Exelixis (EXEL) Risk Factors

We do not operate our own current GMP manufacturing or distribution facilities for CMC development activities, preclinical, clinical or commercial production and distribution for our current products and new product candidates. Instead, we mostly rely on various third-party contract manufacturing organizations to conduct these operations on our behalf. As our operations continue to grow in these areas, we are expanding internal CMC development laboratories to augment our external network focusing on our product candidates. We expect this to enable us to maximize application of our internal expertise and scientific know-how and advance our product candidates more efficiently and with greater technical precision, speed, agility and quality, while working in close collaboration with our expanding external manufacturing and supply chain network through additional third-party contract manufacturers, distributors and suppliers. To establish and manage our manufacturing network and supply chain requires a significant financial commitment, the creation of numerous third-party contractual relationships and continued oversight of these third parties to fulfill compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, including the FDA's current GMP, the EC's Guidelines on GDP, as well as other stringent regulatory requirements enforced by the FDA or foreign regulatory agencies, as applicable. These third parties are also subject to routine inspections by the FDA and foreign regulatory agencies. Although we maintain significant resources to directly and effectively oversee the activities and relationships with the third parties in our network, we do not have direct control over their operations. Our third-party contract manufacturers may not be able to produce or deliver material on a timely basis or manufacture material with the required quality standards, or in the quantity required to meet our preclinical, clinical development and commercial needs and applicable regulatory requirements. Although we have not yet experienced significant production delays or seen significant impairment to our supply chain as a result of the ongoing hostilities in Eastern Europe and the Middle East or other global events, our third-party contract manufacturers, distributors and suppliers could experience operational delays due to lack of capacity or resources, facility closures and other hardships as a result of these types of global events, which could impact our supply chain by potentially causing delays to or disruptions in the supply of our preclinical, clinical or commercial products. If our third-party contract manufacturers, distributors and suppliers do not continue to supply us with our products or product candidates in a timely fashion and in compliance with applicable quality and regulatory requirements, or if they otherwise fail or refuse to comply with their obligations to us under our manufacturing, distribution and supply arrangements, we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. Furthermore, their failure to supply us could impair or preclude meeting commercial or clinical product supply requirements for us or our partners, which could delay product development and future commercialization efforts and have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, through our third-party contract manufacturers and data service providers, we continue to provide serialized commercial products as required to comply with the DSCSA and its foreign equivalents where applicable. If our third-party contract manufacturers or data service providers fail to support our efforts to continue to comply with DSCSA and its foreign equivalents, as well as any future electronic pedigree requirements, we may face legal penalties or be restricted from selling our products.

We rely upon the regulatory, commercial, medical affairs, market access and other expertise and resources of our collaboration partners, Ipsen and Takeda, for commercialization of CABOMETYX in their respective territories outside of the U.S. We cannot control the amount and timing of resources that our collaboration partners dedicate to the commercialization of CABOMETYX, or to its marketing and distribution, and our ability to generate revenues from the commercialization of CABOMETYX by our collaboration partners depends on their ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for, achieve market acceptance of, and to otherwise effectively market, CABOMETYX in its approved indications in their respective territories. If our collaboration partners are unable or unwilling to invest the resources necessary to commercialize CABOMETYX successfully in the EU, Japan, and other international territories where it has been approved, this could reduce the amount of revenue we are due to receive under these collaboration agreements, thus resulting in harm to our business and operations.

