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Aprea Therapeutics, Inc. (APRE)
:APRE
Risk Overview Q3, 2024
Risk Distribution
44% Tech & Innovation
28% Legal & Regulatory
14% Finance & Corporate
8% Ability to Sell
6% Production
1% Macro & Political
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
This chart displays the stock's most recent risk distribution according to category. TipRanks has identified 6 major categories: Finance & corporate, legal & regulatory, macro & political, production, tech & innovation, and ability to sell.
Risk Change Over Time
S&P500 Average
Sector Average
Risks removed
Risks added
Risks changed
Aprea Therapeutics Risk Factors
New Risk (0)
Risk Changed (0)
Risk Removed (0)
No changes from previous report
The chart shows the number of risks a company has disclosed. You can compare this to the sector average or S&P 500 average.
The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.
The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.
Risk Highlights Q3, 2024
Main Risk Category
Tech & Innovation
With 35 Risks
Tech & Innovation
With 35 Risks
Number of Disclosed Risks
80
No changes from last report
S&P 500 Average: 31
80
No changes from last report
S&P 500 Average: 31
Recent Changes
0Risks added
1Risks removed
4Risks changed
Since Sep 2024
0Risks added
1Risks removed
4Risks changed
Since Sep 2024
Number of Risk Changed
4
-1
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 2
4
-1
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 2
See the risk highlights of Aprea Therapeutics in the last period.
Risk Word Cloud
The most common phrases about risk factors from the most recent report. Larger texts indicate more widely used phrases.
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 80
Tech & Innovation
Total Risks: 35/80 (44%)Above Sector Average
Innovation / R&D17 | 21.3%
Innovation / R&D - Risk 1
We may seek priority review designation for one or more of our product candidates, but we might not receive such designation, and even if we do, such designation may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process.Innovation / R&D - Risk 2
The reactivation of p53 is a novel and unproven therapeutic approach and our development of eprenetapopt may never lead to a marketable product.We believe that mutant p53 still has the potential to be an attractive target for novel cancer therapy due to the high incidence of p53 mutations across a range of cancer types and the universally inferior prognosis for cancer patients with mutated p53. However, to our knowledge, no one has advanced a product candidate with this mechanism of action into the market. The scientific evidence to support the feasibility of developing these product candidates is both preliminary and limited. For instance, even though eprenetapopt has shown promising results in preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials, we may not succeed in demonstrating safety and efficacy of eprenetapopt in larger-scale clinical trials. In December 2020, we announced that our pivotal Phase 3 trial failed to meet its predefined primary endpoint of complete remission (CR) rate. On August 4, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed a partial clinical hold on the clinical trials of eprenetapopt in combination with azacitidine in our myeloid malignancy programs. On August 11, 2021, the FDA placed a clinical hold on our clinical trial evaluating eprenetapopt with acalabrutinib or with venetoclax and rituximab in lymphoid malignancies. In the first quarter of 2022, FDA notified us that it would continue the partial clinical hold on three ongoing clinical studies in our myeloid program. However, we received clearance from FDA to proceed under our existing IND with a new trial in R/R MDS and AML.
Given these results, FDA feedback and the costs of continuing the p53 reactivator development programs, we have shifted our primary focus of our activities to the discovery and development of molecules targeting DDR pathways in oncology through synthetic lethality. Advancing eprenetapopt as a novel product to reactivate p53 creates significant challenges for us, including:
- obtaining marketing approval, as obtaining regulatory approval of a p53 reactivator from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities has never been done before;- educating medical personnel regarding the potential efficacy and safety benefits, as well as the challenges, of incorporating our product candidates, if approved, into treatment regimens; and - establishing the sale and marketing capabilities to gain market acceptance, if approved.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 3
We, or any future collaborators, may not be able to obtain or maintain orphan drug exclusivity for our product candidates and, even if we do, that exclusivity many not prevent the FDA or the European Commission from approving competing products.Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and the EU, may designate drugs for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product as an orphan drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals annually in the United States, or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug will be recovered from sales in the United States. Eprenetapopt has received orphan drug designation from the FDA for use in the treatment of high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, or MDS, and orphan drug designation from the European Commission for MDS, AML, and ovarian cancer. We may seek orphan drug designations for eprenetapopt for other indications or for other of our product candidates. There can be no assurances that we will be able to obtain such designations.
In the United States, orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers. In addition, the company that obtains the first FDA approval for a designated orphan drug for a rare disease receives marketing exclusivity for use of that drug for the designated condition for a period of seven years. Once a product receives orphan drug exclusivity, a second product that is considered to be the same drug for the same indication generally may be approved during the exclusivity period only if the second product is shown to be "clinically superior" to the original orphan drug in that it is more effective, safer or otherwise makes a "major contribution to patient care" or the holder of exclusive approval cannot assure the availability of sufficient quantities of the orphan drug to meet the needs of patients with the disease or condition for which the drug was designated.
The European Commission can grant orphan drug product designation to products for which the sponsor can establish that it is intended for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of (1) a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition affecting not more than five in 10,000 people in the European Union, or (2) a life threatening, seriously debilitating or serious and chronic condition in the European Union and that without incentives it is unlikely that sales of the drug in the European Union would generate a sufficient return to justify the necessary investment. In addition, it must be established that there is no other satisfactory method approved in the European Union of diagnosing, preventing or treating the condition, or if such a method exists, the proposed orphan drug will be of significant benefit to patients. Orphan drug designation is not a marketing authorization. It is a designation that provides a number of benefits, including fee reductions, regulatory assistance, and the possibility to apply for a centralized EU marketing authorization, as well as 10 years of market exclusivity following a marketing authorization. During this market exclusivity period, neither the EMA nor the European Commission nor the EU member states can accept an application or grant a marketing authorization for a ‘similar medicinal product.' A ‘similar medicinal product' is defined as a medicinal product containing a similar active substance or substances as contained in an authorized orphan medicinal product, and which is intended for the same therapeutic indication. The market exclusivity period for the authorized therapeutic indication may be reduced to six years if, at the end of the fifth year, it is established that the orphan designation criteria are no longer met, including where it is shown that the product is sufficiently profitable not to justify maintenance of market exclusivity. In addition, a competing similar medicinal product may in limited circumstances be authorized prior to the expiration of the market exclusivity period, including if it is shown to be safer, more effective or otherwise clinically superior to our product. Our product can lose orphan designation, and the related benefits, prior to us obtaining a marketing authorization if it is demonstrated that the orphan designation criteria are no longer met.
Even if we, or any future collaborators, obtain orphan drug designation for a product candidate, we, or they, may not be able to obtain or maintain orphan drug exclusivity for that product candidate. We may not be the first to obtain marketing approval of any product candidate for which we have obtained orphan drug designation for the orphan-designated indication due to the uncertainties associated with developing drug products. If this happens, marketing approval for our product candidate may be delayed due to the first-approved product's orphan drug exclusivity, unless we demonstrate clinical superiority. We may not be able to demonstrate that our product is clinically superior to a first-approved product with orphan drug exclusivity, i.e., that it provides greater safety or efficacy or a major contribution to patient care. In addition, exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be limited if we seek approval for an indication broader than the orphan-designated indication or may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if we are unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition. Further, even if we, or any future collaborators, obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs with different active moieties may be approved for the same condition. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve the same drug with the same active moiety for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care or the manufacturer of the product with orphan exclusivity is unable to maintain sufficient product quantity. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process.
In the United States, Congress is also considering updates to the orphan drug provisions of the FDCA in response to a recent 11th Circuit decision. Any changes to the orphan drug provisions could change our opportunities for, or likelihood of success in obtaining, orphan drug exclusivity and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and prospects.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 4
We are in the early stages of testing ATRN-119 and APR-1051 in clinical trials. The results of preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials may not be predictive of future results in later studies or trials. Initial success in clinical trials may not be indicative of results obtained when these trials are completed or in later-stage clinical trials.Changed
We are in the early stages of testing ATRN-119 and APR-1051 in clinical trials. The results of preclinical studies, whether or not conducted by us, may not be predictive of the results of clinical trials, and the results of any early-stage clinical trials that we are conducting today and that we may commence in the future may not be predictive of the results of the later-stage clinical trials. For example, even if successful, the results of our Phase 1 clinical trials of our product candidates ATRN-119 and APR-1051 and other product candidates may not be predictive of the results of further clinical trials of these product candidates or any of our other product candidates. In addition, initial success in clinical trials may not be indicative of results obtained when such trials are completed in later stage clinical trials. In particular, the small number of patients in our current and planned early clinical trials may make the results of these trials less predictive of the outcome of later clinical trials. Moreover, preclinical and clinical data often are susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials nonetheless have failed to obtain marketing licensure of their product candidates. Our current clinical trials for ATRN-119 and APR-1051 may not ultimately be successful or support further clinical development. There is a high failure rate for product candidates proceeding through clinical trials. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in clinical development even after achieving encouraging results in earlier studies. Any such setbacks in our clinical development could materially harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 5
We are substantially dependent on the success of our lead product candidate, ATRN-119 and APR-1051, which are in clinical development. Our clinical trials of ATRN-119 and APR-1051 may not be successful. If we are unable to obtain approval for and commercialize ATRN-119 and APR-1051 or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.Changed
We have no products approved for sale. Our future success is substantially dependent on our ability to timely obtain marketing approval for, and then successfully commercialize, ATRN-119 and APR-1051, our lead product candidates. We are investing a majority of our efforts and financial resources in the research and development of ATRN-119 and APR-1051. Our business depends entirely on the successful development and commercialization of our product candidates. We currently have no drugs approved for sale and generate no revenues from sales of any products, and we may never be able to develop a marketable product.
Our product candidates will require additional clinical development, evaluation of clinical, preclinical and manufacturing activities, marketing approval in multiple jurisdictions, substantial investment and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenues from product sales. We are not permitted to market or promote any of our product candidates before we receive marketing approval from the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may never receive such marketing approvals.
The success of ATRN-119 and APR-1051 will depend on several factors, including the following:
- successful progression, successful patient enrollment and timely completion of clinical trials of ATRN-119 and APR-1051;- successful initiation and successful patient enrollment and completion of additional clinical trials, for ATRN-119, APR-1051 or our other product candidates;- our ability to demonstrate ATRN-119 and APR-1051's safety, tolerability and efficacy to the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority for marketing approval;- timely receipt of marketing approvals for ATRN-119 and APR-1051;- obtaining and maintaining patent protection, trade secret protection and regulatory exclusivity, both in the United States and internationally;- successfully defending and enforcing our rights in our intellectual property portfolio;- avoiding and successfully defending against any claims that we have infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated any intellectual property of any third party;- the performance of our future collaborators, if any;- the extent of, and our ability to timely complete, any required post-marketing approval commitments imposed by FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities;- successfully developing a companion diagnostic test on a timely and cost-effective basis;- establishment of supply arrangements with third-party raw materials and drug product suppliers and manufacturers who are able to manufacture clinical trial and commercial quantities of ATRN-119 and APR-1051 drug substance and drug product and to develop, validate and maintain a commercially viable manufacturing process that is compliant with current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP, at a scale sufficient to meet anticipated demand and over time enable us to reduce our cost of manufacturing;- successful formulation for all of our products - establishment of scaled production arrangements with third-party manufacturers to obtain finished products that are compliant with cGMP and appropriately packaged for sale;- successful launch of commercial sales following any marketing approval;- a continued acceptable safety profile following any marketing approval;- commercial acceptance by patients, the medical community and third-party payors;- the availability of coverage and adequate reimbursement and pricing by third-party payors and government authorities;- the availability, perceived advantages, relative cost, relative safety and relative efficacy of alternative and competing treatments; and - our ability to compete with other therapies.
We do not have complete control over many of these factors, including certain aspects of clinical development and the regulatory submission process, potential threats to our intellectual property rights and the manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sales efforts of any future collaborator. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will ever be able to generate revenue through the sale of our product candidates. If we are not successful in commercializing ATRN-119 and/or APR-1051, or are significantly delayed in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 6
We may seek a breakthrough therapy designation for one or more of our product candidates, but we might not receive such designation, and even if we do, such designation may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process.Changed
We may seek a breakthrough therapy designation for one or more of our product candidates. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a drug that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. For drugs and biologics that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the FDA and the sponsor of the trial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Drugs designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA may also be eligible for priority review if supported by clinical data at the time the NDA is submitted to the FDA, and parts of the NDA may be submitted and reviewed on a rolling basis.
Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe that one of our product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. Even if we receive breakthrough therapy designation, the receipt of such designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development or regulatory review or approval process compared to drugs considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of our product candidates qualify as breakthrough therapies, the FDA may later decide that the product candidates no longer meet the conditions for qualification or decide that the time period for FDA review or approval will not be shortened. For example, in June 2022, FDA published a draft guidance document outlining considerations for the Agency in rescinding Breakthrough Therapy designation for products that no longer meet the requirements for that designation.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 7
A fast track designation by the FDA for one of our product candidates may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process.Changed
If a drug is intended, whether alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition and nonclinical or clinical data demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical need for this condition, a drug sponsor may apply for FDA fast track designation. We may not experience a faster development or regulatory review or approval process for any product candidates, if any, for which we obtain fast track designation compared to conventional FDA procedures. In addition, the FDA may withdraw fast track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program. Fast track designation alone does not guarantee qualification for the FDA's priority review procedures.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 8
We may not be able to file INDs or IND amendments to commence additional clinical trials on the timelines we expect, and even if we are able to, the FDA may not permit us to proceed.We have filed IND's for ATRN-119 and APR-1051, but we may not be able to file INDs for our other product candidates on the timelines we expect. For example, we may experience manufacturing delays or other delays with IND-enabling studies. Moreover, we cannot be sure that submission of an IND will result in the FDA allowing further clinical trials to begin, or that, once begun, issues will not arise that lead FDA, IRBs, or other authorities to suspend, terminate, or require changes to our clinical trials. Additionally, even if such regulatory and other authorities agree with the design and implementation of the clinical trials set forth in an IND, we cannot guarantee that such regulatory authorities will not change their requirements in the future. These considerations also apply to new clinical trials or changes to existing clinical trials we may submit as amendments to existing INDs or to a new IND. Any failure to file INDs on the timelines we expect or to obtain regulatory clearance or approvals for our trials may prevent us from completing our clinical trials or commercializing our products on a timely basis, if at all.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 9
We have limited experience as a company conducting clinical trials and may be unable to complete pivotal clinical trials for any product candidates we may develop.Our success is dependent upon our ability to initiate and successfully complete clinical trials and obtain regulatory approval for and commercialization of our product candidates. We have not demonstrated an ability to perform the functions necessary for the approval or successful commercialization of any product candidate. The successful commercialization of any product candidate may require us to perform a variety of functions, including:
- continuing to undertake preclinical development;- obtaining approval to commence clinical trials;- successfully planning and enrolling subjects in clinical trials;- participating in regulatory approval processes;- formulating and manufacturing products; and - conducting sales and marketing activities
We have limited experience designing, conducting and enrolling subjects in clinical trials. While certain members of our management and staff have significant experience in conducting clinical trials, to date, we have not completed any clinical trials as a company. Our operations to date provide a limited basis to assess our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates.
Because of this lack of experience, any future clinical trials we may conduct may not be completed on time, if at all. Large-scale trials require significant additional financial and management resources, monitoring and oversight, and reliance on third-party clinical investigators, consultants or contract research organizations, or CROs. Relying on third-party clinical investigators, CROs and manufacturers, which are all also subject to governmental oversight and regulations, may also cause us to encounter delays that are outside of our control. Failure to commence or complete, or delays in, clinical trials, could prevent us from or delay us in commercializing our product candidates.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 10
We may find it difficult to enroll patients in our clinical trials. If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary marketing 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 comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Patient enrollment is a significant factor in the timing of clinical trials and our ability to enroll eligible patients may be limited or may result in slower enrollment than we anticipate.
Patient enrollment may be affected if our competitors have ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that are under development for the same indications as our product candidates, and patients who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials instead enroll in clinical trials of our competitors' product candidates. Patient enrollment may also be affected by other factors, including:
- size and nature of the patient population;- severity of the disease under investigation;- availability and efficacy of approved drugs for the disease under investigation;- patient eligibility criteria for the trial in question;- patients' and clinicians' perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study;- competing clinical trials;- efforts to facilitate timely enrollment in clinical trials;- physicians' attitudes and practices with respect to clinical trial enrollment;- the ability to monitor patients adequately during and after treatment;- proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective patients; and - continued enrollment of prospective patients by clinical trial sites.
Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials would result in significant delays or may require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether. Enrollment delays in our clinical trials may result in increased development costs for our product candidates, which would cause the value of our company to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 11
Leveraging synthetic lethality in therapeutic targeting of DDR represents an emerging strategy to treat a broad spectrum of cancers, and negative perceptions of the efficacy, safety, or tolerability of this class of targets, including any that we develop, could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business, advance our product candidates or obtain regulatory approvals.Aside from PARP inhibitors, such as Lynparza, Rubraca, Zejula and Talzenna, no synthetic lethality small molecule inhibitor therapeutics have been approved to date by the FDA. Pamiparib, a PARP inhibitor developed by Beigene, was approved in 2021 in China. Adverse events in future clinical trials of our product candidates or in clinical trials of other similar products and the resulting publicity, as well as any other adverse events in the field of synthetic lethality and DDR, or any adverse events involving other products that are perceived to be similar to DDR, such as those related to gene therapy or gene editing, could result in a decrease in the perceived benefit of one or more of our programs, increased regulatory scrutiny, decreased confidence by healthcare professionals, patients and CROs in our product candidates, difficulties and delays in regulatory clearance or approval for, enrollment of patients in, and conduct of, our clinical trials, and less demand for any product that we may develop. Synthetic lethality is a very competitive space with many companies developing programs for different targets in the field. Our pipeline of product candidates could result in a greater quantity of reportable adverse events or other reportable negative clinical outcomes, manufacturing reportable events or material clinical events that could lead to clinical delays or holds by the FDA or applicable regulatory authority or other clinical delays, any of which could negatively impact the perception of one or more of our product development programs, as well as our business as a whole.
In addition, responses by U.S. federal or foreign governments to adverse events or negative public perception may result in new legislation or regulations that could limit our ability to develop any product candidates or commercialize any approved products, obtain or maintain regulatory approval, or otherwise achieve profitability. More restrictive statutory regimes, government regulations, or negative public opinion would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects, and may delay or impair the development of our product candidates and commercialization of any approved products or demand for any products we may develop.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 12
If serious adverse or unacceptable side effects are identified during the development of our product candidates or we observe limited efficacy of our product candidates, we may need to abandon or limit the development of one or more of our product candidates.Adverse events or unacceptable side effects caused by, or other unexpected properties of, our product candidates could cause us, any future collaborators, an institutional review board, or IRB, or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials of one or more of our product candidates and could result in the (i) delay or denial of marketing approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, (ii) approval with significant restrictions on distribution or use or (iii) required labeling information regarding safety concerns, if approved.
In general, our clinical trials of ATRN-119 and APR-1051 will include cancer patients who are very sick and whose health is deteriorating. We expect that patients may experience adverse events, serious adverse events or may die during their participation in our future clinical trials for ATRN-119 and APR-1051, or other product candidates. We cannot predict with certainty what adverse events may occur in our clinical trials. Any adverse events, serious adverse events, or deaths occurring in our clinical trials, whether related to our product candidates or not, could affect perceptions relating to our product candidates. In addition, our previous clinical trials of eprenetapopt include cancer patients who were very sick and whose health is deteriorating, and we expect that additional clinical trials of eprenetapopt and our other product candidates will include similar patients with deteriorating health. Multiple patients in these trials have experienced adverse events. The most commonly reported adverse events include nausea, vomiting, constipation, dizziness, fatigue, and neutropenia. Some patients in these trials have experienced serious adverse events. The most common serious adverse events include febrile neutropenia, pneumonia, sepsis, and pyrexia.
In addition, if any of our product candidates are associated with adverse events or undesirable side effects or have properties that are unexpected, our trials could be suspended or terminated and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. We, or any future collaborators, may abandon development or limit development of that product candidate to certain uses or subpopulations in which the undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective. Drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects significantly.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 13
The outcome of preclinical testing and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials, interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results, and the results of our clinical trials may not satisfy the requirements of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities.We currently have no drugs approved for sale and we cannot guarantee that we will ever have marketable drugs. Clinical failure can occur at any stage of clinical development. Clinical trials may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we or any future collaborators may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or preclinical studies. We will be required to demonstrate with substantial evidence through adequate and well-controlled clinical trials that our product candidates are safe and effective for use in treating specific conditions in order to obtain marketing approvals for their commercial sale. Success in preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials does not mean that future larger registration clinical trials will be successful because product candidates in later-stage clinical trials may fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the FDA and non-U.S. regulatory authorities despite having progressed through preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials. Product candidates that have shown promising results in preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials may still suffer significant setbacks in subsequent registration clinical trials. Additionally, the outcome of preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later-stage clinical trials.
From time to time, we may publish or report interim or preliminary data from our clinical trials. Interim or preliminary data from clinical trials that we may conduct may not be indicative of the final results of the trial and are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Interim or preliminary data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the interim or preliminary data. As a result, interim or preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available.
In addition, the design of a clinical trial can determine whether its results will support approval of a drug and flaws in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced. We have limited experience in designing clinical trials and may be unable to design and conduct a clinical trial to support marketing approval. Further, if our product candidates are found to be unsafe or lack efficacy, we will not be able to obtain marketing approval for them and our business would be harmed. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry, including those with greater resources and experience than us, have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after obtaining promising results in preclinical studies and earlier clinical trials.
In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety and efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial protocols, differences in size and type of the patient populations, differences in and adherence to the dosing regimen and other trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. We do not know whether any clinical trials we may conduct will demonstrate consistent or adequate efficacy and safety sufficient to obtain marketing approval to market our product candidates.
In addition, in the event that an adverse safety issue, clinical hold, or other adverse finding occurs in one of our clinical trials, that event could adversely affect any other clinical trials for the same product candidate. Moreover, there is a relatively limited safety data set for product candidates with the same mechanism of action as ATRN-119 or APR-1051 or our other product candidates. An adverse safety issue or other adverse finding in a clinical trial conducted by a third party with a similar mechanism of action could adversely affect clinical trials involving ATRN-119 or APR-1051 or our other product candidates.
Further, our product candidates may not be approved even if they achieve their primary endpoints in clinical trials, including registration trials. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our trial design and our interpretation of data from preclinical studies and clinical trials. In addition, 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 pivotal clinical trial that has the potential to result in approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. In addition, any of these regulatory authorities may also approve a product candidate for fewer or more limited indications than we request or may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials. In addition, the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not approve the labeling claims that we believe would be necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates.
Before obtaining marketing approvals for the commercial sale of any product candidate for a target indication, we must demonstrate with substantial evidence gathered in preclinical studies and adequate and well-controlled clinical trials, and, with respect to approval in the United States, to the satisfaction of the FDA and elsewhere to the satisfaction of other comparable foreign regulatory authorities, that the product candidate is safe and effective for use for that target indication. There is no assurance that the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities will consider our future clinical trials to be sufficient to serve as the basis for approval of one of our product candidates for any indication. The FDA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities retain broad discretion in evaluating the results of our clinical trials and in determining whether the results demonstrate that a product candidate is safe and effective. If we are required to conduct additional clinical trials of a product candidate than we expect prior to its approval, we will need substantial additional funds and there is no assurance that the results of any such additional clinical trials will be sufficient for approval.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 14
Clinical drug development is a lengthy and expensive process, with an uncertain outcome. If clinical trials of our product candidates fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of regulatory authorities or do not otherwise produce positive results, we may incur additional costs, experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development of our product candidates or be unable to obtain marketing approval.Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our product candidates, we must complete preclinical development and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates. Clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement, can take many years to complete and is uncertain as to outcome. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. The outcome of preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials, and interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results.
Moreover, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their drugs.
We do not know whether ongoing clinical trials will be completed on schedule or at all, or whether future clinical trials will begin on time, need to be redesigned, enroll patients on time or be completed on schedule, if at all. Clinical trials can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including delays related to:
- obtaining regulatory authorization to commence a trial;- reaching agreement on acceptable terms with prospective contract research organizations, or CROs, and clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and clinical trial sites;- obtaining institutional review board or ethics committee approval at each clinical trial site;- recruiting suitable patients to participate in a trial;- the impact of any outbreak or pandemic on patient screening, patient enrollment, and follow-up;- developing and validating any companion diagnostic to be used in the trial, to the extent we are required to do so;- patients failing to comply with the clinical trial protocol or dropping out of a trial;- clinical trial sites failing to comply with the clinical trial protocol or dropping out of a trial;- addressing any conflicts with new or existing laws or regulations;- the need to add new clinical trial sites;- manufacturing sufficient quantities of product candidate for use in clinical trials and ensuring clinical trial material is provided to clinical sites in a timely manner; or - obtaining advice from regulatory authorities regarding the statistical analysis plan to be used to evaluate the clinical trial data or other trial design issues.
