tiprankstipranks
Eledon Pharmaceuticals (ELDN)
NASDAQ:ELDN
US Market
Holding ELDN?
Track your performance easily

Eledon Pharmaceuticals (ELDN) Risk Factors

793 Followers
Public companies are required to disclose risks that can affect the business and impact the stock. These disclosures are known as “Risk Factors”. Companies disclose these risks in their yearly (Form 10-K), quarterly earnings (Form 10-Q), or “foreign private issuer” reports (Form 20-F). Risk factors show the challenges a company faces. Investors can consider the worst-case scenarios before making an investment. TipRanks’ Risk Analysis categorizes risks based on proprietary classification algorithms and machine learning.

Eledon Pharmaceuticals disclosed 37 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Eledon Pharmaceuticals reported the most risks in the “Tech & Innovation” category.

Risk Overview Q3, 2024

Risk Distribution
37Risks
27% Tech & Innovation
24% Finance & Corporate
19% Legal & Regulatory
11% Ability to Sell
11% Macro & Political
8% Production
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

2020
Q4
S&P500 Average
Sector Average
Risks removed
Risks added
Risks changed
Eledon Pharmaceuticals 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.

Risk Highlights Q3, 2024

Main Risk Category
Tech & Innovation
With 10 Risks
Tech & Innovation
With 10 Risks
Number of Disclosed Risks
37
-1
From last report
S&P 500 Average: 31
37
-1
From last report
S&P 500 Average: 31
Recent Changes
0Risks added
1Risks removed
3Risks changed
Since Sep 2024
0Risks added
1Risks removed
3Risks changed
Since Sep 2024
Number of Risk Changed
3
-2
From last report
S&P 500 Average: 3
3
-2
From last report
S&P 500 Average: 3
See the risk highlights of Eledon Pharmaceuticals 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 37

Tech & Innovation
Total Risks: 10/37 (27%)Above Sector Average
Innovation / R&D4 | 10.8%
Innovation / R&D - Risk 1
Our product candidates are in the early stages of clinical development and may not be successfully developed. If we are unable to successfully develop and commercialize these or any other product candidate, or if we experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.
We currently do not have any products that have gained regulatory approval. We have invested substantially all of our efforts and financial resources in the development of our lead drug candidate tegoprubart, including funding nonclinical studies, clinical trials, drug formulation and the manufacturing of clinical trial materials. Our ability to generate product revenues, which we do not expect will occur for several years, if ever, will depend heavily on the successful development and eventual commercialization of one or more drug candidates. As a result, our business is substantially depending on our ability to successfully complete the development of and obtain approval for one of our potential future additional product candidates. We have not yet demonstrated an ability to successfully overcome many of the risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in new and rapidly evolving fields, particularly in the pharmaceutical area. For example, to execute our business plan, we will need to successfully: - obtain additional financing in order to advance our drug product through clinical development, and to manufacture, obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize our product candidates;- execute formulation, manufacturing, clinical, and nonclinical development activities;- manufacture drug product at commercial scale;- establish and confirm commercially acceptable stability (shelf-life) of our drug products;- in-license or acquire other product candidates and advance them through clinical development;- obtain required regulatory approvals for the development and commercialization of tegoprubart or other product candidates;- maintain, leverage, and expand our intellectual property portfolio;- build and maintain robust sales, distribution and marketing capabilities, either on our own or in collaboration with strategic partners;- gain market acceptance for any approved and marketed drug products;- obtain and maintain adequate product pricing and reimbursement;- develop and maintain any strategic relationships we elect to enter; and - manage our spending as costs and expenses increase due to product manufacturing, nonclinical development, clinical trials, regulatory approvals, post-marketing commitments, and commercialization. If we are unsuccessful in accomplishing these objectives, we may not be able to successfully develop and commercialize our or other product candidates, and our business will suffer.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 2
Drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, including failure to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. We may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the formulation and commercialization of our product candidates.
Given the early stage of development for our product candidates, the risk of failure is high. Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of any product candidate, we must conduct nonclinical trials, and then conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in humans. Formulation and device development, nonclinical and clinical testing are all expensive activities, difficult to design and implement, and can take years to complete. Failure can occur at any time during the development program, including during the clinical trial process. Further, the results of nonclinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates, as well as earlier generation formulations may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. Interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. Moreover, nonclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in nonclinical and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their products. There is a risk that additional nonclinical and/or clinical safety studies will be required by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside the United States and/or that subsequent studies will not match results seen in prior studies. It is impossible to predict when or if any of our product candidates will prove effective, safe and well-tolerated in humans or will receive regulatory approval. We may experience delays in our clinical trials, and we do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin or enroll subjects on time, need to be redesigned or be completed on schedule, if at all. There can be no assurance that the FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory bodies will approve investigational new drug applications and allow us to start clinical trials for any of our product candidates in the future, including for islet cell transplant. Once a clinical trial has commenced, there is also no assurance that the FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory body will not put any of our product candidates on clinical hold. 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. Clinical trials may be delayed, suspended or prematurely terminated for a variety of reasons, such as: - delay or failure in reaching agreement with the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority on a trial design that we want to execute;- delay or failure in obtaining authorization to commence a trial or inability to comply with conditions imposed by a regulatory authority regarding the scope or design of a clinical trial;- delays in reaching, or failure to reach, agreement on acceptable clinical trial contracts or clinical trial protocols with prospective trial sites;- delays in completing formulation development and manufacturing as a prerequisite to commencing clinical work;- inability, delay, or failure in identifying and maintaining a sufficient number of trial sites, many of which may already be engaged in other clinical programs;- delay or failure in recruiting and enrolling suitable subjects to participate in a trial;- delay or failure in having subjects complete a trial or return for post-treatment follow-up;- clinical sites and investigators deviating from trial protocol, failing to conduct the trial in accordance with regulatory requirements, or dropping out of a trial;- lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial, including the incurrence of unforeseen costs due to enrollment delays, requirements to conduct additional clinical trials and increased expenses associated with the services of our contract research organizations ("CROs") and other third parties;- 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 product 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;- we may experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients that our product candidates are designed to target;- our third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all;- we may have difficulty partnering with experienced CROs and study sites that can identify patients that our product candidates are designed to target and run our clinical trials effectively;- regulators or IRBs may require that we or our investigators suspend or terminate clinical research for various reasons, including noncompliance with regulatory requirements 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; or - there may be changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions. In addition, our development and commercialization activities could be harmed or delayed by a shutdown of the U.S. government, including the FDA. For example, a prolonged shutdown may significantly delay the FDA's ability to timely review and process any submissions we may file or cause other regulatory delays, which could materially and adversely affect our business. 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 only modestly positive, or if there are safety concerns, we may: - be delayed in obtaining marketing approval for our product candidates;- not obtain marketing approval at all;- obtain approval for indications or patient populations that are not as broad as intended or desired;- obtain approval with labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or safety warnings that would reduce the potential market for our products or inhibit our ability to successfully commercialize our products;- be subject to additional post-marketing restrictions and/or testing requirements; or - have the product removed from the market after obtaining marketing approval. Our product development costs will also increase if we experience delays in testing or marketing approvals. We do not know whether any of our nonclinical studies or clinical trials will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, or at all. Significant nonclinical or clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates or may allow our competitors to bring products 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 3
If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented and expenses for the development of our product candidates could increase.
