joined by a linker, single-domain antibodies consist of a
single variable heavy chain capable of engaging without the need of
a light chain counterpart (see figure below).
These single-domain antibodies are thought to have
certain attractive features for antibody engineering, including
physical stability, ability to bind deep grooves and increased
production yields, amongst others. Pre-clinical studies
demonstrated increased activity (NK Cell Degranulation) and functionality
(NC Cell Cytokine Production)
of the single-domain CD16 TriKE
(GTB-C3550) compared to the original TriKE (GTB-3550) (see figure below). This data was
presented at the 2017 American
Society of Hematology Conference.
Targeting Solid Tumors and Other Potentially Attractive
Characteristics
Unlike full-length antibodies, TriKEs and TetraKEs are small single-chain fusion
proteins that bind the CD16 receptor of NK cells directly producing
a potentially more potent and lasting response as demonstrated by
preclinical studies. An additional benefit that they may have is an
attractive biodistribution, because of their smaller size, which we
expect to be important in the treatment of solid tumors. In
addition to these potential advantages, TriKEs and TetraKEs are designed to be
non-immunogenic, have appropriate clearance properties and can be
engineered quickly to target a variety of tumor antigens. We
believe these attributes make them an ideal pharmaceutical platform
for potentiated NK cell-based immunotherapies and have the
potential to overcome some of the limitations of CAR-T therapy and
other antibody therapies.
Examples of our earlier stage solid tumor
targeting product candidates
are focused on EpCAM,
Her2, Mesothelin (mesothelioma and lung adenocarcinoma)
and CD133 alone and in combination. We believe certain of these
constructs have the potential to target prostate, breast, colon,
ovarian, liver, and head and neck cancers. Depending on the
availability of drug supply, we hope to initiate human clinical
testing for certain of our solid tumor product candidates later this
year.
Efficient Advancement of Potential Future Product Candidates -
Production and Scale Up
We are using our TriKE and TetraKE platforms with the intent to
bring to market multiple immuno-oncology products that can treat a range of hematologic
malignancies, sarcomas and solid tumors. The platforms are scalable
and we are currently working with several third parties
investigating the optimal expression system of the
TriKEs and TetraKE constructs which we
expect to be part of a process in which we are able to produce
IND-ready moieties in approximately 90-120 days after the construct
conceptual design.
After conducting market and competitive research,
specific moieties can then be rapidly advanced into the clinic on
our own or through potential collaborations with larger
companies. We are currently evaluating
over a dozen moieties and intend to announce additional
clinical product
candidates.
We believe our TriKEs and TetraKEs will have the ability, if
approved for marketing, to be used on a stand-alone basis, augment
the current monoclonal antibody therapeutics, or be used in
conjunction with more traditional cancer therapy and potentially
overcome certain limitations of current CAR-T
therapy.
Immuno-Oncology Product Candidates
Our TriKE product
candidates, GTB-3550 and GTB-C3550, are single-chain,
tri-specific scFv recombinant
fusion proteins composed of the variable regions of the heavy and
light chains (or heavy chain only) of anti-CD16 antibodies,
wild-type or a modified form of IL-15 and the variable regions of
the heavy and light chains of an antibody designed to precisely
target a specific tumor antigen. We utilize the NK stimulating
cytokine human IL-15 as a crosslinker between the two
scFvs which is designed to provide a
self-sustaining signal leading to the proliferation and activation
of NK cells thus enhancing their ability to kill cancer cells
mediated by ADCC.
Our TetraKE product candidates are single-chain fusion
proteins composed of human single-domain anti-CD16 antibody,
wild-type IL-15 and the variable regions of the heavy and light
chains of two antibodies that are designed to target two specific
tumor antigens expressed on specific types of cancer cells. An
example of a TetraKE
product candidate is GTB-1615 which is
designed to target EpCAM and
CD133 positive solid tumors. EpCAM is found on many solid tumor cells of
epithelial origin and CD133 is a marker for cancer stem cells.
GTB-1615 is designed to enable a patient’s NK cells to kill not
only the heterogeneous population of cancer cells found in many
solid tumors but also kill the cancer stem cells that can be
responsible for recurrences.
In addition, we have recently terminated further
development of GTB-1550, which targets CD19+ and/or CD22+
hematological malignancies following completion of the
Phase II component of a
Phase I/II NHL/ALL
trial.
GTB-3550
GTB-3550 is our first TriKE product
candidate. It is a single-chain, tri-specific scFv recombinant fusion protein conjugate composed
of the variable regions of the heavy and light chains of anti-CD16
and anti-CD33 antibodies and a modified form of IL-15. We intend to
study this anti-CD16-IL-15-anti-CD33 TriKE in CD33 positive leukemias, a marker
expressed on tumor cells in AML, MDS, and other hematopoietic
malignancies. CD33 is primarily a myeloid differentiation antigen
with endocytic properties broadly expressed on AML blasts and,
possibly, some leukemic stem cells. CD33 or Siglec-3 (sialic acid binding Ig-like lectin 3, SIGLEC3, SIGLEC3, gp67, p67) is
a transmembrane receptor expressed on cells of myeloid lineage. It
is usually considered myeloid-specific, but it can also be found on
some lymphoid cells. The anti-CD33 antibody fragment that will be
used for these studies was derived from the M195 humanized
anti-CD33 scFV and has been
used in multiple human clinical studies. It has been exploited as
target for therapeutic antibodies for many years. We believe the
recent approval of the antibody-drug conjugate gemtuzumab validates
this targeted approach.
The GTB-3550 IND will focus on AML. These patients
typically receive frontline therapy, usually chemotherapy,
including cytarabine and an anthracycline, a therapy that has not
changed in over 40 years. About half will have relapses and require
alternative therapies. In addition, MDS incidence rates have
dramatically increased in the population of the United States from
3.3 per 100,000 individuals from 2001-2004 to 70 per 100,000
annually, MDS is especially prevalent in elderly patients that have
a median age of 76 years at diagnosis. The survival of patients
with MDS is poor due to decreased eligibility, as a result of
advanced age, for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation
(Allo-HSCT), the only curative
MDS treatment (Cogle CR.
Incidence and Burden of the Myelodysplastic Syndromes.
Curr Hematol Malig
Rep. 2015; 10(3):272-281). We
believe GTB-3550 could serve as a relatively safe, cost-effective
and easy-to-use therapy for resistant/relapsing AML and could also
be combined with chemotherapy as frontline therapy thus targeting
the larger market.
The IND for GTB-3550 was filed in June 2017 by the
University of Minnesota. The FDA requested that additional
preclinical toxicology be conducted prior to initiating clinical
trials. The FDA also requested some additional information and
clarifications on the manufacturing and clinical packages. The
requested additional information and clarifications were completed
and incorporated by us into the IND in eCTD format. We filed the IND amendment in
June 2018 and announced on November 1, 2018 that we had received
notification from the FDA that the IND was open and the Company was
authorized to initiate a first-in-human Phase I study with GTB-3550 in AML, MDS and severe
mastocytosis. We began the Phase I clinical trial in January
2020.
GTB-C3550
GTB-C3550 is a next-generation, follow-on, to our
lead TriKE, GTB-3550. GTB-C3550
contains a modified CD16 moiety which has improved binding
characteristics and enhanced tumor cell killing based on functional
assays and animal models of AML. Using our platform technology, we
substituted the anti-CD16 scFv arm
in GTB-3550 with a novel humanized single-domain anti-CD16 antibody
to create this second-generation molecule which may have improved
functionality. Single-domain antibodies, such as GTB-C3550,
typically have several advantages, including better stability and
solubility, more resistance to pH changes, can better recognize
hidden antigenic sites, lack of a VL portion thus preventing VH/VL
mispairing and are suitable for construction of larger molecules.
GTB-C3550 induced a potent increase in NK cell degranulation,
measured by CD107a expression
against HL-60 AML tumor targets when compared to our
first-generation TriKE
(70.75±3.65% vs. 30.75±5.05%). IFN production was similarly
enhanced (29.2±1.8% vs. 6.55±1.07%). GTB-C3550 also exhibited a
robust increase in NK cell proliferation (57.65±6.05% vs.
20.75±2.55%). GTB-3550 studies will help inform the development of
GTB-C3550 which we expect will de-risk the GTB-C3550 program as
data will be generated to make an informed decision on which, or
both, will be brought into later phase studies.
GTB-1615
GTB-1615 is an example of our
first-generation TetraKEs
designed for the treatment of solid tumors. It is a single-chain
fusion protein composed of CD16-IL15-EpCAM-CD133. EpCAM is found on many solid tumor cells of
epithelial origin and CD133 is a marker for cancer stem cells.
This TetraKE is designed to
target not only the heterogeneous population of cancer cells found
in solid tumors but also the cancer stem cells that are typically
responsible for recurrences. Depending on the availability of drug
supply, we hope to initiate human clinical testing for certain of
our solid tumor product
candidates later this year.