We may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, clinical trials that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize our product candidates, including:
- we may receive feedback from regulatory authorities that requires us to modify the design of our clinical trials;- clinical trials of our product candidates may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon drug development programs;- the number of patients required for clinical trials of our product candidates may be larger than we anticipate, enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate or participants may drop out of these clinical trials at a higher rate than we anticipate;- our third-party contractors, including our CROs, may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all;- we, our investigators, or any of the overseeing IRBs or ethics committees might decide to suspend or terminate clinical trials of our product candidates for various reasons, including non-compliance with regulatory requirements, a finding that our product candidates have undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics, or a finding that the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;- the cost of clinical trials of our product candidates may be greater than we anticipate;- the supply or quality of our product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates may be insufficient or inadequate;- regulators may revise the requirements for approving our product candidates, or such requirements may not be as we anticipate; and - any future collaborators that conduct clinical trials may face any of the above issues and may conduct clinical trials in ways they view as advantageous to them but that are suboptimal for us.
If we are required to conduct additional clinical trials or other testing of our product candidates beyond those that we currently contemplate, if we are unable to successfully complete clinical trials of our product candidates or other testing, if the results of these trials or tests are not positive or are insufficiently positive to support marketing approval, or if there are safety concerns, we may:
- incur unplanned costs;- be delayed in obtaining marketing approval for our product candidates or not obtain marketing approval at all;- obtain marketing approval in some countries and not in others;- obtain marketing approval for indications or patient populations that are narrower or more limited in scope than intended or desired;- obtain marketing approval subject to significant use or distribution restrictions or with labeling that includes significant safety warnings, including boxed warnings;- be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements; or - have the drug removed from the market after obtaining marketing approval.
Our drug development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing or marketing approvals. We do not know whether clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, or at all. Furthermore, we rely on third-party CROs and clinical trial sites to ensure the proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials, and while we have agreements governing their committed activities, we have limited influence over their actual performance. Significant clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates or allow our competitors to bring drugs to market before we do and impair our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and may harm our business and results of operations.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 15
We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product candidate or indication and 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 focus on research programs and product candidates that we identify 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. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial drugs or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and product candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable drugs. 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 strategic arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such product candidate.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 16
If we are required to in the future and if we are unable to successfully develop companion diagnostic tests for our product candidates that require such tests, or experience significant delays in doing so, we may not realize the full commercial potential of these product candidates.We may be required by the FDA to develop, either by ourselves or with collaborators, companion diagnostic tests for our product candidates for certain indications. To be successful, we or our collaborators will need to address a number of scientific, technical, regulatory and logistical challenges. We have no prior experience with medical device or diagnostic test development. If we choose to develop and seek FDA approval for companion diagnostic tests on our own, we will require additional personnel. We may rely on third parties for the design, development and manufacture of companion diagnostic tests for our therapeutic product candidates that require such tests. If these parties are unable to successfully develop companion diagnostics for these therapeutic product candidates, or experience delays in doing so, we may be unable to enroll enough patients for our current and planned clinical trials, the development of these therapeutic product candidates may be adversely affected, these therapeutic product candidates may not obtain marketing approval, and we may not realize the full commercial potential of any of these therapeutics that obtain marketing approval. Any failure to successfully develop this companion diagnostic may cause or contribute to delayed enrollment of this trial, and may prevent us from initiating or completing further clinical trials to support marketing approval for our product candidates. As a result, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially harmed.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 17
We may not be successful in our efforts to identify or discover additional potential product candidates.Our research programs may initially show promise in identifying potential product candidates, yet fail to yield product candidates for clinical development for a number of reasons, including:
- the research methodology used may not be successful in identifying potential product candidates;- potential product candidates may, on further study, be shown to have harmful side effects or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to be drugs that will receive marketing approval and/or achieve market acceptance; and - potential product candidates may not be safe or effective in treating their targeted diseases.
Research programs to identify new product candidates require substantial technical, financial and human resources. If we are unable to identify suitable compounds for preclinical and clinical development, our business would be harmed.
Trade Secrets16 | 20.0%
Trade Secrets - Risk 1
If we are unable to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our product candidates or for our technology, our competitors could develop and commercialize products or technology similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize any product candidates we may develop, and our technology may be adversely affected.Trade Secrets - Risk 2
Our proprietary position for eprenetapopt depends upon patents that consist of method-of-use and formulation patent claims, which may not prevent a competitor or other third party from using the same product candidate for another use or in another formulation.Composition-of-matter patent claims on the active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, in pharmaceutical drug products are generally considered to be the favored form of intellectual property protection for drug products because such patents may provide protection without regard to any particular method of use or manufacture or formulation of the API used. The chemical structure of eprenetapopt is in the public domain. Accordingly, we do not own or license any composition of matter patents claiming the compound of eprenetapopt and will not in the future own or license any composition of matter patents claiming the chemical structure of eprenetapopt as described in the public domain.
Method-of-use patent claims protect the use of a product for the specified method and dosing or formulation patent claims cover dosing regimens or formulations of the API. These types of patent claims do not prevent a competitor or other third party from marketing an identical API for an indication that is outside the scope of the method claims or from developing a different dosing regimen or formulation that is outside the scope of the dosing or formulation claims. Moreover, with respect to method-of-use patents, even if competitors or other third parties do not actively promote their product for our targeted indications or uses for which we may obtain patents, physicians may recommend that patients use these products off-label, or patients may do so themselves. Although off-label use may infringe or contribute to the infringement of method-of-use patents, the practice is common and such infringement is difficult to prevent or prosecute.
In addition, there are numerous publications and other prior art that may be relevant to our patents and may be used to challenge the validity of such patents in litigation or other intellectual property-related proceedings. If such challenges are successful, our patents may be narrowed or found to be invalid and we may lose valuable intellectual property rights. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions and results of operations and prospects.
Trade Secrets - Risk 3
Issued patents covering our product candidates and other technologies could be narrowed or found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court or before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad.If we seek to enforce a patent covering our product candidates or other technologies against a third party, that third party could assert that such patent is invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, challenges to validity or enforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of patentable subject matter, lack of novelty, obviousness, inadequate written description, indefiniteness, or lack of enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that relevant information was withheld from or a misleading statement was made to the USPTO during prosecution.
In addition, third parties may raise claims challenging the validity or enforceability of our patents before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include pre-issuance submission of prior art to the USPTO and re-examination, post-grant review, inter partes review, interference proceedings, derivation proceedings, and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions (e.g., opposition proceedings). Moreover, we may have to participate in interference proceedings declared by the USPTO to determine priority of invention or in post-grant challenge proceedings, such as oppositions in a foreign patent office, that challenge our priority of invention or other features of patentability with respect to our patents and patent applications. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate or render unenforceable, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our product candidates or other technologies and compete directly with us, without payment to us.
In the United States, an inventor's own publication may not be effective prior art to the inventor's patent application on the same subject matter when published less than one year before the effective filing date of the patent application. Such a publication might be considered prior art in certain jurisdictions that do not provide such a grace period. For those non-US jurisdictions, reliance on non-patent exclusivity may provide sufficient competitive protection to exclude others from commercializing generic versions of our products.
Such proceedings also may result in substantial cost and require significant time from our scientists and management, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us. If we are unsuccessful in any such proceeding or other priority or inventorship dispute, we may be required to obtain and maintain licenses from third parties, including parties involved in any such interference proceedings or other priority or inventorship disputes. Such licenses may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or may be non-exclusive. If we are unable to obtain and maintain such licenses, we may need to cease the development, manufacture, and commercialization of one or more of the product candidates we may develop. The loss of exclusivity or the narrowing of our patent claims could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
Trade Secrets - Risk 4
We may be subject to other claims challenging the inventorship of our patents and other intellectual property.We may also be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in our patents, trade secrets, or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor. For example, we may have inventorship disputes arise from conflicting obligations of employees, consultants or others who are involved in developing our product candidates or other technologies. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship of our patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, intellectual property that is important to our product candidates and other technologies. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Trade Secrets - Risk 5
If we do not obtain patent term extension or data exclusivity for any product candidates we may develop, our business may be materially harmed.Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of any FDA marketing approval of any product candidates we may develop, one or more of our U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, commonly referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Act. The Hatch-Waxman Act permits a patent term extension of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. A patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent may be extended and only those claims covering the approved drug, a method for using it, or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. Similar extensions as compensation for patent term lost during regulatory review processes are also available in certain foreign countries and territories, such as in Europe under a Supplementary Patent Certificate. However, we may not be granted an extension in the United States and/or foreign countries and territories because of, for example, failing to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents, or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is shorter than what we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects could be materially harmed.
Trade Secrets - Risk 6
We may not be successful in obtaining, through acquisitions, in-licenses or otherwise, rights that may be necessary to our product candidates or other technologies.The growth of our business may depend in part on our future ability to acquire or in-license any relevant third-party proprietary rights that we may identify as necessary or important to our business operations. For example, our programs may involve additional product candidates that may require the use of additional proprietary rights held by third parties. Our product candidates may also require specific formulations to work effectively and efficiently. These formulations may be covered by intellectual property rights held by others. We may develop products containing our compounds and pre-existing pharmaceutical compounds. These pharmaceutical compounds may be covered by intellectual property rights held by others. We may be required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities to provide a companion diagnostic test or tests with our product candidates. These diagnostic test or tests may be covered by intellectual property rights held by others. We may be unable to acquire or in-license such third-party intellectual property rights. We may fail to obtain any of these licenses at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all, which would harm our business. We may need to cease use of the compositions or methods covered by such third-party intellectual property rights, and may need to seek to develop alternative approaches that do not infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate intellectual property rights which may entail additional costs and development delays, even if we were able to develop such alternatives, which may not be feasible. Even if we are able to obtain a license to such intellectual property rights, any such license may be non-exclusive, which may allow our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us.
Additionally, we sometimes collaborate with academic institutions and clinical research organizations to accelerate our research or development under written agreements with these institutions and organizations. In certain cases, these institutions and organizations may own or jointly own with us inventions that are created under such collaborations and provide us with an option to negotiate a license to any of the institution's rights in such inventions. Regardless of such option, we may be unable to negotiate a license within the specified timeframe or under terms that are acceptable to us. If we are unable to do so, the institution or organization may offer the intellectual property rights to others, potentially blocking our ability to pursue our program and allowing third parties to compete with us.
The licensing and acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive practice, and companies that may be more established, or have greater resources than we do, may also be pursuing strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider necessary or attractive in order to commercialize our product candidates. More established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their larger size and cash resources or greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. We also may be unable to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment or at all. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully complete such negotiations and ultimately acquire the rights to the intellectual property surrounding the additional product candidates that we may seek to acquire. If we are unable to successfully obtain rights to third-party intellectual property that may be necessary, we may have to abandon development of such program and our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects could suffer.
Trade Secrets - Risk 7
Changes in U.S. patent law could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our product candidates and technology.Recent or future patent reform legislation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents. Assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, prior to March 2013, in the United States, the first to invent the claimed invention was entitled to the patent, while outside the United States, the first to file a patent application was entitled to the patent regardless of whether another inventor had made the invention earlier. In March 2013, under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or America Invents Act, the United States moved from a "first-to-invent" to a "first-to-file" system. Under a "first-to-file" system, assuming the other requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application generally will be entitled to a patent on the invention regardless of whether another inventor had made the invention earlier. A third party that files a patent application in the USPTO after March 2013, but before us, could therefore be awarded a patent covering an invention of ours even if we had made the invention before it was made by such third party. Since patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time after filing or until issuance, we cannot be certain that we were the first to either (i) file any patent application related to our product candidates or other technologies or (ii) invent any of the inventions claimed in our patents or patent applications.
The America Invents Act includes a number of other significant changes to U.S. patent law, including provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted, redefine prior art and establish a new post-grant review system. These include allowing third party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent by USPTO-administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review, and derivation proceedings. Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standard in United States federal courts necessary to invalidate a patent claim, a third party could potentially provide evidence in a USPTO proceeding sufficient for the USPTO to hold a claim invalid even though the same evidence would be insufficient to invalidate the claim if first presented in a district court action. Accordingly, a third party may attempt to use the USPTO procedures to invalidate our patent claims that would not have been invalidated if first challenged by the third party in a district court action. An adverse determination in any such proceeding could reduce the scope of, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. Accordingly, the America Invents Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patents.
In addition, the patent positions of companies in the development and commercialization of biologics and pharmaceuticals are particularly uncertain. Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. This combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the validity and enforceability of patents, once obtained. Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that could have a material adverse effect on our existing patent portfolio and our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property in the future.