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 to demonstrate safety and efficacy. We do not know whether the ongoing or planned clinical trials will enroll subjects in a timely fashion, require redesign of essential trial elements or be completed on its projected schedule. In addition, competitors may have ongoing clinical trials for product candidates that treat related or the same indications as our product candidates, and patients who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials may instead enroll in clinical trials of our competitors' product candidates. Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials would result in significant delays and could require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether. Patient enrollment is affected by other factors including: - the eligibility criteria for the study in question;- the perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study;- the efforts to facilitate timely enrollment in clinical trials;- the inability to identify and maintain a sufficient number of trial sites, many of which may already be engaged in other clinical trial programs, including some that may be for the same disease indication;- the patient referral practices of physicians;- the proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective patients;- ambiguous or negative interim results of our clinical trials, or results that are inconsistent with earlier results;- feedback from regulatory authorities, IRBs, ethics committees ("ECs"), or data safety monitoring boards, or results from earlier stage or concurrent nonclinical and clinical trials, that might require modifications to the protocol;- decisions by regulatory authorities, IRBs, ECs, or the Company, or recommendations by data safety monitoring boards, to suspend or terminate clinical trials at any time for safety issues or for any other reason; and - unacceptable risk-benefit profile or unforeseen safety issues or adverse effects. Enrollment delays in our clinical trials may result in increased development costs for our product candidates, which would cause the value of the Company to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 4
If serious adverse events or unacceptable side effects are identified during the development of our product candidates, we may need to abandon or limit our development of some of our product candidates.
If our product candidates are associated with undesirable effects in nonclinical or clinical trials or have characteristics that are unexpected, we may need to interrupt, delay or abandon their development or limit development to more narrow 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. Any occurrences of clinically significant adverse events with our product candidates may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly. Tegoprubart is an early-product candidate, and the side effect profile in humans has not been fully established. Currently unknown, drug-related side effects may be identified through ongoing and future clinical trials and, as such, these possible drug-related side effects could affect patient recruitment, the ability of enrolled subjects to complete the trial, or result in potential product liability claims.
Trade Secrets5 | 13.5%
Trade Secrets - Risk 1
If we are unable to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our technology and products or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize technology and products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our technology and products may be impaired.
Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in relevant countries with respect to our proprietary technology and products. We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and internationally that are related to our novel technologies and product candidates. This patent portfolio includes issued patents and pending patent applications covering pharmaceutical compositions and methods of use. The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. We may choose not to seek patent protection for certain innovations and may choose not to pursue patent protection in certain jurisdictions, and under the laws of certain jurisdictions, patents or other intellectual property rights may be unavailable or limited in scope. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our discovery and nonclinical development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Moreover, in some circumstances, we may not have the right to control the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications, or to maintain the patents, covering technology that we license from third parties. Therefore, these patents and applications may not be prosecuted and enforced in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. For example, India and China do not allow patents for methods of treating the human body. Publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our owned or licensed patents or pending patent applications, or that we were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the EU, the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection. The risks described pertaining to our patents and other intellectual property rights also apply to the intellectual property rights that we license, and any failure to obtain, maintain and enforce these rights could have a material adverse effect on our business. In some cases, we may not have control over the prosecution, maintenance or enforcement of the patents that we license, and our licensors may fail to take the steps that we believe are necessary or desirable in order to obtain, maintain and enforce the licensed patents. Any inability on our part to protect adequately our intellectual property may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial position. The USPTO and various non-U.S. governmental patent agencies require compliance with several procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process. In certain situations, non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, our competitors might be able to enter the market and this circumstance would have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, we have acquired rights to tegoprubart and other product candidates through a license agreement with The ALS Therapy Development Institute, and may in the future enter into other license agreements with third parties for other intellectual property rights or assets. These license agreements may impose various diligence, milestone payment, royalty, and other obligations on us. If we fail to comply with our obligations under these agreements, or we are subject to a bankruptcy, we may be required to make certain payments to the licensor, we may lose the exclusivity of our license, or the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, in which event we would not be able to develop or market products covered by the license. Additionally, the milestone and other payments associated with these licenses will make it less profitable for us to develop our drug candidates than if we had developed the licensed technology internally. In some cases, patent prosecution of our licensed technology may be controlled solely by the licensor. If our licensors fail to obtain and maintain patent or other protection for the proprietary intellectual property we license from them, we could lose our rights to the intellectual property or our exclusivity with respect to those rights, and our competitors could market competing products using the intellectual property. In certain cases, we may control the prosecution of patents resulting from licensed technology. In the event we breach any of our obligations related to such prosecution, we may incur significant liability to our licensing partners. If disputes over intellectual property and other rights that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates.
Trade Secrets - Risk 2
We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents or other intellectual property, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful.
Our commercial success depends upon our ability, and the ability of our collaborators, to develop, manufacture, market and sell our product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. There is considerable intellectual property litigation in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. We may become party to, or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our products and technology, including interference or derivation proceedings before the USPTO. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents or patents that may be granted in the future. If we are found to infringe a third party's intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue developing and marketing our products and technology. However, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. We could be forced, including by court order, to cease commercializing the infringing technology or product. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages, including treble damages and attorneys' fees if we are found to have willfully infringed a patent. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing our product candidates or force us to cease some of our business operations, which could materially harm our business. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business. Because competition in our industry is intense, competitors may infringe or otherwise violate our issued patents, patents of our licensors or other intellectual property. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe their patents. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, construe the patent's claims narrowly, or refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. We may also elect to enter into license agreements in order to settle patent infringement claims or to resolve disputes prior to litigation, and any such license agreements may require us to pay royalties and other fees that could be significant. 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.
Trade Secrets - Risk 3
We may need to license certain intellectual property from third parties, and such licenses may not be available or may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.
A third party may hold intellectual property, including patent rights, that are important or necessary to the development of our products. It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of third parties to commercialize our products, in which case we would be required to obtain a license from these third parties on commercially reasonable terms, or our business could be harmed, possibly materially. If we were not able to obtain a license or are not able to obtain a license on commercially reasonable terms, our business could be harmed, possibly materially.
Trade Secrets - Risk 4
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.
In addition to seeking patents for some of our technology and product candidates, we also rely on trade secrets, including unpatented know-how, technology and other proprietary information, to maintain our competitive position. Any NDAs or similar agreements entered into by the Company may not be with all relevant parties, or adequately protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets. Moreover, to the extent we enter into such agreements, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies for such breaches. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate 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, our competitive position would be harmed.
Trade Secrets - Risk 5
We may be subject to claims of misappropriation of trade secrets from former employers of Company personnel.
Many of our employees and certain of our directors were previously employed at or affiliated with research foundations or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. Although we try to ensure that our employees and directors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these employees or directors have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such employee's or director's former employer. 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 could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.
Technology1 | 2.7%
Technology - Risk 1
We depend on our information systems and those of our third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants. Our information systems, or those of our third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer cybersecurity incidents, which could result in a material disruption of our development programs or loss of data or compromise the privacy, security, integrity or confidentiality of sensitive information related to our business and have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition or results of operations.