GTB-1550
GTB-1550 is a bispecific scFv recombinant fusion protein-drug conjugate
composed of the variable regions of the heavy and light chains of
anti-CD19 and anti-CD22 antibodies and a modified form of
diphtheria toxin (DT390) as its cytotoxic drug payload. CD19 is a
membrane glycoprotein present on the surface of all stages of B-lymphocyte development and is also
expressed on most B-cell mature lymphoma cells and leukemia cells.
CD22 is a glycoprotein expressed on B-lineage lymphoid precursors,
including precursor ALL, and often is co-expressed with CD19 on
mature B-cell malignancies such as lymphoma.
GTB-1550 targets cancer cells expressing the CD19
receptor or CD22 receptor or both receptors. When GTB-1550 binds to
cancer cells, the cancer cells internalize GTB-1550 and are killed
due to the action of drug’s cytotoxic diphtheria toxin payload.
GTB-1550 has completed a Phase
I human clinical trial in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell
lymphoma or leukemia.
The initial Phase I study enrolled 25 patients with mature or
precursor B-cell lymphoid malignancies expressing the CD19 receptor
or CD22 receptor or both receptors. All 25 patients received at least a single course
of therapy. The treatment at the higher doses produced objective
tumor responses with one patient in continuous partial remission
and the second in complete remission. A Phase I/II trial of GTB-1550 in 18 patients was
recently completed in patients with ALL/NHL.
The FDA-approved clinical trial was conducted at
the University of Minnesota’s
Masonic Cancer Center and concluded in March 2018. Preliminary data
assessment was made in August 2018, and final assessment made June
24, 2020. Based on the lack of efficacy demonstrated by GTB-1550 in
patients evaluated in two Phase
I/II clinical trials (NHL, ALL and CHL), a decision has been made
to terminate further development. We are currently evaluating other
options for GTB-1550.
Our Strategy
Our
goal is to be a leader in immuno-oncology therapies targeting a
broad range of indications including hematological malignancies,
sarcoma and solid tumors. Key elements of our strategy are
to:
Rapidly advanced our
Tri-specific Killer Engagers
(TriKEs), GTB-3550 and
GTB-C3550
Our TriKE and
TetraKE product candidates have
the potential to be groundbreaking therapies targeting a broad
range of hematologic malignancies, sarcomas and solid tumors. We
are preparing to study GTB-3550, an
anti-CD16-IL-15-anti-CD33 TriKE
in CD33 positive leukemias, a marker expressed on tumor cells in
AML, MDS and other myeloid malignancies. We began a
Phase I clinical trial in the fourth
quarter of 2019 in patients with relapsed/refractory AML.
The Phase I trial will be a
dose finding study. We expect this will be closely followed
by Phase II trials to determine
the most efficacious dosing and cycles with the aim to maximize
efficacy while minimizing on-target, off-disease adverse
events.
GTB-C3550
contains a humanized single-domain anti-CD16 moiety which
demonstrated improved binding characteristics and enhanced tumor
cell killing based on functional assays and animal models of
AML.
We
have designed GTB-3550 and GTB-C3550, if approved for marketing, to
serve as a relatively safe, cost-effective and easy-to-use
therapies for resistant/relapsing AML or MDS which could also be
combined with chemotherapy as frontline therapy thus targeting a
broad AML/MDS market.
GTB-C3550 is a next-generation, follow-on, to our
lead TriKE, GTB-3550. GTB-3550
studies will help inform the development of GTB-C3550. We believe
this will de-risk the GTB-C3550 program as the data being generated
will help to make informed decisions on which, or both, will be
brought into later phase studies and in which patient
populations.
Utilize our TriKE and TetraKE platform technologies to develop
a robust pipeline of targeted immuno-oncology products targeting a wide range of hematologic
malignancies, sarcomas and solid tumors for development on our own
and through potential collaborations with larger
pharmaceutical companies
We are using our TriKE and TetraKE platforms with the intent to
bring to market multiple, targeted, off-the-shelf therapies that
can treat a range of hematologic malignancies, sarcomas and solid
tumors. The platforms are scalable and we are currently working
with several third parties investigating the optimal expression
system of the TriKEs and
TetraKE constructs which we expect to be part of a process in which
we are able to produce IND-ready moieties in approximately 90-120
days after the construct conceptual design. After conducting market
and competitive research, specific moieties can then be rapidly
advanced into the clinic on our own or through potential
collaborations with larger pharmaceutical companies.
We believe our TriKEs and TetraKEs will have the ability, if
approved for marketing, to be used on a stand-alone basis, augment
the current monoclonal antibody therapeutics, or be used in
conjunction with more traditional cancer therapy and potentially
overcome certain limitations of current CAR-T
therapy.
Oncology
Markets
B-cell Lymphomas/Leukemias
B-cell lymphoma is a type of cancer that forms in
B cells (a type of immune system cell). B-cell lymphomas may be
either indolent (slow-growing) or aggressive (fast-growing).
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma has an
incidence rate of 19.4 per 100,000 per year and B-cell lymphomas
make up most (about 85%) of NHL in the United States. There are
many different types of B-cell
non-Hodgkin lymphomas. These include Burkitt lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic
leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), diffuse large B-cell
lymphoma, follicular lymphoma and mantle cell
lymphoma.
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
ALL
is an acute form of leukemia, or cancer of the white blood cells,
characterized by the overproduction and accumulation of immature
white blood cells, known as lymphoblasts. In persons with ALL,
lymphoblasts are overproduced in the bone marrow and continuously
multiply, causing damage and death by inhibiting the production of
normal cells (such as red and white blood cells and platelets) in
the bone marrow and by spreading (infiltrating) to other
organs.
“Acute”
is defined by the World Health Organization standards, in which
greater than 20% of the cells in the bone marrow are blasts.
Chronic lymphoblastic leukemia is defined as having less than 20%
blasts in the bone marrow. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is seen in
both children and adults; the highest incidence is seen between
ages 2 to 3 years (>90 cases per 1 million per year). ALL is the
most common cancer diagnosed in children and represents
approximately 25% of cancer diagnoses among children younger than
15 years. Among children with ALL, approximately 98% attain
remission, and approximately 85% of patients aged 1 to 18 years
with newly diagnosed ALL treated on current regimens are expected
to be long-term event-free survivors, with over 90% surviving at 5
years.
Multiple Myeloma
Multiple
myeloma is a type of cancer that forms in white blood cells.
Multiple myeloma causes cancer cells to accumulate in the bone
marrow, where they crowd out healthy blood cells. Multiple myeloma
is also characterized by destructive lytic bone lesions (rounded,
punched-out areas of bone), diffuse osteoporosis, bone pain and the
production of abnormal proteins which accumulate in the urine.
Anemia is also present in most multiple myeloma patients at the
time of diagnosis and during follow-up. Anemia in multiple myeloma
is multifactorial and is secondary to bone marrow replacement by
malignant plasma cells, chronic inflammation, relative
erythropoietin deficiency and vitamin deficiency. Plasma cell
leukemia, a condition in which plasma cells comprise greater than
20% of peripheral leukocytes, is typically a terminal stage of
multiple myeloma and is associated with short
survival.
Myeloid Leukemias
Acute Myeloid Leukemia
AML is a heterogeneous hematologic stem cell
malignancy in adults with incidence rate of 4.3% per 100,000
populations. The median age at the time of diagnosis is 68 years.
AML is an aggressive disease and is fatal without anti-leukemic
treatment. AML is the most common form of adult leukemia in the
U.S. These patients will require frontline therapy, usually
chemotherapy including cytarabine and an anthracycline, a therapy
that has not changed in over 40 years. MDSs are a heterogeneous group of myeloid
neoplasms characterized by dysplastic features of
erythroid/myeloid/megakaryocytic lineages, progressive bone marrow
failure, a varying percentage of blast cells and enhanced risk to
evolve into acute myeloid leukemia. It is estimated that over
10,000 new cases of MDS are diagnosed each year and there are
minimal treatment options; other estimates have put this number
higher. In addition, the incidence of MDS is rising for unknown
reasons.
Sarcomas
A
sarcoma is a type of cancer that develops from certain tissues,
like bone or muscle. Bone and soft tissue sarcomas are the main
types of sarcoma. Soft tissue sarcomas can develop from soft
tissues like fat, muscle, nerves, fibrous tissues, blood vessels or
deep skin tissues. They can be found in any part of the body. Most
of them develop in the arms or legs. They can also be found in the
trunk, head and neck area, internal organs and the area in back of
the abdominal cavity (known as the retroperitoneum). Sarcomas are
not common tumors, and most cancers are the type of tumors called
carcinomas.
The most common types of sarcoma in adults are
undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (previously called malignant
fibrous histiocytoma), liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma. Certain
types occur more often in certain areas of the body than others.