Trade Secrets - Risk 8
We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time consuming and unsuccessful.Competitors may infringe our patents, or we may be required to defend against claims of infringement. In addition, our patents also may become involved in inventorship, priority, validity or unenforceability disputes. To counter or defend against such claims can be expensive and time consuming. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. For example, in an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent owned by us is invalid or unenforceable. There is also the risk that, even if the validity of these patents is upheld, the court will refuse to stop the third party on the ground that such third party's activities do not infringe our owned patents, including finding that the other party's use of our patented technology falls under the safe harbor to patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1). Even if resolved in our favor, these lawsuits are expensive and would consume time and other resources, including distracting our personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions, or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing, or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to conduct such litigation or proceedings adequately. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation.
We may not be able to detect infringement against our patents which may be more difficult for formulation patents. Even if we detect infringement by a third party of our patents, we may choose not to pursue litigation against or settlement with the third party. If we later sue such third party for patent infringement, the third party may have certain legal defenses available to it, which otherwise would not be available except for the delay between when the infringement was first detected and when the suit was brought. Such legal defenses may make it impossible for us to enforce our patents against such third party.
If another party questions the patentability of any of our claims in our U.S. patents, the third party can request that the USPTO review the patent claims such as in an inter partes review, ex parte re-exam or post-grant review proceedings. These proceedings are expensive and may result in a loss of scope of some claims or a loss of the entire patent. In addition to potential USPTO review proceedings, we may become a party to patent opposition proceedings in the European Patent Office, or EPO, or similar proceedings in other foreign patent offices, where either our foreign patents are challenged. The costs of these opposition or similar proceedings could be substantial, and may result in a loss of scope of some claims or a loss of the entire patent. An unfavorable result at the USPTO, EPO or other patent office may result in the loss of our right to exclude others from practicing one or more of our inventions in the relevant country or jurisdiction, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Trade Secrets - Risk 9
If we are sued for infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating patents or other intellectual property rights of third parties, it will be costly and time consuming, and an unfavorable outcome in that litigation would have a material adverse effect on our business.Our commercial success depends upon our ability to develop, manufacture, market and sell our product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights of third parties. There is a substantial amount of litigation involving patents and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. We may be exposed to, or threatened with, future litigation by third parties having patent or other intellectual property rights alleging that our product candidates and/or proprietary technologies infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights. We cannot guarantee that our product candidates and other technologies that we have developed, are developing or may develop in the future will not infringe existing or future patents owned by third parties. U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications, which are owned by third parties, exist in the fields relating to our product candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that others may assert our product candidates infringe the patent rights of others. Moreover, it is not always clear to industry participants, including us, which patents cover various types of drugs, products or their methods of use or manufacture. Thus, because of the large number of patents issued and patent applications filed in our fields, there may be a risk that third parties may allege they have patent rights encompassing our product candidates, technologies or methods. It is also possible that patents owned by third parties of which we are aware, but which we do not believe are relevant to our product candidates or other technologies, could be found to be infringed by our product candidates or other technologies. In addition,because some patent applications in the United States may be maintained in secrecy until the patents are issued, patent applications in the United States and many foreign jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, and publications in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain that others have not filed patent applications covering our product candidates or technology. If any such patent applications issue as patents, and if such patents have priority over our patent applications or patents, we may be required to obtain rights to such patents owned by third parties which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or may only be available on a non-exclusive basis.
If a third party claims that we infringe its intellectual property rights, we may face a number of issues even if we believe such claims are without merit, including, but not limited to:
- infringement and other intellectual property claims which, regardless of merit, may be expensive and time-consuming to litigate, may divert our management's attention from our core business and may impact our reputation;- substantial damages for infringement, which we may have to pay if a court decides that the product candidate or technology at issue infringes on or violates the third party's rights, and, if the court finds that the infringement was willful, we could be ordered to pay treble damages and the patent owner's attorneys' fees;- a court prohibiting us from developing, manufacturing, marketing or selling our product candidates, including eprenetapopt, or from using our proprietary technologies, unless the third party licenses its patent rights to us, which it is not required to do;- if a license is available from a third party, we may have to pay substantial royalties, upfront fees and other amounts, and/or grant cross-licenses to intellectual property rights for our product candidates or such license is only available on a non-exclusive basis; and - redesigning our product candidates or processes so they do not infringe, which may not be possible or may require substantial monetary expenditures and time.
Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. In addition, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations or could otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or growth prospects.
We may choose to challenge the patentability of claims in a third party's U.S. patent by requesting that the USPTO review the patent claims in an ex-parte re-exam, inter partes review or post-grant review proceedings. These proceedings are expensive and may consume our time or other resources. We may choose to challenge a third party's patent in patent opposition proceedings in the EPO, or other foreign patent office. The costs of these opposition proceedings could be substantial, and may consume our time or other resources. If we fail to obtain a favorable result at the USPTO, EPO or other patent office then we may be exposed to litigation by a third party alleging that the patent may be infringed by our product candidates or proprietary technologies.
Trade Secrets - Risk 10
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights with patents throughout the world.Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on all of our product candidates throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and the laws of some foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Competitors may use our technology in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection but where enforcement is not as strong as in the United States. These products may compete with our product candidates in jurisdictions where we do not have any issued patents and our patent claims or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from so competing. Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biopharmaceuticals, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products against third parties in violation of our proprietary rights generally. The initiation of proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights or proceedings by third parties to challenge the scope or validity of our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial cost and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business and could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly.
Many countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of such patent. If we are forced to grant a license to third parties with respect to any patents relevant to our business, our competitive position may be impaired, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects may be adversely affected.
Trade Secrets - Risk 11
Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends upon compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.The USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other provisions during the patent prosecution process and following the issuance of a patent. In some cases, an inadvertent failure to comply with such requirements can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. There are situations, however, in which non-compliance could result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would otherwise have been the case if our patent were in force, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.
Trade Secrets - Risk 12
We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or advisors have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their current or former employers or claims asserting ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.As is common in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, we employ individuals who were previously employed at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although no claims against us are currently pending, we may be subject to claims that these employees, consultants or advisors or we have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of their current or former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses, and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments, and, if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. This type of litigation or proceeding could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce our resources available for development activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to adequately conduct such litigation or proceedings. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their substantially greater financial resources. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other intellectual property related proceedings could adversely affect our ability to compete in the marketplace.
In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the conception or 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, conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. The assignment of intellectual property rights may not be self-executing, or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property. Such claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.
Trade Secrets - Risk 13
Confidentiality agreements with employees and third parties may not prevent unauthorized disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information.In addition to the protection afforded by patents, we rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to protect proprietary know-how that is not patentable or that we elect not to patent, processes for which patents are difficult to enforce and any other elements of our platform technology and discovery and development processes that involve proprietary know-how, information or technology that is not covered by patents. However, trade secrets can be difficult to protect and we have limited control over the protection of trade secrets used by our collaborators and suppliers. Although we seek to protect our proprietary technology and processes, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements with parties who have access them, such as our employees, consultants, and outside scientific advisors, contractors and collaborators, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or have had access to our trade secrets or proprietary technology and processes. Despite our efforts, any of these parties might breach the agreements and intentionally or inadvertently disclose our trade secret information and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. In addition, competitors may otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or independently develop substantially equivalent information and techniques. Moreover, our competitors or other third parties may independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how.
Enforcing a claim that a third party illegally obtained and is using any of our trade secrets is expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, courts inside and outside the United States sometimes are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. If we choose to go to court to stop a third party from using any of our trade secrets, we may incur substantial costs. These lawsuits may consume our time and other resources even if we are successful. If any of our trade secrets were determined to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we may not be able to prevent them 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 or other third party, our competitive position, business, results of operations and prospects would be materially and adversely harmed.
Trade Secrets - Risk 14
Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats.The degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain because legal means afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep our competitive advantage. For example:
- others may be able to make or use compounds that are similar to the pharmaceutical compounds used in our product candidates but that are not covered by the claims of our patents;- the APIs in our current product candidates will eventually become commercially available in generic drug products, and no patent protection may be available with regard to formulation or method of use;- we, or our future licensors or collaborators, might not have been the first to file patent applications for these inventions;- we, or our future licensors or collaborators, might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by our issued patents or pending patent applications;- others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies;- it is possible that our current or future pending or licensed patent applications will not result in issued patents;- it is possible that public disclosures or publications, including disclosures or publications made by us, could be used in an attempt to invalidate our patents;- issued patents that we hold rights to may be held invalid or unenforceable, including as a result of legal challenges by our competitors or other third parties;- our competitors or other third parties might conduct research and development activities in countries where we do not have patent rights and then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive products for sale in our major commercial markets;- it is possible that others may circumvent our patents;- it is possible that there are unpublished applications or patent applications maintained in secrecy that may later issue with claims covering our products or technology similar to ours;- the laws of foreign countries may not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States;- the claims of our issued patents or patent applications, if and when issued, may not cover our product candidates;- our issued patents may not provide us with any competitive advantages, may be narrowed in scope, or be held invalid or unenforceable as a result of legal challenges by third parties;- the inventors of our patents or patent applications may become involved with competitors, develop products or processes which design around our patents, or become hostile to us or the patents or patent applications on which they are named as inventors;- we have engaged in scientific collaborations in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Such collaborators may develop adjacent or competing products to ours that are outside the scope of our patents;- we may not develop additional proprietary technologies for which we can obtain patent protection;- we may choose not to pursue patent protection in order to maintain certain trade secrets or know-how, and a third party may subsequently obtain a patent covering such intellectual property;- it is possible that product candidates or diagnostic tests we develop may be covered by third parties' patents or other exclusive rights; or - the patents of others may have an adverse effect on our business.
Should any of these events occur, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Trade Secrets - Risk 15
If trademarks, brand names and trade names are not adequately protected or available, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.We may rely on trademarks, service marks, tradenames and brand names. We cannot assure you that our trademark applications will be approved. During trademark registration proceedings, we may receive rejections. Although we are given an opportunity to respond to those rejections, we may be unable to overcome such rejections. In addition, any registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names that we currently have or may in the future acquire may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names, which we need to build name recognition among potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. At times, competitors or other third parties may adopt trade names or trademarks similar to ours, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, trade secrets, domain names, copyrights or other intellectual property may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Trade Secrets - Risk 16
Although we currently plan to retain all commercial rights to our product candidates, we may enter into strategic collaborations for the development, marketing and commercialization of our product candidates. If those collaborations are not successful, the development, marketing and/or commercialization of our product candidates that are the subject of such collaborations would be harmed.As we further develop our product candidates, we may build a commercial infrastructure with the capability to directly market it to a variety of markets and geographies. Although we currently plan to retain all commercial rights to our product candidates, we may enter into strategic collaborations for the development, marketing and commercialization of our product candidates. Our likely collaborators for any collaboration arrangements include large and mid-size pharmaceutical companies, regional and national pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies. If we do enter into any such arrangements with any third parties, we will likely have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our collaborators dedicate to the development, marketing and/or commercialization of our product candidates. Our ability to generate revenues from these arrangements will depend on our collaborators' abilities to successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements. In addition, any future collaborators may have the right to abandon research or development projects and terminate applicable agreements, including funding obligations, prior to or upon the expiration of the agreed upon terms.
Collaborations involving our product candidates would pose the following risks to us:
- collaborators have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to these collaborations;- collaborators may not perform their obligations as expected;- collaborators may not pursue development, marketing and/or commercialization of our product candidates or may elect not to continue or renew development, marketing or commercialization programs based on clinical trial results, changes in the collaborator's strategic focus or available funding or external factors such as an acquisition that diverts resources or creates competing priorities;- collaborators may delay clinical trials, provide insufficient funding for a clinical trial program, stop a clinical trial or abandon a product candidate, repeat or conduct new clinical trials or require a new formulation of a product candidate for clinical testing;- collaborators could independently develop, or develop with third parties, drugs that compete directly or indirectly with our product candidates or product candidates;- a collaborator with marketing and distribution rights to one or more drugs may not commit sufficient resources to the marketing and distribution of such drug or drugs;- disagreements with collaborators, including disagreements over proprietary rights, contract interpretation or the preferred course of development, might cause delays or termination of the research, development or commercialization of product candidates, might lead to additional responsibilities for us with respect to product candidates, or might result in litigation or arbitration, any of which would be time-consuming and expensive;- collaborators may not properly obtain, maintain, defend and enforce our intellectual property rights or may use our proprietary information in such a way as to invite litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our proprietary information or expose us to potential litigation;- collaborators may infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate the intellectual property rights of third parties, which may expose us to litigation and potential liability;- we may lose certain valuable rights under circumstances identified in any collaboration arrangement that we enter into, such as if we undergo a change of control;- collaborations may be terminated and, if terminated, may result in a need for additional capital to pursue further development, marketing and/or commercialization of the applicable product candidates;- collaborators may learn about our discoveries, data, proprietary information, trade secrets, or compounds and use this knowledge to compete with us in the future; and - the number and type of our collaborations could adversely affect our attractiveness to future collaborators or acquirers.