In the ordinary course of our business, we collect, store and transmit large amounts of confidential information, including intellectual property, proprietary business information and personal information. Our information systems and infrastructure, and those of our current or future third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from cybersecurity incidents, including computer viruses, denial-of-service attacks, hacking, phishing and other social engineering attacks, unauthorized access or use resulting from malware, as well as disruptions due to natural disasters, terrorism, war, mistakes or technical errors, including due to software updates and telecommunication and electrical failures. We may also experience cybersecurity incidents stemming from persons inside our organizations (including employees or contractors), or other persons with access to information systems inside our organization. Attacks on information systems are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and they are being conducted by increasingly sophisticated and organized foreign governments, groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise. In addition to extracting or accessing sensitive information, such attacks could include the deployment of harmful malware, ransomware, denial-of-service attacks, social engineering and other means to affect service reliability and threaten the security, confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. The prevalent use of mobile devices that access sensitive information also increases the risk of data security incidents which could lead to the loss of confidential information or other intellectual property. Information system disruptions, even if inadvertent, may limit or disable our access or important third parties' access to our systems. While to our knowledge we have not experienced any material information system failure, accident or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations or the operations of third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants, it could result in a material disruption of our development programs and significant reputational, financial, legal, regulatory, business or operational harm. The costs to us to mitigate, investigate and respond to potential security incidents, breaches, disruptions, network security problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and security vulnerabilities could be significant, and while we have implemented security measures to protect our data security and information systems, our efforts to address these problems may not be successful, and these problems could result in unexpected interruptions, delays, cessation of service and other harm to our business and our competitive position. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed, ongoing or planned clinical trials for our product candidates could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any real or perceived security breach affects our information systems (or those of our third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants), or results in the loss of or accidental, unlawful or unauthorized access to, use of, release of, or other processing of personally identifiable information or damage to our data or applications or other data or applications relating to our technology or product candidates, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could be found to have violated applicable U.S. and international privacy, data protection and other laws, which could subject us to litigation and governmental investigations and proceedings by federal, state and local regulatory entities in the U.S. and by international regulatory entities, resulting in exposure to material civil and/or criminal liability. and the further development of our product candidates could be delayed. Such a breach may require notification to governmental agencies, the media or individuals pursuant to various foreign, domestic (federal and state) privacy and security laws, if applicable, including HIPAA, as amended by HITECH, and its implementing rules and regulations, as well as regulations promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission and state breach notification laws. In addition, our liability insurance may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to cybersecurity incidents. Any failure or perceived failure by us or any third-party collaborators, service providers, contractors or consultants to comply with our privacy, confidentiality, data security or similar obligations, or any data security incidents or other security breaches that result in the accidental, unlawful or unauthorized access to, use of, release of, processing of, or transfer of sensitive information, including personally identifiable information, may result in negative publicity, harm to our reputation, governmental investigations, enforcement actions, regulatory fines, litigation or public statements against us, could cause third parties to lose trust in us or could result in claims by third parties, including those that assert that we have breached our privacy, confidentiality, data security or similar obligations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition or results of operations. To the extent we maintain individually identifiable health information, we could be subject to fines and penalties (including civil and criminal) under HIPAA for any failure by us or our business associates to comply with HIPAA's requirements. Moreover, data security incidents and other security breaches can be difficult to detect, and any delay in identifying them may lead to increased harm. While we have implemented data security measures intended to protect our information, data, information systems, applications and infrastructure, there can be no assurance that such measures will successfully prevent service interruptions or cybersecurity incidents.
Finance & Corporate
Total Risks: 9/37 (24%)Below Sector Average
Share Price & Shareholder Rights3 | 8.1%
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1
Changed
In addition to the dilution of our current stockholders' ownership as a result of the 2023 Private Placement, the 2024 Private Placement and the 2024 Underwriting Agreement, we currently have a significant number of securities outstanding that are exercisable for our common stock, which could result in significant additional dilution and downward pressure on our stock price. Future issuances of our common stock, including common stock that may be issuable pursuant to outstanding warrants or other convertible securities, could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause our stock price to fall.
As of September 30, 2024, there were 41,183,102 shares of our common stock outstanding. In connection with the closing of the 2024 Private Placement on May 9, 2024, we issued 13,110,484 shares of our common stock and pre-funded warrants to purchase 7,989,516 shares of common stock to the investors therein. In connection with the completion of the Second Closing on July 8 2024, we issued 909,088 shares of our common stock and the completion of the Third Closing on September 30, 2024 and October 1, 2024, we issued 1,727,400 shares of our common stock to the investors therein. In connection with the closing of the 2024 Underwriting Agreement on October 29, 2024, we issued 18,356,173 shares of our common stock and pre-funded warrants to purchase 4,931,507 shares of our common stock to the investors therein. The issuance of shares of common stock in the 2023 Private Placement, the 2024 Private Placement and the 2024 Underwriting Agreement diluted the ownership interests of our existing stockholders. The issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of pre-funded warrants or common warrants issued in the initial closing of the 2023 Private Placement, the pre-funded warrants issued in the 2024 Private Placement and the pre-funded warrants issued in the 2024 Underwriting Agreement would result in significant additional dilution to our current stockholders, which could adversely affect the price of our common stock and the terms on which we could raise additional capital. If we sell additional shares of common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities, investors may be materially diluted by subsequent sales. Such sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights, preferences and privileges senior to the holders of our common stock.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2
We expect our stock price to be volatile, and the market price of our common stock may drop unexpectedly.
The market price of our common stock could be subject to significant fluctuations. Market prices for securities of early-stage pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and other life sciences companies have historically been particularly volatile. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include: - uncertainties regarding our financial condition and our ability to raise sufficient capital to fund our ongoing operations;- our ability to obtain regulatory approvals for our product candidates or other product candidates, and delays or failures to obtain such approvals;- failure of any of our product candidates, if approved, to achieve commercial success;- issues in manufacturing our approved products, if any, or product candidates;- the results of our current and any future clinical trials of our product candidates;- the entry into, or termination of, key agreements, including key commercial partner agreements;- the initiation of, material developments in, or conclusion of litigation to enforce or defend any of our intellectual property rights or defend against the intellectual property rights of others;- announcements by commercial partners or competitors of new commercial products, clinical progress, or the lack thereof, significant contracts, commercial relationships, or capital commitments;- the introduction of technological innovations or new therapies that compete with our potential products;- the loss of key employees;- changes in estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, if any, who cover our common stock;- general and industry-specific economic conditions that may affect our research and development expenditures;- changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems;- period-to-period fluctuations in our financial results; and - future issuances of shares of common stock. Moreover, the stock markets in general have experienced substantial volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of individual companies. These broad market fluctuations may also adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company's securities, stockholders have often instituted class action securities litigation against those companies. Such litigation, if instituted, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management attention and resources, which could significantly harm our profitability and reputation.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3
Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of the Company, 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 corporate charter and bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of the Company that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which our stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their 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 is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by stockholders to replace or remove the current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our Board. Among other things, these provisions: - establish a classified Board 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;- limit the manner in which stockholders can remove directors from our Board;- establish advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals that can be acted on at stockholder meetings and nominations to our Board;- 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 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; 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 the Company's charter or bylaws.
Accounting & Financial Operations3 | 8.1%
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 1
We do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.
We expect to retain our future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be the sole source of gain, if any, for any stockholders for the foreseeable future.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 2
If we fail to establish and maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting, our operating results and our ability to operate our business could be harmed.