We anticipate that for the foreseeable future, our ability to maintain or meaningfully increase cash flow to fund our business operations and growth will depend upon the continued commercial success of CABOMETYX, both alone and in combination with other therapies, as a treatment for the highly competitive indications for which it is approved, and possibly for other indications for which cabozantinib is currently being evaluated in potentially label-enabling clinical trials, if warranted by the data generated from these trials. In this regard, part of our strategy is to pursue additional indications for CABOMETYX and increase the number of cancer patients who could potentially benefit from this medicine. However, we cannot be certain that the clinical trials we and our collaboration partners are conducting will demonstrate adequate safety and efficacy in these additional indications to receive regulatory approval in the major commercial markets where CABOMETYX is approved. Even if the required regulatory approvals to market CABOMETYX for additional indications are achieved, we and our collaboration partners may not be able to commercialize CABOMETYX effectively and successfully in these additional indications. If revenue from CABOMETYX decreases or remains flat, or if we are unable to expand the number of labeled indications for which CABOMETYX is approved, or if we or our collaboration partners fail to achieve anticipated product royalties and collaboration milestones, we may need to reduce our operating expenses, access other sources of cash or otherwise modify our business plans, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our success will depend in part upon our ability to obtain patents and maintain adequate protection of the intellectual property related to our technologies and products. The patent positions of biopharmaceutical companies, including our patent position, are generally uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions. We will be able to protect our intellectual property rights from unauthorized use by third parties only to the extent that our technologies are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets. We will continue to apply for patents covering our technologies and products as, where and when we deem lawful and appropriate. However, these applications may be challenged or may fail to result in issued patents. Our issued patents have been and may in the future be challenged by third parties as invalid or unenforceable under U.S. or foreign laws, or they may be infringed by third parties, and we are from time to time involved in the defense and enforcement of our patents or other intellectual property rights in a court of law, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office inter partes review or reexamination proceeding, foreign opposition proceeding or related legal and administrative proceeding in the U.S. and elsewhere. The costs of defending our patents or enforcing our proprietary rights in post-issuance administrative proceedings and litigation can be substantial and the outcome can be uncertain. An adverse outcome may allow third parties to use our intellectual property without a license and/or allow third parties to introduce generic and other competing products, any of which would negatively impact our business. Third parties may also attempt to invalidate or design around our patents, or assert that they are invalid or otherwise unenforceable, and seek to introduce generic versions of cabozantinib. For example, we received Paragraph IV certification notice letters from MSN, Teva and Cipla concerning the respective ANDAs that each had filed with the FDA seeking approval to market their respective generic versions of CABOMETYX tablets. Should MSN, Teva, Cipla or any other third parties receive FDA approval of an ANDA or a 505(b)(2) NDA with respect to cabozantinib, it is possible that such company or companies could introduce generic versions of our marketed products before our patents expire if they do not infringe our patents or if it is determined that our patents are invalid or unenforceable, and the resulting generic competition could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, because patent applications can take many years to issue, third parties may have pending applications, unknown to us, which may later result in issued patents that cover the production, manufacture, commercialization or use of our product candidates. Our existing patents and any future patents we obtain may not be sufficiently broad to prevent others from practicing our technologies or from developing competing products. They may also be negatively impacted by the decisions of foreign courts, which could limit the protection contemplated by the original regulatory approval and our ability to thwart the development of competing products that might otherwise have been determined to infringe our intellectual property rights. Furthermore, others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or design around our patents. In addition, our patents may be challenged or invalidated or may fail to provide us with any competitive advantages, if, for example, others were the first to invent or to file patent applications for closely related inventions. The laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S., and many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. Many countries, including certain countries in the EU, have compulsory licensing laws based on related EU rules, under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties (for example, the patent owner has failed to "work" the invention in that country or the third party has patented improvements). In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of the patent. Initiatives seeking compulsory licensing of life-saving drugs are also becoming increasingly prevalent in developing countries either through direct legislation or international initiatives. Governments in those developing countries could require that we grant compulsory licenses to allow competitors to manufacture and sell their own versions of our products or product candidates, thereby reducing our product sales. Moreover, the Russian Federation has and may further limit protections on patents originating from certain countries (including the U.S.) in response to sanctions relating to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and in general, the legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the aggressive enforcement of patent and other intellectual property protection, which makes it difficult to stop infringement. We also rely on trade secret protection for some of our confidential and proprietary information, and we are taking security measures to protect our proprietary information and trade secrets, particularly in light of recent instances of data loss and misappropriation of intellectual property in the biopharmaceutical industry. However, these measures may not provide adequate protection, and while we seek to protect our proprietary information by entering into confidentiality agreements with employees, partners and consultants, as well as maintain cybersecurity protocols within our information technology infrastructure, we cannot provide assurance that our proprietary information will not be disclosed, or that we can meaningfully protect our trade secrets. In addition, our competitors may independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information or may otherwise gain access to our trade secrets.