Collaboration agreements may not lead to development or commercialization of product candidates in the most efficient manner, or at all.
Cyber Security1 | 1.3%
Cyber Security - Risk 1
Security breaches, loss of data and other disruptions could compromise sensitive information related to our business or prevent us from accessing critical information and expose us to liability, which could adversely affect our business and our reputation.Technology1 | 1.3%
Technology - Risk 1
Our business and operations would suffer in the event of IT system failures, cybersecurity attacks, data breaches, or vulnerabilities in our or our third-party vendors' information security program or defenses.Legal & Regulatory
Total Risks: 22/80 (28%)Above Sector Average
Regulation13 | 16.3%
Regulation - Risk 1
Governments outside of the United States tend to impose strict price controls, which may adversely affect our revenues from the sales of our products, if any.Regulation - Risk 2
If the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities approve generic versions of any of our product candidates that receive marketing approval, or such authorities do not grant our product candidates appropriate periods of data or market exclusivity before approving generic versions of our product candidates, the sales of our product candidates could be adversely affected.Once an NDA is approved, the drug covered thereby becomes a "reference-listed drug" in the FDA's publication, "Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations." Manufacturers may seek marketing approval of generic versions of reference-listed drugs through submission of abbreviated new drug applications, or ANDAs, in the United States. In support of an ANDA, a generic manufacturer need not conduct clinical trials demonstrating safety and efficacy. Rather, the applicant generally must show that its drug is pharmaceutically equivalent to the reference listed drug, in that it has the same active ingredient(s), dosage form, strength, route of administration and conditions of use or labeling as the reference-listed drug, and that the generic version is bioequivalent to the reference-listed drug, meaning it is absorbed in the body at the same rate and to the same extent. Generic drugs may be significantly less costly to bring to market than the reference-listed drug and companies that produce generic drugs are generally able to offer them at lower prices. Thus, following the introduction of a generic drug, a significant percentage of the sales of any branded product or reference-listed drug is typically lost to the generic drug.
The FDA may not approve an ANDA for a generic drug until any applicable period of non-patent exclusivity for the reference-listed drug has expired. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, provides a period of five years of non-patent exclusivity for a new drug containing a new chemical entity, or NCE. During the exclusivity period, the FDA may not accept for review an ANDA or a 505(b)(2) NDA submitted by another company for another version of such product candidate where the applicant does not own or have a legal right of reference to all the data required for approval. However, an application may be submitted after four years if it contains a certification of patent invalidity or non-infringement. The FDCA also provides three years of marketing exclusivity for an NDA, 505(b)(2) NDA or supplement to an approved NDA if new clinical investigations, other than bioavailability studies, that were conducted or sponsored by the applicant are deemed by the FDA to be essential to the approval of the application, for example, for new indications, dosages or strengths of an existing product candidate. This three-year exclusivity covers only the conditions associated with the new clinical investigations and does not prohibit the FDA from approving ANDAs for product candidates containing the original active agent for other conditions of use. Five-year and three-year exclusivity will not delay the submission or approval of a full NDA. However, an applicant submitting a full NDA would be required to conduct or obtain a right of reference to all of the nonclinical studies and adequate and well-controlled clinical trials necessary to demonstrate safety and effectiveness. Manufacturers may seek to launch these generic drugs following the expiration of the marketing exclusivity period, even if we still have patent protection for our drug competition that our product candidates may face from generic versions of our product candidates could materially and adversely impact our future revenue, profitability and cash flows and substantially limit our ability to obtain a return on the investments we have made in those product candidates. Our future revenues, profitability and cash flows could also be materially and adversely affected and our ability to obtain a return on the investments we have made in those product candidates may be substantially limited if our product candidates, if and when approved, are not afforded the appropriate periods of non-patent exclusivity.
Regulation - Risk 3
Even if we obtain regulatory approval of any product candidate, the approved product may be subject to post-approval studies and will remain subject to ongoing regulatory requirements. If we fail to comply, or if concerns are identified in subsequent studies, our approval could be withdrawn, and our product sales could be suspended.If we are successful at obtaining regulatory approval for ATRN-119 and/or APR-1051 or any of our other product candidates, regulatory agencies in the United States and other countries where a product will be sold may require extensive additional clinical trials or post-approval clinical trials that are expensive and time-consuming to conduct. These trials may reveal side effects or other harmful effects in patients that use our products after they are on the market, which may result in the limitation or withdrawal of our drugs from the market. Alternatively, we may not be able to conduct such additional trials, which might force us to abandon our efforts to develop or commercialize certain product candidates. Even if post-approval studies are not requested or required, after our products are approved and on the market, there might be safety issues that emerge over time that require a change in product labeling, additional post-market studies or clinical trials, imposition of distribution and use restrictions under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, or withdrawal of the product from the market, which would cause our revenue to decline.
Additionally, any products that we may successfully develop will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements after they are approved. These requirements will govern the manufacturing, packaging, marketing, distribution, and use of our products. If we fail to comply with such regulatory requirements, approval for our products may be withdrawn, and product sales may be suspended. We may not be able to regain compliance, or we may only be able to regain compliance after a lengthy delay, significant expense, lost revenues and damage to our reputation.
Regulation - Risk 4
Even if we are able to commercialize any product candidate, such product candidate may become subject to unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party coverage and reimbursement policies or healthcare reform initiatives, which could harm our business.The regulations that govern marketing approval, pricing, coverage and reimbursement for new drugs vary widely from country to country. Some countries require approval of the sale price of a drug before it can be marketed. In many countries, the pricing review period begins after marketing approval is granted. In some foreign markets, prescription pharmaceutical pricing remains subject to continuing governmental control even after initial approval is granted. As a result, we might obtain marketing approval for a product in a particular country, but then be subject to price regulations that delay our commercial launch of the product, possibly for lengthy time periods, and negatively impact the revenues we are able to generate from the sale of the product in that country. Adverse pricing limitations may hinder our ability to recoup our investment in one or more product candidates, even if our product candidates obtain marketing approval.
Our ability to commercialize any products successfully also will depend in part on the extent to which reimbursement and coverage for these products and related treatments will be available from government authorities, private health insurers and other organizations, and if reimbursement and coverage is available, the level of reimbursement and coverage. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which medications they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. A primary trend in the healthcare industry in the United States and elsewhere is cost containment. Government authorities and third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications. Increasingly, the third-party payors who reimburse patients or healthcare providers, such as government and private insurance plans, are requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices, and are seeking to reduce the prices charged or the amounts reimbursed for medical products. We cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for any drug that we commercialize and, if coverage and reimbursement are available, we cannot be sure as to the level of reimbursement. Reimbursement may impact the demand for, or the price of, any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval. If reimbursement is not available or is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval.
There may be significant delays in obtaining reimbursement for newly approved drugs, and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the drug is approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Moreover, eligibility for reimbursement does not imply that any drug will be reimbursed in all cases or at a rate that covers our costs, including research, development, manufacture, sale and distribution. Interim reimbursement levels for new drugs, if applicable, may also not be sufficient to cover our costs and may not be made permanent. Reimbursement rates may vary according to the use of the drug and the clinical setting in which it is used, may be based on reimbursement levels already set for lower cost drugs, may be incorporated into existing payments for other items or services and may reflect budgetary constraints or imperfections in Medicare data. Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs or private payors and by any future relaxation of laws that presently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the United States. Third-party payors often rely upon Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own reimbursement rates. Our inability to promptly obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement rates from both government-funded and private payors for new products that we develop and for which we obtain marketing approval could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, our ability to raise capital needed to commercialize products and our overall financial condition.
Regulation - Risk 5
Even if we, or any collaborators we may have in the future, obtain marketing approvals for our product candidates, the terms of approvals and ongoing regulation of our product candidates could require substantial expenditure of resources and may limit how we, or they, manufacture and market our product candidates, which could materially impair our ability to generate revenue.Once marketing approval has been granted, an approved drug and its manufacturer and marketer are subject to ongoing review and extensive regulation. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, user fee requirements, registration and listing requirements, requirements relating to manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping. We, and any collaborators we may have in the future, must also comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for any of our product candidates for which we or they obtain marketing approval. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the drug's approved labeling. Thus, we, and any collaborators we may have in the future, may not be able to promote any drugs we develop for indications or uses for which they are not approved.
The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may also impose requirements for costly post-marketing studies or clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of a drug. For example, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the drug may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, including the requirement to implement a REMS or comparable foreign equivalents, like the EU Risk Management Plan, or RMP, which could include requirements for a restricted distribution system. Manufacturers of approved drugs and those manufacturers' facilities are also required to comply with extensive FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMPs, which include requirements relating to quality control and quality assurance as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation and reporting requirements. We, our contract manufacturers, our future collaborators and their contract manufacturers could be subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities to monitor and ensure compliance with cGMPs.
Accordingly, assuming we, or our future collaborators, receive marketing approval for one or more of our product candidates, we, and our future collaborators, and our and their contract manufacturers will continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production, product surveillance and quality control.
If we, and our future collaborators, are not able to comply with post-approval regulatory requirements, regulatory agencies or enforcement authorities may:
- issue warning letters;- impose civil or criminal penalties;- suspend regulatory approval;- suspend any of our ongoing clinical trials;- refuse to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications submitted by us or our collaborators;- impose restrictions on our operations, including closing our or our collaborators' manufacturing facilities; or - seize or detain products or require a recall.
Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity. Any failure to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize and generate revenue from our product candidates, if approved. If regulatory sanctions are applied or if regulatory approval is withdrawn, the value of our company and our operating results will be adversely affected.
The regulatory requirements and policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted for which we may also be required to comply. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or in other countries. If we or any future collaboration partner are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we or such collaboration partner, as applicable, may face government enforcement action and our business will suffer. Moreover, our or our future collaborators' ability to market any future drugs could be limited, which could adversely affect our ability to achieve or sustain profitability. Further, the cost of compliance with post-approval regulations may have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition.
Regulation - Risk 6
The FDA's and other comparable regulatory authorities' policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates, which would impact our ability to generate revenue.We also cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States or abroad. The policies of the FDA and of comparable foreign regulatory authorities may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory licensure of our product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action, either in the United States or abroad. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing licensure that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability. If these actions impose constraints on FDA's ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted.
Regulation - Risk 7
Any of our product candidates for which we, or our future collaborators, obtain marketing approval in the future will be subject to substantial penalties if we, or they, fail to comply with regulatory requirements or if we, or they, experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates following approval.Any of our product candidates for which we, or our future collaborators, obtain marketing approval in the future, will be subject to continual review by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities.
For example, in the United States, the FDA and other agencies, including the Department of Justice, or the DOJ, closely regulate and monitor the post-approval marketing and promotion of drugs to ensure that they are manufactured, marketed, and distributed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling. The FDA imposes stringent restrictions on manufacturers' communications regarding off-label use and if we, or our future collaborators, do not market any of our product candidates for which we, or they, receive marketing approval for only their approved indications, we, or they, may be subject to warnings or enforcement action for off-label marketing. Violation of the FDCA and other statutes, including the False Claims Act, relating to the promotion and advertising of prescription drugs may lead to investigations or allegations of violations of federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws and state consumer protection laws.
In addition, later discovery of previously unknown adverse events or other problems with our product candidates or their manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may yield various results, including:
- litigation involving patients taking our drug;- restrictions on such drugs, manufacturers or manufacturing processes;- restrictions on the labeling or marketing of a drug;- restrictions on drug distribution or use;- requirements to conduct post-marketing studies or clinical trials;- warning letters or untitled letters;- withdrawal of the drugs from the market;- refusal to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications that we submit;- recall of drugs;- fines, restitution or disgorgement of profits or revenues;- suspension or withdrawal of marketing approvals;- damage to relationships with any potential collaborators;- restrictions on coverage by third-party payors;- unfavorable press coverage and damage to our reputation;- refusal to permit the import or export of drugs;- drug seizure; or - injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
Regulation - Risk 8
Recently enacted and future legislation, and any change in existing government regulations and policies, may increase the difficulty and cost for us and our future collaborators to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize our product candidates and affect the prices we, or they, may obtain.In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been and continue to be a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability, or the ability of our future collaborators, to effectively sell any drugs for which we, or they, obtain marketing approval. We expect that current laws, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and additional downward pressure on the price that we, or our future collaborators, may receive for any approved drugs.
In the United States, the Congress and recent presidential administrations have enacted or are considering a number of legislative and regulatory proposals to change the healthcare system in ways that could affect our ability to sell our products, if approved, and to do so effectively. Among policy makers and payors in the United States and elsewhere, there is significant interest in promoting changes in healthcare systems with the stated goals of containing healthcare costs, improving quality and expanding access.