Ensuring that we will have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place so that we can produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP. As described in Part 1, Item 4 of this report, we have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to remediate the material weaknesses or otherwise successfully maintain internal controls over financial reporting, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting, and our stock price, may be adversely affected and we may be unable to maintain compliance with the applicable stock exchange listing requirements. Additionally, as we become a larger company, we will become subject to Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires our independent auditors to document and test our internal controls. These additional requirements are costly, and our auditors may identify control deficiencies. Implementing any changes to our internal controls may distract the officers and employees of the Company, entail substantial costs to modify its existing processes and take significant time to complete. These changes may not, however, be effective in maintaining the adequacy of the internal controls of the Company, and any failure to maintain that adequacy, or consequent inability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis, could increase operating costs and harm the business. In addition, investors' perceptions that the internal controls of the Company are inadequate or that we are unable to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis may harm the stock price of the Company.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 3
We have incurred significant operating losses since our inception and expect that we will continue to incur losses over the next several years and may never achieve or maintain profitability.
We have incurred significant annual net operating losses in every year since our inception. We have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales to date, and we continue to incur significant research and development and other general and administrative expenses related to our ongoing operations. If tegoprubart or any future product candidates we develop are not successfully developed and approved, we may never generate any revenue from sales of products. The Company has experienced recurring net losses and negative cash flows from operating activities since its inception. As of September 30, 2024, the Company had cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of $78.2 million, working capital of $69.0 million and an accumulated deficit of $311.0 million. We have not generated any revenues from product sales, have not completed the development of any product candidate and may never have a product candidate approved for commercialization. We expect it will be several years, if ever, before we have a product candidate ready for commercialization. We have financed our operations to date primarily through the sale of preferred and common stock, and the sale of warrants and have devoted substantially all of our financial resources and efforts to research and development, including preclinical studies and our clinical trials. Our net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year and will depend, in part, on the rate at which we incur expenses and our ability to generate revenue. Net losses and negative cash flows have had, and will continue to have, an adverse effect on our stockholders' equity and working capital. We anticipate that we will continue to incur significant expenses as we: - conduct nonclinical and clinical development of our product candidates or any future product candidate;- seek to identify and acquire additional product candidates;- acquire or in-license other products and technologies;- enter into collaboration arrangements with regards to product discovery or development;- develop manufacturing processes;- seek marketing approvals for any of our product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials;- establish a sales, marketing, and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any products for which we may obtain marketing approval;- maintain, expand, and protect our intellectual property portfolio;- hire additional personnel;- add operational, financial and management information systems and personnel, including personnel to support our product development and planned future commercialization efforts; and - operate as a public company. To become and remain profitable, we must develop and eventually commercialize a product or products with significant market potential. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including completing clinical trials of our product candidates, obtaining marketing approval for these product candidates and manufacturing, marketing and selling those products for which we obtain marketing approval. We may never succeed in these activities, including if we do not have available financial resources to allow us to pursue clinical trials and other clinical development activities, and, even if we are successful, we may never generate revenues that are significant or large enough to achieve profitability. If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of the Company, could impair our ability to raise capital, maintain our nonclinical and clinical development efforts, and expand our business or continue our operations and may require us to raise additional capital that may dilute the ownership interest of common stockholders. A decline in the value of the Company could also cause stockholders to lose all or part of their investment.
Debt & Financing2 | 5.4%
Debt & Financing - Risk 1
We will require additional funding to be able to complete the development of our lead drug candidate. If we are unable to raise capital, we will be forced to significantly alter our business strategy, substantially curtail our current operations, or liquidate and cease operations altogether.
As of September 30, 2024, there were 41,183,102 shares of our common stock outstanding. In connection with the closing of the 2024 Private Placement on May 9, 2024, we issued 13,110,484 shares of our common stock and pre-funded warrants to purchase 7,989,516 shares of common stock to the investors therein. In connection with the completion of the Second Closing on July 8 2024, we issued 909,088 shares of our common stock and with the completion of the Third Closing on September 30, 2024 and October 1, 2024, we issued 1,727,400 shares of our common stock to the investors therein. In connection with the closing of the 2024 Underwriting Agreement on October 29, 2024, we issued 18,356,173 shares of our common stock and pre-funded warrants to purchase 4,931,507 shares of our common stock to the investors therein. In view of our expectation to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future, we will be required to raise additional capital resources in the future in order to fund our operations. We can also provide no assurance that other funding will be available to us, will be obtained on terms favorable to us or will provide us with sufficient funds to meet our objectives. If we are unable to raise such capital, or if we are unable to do so on acceptable terms, we will be forced to significantly alter our business strategy, substantially curtail our current operations, or liquidate and cease operations altogether. For example, we are currently unable to continue our clinical development of tegoprubart for people with ALS without additional financing, and we can provide no assurances that we will be able to obtain financing on acceptable terms or at all. Our funding needs may fluctuate significantly based on a number of factors, such as: - the scope, progress, results and costs of formulation development and manufacture of drug product to support nonclinical and clinical development of our product candidates;- the extent to which we enter into additional collaboration arrangements regarding product discovery or development, or acquire or in-license products or technologies;- our ability to establish additional collaborations with favorable terms, if at all;- the costs, timing, and outcome of regulatory review of our product candidates;- the costs of future commercialization activities, including product sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution, for any of our product candidates for which we receive marketing approval;- revenue, if any, received from commercial sales of our product candidates, should any of our product candidates receive marketing approval; and - the costs of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing our intellectual property rights and defending intellectual property-related claims. Identifying potential product candidates and conducting formulation development, nonclinical testing and clinical trials is a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain marketing approval and achieve product sales. In addition, our product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. Our commercial revenues, if any, will be derived from sales of products that we do not expect to be commercially available for several years, if at all. Accordingly, we will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives. Even if we generate positive clinical data or are able to successfully commercialize one or more of our product candidates, additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.
Debt & Financing - Risk 2
The insurance coverage and reimbursement status of newly-approved products is uncertain. Failure to obtain or maintain adequate coverage and reimbursement for new or current products could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue.
The availability and extent of reimbursement by governmental and private payers is essential for most patients to be able to afford expensive treatments. Sales of our product candidates will depend substantially, both domestically and internationally, on the extent to which the costs of our product candidates will be paid by health maintenance, managed care, pharmacy benefit and similar healthcare management organizations, or reimbursed by government health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third-party payers. If reimbursement is not available, or is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our product candidates. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow us to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realize a sufficient return on our investment. There is significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly-approved products. In the United States, the principal decisions about reimbursement for new medicines are typically made by CMS, as CMS decides whether and to what extent a new medicine will be covered and reimbursed under Medicare. Private payers tend to follow CMS to a substantial degree. It is difficult to predict what CMS will decide with respect to reimbursement for fundamentally novel products such as ours, as there is no body of established practices and precedents for these new products. Reimbursement agencies in Europe may be more conservative than CMS. Outside the United States, international operations are generally subject to extensive governmental price controls and other market regulations, and we believe the increasing emphasis on cost-containment initiatives in Europe, Canada, and other countries has and will continue to put pressure on the pricing and usage of our product candidates. In many countries, the prices of medical products are subject to varying price control mechanisms as part of national health systems. In general, the prices of medicines under such systems are substantially lower than in the United States. Other countries allow companies to fix their own prices for medicines but monitor and control company profits. Additional foreign price controls or other changes in pricing regulation could restrict the amount that we are able to charge for our product candidates. Accordingly, in markets outside the United States, the reimbursement for our products may be reduced compared with the United States and may be insufficient to generate commercially reasonable revenues and profits. Moreover, increasing efforts by governmental and third-party payers, in the United States and internationally, to cap or reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and level of reimbursement for new products approved and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our product candidates. Increased expense is incurred to cover costs of health outcome focused research used to generate data necessary to justify the value of our products in order to secure reimbursement. We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of any of our product candidates, due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative changes. The downward pressure on healthcare costs in general, particularly prescription drugs and surgical procedures and other treatments, has become very intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products into the healthcare market. In addition, many private payers contract with commercial vendors who sell software that provide guidelines that attempt to limit utilization of, and therefore reimbursement for, certain products deemed to provide limited benefit to existing alternatives. Such organizations may set guidelines that limit reimbursement or utilization of our products.