For example, leiomyosarcomas are the most common abdominal sarcoma,
while liposarcomas and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma are
most common in legs. But pathologists (doctors who specialize in
diagnosing cancers by how they look under the microscope), may not
always agree on the exact type of sarcoma. Sarcomas of uncertain
type are very common (American
Cancer Society, Cancer Facts
& Figures 2019).
Manufacturing
We do not currently own or operate manufacturing
facilities for the production of clinical or commercial quantities
of any of our product
candidates. We rely on a small number of third-party manufacturers
to produce our compounds and expect to continue to do so to meet
the preclinical and clinical requirements of our potential
product candidates as well as
for all of our commercial
needs. We do not have long-term agreements with any of these third parties. We
require in our manufacturing and processing agreements that all third-party contract manufacturers and
processors produce active pharmaceutical ingredients and
finished products in accordance
with the FDA’s cGMPs and all
other applicable laws and regulations. We maintain
confidentiality agreements with
potential and existing manufacturers in order to protect our
proprietary rights related to our drug
candidates.
Intellectual Property
We seek to protect our proprietary information by
means of United States and foreign patents, trademarks and
copyrights. In addition, we rely upon trade secret protection and
contractual license agreements
to protect certain of our proprietary information and
products. We seek to protect and
enhance proprietary technology, inventions, and improvements that
are commercially important to the development of our business by
seeking, maintaining, and defending patent rights, whether
developed internally or licensed or acquired from third parties. We
also plan to rely on regulatory protection afforded through orphan
drug designations, available regulatory exclusivities and patent
term extensions where available. To achieve this objective, a
strategic focus for us has been to develop our own intellectual
property, while also identifying and licensing patents that provide
protection and serve as an optimal platform to enhance our
intellectual property and technology base.
University of Minnesota Licensed Intellectual Property
We are party to an exclusive worldwide
license agreement with the
Regents of the University of Minnesota, to further develop and
commercialize cancer therapies using TriKE technology developed by researchers at the
university to target NK cells to cancer. Under the terms of
the agreement, we receive
exclusive rights to conduct research and to develop, make, use,
sell, and import TriKE
technology worldwide for the treatment of any disease, state or
condition in humans. We are responsible for obtaining
all permits, licenses, authorizations,
registrations and regulatory approvals required or granted by any
governmental authority anywhere in the world that is responsible
for the regulation of products
such as the TriKE technology,
including without limitation the FDA in the United States and
the European Agency for
the Evaluation of Medicinal
Products in the European Union. We are presently evaluating
GTB-3550, our lead TriKE
therapeutic product candidate
in a Phase I/II clinical trial.
. Under the agreement, the
University of Minnesota will receive an upfront license fee,
royalty fees ranging from 4% to 6%, minimum annual royalty payments
of $0.25 million beginning in 2022, $2.0 million in 2025, and $5.0
million in 2027 and certain milestone payments totaling $3.1
million.
The TriKE™
patent estate licensed from the Regents of the University of
Minnesota includes more than 18 patent applications and the
following foundational patent application:
Appl. No.
|
|
Title
|
|
Country
|
|
Status
|
PCT
Patent Application Number PCT/US2016/055722
|
|
Therapeutic
compounds and methods
|
|
Worldwide
|
|
Pending
|
Daniel A. Vallera, Ph.D. Licensed Intellectual
Property
We are party to an exclusive worldwide
license agreement with Daniel
A. Vallera, Ph.D. and his co-inventor Jeffrey Lion, or jointly, Dr.
Vallera, to further develop and commercialize DT2219ARL (GTB-1550),
a novel therapy for the treatment of various human cancers. Under
the terms of the agreement, we
received exclusive rights to conduct research and to develop, make,
use, sell, and import DT2219ARL worldwide for the treatment of any
disease, state or condition in humans. We shall be responsible for
obtaining all permits,
licenses, authorizations, registrations and regulatory approvals
required or granted by any governmental authority anywhere in the
world that is responsible for the regulation of products such as DT2219ARL, including without
limitation the FDA in the United States and the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products in the European
Union. . Under the agreement,
Dr. Vallera will receive an upfront license fee, royalty fees
ranging from 3% for net sales and 25% of net sublicensing revenues,
and certain milestone payments totaling $1.5
million.
The
patent estate licensed from the Dr. Vallera includes more than 16
patent applications and the following issued U.S. patent and U.S.
patent application:
Pat./Pub. No.
|
|
Title
|
|
Country
|
|
Status
|
U.S.
Patent Number 9,371,386
|
|
Methods
and compositions for bi-specific targeting of
cd19/cd22
|
|
US
|
|
Issued
|
U.S.
Patent Application Number 15/187,579
|
|
Methods
and compositions for bi-specific targeting of
cd19/cd22
|
|
US
|
|
Pending
|
Employees
As of March 31, 2020, we had two employees. Many
of our activities are outsourced to consultants who provide
services to us on a project basis. As business activities require
and capital resources permit, we will hire additional employees to
fulfill our company’s
needs.
Legal Proceedings
On December 24, 2018, the Empery Funds filed in
the N.Y. Supreme Court, Index No. 656408/2018, alleging causes of
action against the Company for Breach of Contract, Liquidated Damages, Damages, and Indemnification. The claims arose out of a
securities purchase agreement
entered into between the Empery Funds and the Company pursuant to
which the Company issued the Original Securities to the Empery Funds in or
around January 2018. On June 19, 2020, the
Company and the Empery Funds, among others, entered into the
Settlement Agreement resolving all remaining disputes
between the parties pertaining to the Original Securities.
See “Prospectus
Summary—Recent Developments—Settlement with Empery
Funds.”
On August 28, 2019, a complaint was filed in
the Superior Court of
California, County of Los Angeles, West Judicial District, Santa Monica Courthouse, Unlimited Civil Division by Jeffrey Lion and
Daniel Vallera. Lion and Vallera are referred to jointly as the
“Plaintiffs”. The complaint was
filed against the Company and its subsidiary Oxis Biotech, Inc.
(either of them or jointly, the “Defendant”). The Plaintiffs allege breach of a license
agreement between the
Plaintiffs and the Defendant entered into on or about September 3,
2015. Lion alleges breach of a consulting agreement between Lion and the
Defendant entered into on or about
September 1, 2015. Vallera alleges breach of a consulting agreement between Vallera and
the Defendant entered into
in or around October, 2018. The
complaint seeks actual damages of $1,670,000, for the fair market
value of the number of shares of the Company’s common stock that at the time of judgment
represent 15,000,000 shares of such stock as of September 1, 2015,
and that the Company issue Lion the number of common shares the
Company’s common stock that at
the time of judgment represent 15,000,000 such shares as of
September 1, 2015.
Form
and Year of Organization
In 1965, the corporate predecessor of the Company,
Diagnostic Data, Inc., was incorporated in the State of
California. Diagnostic Data,
Inc. changed its incorporation to the State of Delaware in 1972;
and changed its name to DDI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 1985. In 1994,
DDI Pharmaceuticals merged with International BioClinical, Inc. and
Bioxytech S.A. and changed its name to OXIS International, Inc. On
July 17, 2017, we amended our certificate of incorporation for the
purpose of changing our name from Oxis International, Inc. to GT
Biopharma, Inc.
DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE
OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The
following table sets forth the name, age and position held by each
of our executive officers and directors as of the date of this
prospectus. Directors are elected for a period of one year and
thereafter serve until the next annual meeting at which their
successors are duly elected by the stockholders.
Name
|
Age
|
Position
|
Anthony
J. Cataldo
|
68
|
Chief
Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board
|
Steven
Weldon
|
44
|
Chief
Financial Officer and Director
|
Anthony J. Cataldo
was appointed Chief Executive Officer
and Chairman of the Board on March 15, 2019. Previously he served
as Vice Chairman of the Board since January 2019. Mr. Cataldo has
extensive experience with the Company, having served on the Board
from July 2014 until November 2018, also serving as Chief Executive
Officer from November 2014 to September 2017 and
Executive Chairman of the Board from
September 2017 to February 2018 during that time. Prior to joining
the Company, from February 2011 until June 2013, Mr. Cataldo served
as Chairman and CEO/Founder of Genesis Biopharma, Inc. (now known
as Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc.). Mr. Cataldo is credited with
developing the Stage Four
Cancer treatment for melanoma known as Lion/Genesis using assets acquired from the National
Cancer Institute (NIH). Mr. Cataldo also served as non-executive
co-chairman of the board of
directors of MultiCell Technologies, Inc., a supplier of
functional, non-tumorigenic immortalized human hepatocytes from
February 2005 until July 2006.