In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been a particular focus of efforts to reform the healthcare system and has been significantly affected by major legislative initiatives, including the PPACA, which contains provisions that may potentially affect the profitability of our products, including, for example, increased rebates for products sold to Medicaid programs, extension of Medicaid rebates to Medicaid managed care plans, mandatory discounts for certain Medicare Part D beneficiaries and annual fees based on pharmaceutical companies' share of sales to federal health care programs, and expansion of the entities eligible for discounts under the 340B pricing program. The framework of the PPACA continues to evolve as a result of executive, legislative, regulatory and administrative developments that have challenged the law and contribute to legal uncertainty that could affect the profitability of our products. See Part I, Item 1, "Government Regulation – U.S. Healthcare Reform" for further information.
We expect that these and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and/or new payment methodologies, and place additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product and/or the level of reimbursement physicians receive for administering any approved product we might bring to market. Reductions in reimbursement levels and imposition of more rigorous coverage criteria or new payment methodologies may negatively impact the prices we receive or the frequency with which our products are prescribed or administered. Any coverage or reimbursement policies instituted by Medicare or other federal health care programs may result in similar policies from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may affect our ability to generate revenue, attain or maintain profitability, or commercialize our product candidates. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for our product candidates or additional pricing pressures.
The pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is also subject to governmental control outside the United States. In countries outside of the United States, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our product candidates to that of other available therapies. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our ability to generate revenues and become profitable could be impaired.
Legislative and regulatory proposals have also been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for drug products. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether the FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our product candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by the United States Congress of the FDA's approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us and any future collaborators to more stringent drug labeling and post-marketing testing and other requirements.
Regulatory proposals have been made to allow the importation of prescription drugs into the United States that are approved for marketing in Canada, and potentially other countries. If such proposal are implemented, and if any of our product candidates or other similar or equivalent drug products are approved in another ex-US jurisdiction, these regulatory proposals may impact the competition our product may face, if approved. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether the FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our product candidates, if any, may be.
Regulation - Risk 9
Any clinical trial programs we conduct or research collaborations we enter into in the European Economic Area ("EEA")/UK may subject us to the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the "EU GDPR") as implemented by countries within the EEA. In addition, where we conduct programs and collaborations in the UK we may be subject to the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation, (together the "UK GDPR").We are subject to the EU GDPR, which applies extra-territorially and implements stringent operational requirements on controllers (e.g., sponsors) and processors (e.g., CROs, laboratories) of personal data. For controllers this includes, for example, high standards for obtaining valid consent from individuals to process their personal data (where consent is the legal ground relied upon), the requirements to provide detailed disclosures to individuals, short timelines for personal data breach notifications to data protection authorities and data subjects, limitations on retention of personal data, additional considerations where processing health data and other "special categories of personal data" and specific obligations where third-party processors are engaged. The EU GDPR also prohibits the international transfer of personal data from the EEA to countries outside of the EEA unless made to a country deemed to have "adequate" data privacy laws by the European Commission or a data transfer mechanism has been put in place. Until recently, one such data transfer mechanism was the EU-US Privacy Shield. However, in July 2020 the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") declared the Privacy Shield to be invalid for purposes of international transfers. The CJEU also imposed further restrictions on use of standard contractual clauses (SCCs) (i.e., an EU-style data transfer agreement) including, a requirement for companies to carry out a transfer privacy impact assessment, which among other things, assesses laws governing access to personal data in the recipient country and considers whether supplementary measures that provide privacy protections additional to those provided under SCCs will need to be implemented to ensure an essentially equivalent level of data protection to that afforded in the EEA. Moreover, new versions of the SCCs (new EU SCCs) have recently been published requiring additional compliance and implementation efforts. In turn, the findings of the CJEU will have significant implications for cross-border data flows.
Further, the EU GDPR provides that EU Member States may establish their own laws and regulations further restricting the processing of genetic data, biometric data, health data and other personal data, which could limit our ability to use and share such personal data or could cause our costs to increase. The EU GDPR imposes onerous accountability obligations requiring controllers and processors to maintain a record of their data processing activities and policies and procedures to demonstrate compliance with the EU GDPR. The EU GDPR also grants certain privacy rights to individuals (e.g., the right to access or erase their personal data). While we have established some data protection policies and have a maturing compliance program, additional resources will be needed to fully comply with the EU GDPR, including for evolving regulatory guidance. If our or our vendors' or service providers' privacy or data security measures fail to comply with the EU GDPR requirements, we may be subject to litigation, regulatory investigations, enforcement notices requiring us to stop or change the way we use personal data and/or fines of up to 20 million Euros of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, as well as compensation claims for financial or non-financial loss by affected individuals, negative publicity, reputational harm and a potential loss of business and goodwill. It is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices.
Relatedly, following the UK's withdrawal from the EU (i.e., Brexit), the EU GDPR has been implemented in the United Kingdom (as the UK GDPR). The UK GDPR site alongside the UK Data Protection Act 2018 which implements certain derogations in the EU GDPR into UK law. The requirements of the UK GDPR are (at this time) largely aligned with those under the EU GDPR and as such, may lead to similar compliance and operational costs with potential fines for non-compliance of up to £17.5 million or 4% of annual worldwide turnover. As a result, we are potentially exposed to two parallel data protection regimes, each of which authorizes fines and the potential for divergent enforcement actions. It should also be noted that reliance on the new EU SCCs for transfers from the UK requires additional documentation in the form of a UK Addendum.
Regulation - Risk 10
Laws and regulations governing any international operations we may have in the future may preclude us from developing, manufacturing and selling certain product candidates outside of the United States and require us to develop and implement costly compliance programs.If we expand our operations outside of the United States, we must comply with numerous laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we plan to operate, such as the applicable anti-bribery, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering regulations. The creation and implementation of international business practices compliance programs is costly and such programs are difficult to enforce, particularly where reliance on third parties is required.
The FCPA prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with certain accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations. The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA are enforced primarily by the DOJ. The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, is involved with enforcement of the books and records provisions of the FCPA.
Compliance with the FCPA is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which corruption is a recognized problem. In addition, the FCPA presents particular challenges in the pharmaceutical industry, because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other hospital employees are considered foreign officials. Certain payments to hospitals in connection with clinical trials and other work have been deemed to be improper payments to government officials and have led to FCPA enforcement actions.
Violation of the FCPA can result in significant civil and criminal penalties. Indictment alone under the FCPA can lead to suspension of the right to do business with the U.S. government until the pending claims are resolved. Conviction of a violation of the FCPA can result in long-term disqualification as a government contractor. The termination of a government contract or relationship as a result of our failure to satisfy any of our obligations under laws governing international business practices would have a negative impact on our operations and harm our reputation and ability to procure government contracts. The SEC also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of the FCPA's accounting provisions.
We are also subject to other laws and regulations governing our international operations, including applicable import and export control regulations, economic sanctions on countries and persons administered or enforced by the U.S. government (including, without limitation, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury), anti-money laundering laws, customs requirements and currency exchange regulations, collectively referred to as the trade control laws. We can provide no assurance that we will be completely effective in ensuring our compliance with all applicable legal requirements, including trade control laws. If we are not in compliance with applicable trade control laws, we may be subject to criminal and civil penalties, disgorgement and other sanctions and remedial measures, and legal expenses, which could have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. Likewise, any investigation of any potential violations of these trade control laws by U.S. or other authorities could also have an adverse impact on our reputation, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non-U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. If we expand our presence outside of the United States, it will require us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing, or selling certain drugs and product candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs. The failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may result in substantial penalties, including suspension or debarment from government contracting.
Regulation - Risk 11
Our relationships with healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors will be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to penalties, including criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.Although we do not currently have any products on the market, we are subject to a variety of regulatory requirements, including healthcare statutory and regulatory requirements and enforcement by the U.S. federal and state governments and the foreign governments of the countries in which we conduct our business. Even though we are not in a position to make patient referrals and do not bill Medicare, Medicaid, or other government or commercial third-party payors, our relationships with healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors will subject us to healthcare statutory and regulatory requirements and enforcement by the U.S. federal government and the states and foreign governments in which we conduct our business. Our future arrangements with healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors and patients may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell and distribute our products for which we obtain marketing approval. See Part I, Item 1, "Government Regulation – Healthcare Law and Regulation" for more detail.
Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, guidance, case law or other applicable law. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, individual imprisonment, exclusion from participation in federal healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, disgorgement, reputational harm, additional oversight and reporting obligations pursuant to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to market our products, if approved, and adversely impact our financial results. Although effective compliance programs can mitigate the risk of investigation and prosecution for violations of these laws and regulations, these risks cannot be entirely eliminated. Any action against us for an alleged or suspected violation could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and could divert our management's attention from the operation of our business, even if our defense is successful. If any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business is found not to be in compliance with applicable laws, it may be costly to us in terms of money, time and resources, and they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government-funded healthcare programs.
Regulation - Risk 12
Failure to obtain marketing approval in foreign jurisdictions would prevent our product candidates from being marketed abroad. Any approval we are granted for our product candidates in the United States would not assure approval of our product candidates in foreign jurisdictions.In order to market and sell our product candidates in the EU and many other jurisdictions, we, and any collaborators we may have in the future, must obtain separate marketing approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedure varies among countries and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval may differ substantially from that required to obtain FDA approval. The marketing approval process outside of the United States generally includes all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. In addition, in many countries outside of the United States, it is required that the drug be approved for reimbursement before the drug can be approved for sale in that country. We, and any collaborators we may have in the future, may not obtain approvals from regulatory authorities outside of the United States on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one regulatory authority outside of the United States does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA.
The U.K. having left the EU, the TCA and the Northern Ireland Protocol is likely to continue to affect European and worldwide economic conditions and could contribute to greater instability in the global financial markets. These effects could have an adverse effect on our business, investments, and future operations in Europe. There is a risk that trade between U.K. and EU businesses will be materially adversely affected, particularly in relation to highly regulated products such as pharmaceuticals and products of animal-origin, due to the additional regulatory burdens being imposed on exporters/importers which may affect the availability of these products.
The consequences for the economies of the U.K. and the EU member states as a result of the U.K.'s withdrawal from the EU are still largely unknown and unpredictable. Given the lack of comparable precedent, it is unclear what the broader macro-economic and financial implications the U.K. having left the EU will have.
Regulation - Risk 13
We continue to incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company as we become subject to additional laws, regulations and listing exchange standards, and our management will continue to be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives.As a public company, and particularly after we are no longer an "emerging growth company" or a "smaller reporting company," we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and Nasdaq have imposed various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect that these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance.
Pursuant to Section 404, we are required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting, including an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. However, while we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. To achieve compliance with Section 404 within the prescribed period, we will be engaged in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants and adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting. There is a risk that neither we nor our independent registered public accounting firm will be able to conclude within the prescribed timeframe that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as required by Section 404. This could result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.
Accounting principles and related pronouncements, implementation guidelines and interpretations we apply to a wide range of matters that are relevant to our business, including, but not limited to, revenue recognition, leases and stock-based compensation, are complex and involve subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments by our management. Changes in accounting pronouncements or their interpretation or changes in underlying assumptions, estimates or judgments by our management could significantly change our reported or expected financial performance.
Litigation & Legal Liabilities2 | 2.5%
Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 1
We could be subject to securities class action litigation.Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 2
Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and to limit commercialization of any drugs that we may develop. Our insurance policies may be inadequate and may potentially expose us to unrecoverable risk.We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any drugs that we may develop. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against claims that our product candidates or drugs caused injuries, we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:
- decreased demand for any product candidates or drugs that we may develop;- injury to our reputation and significant negative media attention;- withdrawal of clinical trial participants;- significant costs to defend the related litigation;- substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients;- loss of revenue;- reduced resources of our management to pursue our business strategy; and - the inability to commercialize any drugs that we may develop.
We currently hold clinical trial liability insurance coverage for up to $5.0 million, but that coverage may not be adequate to cover any and all liabilities that we may incur. We would need to increase our insurance coverage when we begin the commercialization of our product candidates, if ever. Insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in an amount adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise.