Corporate Activity and Growth1 | 2.7%
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 1
Our short operating history and shifts in our business strategy may make it difficult to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.
We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company. Our ongoing operations to date have been limited to organizing and staffing the Company, business planning, raising capital, acquiring and developing technology, identifying potential product candidates and pursuing nonclinical and clinical trials. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully manufacture drug product in large enough quantities and with stability to support additional clinical trials, execute pivotal clinical trials, obtain marketing approvals, manufacture a commercial scale product or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful product commercialization. It can take many years to develop a new medicine from the time it is discovered to when it is available for treating patients. Consequently, any predictions made about our future success or viability based on our short operating history to date may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer operating history. In addition, as a result of the acquisition of Anelixis and our decision to discontinue our Company funding of the islet cell transplantation program and the IgAN program, our future business, prospects, financial position and operating results could be significantly different than those in historical periods or previously projected by our management. In addition, as an early-stage business, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors. To successfully market any of our current or future product candidates, we will need to transition from a company with a clinical development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities. We may not be successful in such a transition.
Legal & Regulatory
Total Risks: 7/37 (19%)Below Sector Average
Regulation4 | 10.8%
Regulation - Risk 1
If we are not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals, or the approvals may be for a narrow indication, we may not be able to commercialize our product candidates, and our ability to generate revenue may be materially impaired.
Our product candidates must be approved by the FDA pursuant to a new drug application in the United States and by other regulatory authorities outside the United States prior to commercialization in the respective regions. The process of obtaining marketing approvals, both in the United States and outside the United States, is expensive and takes several 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. Failure to obtain marketing approval for a product candidate will prevent us from commercializing the product candidate. We have not received approval to market any of our product candidates from regulatory authorities in any country. We have no experience in filing and supporting the applications necessary to gain marketing approvals for our products and may engage third-party consultants to assist in this process. Securing marketing approval requires the submission of extensive nonclinical and clinical data, and other 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 formulation and manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the regulatory authorities. Our product candidates may not be effective, may be only moderately effective or may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that may preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use. 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 nonclinical, clinical or other data. In addition, varying interpretations of the data obtained from nonclinical and clinical trials could delay, limit or prevent marketing approval of a product candidate. Changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment of additional statutes or regulations,or changes in regulatory review for each submitted product application, may also cause delays in or prevent the approval of an application. Any marketing approval we ultimately obtain may be for fewer or more limited indications than requested or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable or its market potential significantly impaired. In addition, regulatory agencies may not approve the labeling claims that are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates. In order to market and sell our products in the EU and other international jurisdictions outside of the United States, we or our third-party collaborators must obtain separate marketing approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedure varies among countries and may require additional nonclinical, clinical or health outcome data. In addition, the time required to obtain approval may differ substantially amongst international jurisdictions. The regulatory approval process outside the United States generally includes all the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. In addition to regulatory approval, in many countries outside the United States, it is required that the product be approved for reimbursement before the product can be approved for sale in that country. If we experience delays in obtaining approval or if we fail to obtain approval of our product candidates, the commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenues will be materially impaired.
Regulation - Risk 2
Any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval will be subject to extensive post-marketing regulatory requirements and could be subject to post-marketing restrictions or withdrawal from the market, and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or if we experience unanticipated problems with our products, when and if any of them are approved.
Our product candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their testing, manufacture, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale and distribution, are subject to comprehensive regulation that are specific to those defined by regulatory authorities in the countries where the product is approved. In the United States and other countries that follow the International Conference on Harmonization, these requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration and listing requirements, cGMP requirements relating to manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, including periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities, requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping. The FDA, or other regulatory authorities, may also impose requirements for costly post-marketing studies or clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of the product. The FDA closely regulates the post-approval marketing and promotion of drugs to ensure drugs are marketed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling. The FDA imposes stringent restrictions on manufacturers' communications regarding use of their products and if we promote our products beyond their approved indications, we may be subject to enforcement action for off-label promotion. Violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act relating to the promotion of prescription drugs may lead to investigations alleging violations of federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws, as well as state consumer protection laws. In addition, later discovery of previously unknown adverse events or other problems with our products, manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may yield various results, including: - restrictions on such products, manufacturers, or manufacturing processes;- restrictions on the labeling or marketing of a product;- restrictions on product distribution or use;- requirements to conduct post-marketing studies or clinical trials;- warning or untitled letters;- withdrawal of the products from the market;- refusal to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications that we submit;- recall of products;- fines, restitution or disgorgement of profits or revenues;- suspension or withdrawal of marketing approvals;- refusal to permit the import or export of our products;- product seizure; or - injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties. Non-compliance with EU requirements regarding safety monitoring or pharmacovigilance, and with requirements related to the development of products for the pediatric population, can also result in significant financial penalties. Similarly, failure to comply with the EU's requirements regarding the protection of personal information can also lead to significant penalties and sanctions.
Regulation - Risk 3
Legislation regulating the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries may increase the difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval of and commercialize our product candidates and affect the prices we may obtain.
In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes intended to contain healthcare costs and modify the regulation of drug and biologic products. These and other regulatory changes could prevent or delay marketing approval of our product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to profitably sell any product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. For example, on August 16, 2022, the U.S. government enacted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which, among other things, includes policies that are designed to have a direct impact on drug prices and reduce drug spending by the federal government, which shall take effect in 2023. The Inflation Reduction Act requires drug manufacturers to pay rebates to Medicare if they increase prices faster than inflation for certain drugs used by Medicare beneficiaries. The mechanics of the rebate calculation would mimic those of the Medicaid rebate, but the expansion of inflation-based rebates may further complicate pricing strategies. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 or other similar legislation could have the effect of reducing the prices we can charge and reimbursement we receive for our products, thereby reducing our profitability. We expect that additional state and federal healthcare reform measures and regulations will be adopted in the future. Any of these measures and regulations could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, result in reduced demand for our product candidates or additional pricing pressures and affect our product development, testing, marketing approvals and post-market activities. Laws, restrictions, and other regulatory measures are also imposed by healthcare laws and regulations in international jurisdictions and in those jurisdictions we face the same issues as in the United States regarding difficulty and cost for us to obtain marketing approval and commercialization of our product candidates and which may affect the prices we may obtain. In some countries, particularly the countries of the EU, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, 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 candidate to 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 business could be harmed, possibly materially.
Regulation - Risk 4
Our business operations and relationships with healthcare providers, physicians, third-party payers, and customers will be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other broadly applicable healthcare laws, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, program exclusion, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.
Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payers will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any product candidates for which we receive marketing approval. Our current and future arrangements may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we would market, sell and distribute the products for which we receive marketing approval. Even though we will not control referrals of healthcare services or bill directly to Medicare, Medicaid or other third-party payers, federal and state healthcare laws are and will be applicable to our business. Such laws include, but are not limited to federal false claims, false statements and civil monetary penalties laws, including the federal civil False Claims Act ("FCA"), the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"), patient data privacy and security regulation, including, in the United States, HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Clinical Health Act of 2009 ("HITECH"), the federal transparency requirements under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, and analogous state, local or foreign law. Pharmaceutical and other healthcare companies have been prosecuted under these laws for a variety of promotional and marketing activities, such as: providing free trips, free goods, sham consulting fees and grants and other monetary benefits to prescribers; reporting to pricing services inflated average wholesale prices that were then used by federal programs to set reimbursement rates; engaging in off-label promotion; and submitting inflated best price information to the Medicaid Rebate Program to reduce liability for Medicaid rebates. 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 or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. 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, disgorgement, fines, imprisonment, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, additional oversight and reporting obligations, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business are found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, that person or entity may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs. Laws, restrictions, and other regulatory measures are also imposed by anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, and other healthcare laws and regulations in international jurisdictions, and in those jurisdictions we face the same issues as in the United State regarding exposure to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, program exclusion, contractual damages, reputational harm, and diminished profits and future earnings.
Litigation & Legal Liabilities1 | 2.7%
Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 1
Product liability lawsuits against us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and to limit commercialization of any products that we may develop.
We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any products that we may develop. If we cannot successfully defend against claims that our product candidates or products 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 products 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 products that we may develop. We currently hold $10.0 million in product liability insurance coverage in the aggregate, with a per incident limit of $10.0 million, which may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur. We may need to increase our insurance coverage as we expand our clinical trials or if we commence commercialization of our product candidates. 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.
Environmental / Social2 | 5.4%
Environmental / Social - Risk 1
European data collection is governed by restrictive regulations governing the collection, use, processing and cross-border transfer of personal information.
We may collect, process, use or transfer personal information from individuals located in the European Economic Area in connection with our business, including in connection with conducting clinical trials in the EEA. Additionally, if any of our product candidates are approved, we may seek to commercialize those products in the European Economic Area. The collection and use of personal health data in the European Economic Area is governed by the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (the "GDPR"), along with other European Union and country-specific laws and regulations. The United Kingdom and Switzerland have also adopted data protection laws and regulations. These legislative acts (together with regulations and guidelines) impose requirements relating to having legal bases for processing personal data relating to identifiable individuals and transferring such data outside of the European Economic Area, including to the United States, providing details to those individuals regarding the processing of their personal data, keeping personal data secure, having data processing agreements with third parties who process personal data, responding to individuals' requests to exercise their rights in respect of their personal data, reporting security breaches involving personal data to the competent national data protection authority and affected individuals, appointing data protection officers or corporate representatives, conducting data protection impact assessments and record-keeping. The GDPR imposes additional responsibilities and liabilities in relation to personal data that we process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance with the new data protection rules. Failure to comply with the requirements of the GDPR and related national data protection laws of the member states of the European Economic Area and other states in the European Economic Area may result in substantial fines, other administrative penalties and civil claims being brought against us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. European data protection authorities may interpret the GDPR and national laws differently and may impose additional requirements, which adds to the complexity of processing personal data in or from the EEA or United Kingdom. Guidance on implementation and compliance practices are often updated or otherwise revised.
Environmental / Social - Risk 2
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 harm our business.
We may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These current or future laws and regulations may impair our nonclinical or clinical development or production efforts. Our failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.
Ability to Sell
Total Risks: 4/37 (11%)Above Sector Average
Competition1 | 2.7%
Competition - Risk 1
We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing competing products before or more successfully than we do.
The development and commercialization of new drug products is highly competitive. We face competition with respect to our current product candidates and will face competition with respect to any product candidates that we may seek to develop or commercialize in the future, from major pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies worldwide. There are several large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that currently market and sell products or are pursuing the development of products for the treatment of the disease indications for which we are developing our product candidates. Some of these competitive products and therapies are based on scientific approaches that are the same as or similar to our approach, and others are based on entirely different approaches. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization. Specifically, there are a number of companies developing competing anti-CD40 and anti-CD40L therapeutics in clinical trials for transplant, autoimmune or central nervous system indications, including: Novartis, Sanofi, UCB, Amgen (post-acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics), Bristol Myers Squibb, and Kiniksa. All of these companies are larger than Eledon and have significantly greater resources to develop their drug candidates. If approved, we expect that tegoprubart will face competition from numerous FDA-approved therapeutics for the prevention of transplant rejection, including PROGRAF, ASTAGRAF XL, ENVARSUS XR, NULOJIX, CELLCEPT, MYFORTIC, and numerous other branded and generic immunosuppressive agents. Multiple companies are working on islet cell and kidney transplant solutions that may ultimately potentially negate the need for immunosuppressive agents in these indications altogether. We expect that tegoprubart will face competition from FDA-approved therapeutics for the treatment of ALS including RADICAVA, RELYVRIO™, RILUZOLE, and numerous other branded and generic immunosuppressive agents. Multiple pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including but not limited to Biogen, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Orion Pharma, Orphazyme, AZTherapies, Voyager Therapeutics, Apic Bio, Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics, and Cytokinetics, are also working on competing ALS pharmaceutical, gene therapy and cell therapy approaches. Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. In addition, our ability to compete may be affected in many cases by insurers or other third-party payers seeking to encourage the use of generic products. Generic products are currently available, with additional generic products expected to become available over the coming years, potentially creating pricing pressure. If our product candidates achieve marketing approval, we expect that they will be priced at a significant premium over competitive generic products. Many of the companies against which we are competing or against which we may compete in the future have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, conducting nonclinical studies, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products than we do. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. Smaller and other early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.
Sales & Marketing3 | 8.1%
Sales & Marketing - Risk 1
Even if any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, we may fail to achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payers and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.
If any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, we may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payers and others in the medical community. In addition, physicians, patients and third-party payers may prefer other novel products to ours. If our product candidates do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenues 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 and potential advantages and disadvantages compared to alternative treatments;- the ability to offer our products for sale at competitive prices;- the convenience and ease of administration compared to alternative treatments;- the willingness of the target patient population to try new therapies and of physicians to prescribe these therapies;- the strength of our marketing and distribution support;- the availability of third-party coverage and adequate reimbursement, including patient cost-sharing programs such as copays and deductibles;- the ability to develop or partner with third-party collaborators to develop companion diagnostics;- the prevalence and severity of any side effects; and - any restrictions on the use of our products together with other medications.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 2
Changed
We currently have no marketing or sales force. If we are unable to establish effective marketing and sales capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell our product candidates, we may not be able to effectively market and sell our product candidates, if approved, or generate product revenues.
We currently do not have a marketing or sales team for the marketing, sales and distribution of any of our product candidates that are able to obtain regulatory approval. In order to commercialize any product candidates, we must build on a territory-by-territory basis marketing, sales, distribution, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services, and we may not be successful in doing so. If our product candidates receive regulatory approval, we intend to establish an internal sales and marketing team with technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to commercialize our product candidates, which will be expensive and time-consuming, will require significant attention of our executive officers to manage and may nonetheless fail to effectively market and sell our product candidates. Any failure or delay in the development of our internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities would adversely impact the commercialization of any of our products that we obtain approval to market. With respect to the commercialization of all or certain of our product candidates, we may choose to collaborate, either globally or on a territory-by-territory basis, with third parties that have direct sales forces and established distribution systems, either to augment our own sales force and distribution systems or in lieu of our own sales force and distribution systems. If we are unable to enter into such arrangements when needed on acceptable terms or at all, we may not be able to successfully commercialize any of our product candidates that receive regulatory approval, or any such commercialization may experience delays or limitations. If we are not successful in commercializing our product candidates, either on our own or through collaborations with one or more third parties, our future product revenue will suffer, and we may incur significant additional losses.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 3
Changed
If our current product candidates, or a future product candidate receives marketing approval and we, or others, later discover that the product is less effective than previously believed or causes undesirable side effects that were not previously identified, our ability to market the product could be compromised.