Steven Weldon
was appointed Chief Financial Officer
and to the Board on March 20, 2019. Previously Mr. Weldon was
appointed to the Board in September 2014 and as our Chief Financial
Officer in November 2014 until October 2018. Mr. Weldon has over 15
years of financial and accounting experience. Mr. Weldon’s
financial background includes experience in managerial, private
accounting and planning. He has served on the board of several publicly traded
companies as both chief executive
officer and chief financial officer. Mr. Weldon was appointed as chief financial
officer and as a member of the board of directors of GB Sciences, Inc.
(OTCMKTS:GBLX) in September
2005 and served in both positions until November 2014. Mr. Weldon
also served as chief executive officer of GB Sciences from December
2009, through May 2011, and from April 2012, through March 2014.
For several years, he taught accounting and tax courses to
undergrad students at Florida
Southern College. He received his Bachelor of Science degree and his
Master of Business Administration
from Florida Southern College
and is a licensed Certified
Public Accountant in the State of Florida.
Board Committees, Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider
Participation
Due to the small number of directors, at the
present time the duties of an Audit Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and
Compensation Committee (including with respect to setting executive
officer compensation) are performed by the Board as a whole. At
such time as we have more directors on our Board, these committees
will be reconstituted.
Director Independence
None
of our directors qualify as “independent directors” as defined by
Item 407 of Regulation S-K.
We
have elected to use the definition for “director independence”
under the Nasdaq Stock Market’s listing standards, which defines an
“independent director” as “a person other than an officer or
employee of us or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a
relationship, which in the opinion of our Board, would interfere
with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the
responsibilities of a director.” The definition further provides
that, among others, employment of a director by us (or any parent
or subsidiary of ours) at any time during the past three years is
considered a bar to independence regardless of the determination of
our Board.
As a “smaller reporting company” under SEC rules, our named executive
officers for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 (collectively,
the “Named Executive Officers”) were as
follows:
●
Anthony
J. Cataldo, our current Chief Executive Officer;
●
Steven
Weldon, our current Chief Financial Officer; and
●
Raymond Urbanski, M.D., Ph.D., our former Chief Executive Officer who
resigned from the Company on March 15, 2019.
No
other executive officers received total annual compensation during
the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 in excess of
$100,000.
Summary Compensation Table
The following table sets forth certain information
relating to the total compensation earned for services rendered to
us in all capacities by our
Named Executive Officers.
Name and Principal Position
|
Year
|
|
|
|
All Other Compensation ($)(2)
|
|
Anthony J. Cataldo (3)
Chief
Executive Officer
|
2019
|
225,000
|
—
|
1,281,000
|
75,000
|
1,581,000
|
Anthony J. Cataldo (3)
Chief
Executive Officer
|
2018
|
190,000
|
—
|
-
|
404,151
|
594,151
|
Steven Weldon (4)
|
2019
|
230,000
|
—
|
823,500
|
—
|
1,053,500
|
Chief
Financial Officer
|
2018
|
230,000
|
—
|
-
|
—
|
230,000
|
Raymond Urbanski, M.D., Ph.D. (5)
|
2019
|
318,000
|
—
|
-
|
—
|
318,000
|
Former
Chief Executive Officer
|
2018
|
321,154
|
—
|
7,644,490
|
—
|
7,965,644
|
(1)
The amounts in this
column represent the aggregate grant date fair value of the stock
awards, determined in accordance with Financial Accounting
Standards Board ASC Topic 718. The Company determines the grant
date fair value of the awards by multiplying the number of shares
granted by the closing market price of one share of the Company’s
common stock on the award grant date. These amounts do not reflect
the actual economic value that will be realized by the Named
Executive Officer upon the sale of these awards.
(2)
The amount in this
column represents compensation earned under a consultant agreement
with the Company described in more detail below under
“—Employment
Arrangements.”
(3)
Mr. Cataldo was
appointed Chief Executive Officer on March 15, 2019. Prior to his
appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Cataldo provided
services to the Company under a consulting agreement from February
14, 2018. Mr. Cataldo also served as Executive Chairman of the
Board until February 2018 for which service he received salary in
2018.
(4)
Mr. Weldon was
appointed Chief Financial Officer on March 20, 2019.
(5)
Dr. Urbanski
resigned as Chief Executive Officer on March 15, 2019.
Employment Arrangements
On October 18, 2018, the Company entered into a
consultant agreement with
Anthony Cataldo (the “Consulting Agreement”). The Consulting Agreement
terminated in March 2019 in connection with Mr. Cataldo’s
appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The
Consulting Agreement replaced an earlier consulting agreement, dated February 14, 2018, and
provide for payments of $25,000 per month to Mr. Cataldo during the
term of the agreement.
On April 1, 2019, the Company entered into
a settlement agreement and
general release with Mr. Urbanski (as amended, the
“Severance Agreement”) in
connection with his resignation as Chief Executive Officer.
Pursuant to the Severance Agreement, Mr. Urbanski received a cash severance
payment of approximately $170,000 in two installments. In
consideration for the severance payment, Mr. Urbanski provided a
general release of claims in favor of the Company, including an
acknowledgement that Mr. Urbanski was not entitled to any further
compensation, remuneration or benefits under his executive
employment agreement as a
result of his resignation from the Company.
Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year End
As
of December 31, 2019, there were no unexercised options, unvested
stock awards or outstanding equity incentive plan awards held by
our Named Executive Officers.
Director Compensation
The
following table summarizes the total compensation we paid to our
non-employee directors for the fiscal year ended December 31,
2019:
Name
|
Fees Earned or Paid in Cash ($)
|
|
|
|
Dr. John Bonfiglio(1)
|
15,325
|
-
|
-
|
15,325
|
Dr. Peter Kiener(1)
|
15,325
|
-
|
-
|
15,325
|
Geoffrey Davis(1)
|
15,325
|
-
|
-
|
15,325
|
(1)
Dr. Bonfiglio, Dr.
Kiener and Mr. Davis resigned from the Board on March 20,
2019.
Effective January
2018, the following annual compensation for non-employee directors
was approved by the Compensation Committee of our
Board:
●
an additional cash
payment of $15,000 for acting as chair of a committee and $5,000
for acting as a member of a committee; and
●
upon approval of a
stock option plan, a grant of options to purchase 150,000 shares of
our common stock, vesting over a three year period (with vesting
accelerating if the Company undergoes a change of control
transaction for cash).
A
director who is one of our employees receives no additional
compensation for his service as a director or as a member of a
committee of the Board.
VOTING SECURITIES AND PRINCIPAL HOLDERS
The following table sets forth certain information
regarding beneficial ownership of our voting securities as of July
28, 2020, (a) by each person known by us to own beneficially 5% or
more of any class of our voting securities, (b) by each of our
Named Executive Officers, (c) by each of our directors and (d)
by all our current executive
officers and directors as a group. As of July 28, 2020, there were
76,560,862 shares of our common
stock issued and outstanding. Shares of common stock subject to stock options, preferred
stock and convertible notes and debentures that are currently
exercisable or convertible within 60 days of July 28, 2020 are
deemed to be outstanding for purposes of computing the percentage
ownership of that person but are not treated as outstanding for
computing the percentage ownership of any other person. Unless
indicated below, the persons and entities named in the table have
sole voting and sole investment power with respect to
all shares beneficially owned, subject
to community property laws where applicable. Except as otherwise
indicated, the address of each stockholder is c/o GT Biopharma,
Inc. at 9350 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 203, Beverly Hills, CA
90212.
Name
and Address of Beneficial Owner
|
Shares
of Common Stock Beneficially Owned
|
Percentage
of Class Outstanding
|
Shares of Series J-1 Preferred Stock Beneficially
Owned(1)
|
Percentage
of Class Outstanding
|
|
|
|
|
|
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial
Owners:
|
|
|
|
|
Alpha
Capital Anstalt(2)
|
7,648,430(3)
|
9.99%(4)
|
—
|
|
Bristol Capital, LLC(5)
|
—(6)
|
—
|
1,575,324
|
66.9%
|
Bristol Investment Fund, Ltd.(5)
|
6,619,779(7)
|
9.99%(8)
|
778,224
|
33.1%
|
James
Heavener(9)
|
7,648,430(10)(15)
|
9.99%(16)
|
—
|
—
|
Adam
Kasower
|
7,625,485(10)
|
9.96%
|
|
|
Bigger
Capital Fund, LP(11)
|
4,500,000(10)
|
5.88%
|
—
|
—
|
District 2 Capital Fund LP(12)
|
4,289,077(10)
|
5.60%
|
—
|
—
|
GT Bio
Partners LLC(13)
|
7,500,000(10)
|
9.80%
|
—
|
—
|
Kevin
Young
|
5,000,000(10)
|
6.53%
|
—
|
—
|
Red
Mango Enterprises Limited(14)
|
7,648,430(10)(15)
|
9.99%(16)
|
—
|
—
|
The Rosalinde
and Arthur Gilbert
Foundation(17)
|
7,648,430(10)(15)
|
9.99%(16)
|
—
|
—
|
The
RSZ Trust(18)
|
5,938,566(10)
|
7.76%
|
—
|
—
|
|
|
|
|
|
Security Ownership of Management and Directors:
|
|
|
|
|
Anthony J.