Taxation & Government Incentives6 | 7.5%
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 1
We have significant deferred tax assets, which may become devalued if we do not generate sufficient future taxable income, applicable corporate tax rates are reduced or if we experience an ownership change.Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 2
We may have taxable income as a result of the purging election made following the Holdco ReorganizationWhile not entirely clear, we intend to treat Aprea AB as having been a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes prior to the Holdco Reorganization and treat the Company as having succeeded to the tax basis and holding periods of those shareholders in Aprea AB that exchanged their shares for our common stock. Based on such treatment, and absent a purging election as described below, the stock of Aprea AB held by the Company would have retained its status as stock of a PFIC with respect to all periods prior to the Holdco Reorganization (the "PFIC Taint") and therefore, absent a prior election by those shareholders to treat Aprea AB as a qualified electing fund, the Company, would have been subject to certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences with respect to distributions received on such stock and gain recognized on the disposition of such stock. In order to purge the PFIC Taint on the stock of Aprea AB, and avoid such adverse tax consequences, following the Holdco Reorganization we made a purging election in the form of a deemed dividend election under which, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, Aprea AB will be deemed to have made a distribution to the Company of all of its current and accumulated earnings and profits as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Because Aprea AB did not have any accumulated or current year earnings and profits as of December 31, 2019, we do not expect the purging election to result in any incremental U.S. federal income taxes.
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 3
We may be subject to current taxation on some of the income of our foreign subsidiaries even absent any cash distributionsBecause we hold directly or indirectly all of the shares of our foreign subsidiaries, including Aprea AB, such subsidiaries are treated as controlled foreign corporations ("CFC") for U.S. federal income tax purposes. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, the Company will therefore need to include in its taxable income each year Aprea AB's "subpart F income," and "global intangible low-taxed income", if any, even if no distributions are made.
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 4
Our foreign subsidiaries may directly become subject to U.S. federal income tax and be subject to a branch profits tax in the United States, which could reduce our after-tax returns and the value of our shares.We currently intend to conduct substantially all of our businesses and operations in a manner such that our foreign subsidiaries will not be treated as engaged in a trade or business in the United States and will not be subject to additional
U.S. income tax or branch profits tax. However, it is not entirely clear when a foreign subsidiary is treated as being engaged in a trade or business in the United States for U.S. federal income tax purposes and travel restrictions may further limit our ability to reduce the risk of our foreign subsidiaries being treated as engaged in a U.S. trade or business. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") will not contend, perhaps successfully, that our foreign subsidiaries were engaged in a trade or business in the United States or are subject to more U.S. income tax than they currently incur. A foreign corporation deemed to be so engaged would be subject to U.S. federal income tax, as well as branch profits tax, on its income that is treated as effectively connected with the conduct of that trade or business unless the corporation is entitled to relief under an applicable tax treaty, which is determined on an annual basis.
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 5
The ongoing effects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and GILTI could make our results difficult to predict.Our effective tax rate may fluctuate in the future as a result of the TCJA, which included significant enacted changes in U.S. income tax law many aspects of which are not entirely clear and with respect to which some guidance has not yet been finalized. The enacted tax legislation included, among other new provisions, a reduction in the corporate tax rate, new limitations on the deductibility of net interest, the base erosion and anti-abuse minimum tax and new rules related to the global intangible low-taxed income of our foreign subsidiaries ("GILTI"). GILTI may require us to include in taxable income certain income of our foreign subsidiaries that are CFCs, though we may be eligible to claim foreign tax credits with respect to some of the taxes paid by such subsidiaries. While the U.S. tax authorities issued proposed and final regulations for GILTI, there are still certain aspects of the TCJA that remain unclear. We will continue to review the impact of GILTI and the other changes resulting from the TCJA as further guidance is issued. Any further guidance may result in changes to the interpretations and assumptions we made and actions we may take, which as a result may impact the amounts recorded with respect to international provisions of the TCJA, possibly materially.
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 6
Changes in U.S. federal income tax law and other jurisdictions could materially adversely affect an investment in our common shares.It is possible that tax laws in the United States and other jurisdictions will be changed. It remains difficult to predict whether or when there will be any tax law changes or further guidance by the authorities in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world that will have a material adverse effect on our business.
Environmental / Social1 | 1.3%
Environmental / Social - Risk 1
If we fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business.Finance & Corporate
Total Risks: 11/80 (14%)Below Sector Average
Share Price & Shareholder Rights8 | 10.0%
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1
Our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders may have substantial influence over matters submitted to stockholders for approval. This may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.*Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2
Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and our bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of us that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which common stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for our shares. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock. In addition, because our board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors. Among other things, these provisions:
- establish a classified board of directors such that not all members of the board are elected at one time;- allow the authorized number of our directors to be changed only by resolution of our board of directors;- limit the manner in which stockholders can remove directors from the board;- establish advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals that can be acted on at stockholder meetings and nominations to our board of directors;- require that stockholder actions must be effected at a duly called stockholder meeting and prohibit actions by our stockholders by written consent;- limit who may call stockholder meetings;- authorize our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to institute a "poison pill" that would work to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer, effectively preventing acquisitions that have not been approved by our board of directors; and - require the approval of the holders of at least 75% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast to amend or repeal certain provisions of our charter or bylaws.
Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which prohibits a person who owns in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3
If securities analysts do not or do not continue to publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our business, the price of our stock could decline.The trading market for our common stock is and will rely in part on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. If one or more of the analysts who currently cover our business downgrade their evaluations of our business, or in the event we obtain additional coverage and one or more of the new analysts issues an adverse evaluation of our business, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4
The price of our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile and fluctuate substantially.Our stock price has been and is likely to continue to be volatile. The stock market in general and the market for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in particular have experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. As a result of this volatility, our stockholders may not be able to sell our common stock at or above the price they paid for it. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including:
- the timing and results of clinical trials of any of our product candidates;- regulatory actions with respect to our product candidates or our competitors' products and product candidates;- the success of existing or new competitive products or technologies;- announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, collaborations or capital commitments;- establishment or termination of collaborations for our product candidates or development programs;- failure or discontinuation of any of our development programs;- results of clinical trials of product candidates of our competitors;- regulatory or legal developments in the United States and other countries;- developments or disputes concerning patent applications, issued patents or other proprietary rights;- the recruitment or departure of key personnel;- the level of expenses related to any of our product candidates or development programs;- the results of our efforts to discover, develop, acquire or in-license additional product candidates or products;- actual or anticipated changes in estimates as to financial results or development timelines;- announcement or expectation of additional financing efforts;- sales of our common stock by us, our insiders or other stockholders;- variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us;- changes in estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, if any, that cover our stock;- changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems;- market conditions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors;- general economic, industry and market conditions; and - the other factors described in this "Risk Factors" section.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5
We are an "emerging growth company" and a "smaller reporting company," and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies may make our common stock less attractive to investors.We are an "emerging growth company," as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. We may remain an emerging growth company for up to five years, which is December 31, 2024, or until such earlier time as we have more than $1.235 billion in annual revenue, the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is more than $700 million or we issue more than $1 billion of non-convertible debt over a three-year period. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted and intend to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor's report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements, being permitted to present only two years of audited financial statements and a correspondingly reduced "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" disclosure, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.
In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. An emerging growth company can therefore delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. However, we are choosing to "opt out" of such extended transition period, and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for public companies that are not emerging growth companies. The JOBS Act provides that our decision to opt out of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards is irrevocable.
We are also a "smaller reporting company," as such term is defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, meaning that the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million and our annual revenue is less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (i) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250 million or (ii) our annual revenue is less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies. Specifically, as a smaller reporting company we may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and, similar to emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock by our existing stockholders in the public market could cause our stock price to fall.*Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7
Our certificate of incorporation designates the state courts in the State of Delaware or, if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal court for the District of Delaware, as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could discourage lawsuits against the company and our directors, officers and employees.Our certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) will be the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf under Delaware law, any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or employees to our company or our stockholders, any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law or our certificate of incorporation or bylaws, any action asserting a claim against us governed by the internal affairs doctrine, or any other action asserting an "internal corporate claim," as defined in Section 115 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. These exclusive-forum provisions do not apply to claims under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, or the Exchange Act. This exclusive forum provision may limit the ability of our stockholders to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such stockholders find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees. If a court were to find the exclusive-forum provision in our certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could harm our results of operations.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 8
We are required to meet the Nasdaq Stock Market, or Nasdaq, continued listing requirements and other Nasdaq rules, and if we fail to meet such rules and requirements, we may be subject to delisting. Delisting could negatively affect the price of our common stock, which could make it more difficult for us to sell securities in a future financing or for you to sell our common stock.We are required to meet the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq and other Nasdaq rules, including those regarding director independence and independent committee requirements, minimum stockholders' equity, minimum share price and certain other corporate governance requirements. If we do not meet these continued listing requirements, our common stock could be delisted. Delisting would cause us to pursue eligibility for trading of these securities on other markets or exchanges, including the OTC BB or QB markets, or on the OTC "pink sheets." In such case, our stockholders' ability to trade, or obtain quotations of the market value of our common stock would be severely limited because of lower trading volumes and transaction delays. These factors could contribute to lower prices and larger spreads in the bid and ask prices of our securities. There can be no assurance that our securities, if delisted from the Nasdaq Capital Market in the future, would be listed on a national securities exchange, a national quotation service, the OTC markets or the pink sheets. Delisting from Nasdaq, or even the issuance of a notice of potential delisting, would also result in negative publicity, make it more difficult for us to raise additional capital, cause us to lose eligibility to register the sale or resale of our shares on Form S-3 and the automatic exemption from registration under state securities laws for exchange-listed securities, adversely affect the market liquidity of our securities, decrease securities analysts' coverage of us or diminish investor, supplier and employee confidence.
Accounting & Financial Operations1 | 1.3%
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 1
Because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock may be investors' sole source of gain.Corporate Activity and Growth2 | 2.5%
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 1
We expect to expand our development and regulatory capabilities and potentially our sales and marketing capabilities, and as a result, we may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, which could disrupt our operations.Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 2
We will need to expand our organization, and may experience difficulties in managing this growth, which could disrupt operations.Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidates and compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth. We expect to hire additional employees for our managerial, clinical, scientific and engineering, operational, manufacturing, sales and marketing teams. We may have operational difficulties in connection with identifying, hiring and integrating new personnel. Future growth would impose significant additional responsibilities on our management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain, motivate and integrate additional employees, consultants and contractors. Also, our management may need to divert a disproportionate amount of our attention away from our day-to-day activities and devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities. We may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations, which may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, give rise to operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees. Our expected growth could require significant capital expenditures and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of our product candidates.
If we are unable to effectively manage our growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our ability to generate and/or grow revenues could be reduced, and we may not be able to implement our business strategy.
Many of the other pharmaceutical companies that we compete against for qualified personnel and consultants have greater financial and other resources, different risk profiles and a longer history in the industry than us. 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 and consultants than what we have to offer. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high-quality personnel and consultants, the rate and success at which we can select and develop our product candidates and our business will be limited.
Ability to Sell
Total Risks: 6/80 (8%)Below Sector Average
Competition1 | 1.3%
Competition - Risk 1
We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.Sales & Marketing5 | 6.3%
Sales & Marketing - Risk 1
If, in the future, we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to sell and market our product candidates, we may not be successful in commercializing our product candidates if and when they are approved.Sales & Marketing - Risk 2
We have never obtained marketing approval for a product candidate and we may be unable to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing approval for any of our product candidates.We have never obtained marketing approval for a product candidate. The time required to obtain approval by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of preclinical studies and clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. In addition, extraneous factors, including an epidemic or pandemic disease outbreak, or other public health situations, could impact the timeline for FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities to review an application for one of our product candidates. It is possible that the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities may refuse to accept for filing and substantive review any new drug applications, or NDAs, marketing authorization applications, or MAA, that we submit for our product candidates or may conclude after review of our data that our application is insufficient to obtain marketing approval of our product candidates. If the FDA, or comparable foreign regulatory authorities do not accept or approve our NDAs or MAAs for our product candidates, it may require that we conduct additional clinical, nonclinical or manufacturing validation studies and submit that data before it will reconsider our applications. Depending on the extent of these or any other regulatory authority-required studies, approval of any NDA, MAA or other application 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 comparable foreign regulatory authorities to approve our NDAs or our MAAs.
Any delay in obtaining, or an inability to obtain, marketing approvals would prevent us from commercializing our product candidates, generating revenues and achieving and sustaining profitability. If any of these outcomes occur, we may be forced to abandon our development efforts for our product candidates, which could significantly harm our business.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 3
Even if we complete the necessary preclinical studies and clinical trials, the marketing approval process is expensive, time-consuming and uncertain and may prevent us, or any future collaborators, from obtaining approvals for the commercialization of some or all of our product candidates. As a result, we cannot predict when or if, and in which territories, we, or any future collaborators, will obtain marketing approval to commercialize a product candidate.The research, testing, manufacturing, labeling, approval, selling, marketing, promotion and distribution of drugs are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, whose laws and regulations may differ from country to country. We, and any future collaborators, are not permitted to market our product candidates in the United States or in other countries until we or they receive approval of an NDA from the FDA or marketing approval from comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Our product candidates are in early stages of development and are subject to the risks of failure inherent in drug development. We have not submitted an application for or received marketing approval for any of our product candidates in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. We have limited experience in conducting and managing the clinical trials necessary to obtain marketing approvals, including FDA approval of an NDA.