Clinical trials are conducted in carefully defined subsets of patients who have agreed to enter into clinical trials. Consequently, it is possible that our clinical trials may indicate an apparent beneficial effect of a product candidate that is greater than the actual positive effect in a broader patient population or alternatively fail to identify undesirable side effects. If, following approval of a product candidate, we, or others, discover that the product is less effective than previously believed or causes undesirable side effects that were not previously identified, any of the following events could occur: - regulatory authorities may withdraw their approval of the product or seize the product;- the product may be required to be recalled or changes may be required to the way the product is administered;- additional restrictions may be imposed on the marketing of, or the manufacturing processes for, the product;- regulatory authorities may require the addition of labeling statements, such as a "black box" warning or a contraindication;- the creation of a Medication Guide outlining the risks of the previously unidentified side effects for distribution to patients;- additional restrictions may be imposed on the distribution or use of the product via a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy;- we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients;- the product may become less competitive; and - our reputation may suffer. Any of these events could have a material and adverse effect on our operations and business. The commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenues will be materially impaired.
Macro & Political
Total Risks: 4/37 (11%)Above Sector Average
Economy & Political Environment1 | 2.7%
Economy & Political Environment - Risk 1
Unfavorable global economic conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The global economy, including the financial and credit markets, continues to experience extreme volatility and disruptions, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates, increases in inflation rates, rising interest rates and uncertainty about economic stability. Likewise, the current conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have created extreme volatility in the global capital markets and global economic consequences, including disruptions of the global supply chain and energy markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn or continued volatility in the financial and credit markets could negatively impact our ability to obtain necessary debt or equity financing in a timely manner or on favorable terms, if at all. The severity and duration of any such impacts cannot be predicted. Any such failure to raise capital as and when needed could have a negative impact on our financial condition and on our ability to pursue our business plans and strategies or cause us to delay our clinical development plans, research and development programs or commercialization efforts, out-license intellectual property rights to our product candidates or sell unsecured assets, or a combination of the above. Any of these actions could materially harm our business. For example, we do not currently have sufficient liquidity to fund the continued clinical development of tegoprubart for people with ALS without additional financing, notwithstanding the positive topline results of our Phase 2a study of tegoprubart for adult subjects with ALS. In addition, if we are unable to raise capital, we will be forced to significantly alter our business strategy, substantially curtail our current operations, or liquidate and cease operations altogether. In addition, inflation has recently increased throughout the U.S. economy. As a result of inflation, we have experienced and may continue to experience cost increases, including costs of clinical trials and research and development of our product candidates, production costs, the price of labor, administration and other costs of doing business. Although we may continue to take measures to mitigate the impact of this inflation, if these measures are not effective, our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity could be materially adversely affected. Further, in an inflationary environment, cost increases may outpace our expectations, causing us to use our cash and other liquid assets faster than forecasted. If this happens, we may need to raise more capital to fund our operations than expected, and such capital may not be available in sufficient amounts or on reasonable terms, if at all.
International Operations1 | 2.7%
International Operations - Risk 1
Our ability to conduct clinical trials in some jurisdictions outside of the United States may be adversely affected.
We currently have clinical trial sites in regions outside the United States, including Asia, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and we will continue to conduct future clinical trials in these markets. Our ability to conduct clinical trials at sites located outside the United States is subject to numerous risks unique to conducting business in jurisdictions outside the United States, including: - difficulty in establishing or managing relationships with qualified CROs, physicians and clinical trial sites;- different local standards for the conduct of clinical trials;- difficulty in complying with various and complex import laws and regulations when shipping drugs to certain countries;- the potential burden of complying with a variety of laws, medical standards and regulatory requirements, including the regulation of pharmaceutical and biotechnology products and treatments;- lack of consistency in standard of care from country to country;- diminished protection of intellectual property in some countries;- instability in economic or political conditions, including inflation, recession and actual or anticipated military conflicts, social upheaval or political uncertainty;- foreign exchange fluctuations;- cultural differences in medical practice and clinical research; and - changes in country or regional regulatory requirements. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the resulting imposition of economic and other sanctions by the United States, European Union and many other nations on Russia, individuals in Russia, Russian businesses and the Russian central bank, or any escalation of tensions in the region, could have a broader impact that expands into other countries. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East could have similar impacts. Although the length and impact of any military action and expansion of the conflict into other countries are highly unpredictable, if either conflict spreads or has effects on additional countries, we may experience disruptions or delays in our plans to conduct clinical trial activities in affected regions outside the United States.
Natural and Human Disruptions1 | 2.7%
Natural and Human Disruptions - Risk 1
Public health crises, including pandemics or epidemics could adversely affect our business.
Our business and operations, including but not limited to ongoing or planned research and development activities may be impacted by public health crises. For example, our business was adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which also caused significant disruption in the operations of third parties upon whom we rely. Other future public health crises, including any future pandemics or epidemics could have a similar impact on our business. We have experienced, and may in the future experience disruptions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or from another public health crisis, including any future pandemic or epidemic, that could severely impact our operations and development activities, including, but not limited to: - delays in necessary interactions with local regulators, ethics committees and other important agencies and contractors due to limitations in employee resources or forced furlough of government employees;- delays in manufacturing of our drug candidates due to increased competition for manufacturing capacity as a result of the pandemic;- limitations in employee resources that would otherwise be focused on the conduct of our development activities, including because of sickness of employees or their families or the desire of employees to avoid contact with large groups of people;- refusal of the FDA to accept data from clinical trials in affected geographies;- delays in procuring drug substance and/or in manufacturing drug product due to limitations in employee resources or forced furloughs at our contract manufacturing organizations;- delays in initiation of future clinical trials, including delays in receiving authorization from local regulatory authorities to initiate such clinical trials; and - delays or disturbances in enrollment and trial execution, for example, because clinical trial sites may be unable to operate normally, or patients may elect to forego visits to medical facilities or undertake voluntary medical procedures. Any of the foregoing factors, or other effects of any public health crisis, including any future pandemic or epidemic, could materially affect our business, possibly to a significant degree. The severity and duration of any such impacts cannot be predicted.
Capital Markets1 | 2.7%
Capital Markets - Risk 1
Adverse conditions in the financial markets, including bank failures, could adversely affect our liquidity and financial performance.