Cataldo
|
7,013,345
|
9.16%
|
—
|
—
|
Steven
Weldon
|
4,500,000
|
5.89%
|
—
|
—
|
Executive
officers and directors as a group — 2 people
|
11,513,345
|
15.05%
|
—
|
—
|
(1)
Each share of our
Series J-1 Preferred Stock is convertible into five shares of our
common stock at an effective conversion price of $0.20 per share.
Shares of the Series J-1 Preferred Stock have the same voting
rights as shares of our common stock with the holders of the Series
J-1 Preferred Stock entitled to vote on an as-converted-to-common
stock basis, subject to the certain beneficial ownership
limitations, together with the holders of our common stock on all
matters presented to our stockholders. See “Description of Capital Stock—Preferred
Stock—Series J-1 Preferred Stock” for more information about
the terms of our Series J-1 Preferred Stock.
(2)
The address of
Alpha Capital Anstalt (“Alpha Capital”) is Lettstrasse 32, FL-9490
Vaduz, Furstentums, Liechtenstein. We have been advised Konrad
Ackermann exercises voting and investment power over securities
held by Alpha Capital.
(3)
As reported on
Schedule 13G/A filed with the SEC on January 16, 2020, Alpha
Capital holds shares of our common stock plus other securities
(including certain of the Applicable Notes) that are convertible or
exercisable for shares of our common stock only if such conversion
or exercise does not result in Alpha Capital (together with its
affiliates) holding more than 9.99% of our outstanding shares of
common stock. The full conversion or exercise of such securities of
the Company held by Alpha Capital would exceed such beneficial
ownership limitation. This represents the maximum number of shares
of common stock that Alpha Capital could beneficially own as of
July 28, 2020.
(4)
Calculated based on
the maximum number of shares of common stock that Alpha Capital
could have beneficially owned on July 28, 2020 following conversion
or exercise of securities held by Alpha Capital, subject to the
beneficial ownership limitation described in note (3)
above.
(5)
Paul Kessler, as
manager of Bristol Capital Advisors, LLC, the investment advisor to
Bristol Investment Fund, Ltd. (“BIF”), has voting and investment
control over the securities held by BIF. Mr. Kessler, as manager of
Bristol Capital, LLC, also has voting and investment control over
the securities held by Bristol Capital. Mr. Kessler disclaims
beneficial ownership of these securities except to the extent of
his pecuniary interest therein. The address of Bristol Capital
Advisors, LLC is 662 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 300, Los Angeles,
California 90049.
(6)
As reported on
Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on June 10, 2020. Excludes shares
of our common stock that may be issued upon conversion of the
Series J-1 Preferred Stock held by Bristol Capital. Such Series J-1
Preferred Stock may be converted into shares of our common stock
only if such conversion does not result in Bristol Capital
(together with its affiliates, including BIF) holding more than
9.99% of our outstanding shares of common stock.
(7)
As reported on
Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on June 10, 2020. As disclosed in
the Schedule 13G, BIF also holds Series J-1 Preferred Stock and
convertible notes which may be converted into shares of our common
stock only if such conversion does not result in BIF (together with
its affiliates, including Bristol Capital) holding more than 9.99%
of our outstanding shares of common stock. The full conversion of
such securities would exceed such beneficial ownership limitation.
As of July 28, 2020, the maximum number of shares of common stock
that BIF could beneficially own was 7,648,430 shares.
(8)
Calculated based on
the maximum number of shares of common stock that BIF could have
beneficially owned on July 28, 2020 following conversion of the
Series J-1 Preferred Stock or convertible notes, subject to the
beneficial ownership limitation described in note (7)
above.
(9)
The address of Mr.
Heavener is 3300 University Blvd, Suite 218 Winter Park, FL
32792.
(10)
Represents or
includes shares of common stock that may be issuable to the
stockholder upon conversion of certain convertible notes, including
certain of the Applicable Notes, and excludes additional shares of
common stock that may be issuable to the stockholder (i) in lieu of
cash payments of interest or (ii) in connection with any default
amounts. Such convertible notes are only convertible if such
conversion does not result in the stockholder (together with its
affiliates) holding more than 9.99% of our outstanding shares of
common stock.
(11)
We have been
advised that Michael Bigger exercises voting and investment power
over the securities held by Bigger Capital Fund, LP.
(12)
We have been
advised that Eric H Schlanger exercises voting and investment power
over the securities held by District 2 Capital Fund
LP.
(13)
We have been
advised that Philip G. Werthman exercises voting and investment
power over the securities held by of GT Bio Partners
LLC.
(14)
We have been
advised that Chi Kan Tang exercises voting and investment power
over the securities held by Red Mango Enterprises
Limited.
(15)
The full conversion
or exercise of convertible notes or other securities convertible
into, or exercisable for, our common stock held by the stockholder
would exceed the beneficial ownership limitation described in note
(10) above. This represents the maximum number of shares of common
stock that the stockholder could beneficially own as of July 28,
2020.
(16)
Calculated based on
the maximum number of shares of common stock that the stockholder
could have beneficially owned on July 28, 2020 following conversion
or exercise of convertible notes or other securities convertible
into, or exercisable for, our common held by the stockholder,
subject to the beneficial ownership limitation described in note
(10) above.
(17)
We have been
advised that Martin H. Blank exercises voting and investment power
over the securities held by The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert
Foundation.
(18)
We have been
advised that Richard exercises voting and investment power over the
securities held by RSZ Trust.
SELLING STOCKHOLDERS
The
Registered Shares being offered by the Selling Stockholders are
those that (a) were issued to a Selling Stockholder pursuant to the
terms of a consulting agreement or (b) that may be issued to
certain of the Selling Stockholders either (i) upon conversion of
the Applicable Notes, or (ii) at the option of the Selling
Stockholders as holders of the Applicable Notes, in lieu of cash
payments of interest on the Applicable Notes based upon the then
current conversion price for the Applicable Notes. We are
registering the Registered Shares in order to permit the Selling
Stockholders to offer the shares for resale from time to time.
Except for ownership of the Applicable Notes or other securities of
the Company issued in connection with prior financing transactions
and certain consulting arrangements, the Selling Stockholders have
not had any material relationship with us within the past three
years.
The table below lists the Selling
Stockholders and other information regarding the beneficial
ownership of our common stock
by each of the Selling Stockholders. The second column lists the
number of shares of common
stock beneficially owned by each Selling Stockholder, based on its
ownership as of July 28, 2020. The third column lists the shares
of common stock being offered
by this prospectus by the Selling Stockholders and does not take in
account any limitations on conversion of the Applicable Notes or
issuance of common
stock.
In accordance with the terms of the
Registration Rights Agreements related to the Applicable Notes,
this prospectus generally covers the resale of at least the sum of
the number of shares of common
stock issued upon conversion of the Applicable Notes issued
pursuant to the applicable securities purchase agreement as of the trading day
immediately preceding the date the registration statement is
initially filed with the SEC plus an additional approximately 2.8
million shares of common stock
that may be issued in connection with interest payments under the
Applicable Notes. The fourth column assumes the sale of
all of the shares offered by the
Selling Stockholders pursuant to this
prospectus.
Under the terms of the Applicable Notes, a Selling
Stockholder may not convert the Applicable Notes to the extent such
exercise would cause such Selling Stockholder, together with its
affiliates, to beneficially own a number of shares of our
common stock which would exceed 9.99%
of our then outstanding shares of common stock following such exercise. The number
of shares in the second column does not reflect these limitations.