The trading price of our common stock has been highly volatile, and it may remain highly volatile or fluctuate substantially due to factors such as the following, many of which we cannot control: - the announcement of FDA or other regulatory approval or non-approval, or delays in the FDA or other regulatory review process with respect to cabozantinib, zanzalintinib or our other product candidates, our collaboration partners' product candidates being developed in combination with either cabozantinib, zanzalintinib or our other product candidates, or our competitors' product candidates;- the commercial performance of both CABOMETYX and COMETRIQ and the revenues we generate from those approved products, including royalties paid under our collaboration and license agreements;- adverse or inconclusive results or announcements related to our or our collaboration partners' clinical trials or delays in those clinical trials;- the timing of achievement of our clinical, regulatory, partnering, commercial and other milestones for the cabozantinib franchise, zanzalintinib or any of our other product candidates or programs;- our ability to make future investments in the expansion of our pipeline through drug discovery, including future research collaborations, in-licensing arrangements and other strategic transactions;- our ability to obtain the materials and services, including an adequate product supply for any approved drug product, from our third-party vendors or do so at acceptable prices;- the timing and amount of expenses incurred for clinical development and manufacturing of cabozantinib, zanzalintinib and our other product candidates;- actions taken by regulatory agencies, both in the U.S. and abroad, with respect to cabozantinib or our clinical trials for cabozantinib, zanzalintinib or our other product candidates;- unanticipated regulatory actions taken by the FDA as a result of changing FDA standards and practices concerning the review of product candidates, including approvals at earlier stages of clinical development or with lesser developed data sets and expedited reviews;- the announcement of new products or clinical trial data by our competitors;- the announcement of regulatory applications, such as MSN's, Teva's and Cipla's respective ANDAs, seeking approval of generic versions of our marketed products;- quarterly variations in our or our competitors' results of operations;- changes in our relationships with our collaboration partners, including the termination or modification of our agreements, or other events or conflicts that may affect our collaboration partners' timing and willingness to develop, or if approved, commercialize our products and product candidates out-licensed to them;- the announcement of an in-licensed product candidate or strategic acquisition;- litigation, including intellectual property infringement and product liability lawsuits, involving us;- changes in earnings estimates or recommendations by securities analysts, or financial guidance from our management team, and any failure to achieve the operating results projected by securities analysts or by our management team;- the entry into new financing arrangements;- developments in the biopharmaceutical industry;- sales of large blocks of our common stock or sales of our common stock by our executive officers, directors and significant stockholders;- the announcement of a repurchase of our common stock;- additions and departures of key personnel or board members;- the disposition of any of our technologies or compounds; and - general market, macroeconomic and political conditions and other factors, including factors unrelated to our operating performance or the operating performance of our competitors. These and other factors could have a material adverse impact on the market price of our common stock. In addition, the stock markets in general, and the markets for biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks in particular, have historically experienced significant volatility that has often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. Likewise, as a result of significant changes in U.S. or global political and macroeconomic conditions, including historically high inflation, the Federal Reserve interest rate increases, as well as policies governing foreign trade and healthcare spending and delivery, or the ongoing hostilities in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, the financial markets could continue to experience significant volatility that could also continue to negatively impact the markets for biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks. These broad market fluctuations have adversely affected and may in the future adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. Excessive volatility may continue for an extended period of time following the date of this report. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company's securities, securities class action litigation has often been initiated. A securities class action suit against us could result in substantial costs and divert the attention of management, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

To expand our early-stage product pipeline, we have augmented our drug discovery activities with multiple research collaborations and in-licensing arrangements with other companies. Our dependence on our relationships with these research and in-licensing partners subjects us to numerous risks, including, but not limited to: - our research and in-licensing partners' decision to terminate our relationship, or their failure to comply with the terms of our agreements, either intentionally or as a result of negligent performance;- disputes that may arise between us and our research and in-licensing partners that result in the delay or termination of research and development activities with respect to any in-licensed assets or supporting technology platforms;- the possibility that our research and in-licensing partners may experience financial difficulties that prevent them from fulfilling their obligations under our agreements;- our research and in-licensing partners' failure to retain essential staff, which is crucial for fulfilling their obligations under our agreements;- the possibility that our research and in-licensing partners' technology may be superseded or otherwise no longer be competitive;- the possibility that our research and in-licensing partners may be acquired, and that any acquiring entity may not honor our partners' research commitments or otherwise fail to continue fulfilling their obligations under our agreements;- our research and in-licensing partners' failure to properly maintain or defend their intellectual property rights or their use of third-party intellectual property rights or proprietary information in such a way as to invite litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our license to develop these assets or utilize technology platforms;- laws, regulations or practices imposed by countries or regions outside the U.S. that could impact or inhibit scientific research or the development of healthcare products by foreign competitors or otherwise disadvantage healthcare products made by foreign competitors, as well as general political or economic instability in those countries, any of which could complicate, interfere with or impede our relationships with our ex-U.S. research, development and in-licensing partners; and - our research and in-licensing partners' failure to comply with applicable healthcare laws, as well as established laws and regulations related to Good Practice guidelines (GxP). If any of these risks materialize, we may not be able to expand our product pipeline or otherwise realize a return on the resources we will have invested to develop these early-stage assets, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and prospects for growth.

The biopharmaceutical industry is competitive and characterized by constant technological change and diverse offerings of products, particularly in the area of oncology therapies. Many of our competitors have greater capital resources, larger research and development staff and facilities, deeper regulatory expertise and more extensive product manufacturing and commercial capabilities than we do, which may afford them a competitive advantage. Further, our competitors may be more effective at in-licensing and developing new commercial products that could render our products, and those of our collaboration partners, obsolete and noncompetitive. We face, and will continue to face, intense competition from biopharmaceutical companies, as well as academic research institutions, clinical reference laboratories and government agencies that are pursuing scientific and clinical research activities similar to ours. Furthermore, the specific indications for which CABOMETYX is currently or may be approved, based on the results from clinical trials currently evaluating cabozantinib, are highly competitive. Several novel therapies and combinations of therapies have been approved, are in advanced stages of clinical development or are under expedited regulatory review in these indications, and these other therapies are currently competing or are expected to compete with CABOMETYX. Even if our current and future clinical trials produce positive results sufficient to obtain marketing approval by the FDA and other global regulatory authorities, it is uncertain whether physicians will choose to prescribe regimens containing our products instead of competing products and product combinations in approved indications.