We currently maintain domestic cash deposits, for short term operating requirements, in Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") insured banks, which exceed the FDIC insurance limits. Our additional cash and cash equivalents are held in accounts managed by third-party financial institutions and consist of primarily of cash invested in money market funds and government bonds. Bank failures, events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, or concerns or rumors about such events, may lead to widespread demands for customer withdrawals and liquidity constraints that may result in market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank failed and was taken into receivership by the FDIC. At that time, we maintained deposits amounting to approximately 78% of our total cash at Silicon Valley Bank. On March 26, 2023, the assets, deposits and loans of Silicon Valley Bank were acquired by First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company. In response to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, we diversified our cash deposits into money market funds, U.S. treasuries and U.S. government agency securities and, as of the date of this report, our total cash maintained in FDIC insured banking accounts is less than 3% of our total cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments. The failure of a bank, or other adverse conditions in the financial or credit markets impacting financial institutions at which we maintain balances, could adversely impact our liquidity and financial performance. There can be no assurance that our deposits in excess of the FDIC or other comparable insurance limits will be backstopped by the U.S. or any applicable foreign government in the future or that any bank or financial institution with which we do business will be able to obtain needed liquidity from other banks, government institutions or by acquisition in the event of a future failure or liquidity crisis. Additionally, our cash investments outside of FDIC insured bank accounts are subject to general credit, liquidity, market, and interest rate risks. If the carrying value of an investment exceeds the fair value, and the decline in fair value is deemed to be other-than-temporary, we are required to write down the value of the investment, which could materially harm our results of operations and financial condition and could limit our access to liquidity.
Production
Total Risks: 3/37 (8%)Below Sector Average
Employment / Personnel1 | 2.7%
Employment / Personnel - Risk 1
Our future success depends on our ability to retain executives and key employees and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel in the future.
We are highly dependent on the product development, clinical and business development expertise of the principal members of our management, scientific and clinical team. Although we have entered into employment agreements with our executives and key employees, each of them may terminate their employment with us at any time. We do not maintain "key person" insurance for any of our executives or other employees. Our recent decision to discontinue the islet cell transplantation program and IgAN program and uncertainties regarding our financial condition may increase the likelihood that employees depart in the foreseeable future. Recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, clinical, manufacturing, sales and marketing personnel is critical to our success. Due to the small size of the Company and the limited number of employees, each of our executives and key employees serves in a critical role. The loss of the services of our executive officers or other key employees could impede the achievement of our development and commercialization objectives and seriously harm our ability to successfully implement our business strategy. Furthermore, replacing executive officers and key employees may be difficult and may take an extended period of time because of the limited number of individuals in our industry with the breadth of skills and experience required to successfully develop, gain regulatory approval of, and commercialize products. Competition to hire from this limited pool is intense, and we may be unable to hire, train, retain or motivate these key personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for similar personnel. We also experience competition for the hiring of scientific and clinical personnel from universities and research institutions. In addition, we rely on consultants and advisors, including scientific and clinical advisors, to assist us in formulating drug product, nonclinical development, clinical development, regulatory strategy, and commercial strategy. Our consultants and advisors may be employed by employers other than us and may have commitments under consulting or advisory contracts with other entities that may limit their availability to provide services to us. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high quality personnel, our ability to pursue our growth strategy will be limited.
Supply Chain2 | 5.4%
Supply Chain - Risk 1
We contract with third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates for nonclinical and clinical trials and expect to continue to do so for commercialization. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or products at an acceptable cost and quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.
We have utilized, and intend to continue utilizing, third parties to formulate, manufacture, package, and distribute clinical supplies of our drug candidates. We have no experience in manufacturing and do not have any manufacturing facilities. Currently, we rely on third parties for the manufacturing of drug substance and drug product for nonclinical and clinical activities. Our manufacturing vendors utilize proprietary cell culture media, cell lines, buffers, manufacturing equipment, manufacturing supplies, and storage buffers for the manufacturing of tegoprubart and other product candidates. These materials are custom-made and available from only a limited number of sources. Although we believe that our third-party suppliers maintain a significant supply of these materials and equipment on hand, any sustained disruption in this supply, could adversely affect our operations. We do not have any long-term agreements in place with our current suppliers. If we are required to change manufacturers, we may experience delays associated with finding an alternate manufacturer that is properly qualified to produce supplies of our products and product candidates in accordance with regulatory requirements and our specifications. Any delays or difficulties in obtaining or in manufacturing, packaging or distributing approved product candidates could negatively impact our clinical trials. We expect to rely on third-party manufacturers or third-party collaborators for the manufacture of commercial supply of any other product candidates for which our collaborators or we obtain marketing approval. Despite drug substance and product risk management, this reliance on third parties presents a risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or products or such quantities at an acceptable cost or quality, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts. For example, these third parties experienced disruptions in their operations in conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic. Any delay or performance failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers of drug substance or drug products could delay clinical development or marketing approval. We do not currently have arrangements in place for redundant supply. If suppliers cannot supply us with our requirements, we may be required to identify alternative manufacturers, which would lead us to incur added costs and delays in identifying and qualifying any such replacement. Formulations and devices used in early studies are not final formulations and devices for commercialization. Additional changes may be required by the FDA or other regulatory authorities on specifications and storage conditions. These may require additional studies and may result in a delay in our clinical trials and commercialization activities. We also expect to rely on other third parties to label, store, and distribute drug supplies for our clinical trials. Any performance failure on the part of our distributors could delay clinical development or marketing approval of our product candidates or commercialization of our products, producing additional losses and depriving us of potential product revenue. We may be unable to establish any agreements with third-party manufacturers or to do so on acceptable terms. Even if we are able to establish agreements with third-party manufacturers, reliance on third-party manufacturers entails additional risks, including: - reliance on the third party for regulatory compliance and quality assurance;- the possible breach of the manufacturing agreement by the third party;- the possible misappropriation of our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and know-how; and - the possible termination or nonrenewal of the agreement by the third party at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us. The third parties we rely on for manufacturing and packaging are also subject to regulatory review, and any regulatory compliance problems with these third parties could significantly delay or disrupt our clinical or commercialization activities. Third-party manufacturers may not be able to comply with cGMP regulations or similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. Our failure, or the failure of our third-party manufacturers, to comply with applicable regulations could result in sanctions being imposed on us, including clinical holds, fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, seizures or recalls of product candidates or products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecutions, any of which could significantly and adversely affect supplies of our products. Additionally, macro-economic conditions may adversely affect these third parties, causing them to suffer liquidity or operational problems. If a key third-party vendor becomes insolvent or is forced to lay off workers assisting with our projects, our results and development timing could suffer. Our product candidates and any products that we may develop may compete with other product candidates and products for access to manufacturing facilities. There are a limited number of manufacturers that operate under cGMP regulations and that might be capable of manufacturing for us. Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our product candidates or products may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any products that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.
Supply Chain - Risk 2
We depend on CROs and other contracted third parties to perform nonclinical and clinical testing and certain other research and development activities. As a result, the outcomes of the activities performed by these organizations will be, to a certain extent, beyond our control.
The nature of outsourcing a substantial portion of our business will require that we rely on CROs and other contractors to assist us with research and development, clinical testing activities, patient enrollment, data collection, and regulatory submissions to the FDA or other regulatory bodies. As a result, our success will depend partially on the success of these third parties in performing their responsibilities. Although we intend to pre-qualify our CROs and other contractors and we believe that the contractors selected will be fully capable of performing their contractual obligations, we cannot directly control the adequacy and timeliness of the resources and expertise that they apply to these activities. Additionally, macro-economic conditions may affect our development partners and vendors, which could adversely affect their ability to timely perform their tasks. If our contractors do not perform their obligations in an adequate and timely manner, the pace of clinical development, regulatory approval and commercialization of our drug candidates could be significantly delayed, and our prospects could be adversely affected.
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.
                          What am I Missing?
                          Make informed decisions based on Top Analysts' activity
                          Know what industry insiders are buying
                          Get actionable alerts from top Wall Street Analysts
                          Find out before anyone else which stock is going to shoot up
                          Get powerful stock screeners & detailed portfolio analysis