The Selling Stockholders may sell all, some or none of their shares in this
offering. See “Plan of
Distribution.”
|
Shares of Common Stock Beneficially Owned after the
Offering
|
Name of Selling Shareholder
|
Number of Shares of Common Stock Owned Prior to
Offering(1)
|
Maximum Number of Shares of Common Stock to be Sold Pursuant to
this Prospectus
|
|
|
Adam
Kasower
|
7,625,485(2)
|
1,375,000
|
6,375,485(2)
|
8.33%
|
Alpha Capital Anstalt(3)
|
7,648,430(4)
|
1,100,000
|
7,648,430(4)
|
9.99%(5)
|
Bigger Capital Fund, LP(6)
|
4,500,000(2)
|
3,575,000
|
3,250,000(2)
|
4.24%
|
Brannon Family Office LLLP(7)
|
585,000(2)*
|
643,500
|
*
|
*
|
Christopher
and Lorraine Basta JTWROS
|
375,000(2)*
|
412,500
|
*
|
*
|
District 2 Capital Fund LP(8)
|
4,289,077(2)
|
1,375,000
|
3,039,077(2)
|
3.97%
|
Edward
Flanagan
|
250,000(2)*
|
275,000
|
*
|
*
|
Edwin
Ting
|
1,000,000(2)*
|
1,100,000
|
*
|
*
|
EMLL Group LLC(7)
|
1,086,429*
|
1,086,429
|
*
|
*
|
GT Bio Partners LLC(9)
|
7,500,000(2)*
|
7,975,000
|
*
|
*
|
Houngly
Nguyen
|
250,000(2)*
|
275,000
|
*
|
*
|
Kevin
Young
|
5,000,000(2)*
|
5,500,000
|
*
|
*
|
Mark
Flanagan
|
200,000(2)*
|
220,000
|
*
|
*
|
Matthew
J. Gantz Irrevocable Trust DTD 4/20/06
|
375,000(2)*
|
412,500
|
*
|
*
|
Philip G. Werthman Trust(10)
|
250,000(2)*
|
275,000
|
*
|
*
|
Red Mango Enterprises Limited(11)
|
7,648,430(2)(12)
|
4,125,000
|
5,987,663(2)
|
7.82%
|
Riley
Flanagan
|
500,000*
|
550,000
|
*
|
*
|
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert
Foundation(13)
|
7,648,430(2)(12)
|
1,100,000
|
7,648,430(2)(12)
|
9.99%(14)
|
The RSZ Trust(15)
|
5,938,566(2)
|
550,000
|
5,438,566(2)
|
7.10%
|
_______________
*It is unknown to the Company whether or not the Selling Stockholder
holds shares of common stock
other than those being registered.
(1)
Excludes additional shares of common stock that may be issuable to
the Selling Stockholders (i) in lieu of cash payments of interest
or (ii) in connection with any default amounts, including
approximately 2.8 million shares of common stock that are
registered pursuant to this registration statement and that may be
issued in connection with interest payments under the Applicable
Notes.
(2)
Represents or includes shares of common stock that may be issuable
to the Selling Stockholder upon conversion of certain convertible
notes, including certain of the Applicable Notes. Such convertible
notes are only convertible if such conversion does not result in
the Selling Stockholder (together with its affiliates) holding more
than 9.99% of our outstanding shares of common stock.
(3) We have been advised that Konrad Ackermann exercises voting and investment
power over the shares of common
stock registered on behalf of the Alpha Capital pursuant to this registration
statement.
(4) See note (3) to the beneficial ownership table
included under “Voting Securities and
Principal Holders” for
additional information.
(5) See note (4) to the beneficial ownership table
included under “Voting Securities and
Principal Holders” for
additional information.
(6) We have been advised that Michael Bigger
exercises voting and investment power over the shares of
common stock registered on behalf of
Bigger Capital Fund, LP pursuant to this registration
statement.
(7) We have been advised that Dwain Brannon
exercises voting and investment power over the shares of
common stock registered on behalf of
Brannon Family Office LLLP and EMLL Group, LLC pursuant to this
registration statement.
(8) We have been advised that Eric H Schlanger
exercises voting and investment power over the shares of
common stock registered on behalf
of District 2 Capital Fund LP
pursuant to this registration statement.
(9) We have been advised that Philip G. Werthman
exercises voting and investment power over the shares of
common stock registered on behalf of
GT Bio Partners LLC pursuant to this registration
statement.
(10) We have been advised that Philip G. Werthman
exercises voting and investment power over the shares of
common stock registered on behalf of
the Phillip G. Werthman Trust pursuant to this registration
statement.
(11) We have been advised that Chi Kan Tang
exercises voting and investment power over the shares of
common stock registered on behalf of
Red Mango Enterprises Limited pursuant to this registration
statement.
(12)
The full conversion or exercise of securities held by the Selling
Stockholder would exceed the beneficial ownership limitation
described in note (2) above. This represents the maximum number of
shares of common stock that Selling Stockholder could beneficially
own as of July 28, 2020.
(13) We have been advised that Martin H. Blank
exercises voting and investment power over the shares of
common stock registered on behalf
of The Rosalinde and Arthur
Gilbert Foundation pursuant to this registration
statement.
(14)
Calculated based on the maximum number of shares of common stock
that the Selling Stockholder could have beneficially owned on July
28, 2020 following conversion or exercise of securities held by the
Selling Stockholder, subject to the beneficial ownership limitation
described in note (2) above.
(15) We have been advised that Richard Ziman
exercises voting and investment power over the shares of
common stock registered on behalf of
the RSZ Trust pursuant to this
registration statement.
We are registering 31,924,929 shares of our
common stock for possible sale by the
Selling Stockholders. We will not receive any of the proceeds from
the sale by the Selling Stockholders of the shares of
common stock. We will bear
all fees and expenses incident to our
obligation to register the shares of common stock.
The Selling Stockholders may sell
all or a portion of the shares
of common stock beneficially
owned by them and offered hereby from time to time directly or
through one or more underwriters, broker-dealers or agents. If the
shares of common stock are sold
through underwriters or broker-dealers, the Selling Stockholders
will be responsible for underwriting discounts or commissions or
agent’s commissions. The shares of common stock may be sold in one or more
transactions at fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the
time of the sale, at varying prices determined at the time of sale,
or at negotiated prices. These sales may be effected in
transactions, which may involve crosses or block transactions,
pursuant to one or more of the following
methods:
●
on
any national securities exchange or quotation service on which the
securities may be listed or quoted at the time of
sale;
●
in
the over-the-counter market;
●
in
transactions otherwise than on these exchanges or systems or in the
over-the-counter market;
●
through
the writing of options, whether such options are listed on an
options exchange or otherwise;
●
ordinary
brokerage transactions and transactions in which the broker-dealer
solicits purchasers;
●
block
trades in which the broker-dealer will attempt to sell the shares
as agent but may position and resell a portion of the block as
principal to facilitate the transaction;
●
purchases
by a broker-dealer as principal and resale by the broker-dealer for
its account;
●
an
exchange distribution in accordance with the rules of the
applicable exchange;
●
privately
negotiated transactions;
●
short sales effected after the effective date of
this registration
statement;
●
sales
pursuant to Rule 144;
●
broker-dealers
may agree with the Selling Stockholders to sell a specified number
of such shares at a stipulated price per share;
●
a
combination of any such methods of sale; and
●
any
other method permitted pursuant to applicable law.
If the Selling Stockholders effect such
transactions by selling shares of common stock to or through underwriters,
broker-dealers or agents, such underwriters, broker-dealers or
agents may receive commissions in the form of discounts,
concessions or commissions from the Selling Stockholders or
commissions from purchasers of the shares of common stock for whom they may act as agent or to
whom they may sell as principal (which discounts, concessions or
commissions as to particular underwriters, broker-dealers or agents
may be in excess of those customary in the types of transactions
involved). In connection with sales of the shares of
common stock or otherwise, the Selling
Stockholders may enter into hedging transactions with
broker-dealers, which may in turn engage in short sales of the
shares of common stock in the
course of hedging in positions they assume. The Selling
Stockholders may also sell shares of common stock short and deliver shares of
common stock covered by this
prospectus to close out short positions and to return borrowed
shares in connection with such short sales. The Selling
Stockholders may also loan or pledge shares of common stock to broker-dealers that in turn may
sell such shares.
The Selling Stockholders may pledge or grant a
security interest in some or all of the shares of common stock or Notes owned by them and, if they default in the
performance of their secured obligations, the pledgees or secured
parties may offer and sell the shares of common stock from time to time pursuant to this
prospectus or any amendment to this prospectus under Rule 424(b)(3)
or other applicable provision of the Securities Act, amending, if
necessary, the list of Selling Stockholders to include the pledgee,
transferee or other successors in interest as Selling Stockholders
under this prospectus. The Selling Stockholders also may transfer
and donate the shares of common
stock in other circumstances in which case the transferees, donees,
pledgees or other successors in interest will be the selling
beneficial owners for purposes of this
prospectus.
The Selling Stockholders and any broker-dealer
participating in the distribution of the shares of
common stock may be deemed to be
“underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and any
commission paid, or any discounts or concessions allowed to, any
such broker-dealer may be deemed to be underwriting commissions or
discounts under the Securities Act. At the time a particular
offering of the shares of common stock is made, a prospectus supplement, if
required, will be distributed which will set forth the aggregate
amount of shares of common
stock being offered and the terms of the offering, including the
name or names of any broker-dealers or agents, any discounts,
commissions and other terms constituting compensation from the
Selling Stockholders and any discounts, commissions or concessions
allowed or re-allowed or paid to
broker-dealers.
Under the securities laws of some states, the
shares of common stock may be
sold in such states only through registered or licensed brokers or
dealers. In addition, in some states the shares of
common stock may not be sold unless
such shares have been registered or qualified for sale in such
state or an exemption from registration or qualification is
available and is complied with.
There can be no assurance that any Selling
Stockholder will sell any or all of the shares of common stock registered pursuant to the
registration statement, of which this prospectus forms a
part.