The process of obtaining marketing approvals, both in the United States and abroad, is a lengthy, expensive and uncertain process. It may take many years, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon a variety of factors, including the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. Securing marketing approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the product candidate's safety and efficacy. Securing marketing approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the regulatory authorities. The FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities have substantial discretion and may determine that our product candidates are not safe and effective, only moderately effective or have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use. Any marketing approval we ultimately obtain may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable.
Our product candidates could fail to receive marketing approval, or marketing approval for our product candidates could be limited or delayed, for many reasons, including the following:
- the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with the design or implementation of our clinical trials;- we may be unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities that a product candidate is safe and effective for its proposed indication;- the results of clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical significance required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities for approval;- we may be unable to demonstrate that a product candidate's clinical and other benefits outweigh its safety risks;- the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials;- the data collected from clinical trials of our product candidates may not be sufficient to support the submission of an NDA or other submission and applications or to obtain marketing approval in the United States or elsewhere;- the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may fail to approve the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies;- the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may fail to approve any companion diagnostics that may be required in connection with approval of our therapeutic product candidates;- the FDA or the applicable foreign regulatory agency may fail to approve the formulation, labeling and/or the specifications for our product candidate;- changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment or promulgation of additional statutes, regulations or guidance or changes in regulatory review for each submitted drug application; and - the approval policies or regulations of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval.
This lengthy approval process as well as the unpredictability of clinical trial results may result in our failing to obtain marketing approval to market ATRN-119 and/or APR-1051, which would significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects. Regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data are insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical studies, clinical trials or other studies and testing. In addition, varying interpretations of the data obtained from preclinical studies and clinical trials could delay, limit or prevent marketing approval of a product candidate. Any marketing approval we, or any collaborators we may have in the future, ultimately obtain may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved drug not commercially viable.
Any delay in obtaining or failure to obtain required approvals could materially adversely affect our ability or that of any collaborators we may have to generate revenue from the particular product candidate, which likely would result in significant harm to our financial position and adversely impact our stock price.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 4
If any of our product candidates receives marketing approval and we, or others, later discover that the drug is less effective than previously believed or causes undesirable side effects that were not previously identified, our ability, or that of any future collaborators, to market the drug could be compromised.Clinical trials of our product candidates must be conducted in carefully defined subsets of patients who have agreed to enter into clinical trials. Consequently, it is possible that our clinical trials, or those of any future collaborator, may indicate an apparent positive effect of a product candidate that is greater than the actual positive effect, if any, or alternatively fail to identify undesirable side effects. If one or more of our product candidates receives marketing approval and we, or others, discover that the drug is less effective than previously believed or causes undesirable side effects that were not previously identified, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
- regulatory authorities may withdraw their approval of the drug or seize the drug;- we, or any future collaborators, may be required to recall the drug, change the way the drug is administered or conduct additional clinical trials;- additional restrictions may be imposed on the marketing of, or the manufacturing processes for, the particular drug;- we may be subject to fines, injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties;- regulatory authorities may require the addition of labeling statements, such as a "black box" warning or a contraindication;- we, or any future collaborators, may be required to create a Medication Guide outlining the risks of the previously unidentified side effects for distribution to patients;- we, or any future collaborators, could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients;- the drug may become less competitive in the marketplace; and - our reputation may suffer.
Any of these events could have a material and adverse effect on our operations and business and could adversely impact our stock price.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 5
Even if any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, they may fail to achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, healthcare payors and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.If any of our product candidates receive marketing approval, they may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by physicians, patients, healthcare payors and others in the medical community. For example, current cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy are well-established in the medical community, and doctors may continue to rely on these treatments. If our product candidates do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant revenues from sales of drugs and we may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:
- the efficacy and safety of the product;- the potential advantages of the product compared to alternative therapies;- the prevalence and severity of any side effects;- whether the product is designated under physician and other provider treatment guidelines as a first-, second- or third-line therapy;- our ability, or the ability of any future collaborators, to offer the product for sale at competitive prices;- the product's convenience and ease of administration for patients and healthcare practitioners compared to alternative treatments;- the willingness of the target patient population to try, and of physicians to prescribe, the product;- limitations or warnings, including distribution or use restrictions and safety information contained in the product's approved labeling;- the strength of sales, marketing and distribution support;- changes in the standard of care for the targeted indications for the product; and - the availability of coverage by, and the amount of reimbursement from, government payors, managed care plans and other third-party payors.
Production
Total Risks: 5/80 (6%)Below Sector Average
Employment / Personnel3 | 3.8%
Employment / Personnel - Risk 1
Our future success depends on our ability to retain our President and Chief Executive Officer and our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.*Employment / Personnel - Risk 2
Our employees and consultants may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including non-compliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could cause significant liability for us and harm our reputation.We are exposed to the risk of our employees and consultants committing fraud or other misconduct, including intentional failures to comply with FDA regulations or similar regulations of comparable foreign regulatory authorities, provide accurate information to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, comply with manufacturing standards we may establish, comply with federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations and similar laws and regulations established and enforced by comparable foreign regulatory authorities, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. In particular, sales, marketing and business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws and regulations intended to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, incentive programs and other business arrangements. Employee 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 employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this 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 to be in compliance with such laws, standards 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.
Employment / Personnel - Risk 3
Our employees, independent contractors, principal investigators, consultants, commercial collaborators, service providers and other vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.We are exposed to the risk that our employees and contractors, including principal investigators, consultants, commercial collaborators, service providers and other vendors may engage in fraudulent or other illegal activity. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless and/or negligent conduct or other unauthorized activities that violate the laws and regulations of the FDA and other similar regulatory bodies, including those laws that require the reporting of true, complete and accurate information to such regulatory bodies, manufacturing standards, federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse and health regulatory laws and other similar foreign fraudulent misconduct laws, or laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. Misconduct by these parties may also involve the improper use or misrepresentation 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 third-party misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this 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 to be in compliance 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 financial results, including the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations.
Supply Chain2 | 2.5%
Supply Chain - Risk 1
We are currently dependent on a single third party manufacturer for the manufacture of the active pharmaceutical ingredient for our product candidates. This reliance on a single third party increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or drugs or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.Supply Chain - Risk 2
We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and some aspects of our research and preclinical studies, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials, research and studies.We currently rely on third parties, such as CROs, clinical data management organizations, medical institutions and clinical investigators, to conduct our clinical trials and expect to continue to rely upon third parties to conduct additional clinical trials. We currently rely and expect to continue to rely on third parties to conduct some aspects of our research and preclinical studies. Any of these third parties may terminate their engagements with us at any time. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements, it would delay our drug development activities.
Our reliance on these third parties for research and development activities will reduce our control over these activities but will not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. For example, we will remain responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan, study protocols for the trial, statistical analysis plan and other study-specific documents (for example, monitoring and blinding plans). Moreover, the FDA requires us to comply with standards, commonly referred to as GCP, International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, or ICH, guidelines, and regulations regarding the informed consent process, safety reporting requirements, data collection guidelines, and other regulations for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. The EMA, also requires us to comply with similar standards. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCP requirements through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of our CROs fail to comply with applicable GCP requirements, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure you that upon inspection by a given regulatory authority, such regulatory authority will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with GCP and other applicable regulations. In addition, our clinical trials must be conducted with product produced under current Good Manufacturing Practices, or cGMP, regulations. Our failure to comply with these regulations may require us to conduct new clinical trials, which would delay the marketing approval process. We also are required to register certain ongoing clinical trials and post the results of certain completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database, ClinicalTrials.gov, within certain timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity and civil and criminal sanctions.
Furthermore, these third parties may also have relationships with other entities, some of which may be our competitors. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols, we will not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing approvals for our product candidates and will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our product candidates.
We also expect to rely on other third parties to store and distribute drug supplies for our clinical trials. Any performance failure on the part of such third parties could delay clinical development or marketing approval of our product candidates or commercialization of our product candidates, producing additional losses and depriving us of potential revenue from sales of drugs.
Macro & Political
Total Risks: 1/80 (1%)Below Sector Average
Natural and Human Disruptions1 | 1.3%
Natural and Human Disruptions - Risk 1
An epidemic or pandemic disease outbreak could disrupt our business operations as well as the business or operations of our single third-party manufacturer, our CROs, clinical data management organizations, medical institutions and clinical investigators, or other third parties with whom we conduct business which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.See a full breakdown of risk according to category and subcategory. The list starts with the category with the most risk. Click on subcategories to read relevant extracts from the most recent report.
FAQ
What are “Risk Factors”?
Risk factors are any situations or occurrences that could make investing in a company risky.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that publicly traded companies disclose their most significant risk factors. This is so that potential investors can consider any risks before they make an investment.
They also offer companies protection, as a company can use risk factors as liability protection. This could happen if a company underperforms and investors take legal action as a result.
It is worth noting that smaller companies, that is those with a public float of under $75 million on the last business day, do not have to include risk factors in their 10-K and 10-Q forms, although some may choose to do so.
How do companies disclose their risk factors?
Publicly traded companies initially disclose their risk factors to the SEC through their S-1 filings as part of the IPO process.
Additionally, companies must provide a complete list of risk factors in their Annual Reports (Form 10-K) or (Form 20-F) for “foreign private issuers”.
Quarterly Reports also include a section on risk factors (Form 10-Q) where companies are only required to update any changes since the previous report.
According to the SEC, risk factors should be reported concisely, logically and in “plain English” so investors can understand them.
How can I use TipRanks risk factors in my stock research?
Use the Risk Factors tab to get data about the risk factors of any company in which you are considering investing.
You can easily see the most significant risks a company is facing. Additionally, you can find out which risk factors a company has added, removed or adjusted since its previous disclosure. You can also see how a company’s risk factors compare to others in its sector.
Without reading company reports or participating in conference calls, you would most likely not have access to this sort of information, which is usually not included in press releases or other public announcements.
A simplified analysis of risk factors is unique to TipRanks.
What are all the risk factor categories?
TipRanks has identified 6 major categories of risk factors and a number of subcategories for each. You can see how these categories are broken down in the list below.
1. Financial & Corporate
- Accounting & Financial Operations - risks related to accounting loss, value of intangible assets, financial statements, value of intangible assets, financial reporting, estimates, guidance, company profitability, dividends, fluctuating results.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights – risks related to things that impact share prices and the rights of shareholders, including analyst ratings, major shareholder activity, trade volatility, liquidity of shares, anti-takeover provisions, international listing, dual listing.
- Debt & Financing – risks related to debt, funding, financing and interest rates, financial investments.
- Corporate Activity and Growth – risks related to restructuring, M&As, joint ventures, execution of corporate strategy, strategic alliances.
2. Legal & Regulatory
- Litigation and Legal Liabilities – risks related to litigation/ lawsuits against the company.
- Regulation – risks related to compliance, GDPR, and new legislation.
- Environmental / Social – risks related to environmental regulation and to data privacy.
- Taxation & Government Incentives – risks related to taxation and changes in government incentives.
3. Production
- Costs – risks related to costs of production including commodity prices, future contracts, inventory.
- Supply Chain – risks related to the company’s suppliers.
- Manufacturing – risks related to the company’s manufacturing process including product quality and product recalls.
- Human Capital – risks related to recruitment, training and retention of key employees, employee relationships & unions labor disputes, pension, and post retirement benefits, medical, health and welfare benefits, employee misconduct, employee litigation.
4. Technology & Innovation
- Innovation / R&D – risks related to innovation and new product development.
- Technology – risks related to the company’s reliance on technology.
- Cyber Security – risks related to securing the company’s digital assets and from cyber attacks.
- Trade Secrets & Patents – risks related to the company’s ability to protect its intellectual property and to infringement claims against the company as well as piracy and unlicensed copying.
5. Ability to Sell
- Demand – risks related to the demand of the company’s goods and services including seasonality, reliance on key customers.
- Competition – risks related to the company’s competition including substitutes.
- Sales & Marketing – risks related to sales, marketing, and distribution channels, pricing, and market penetration.
- Brand & Reputation – risks related to the company’s brand and reputation.
6. Macro & Political
- Economy & Political Environment – risks related to changes in economic and political conditions.
- Natural and Human Disruptions – risks related to catastrophes, floods, storms, terror, earthquakes, coronavirus pandemic/COVID-19.
- International Operations – risks related to the global nature of the company.
- Capital Markets – risks related to exchange rates and trade, cryptocurrency.