The Selling Stockholders and any other person
participating in such distribution will be subject to applicable
provisions of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations
thereunder, including, without limitation, Regulation M of the
Exchange Act, which may limit the timing of purchases and sales of
any of the shares of common
stock by the Selling Stockholders and any other participating
person. Regulation M may also restrict the ability of any person
engaged in the distribution of the shares of common stock to engage in market-making activities
with respect to the shares of common stock. All of the foregoing may affect the marketability
of the shares of common stock
and the ability of any person or entity to engage in market-making
activities with respect to the shares of common stock.
We will pay all expenses of the registration of the shares
of common stock pursuant to the
Registration Rights Agreement, estimated to be $10,000 in total,
including, without limitation, SEC filing fees and expenses of
compliance with state securities or “blue sky” laws; provided,
however, that a Selling Stockholder will pay all underwriting discounts and selling
commissions, if any. We will indemnify the Selling Stockholders
against liabilities, including some liabilities under the
Securities Act, in accordance with the Registration Rights
Agreement, or the Selling Stockholders will be entitled to
contribution. We may be indemnified by the Selling Stockholders
against civil liabilities, including liabilities under the
Securities Act, that may arise from any written information
furnished to us by the Selling Stockholder specifically for use in
this prospectus, in accordance with the Registration Rights
Agreement, or we may be entitled to
contribution.
Once sold under the registration statement, of
which this prospectus forms a part, the shares of
common stock will be freely tradable
in the hands of persons other than our
affiliates.
DESCRIPTION OF
CAPITAL STOCK
The
following description of our capital stock, together with any
additional information we include in any applicable prospectus
supplement or any related free writing prospectus, summarizes the
material terms and provisions of our capital stock. For the
complete terms of our capital stock, please refer to our
certificate of incorporation bylaws that are incorporated by
reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus
is a part or may be incorporated by reference in this prospectus or
any applicable prospectus supplement. The terms of these securities
may also be affected by the DGCL. The summary below and that
contained in any applicable prospectus supplement or any related
free writing prospectus are qualified in their entirety by
reference to our certificate of incorporation and
bylaws.
General
As of the date of this prospectus, our authorized
capital stock consists of 750.0 million shares of
common stock, par value $0.001 per
share, and 15.0 million shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001
per share. As of July 28, 2020, there were 76,560,862 shares of
our common stock, 96,230 shares
of Series C Preferred Stock and 2,353,548 shares of Series J-1
Preferred Stock issued and outstanding.
Common Stock
Holders of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each
share of common stock held of
record for the election of directors and on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders.
Holders of our common stock are
entitled to receive dividends ratably, if any, as may be declared
by the Board out of legally available funds, subject to any
preferential dividend rights of any preferred stock then
outstanding. In the event of our dissolution, liquidation or
winding up, holders of our common stock are entitled to share ratably in our
net assets legally available after the payment of
all of our debts and other
liabilities, subject to the liquidation preferences of any
preferred stock then outstanding. Holders of our
common stock have no preemptive,
subscription, redemption or conversion rights. The rights,
preferences and privileges of holders of common stock are subject to, and may be adversely
affected by, the rights of the holders of shares of any series of
preferred stock currently outstanding or that we may designate and
issue in the future. All
outstanding shares of our common stock are fully paid and non-assessable.
Except as described below in “Anti-Takeover Provisions Under Our Charter and
Bylaws and Delaware Law,” holders of a majority of the outstanding
shares of stock entitled to vote shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business, and a vote of the majority of the voting
power represented at such meeting at which a quorum is generally
required to take action under our certificate of incorporation and
bylaws.
Preferred Stock
Our
Board is authorized, without action by the stockholders, to
designate and issue up to 15.0 million shares of preferred stock in
one or more series. In the past the Board has designated series
lettered A through J-1 and issued shares in those series. As of the
date of this prospectus, only preferred shares in the series
designated C and J-1 have shares issued and outstanding. Our Board
can fix or alter the rights, preferences and privileges of the
shares of each series and any of its qualifications, limitations or
restrictions, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting
rights, terms of redemption, liquidation preferences and the number
of shares constituting a class or series. The issuance of preferred
stock could, under certain circumstances, result in one or more of
the following adverse effects:
●
decreasing the
market price of our common stock;
●
restricting
dividends on our common stock;
●
diluting the voting
power of our common stock;
●
impairing the
liquidation rights of our common stock; or
●
delaying or
preventing a change in control of us without further action by our
stockholders.
Our
Board will make any determination to issue such shares based on its
judgment as to our best interests and the best interests of our
stockholders.
Series C Preferred Stock
For a discussion of the terms of our Series C
Preferred Stock, see Note 7 to our audited financial
statements, Stockholders’
Equity.
Series J-1 Preferred Stock
Shares
of our Series J-1 Preferred Stock are convertible at any time, at
the option of the holders, into shares of our common stock at an
effective conversion price of $0.20 per share, subject to
adjustment for, among other things, stock dividends, stock splits,
combinations, reclassifications of our capital stock and mergers or
consolidations, and subject to a “blocker provision” which
prohibits conversion if such conversion would result in the holder
being the beneficial owner of in excess of 9.99% of our common
stock. Shares of our Series J-1 Preferred Stock have the same
voting rights a shares of our common stock, with the holders of the
Series J-1 Preferred Stock entitled to vote on an
as-converted-to-common stock basis, subject to the “blocker
provision” described above, together with the holders of our common
stock on all matters presented to our stockholders. The Series J-1
Preferred Stock are not entitled to any dividends (unless
specifically declared by our Board), but will participate on an
as-converted-to-common-stock basis in any dividends to the holders
of our common stock. In the event of our dissolution, liquidation
or winding up, the holders of our Series J-1 Preferred Stock will
be on parity with the holders of our common stock and will
participate, on a on an as-converted-to-common stock basis, in any
distribution to holders of our common stock.
Anti-Takeover Provisions Under Our Charter and Bylaws and Delaware
Law
Certain
provisions of Delaware law, our certificate of incorporation and
our bylaws contain provisions that could have the effect of
delaying, deferring or discouraging another party from acquiring
control of us. These provisions, which are summarized below, may
have the effect of discouraging coercive takeover practices and
inadequate takeover bids. These provisions are also designed, in
part, to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to
first negotiate with our Board. We believe that the benefits of
increased protection of our potential ability to negotiate with an
unfriendly or unsolicited acquirer outweigh the disadvantages of
discouraging a proposal to acquire us because negotiation of these
proposals could result in an improvement of their
terms.
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
Undesignated Preferred
Stock. Our Board has the
ability to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or
preferences that could impede the success of any attempt to change
control of us. These and other provisions may have the effect of
deferring hostile takeovers or delaying changes in control or
management of our company.
Special Meetings of
Stockholders. Our bylaws
provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called
only by our Chairman of the Board, our president or our Board, thus
prohibiting a stockholder from calling a special meeting. This
provision might delay the ability of our stockholders to force
consideration of a proposal or for stockholders controlling a
majority of our capital stock to take any action, including the
removal of directors.
Board Vacancies Filled Only by
Majority of Directors.
Vacancies and newly created seats on our Board may be filled only
by a majority of the directors then in office. Only our Board may
determine the number of directors on our board. The inability of stockholders to determine
the number of directors or to fill vacancies or newly created seats
on our Board makes it more difficult to change the composition of
our Board, but these provisions promote a continuity of existing
management.
No Cumulative
Voting. The DGCL provides that
stockholders are not entitled to the right to cumulate votes in the
election of directors unless our certificate of incorporation
provides otherwise. Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws do
not expressly provide for cumulative voting.
Directors Removed Only by
Special Meeting of Stockholders. A director can be removed only by the
affirmative vote of a majority of the votes of the issued and
outstanding stock entitled to vote for the election of directors of
the corporation given at a special meeting of the stockholders
called and held for this purpose.
Amendment of Charter
Provisions. In order to amend
certain of the above provisions in our certificate of incorporation
and our bylaws, the Board is expressly authorized to adopt, alter
or repeal the bylaws, subject to the rights of the stockholders
entitled to vote. Stockholders can vote at any stockholder meeting
and repeal, alter, or amend the bylaws by the affirmative vote of a
majority of the stockholders entitled to vote in such
meeting.
Delaware Anti-takeover Statute
We are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL. In
general, Section 203 prohibits a publicly held Delaware
corporation from engaging in a “business combination” with an
“interested stockholder” for a period of three years after the date
of the transaction in which the person became an interest
stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a
prescribed manner. A “business combination” includes mergers, asset
sales and other transactions in which the interested stockholder
receives or could receive a financial benefit on other than
a pro
rata basis with other
stockholders. An “interested stockholder” is a person who, together
with affiliates and associates, owns, or within three years did
own, 15% or more of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock.
This provision has an anti-takeover effect with respect to
transactions not approved in advance by our Board, including
discouraging takeover attempts that might result in a premium over
the market price for the shares of our market price. With approval
of our stockholders, we could amend our amended and restated
certificate of incorporation in the future to avoid the
restrictions imposed by this anti-takeover law.
The provisions of Delaware law and our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation could have the
effect of discouraging others from attempting hostile takeovers
and, as a consequence, they may also inhibit temporary fluctuations
in the market price of our common stock that often result from actual or
rumored hostile takeover attempts. These provisions may also have
the effect of preventing changes in our management. It is possible
that these provisions could make it more difficult to accomplish
transactions that stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their
best interests.
Transfer Agent and Registrar
Our transfer agent and registrar for our capital
stock is Computershare. The
transfer agent’s address is 8742 Lucent Blvd., Suite 225, Highland Ranch, CO 80129, and its
telephone number is (303) 262-0600.
Existing Trading Markets
Our common
stock is quoted on the OTCQB, one of the OTC Markets Group over-the-counter markets, under
the trading symbol “GTBP.” The closing sale price of our
common stock on the OTCQB on July 13,
2020, was $0.16per share. Our common stock is also quoted on several
European-based exchanges including
Berlin (GTBP.BE), Frankfurt
(GTBP.DE), the Euronext (GTBP.NX) and Paris (GTBP.PA).
The validity of the shares of common stock offered by this prospectus will be
passed upon for us by Baker & McKenzie LLP, Houston,
Texas.
DISCLOSURE OF COMMISSION POSITION ON INDEMNIFICATION FOR SECURITIES
ACT LIABILITIES
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising
under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or
persons controlling the registrant pursuant to the foregoing
provisions, the registrant has been informed that in the opinion of
the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Securities Act and is therefore
unenforceable.
The
financial statements of GT Biopharma, Inc. at December 31, 2019 and
2018, and for each of the two years in the period ending December
31, 2019, appearing in this prospectus have been audited by
Seligson & Giannattasio, LLP, an independent registered public
accounting firm, as set forth in their report thereon appearing
elsewhere herein, and are included in reliance upon such report
given on the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and
auditing.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND
MORE INFORMATION
We have filed a registration statement on Form S-1
under the Securities Act with the SEC with respect to the resale of
the Registered Shares. This prospectus was filed as a part of that
registration statement but does not contain all of the information contained in the
registration statement and exhibits. Reference is thus made to the
omitted information. Statements made in this prospectus are
summaries of the material terms of contracts, agreements and documents and are not necessarily
complete; however, all
information we considered material has been disclosed. Reference is
made to each exhibit for a more complete description of the matters
involved and these statements are qualified in their entirety by
the reference. The SEC also maintains a web site
(http://www.sec.gov) that
contains this filed registration statement, reports and other
information regarding us that we have filed electronically with the
SEC. For more information pertaining to our company and the sale or resale of an aggregate of
31,924,929 shares of common
stock, reference is made to the registration
statement.
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Audited Consolidated Financial Statements of GT Biopharma,
Inc.
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting
Firm
|
F-2
|
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2019 and
2018
|
F-3
|
Consolidated
Statement of Operations For Years Ended December 31, 2019 and
2018
|
F-4
|
Consolidated
Statement of Stockholders’ Equity For Years Ended December 31, 2019
and 2018
|
F-5
|
Consolidated
Statement of Cash Flows For Years Ended December 31, 2019 and
2018
|
F-6
|
Notes to Consolidated Financial
Statements
|
F-7
|
Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements of GT Biopharma,
Inc.
Consolidated
Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2020 and December 31,
2019
|
F-20
|
Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three months
ended March 31, 2020 and 2019
|
F-21
|
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the three months
ended March 31, 2020 and 2019
|
F-22
|
Condensed Notes to Consolidated Financial
Statements
|
F-23
|
REPORT
OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To
the Board of Directors and Stockholders of GT Biopharma,
Inc.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated
balance sheets of GT Biopharma, Inc. and subsidiaries (the
“Company”) as of December 31,
2019 and 2018, and the related consolidated statements of
operations, stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the
years in the two-year period ended December 31, 2019, and the
related notes (collectively
referred to as the financial statements). In our opinion, the
consolidated financial statements present fairly, in
all material respects, the
consolidated financial position of the Company as of December 31,
2019 and 2018 and the consolidated results of its operations and
its consolidated cash flows for each of the years in the two-year
period ended December 31, 2019, in conformity with accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States of
America.
Basis of Opinion
These
financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s
management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the
Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We
are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company
Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are
required to be independent with respect to the Company in
accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable
rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and
the PCAOB.
We
conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB.
Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to
obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated
financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due
to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we
engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial
reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an
understanding of internal control over financial reporting, but not
for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of
the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our
audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of
material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to
error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those
risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis,
evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting
principles used and significant estimates made by management, as
well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial
statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis
for our opinion.
The accompanying consolidated financial statements
have been prepared assuming the Company will continue as a going
concern. As discussed in Note 1
to the financial statements, the Company has incurred significant
recurring losses. The realization of a major portion of its assets
is dependent upon its ability to meet its future financing needs
and the success of its future operations. These factors raise
substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a
going concern. The consolidated financial statements do not include
any adjustments that might result from this
uncertainty.
/s/ Seligson
& Giannattasio, LLP
Seligson
& Giannattasio, LLP
We
have served as the Company’s auditor since 2008.
White
Plains, New York
March
27, 2020
GT Biopharma, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands, except par value and share data)
|
|
|
ASSETS
|
|
|
Current
Assets:
|
|
|
Cash
and cash equivalents
|
$28
|
$60
|
Prepaid
expenses
|
246
|
30
|
Total
Current Assets
|
274
|
90
|
|
|
|
Intangible
assets
|
-
|
25,262
|
Operating
lease right-to use asset
|
110
|
-
|
Deposits
|
12
|
12
|
Fixed
assets, net
|
-
|
35
|
Total
Other Assets
|
122
|
25,309
|
TOTAL
ASSETS
|
$396
|
$25,399
|
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
|
|
|
Current
Liabilities:
|
|
|
Accounts
payable
|
$1,940
|
$1,762
|
Accrued
expenses
|
2,379
|
1,023
|
Accrued
interest
|
2,029
|
432
|
Line
of credit
|
31
|
31
|
Note
Payable to Related Party
|
-
|
100
|
Deferred
Rent
|
-
|
8
|
Operating
lease liability
|
120
|
|
Convertible
debentures
|
13,207
|
10,673
|
Total
Current Liabilities
|
19,706
|
14,029
|
|
|
|
Total
liabilities
|
19,706
|
14,029
|
|
|
|
Commitments and
Contingencies
|
|
|
Stockholders’
(deficit) Equity:
|
|
|
Convertible
preferred stock - $0.001 par value; 15,000,000 shares
authorized:
|
|
|
Series
C - 96,230 and 96,230 shares issued and outstanding at December 31,
2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively
|
1
|
1
|
Series
J – 2,353,548 and 1,163,548 shares issued and outstanding at
December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively
|
2
|
1
|
Common
stock - $0.001 par value; 750,000,000 shares authorized; and
69,784,699 and 50,650,478 shares issued and outstanding at December
31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively
|
70
|
51
|
Additional
paid-in capital
|
548,118
|
540,171
|
Accumulated
deficit
|
(567,332)
|
(528,685)
|
Noncontrolling
interest
|
(169)
|
(169)
|
Total
Stockholders’ (deficit) Equity
|
(19,310)
|
11,370
|
TOTAL
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
|
$396
|
$25,399
|
The
accompanying condensed notes are an integral part of these
consolidated financial statements.
GT Biopharma, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands except per share data)
|
|
|
|
|
Operating expenses:
|
|
|
Research
and development
|
$1,667
|
$9,067
|
Selling,
general and administrative expenses
|
9,790
|
12,487
|
Loss
on impairment
|
4,599
|
228,515
|
Total
operating expenses
|
16,056
|
250,069
|
Loss
from operations
|
(16,056)
|
(250,069)
|
Other income (expense):
|
|
|
Loss
on disposal of assets
|
(20,463)
|
-
|
Interest
expense
|
(2,128)
|
(9,117)
|
Total
other income (expense)
|
(22,591)
|
(9,117)
|
Loss
before provision for income taxes
|
(38,647)
|
(259,186)
|
Provision
for income tax
|
-
|
-
|
Net
loss
|
$(38,647)
|
$(259,186)
|
Net
loss per common share – basic and diluted
|
$(0.67)
|
$(5.16)
|
Weighted
average common shares outstanding – basic and diluted
|
57,527
|
50,240
|
The
accompanying condensed notes are an integral part of these
consolidated financial statements.
GT Biopharma, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated Statement of Stockholders' Equity
For the Years Ended December 31, 2019 and 2018