Glaukos (GKOS) Risk Factors

Our iDose TR travoprost intracameral implant was approved for sale in the U.S. by the FDA in December 2023 and we began commercializing the product in a controlled manner in February 2024. Its commercial success will depend upon a number of factors, including physician adoption of the use of this product, our ability to manufacture product in volumes sufficient to meet customer demand, marketing in compliance with label restrictions, satisfactory patient outcomes, particularly at the outset of our commercial launch, product pricing, duration of efficacy, and the availability of commercial payor coverage and adequate reimbursement for the product. Our failure to successfully commercialize the iDose TR based upon these or other factors could materially adversely impact our net sales, our business or our financial condition.

Our success and ability to compete depends significantly upon our ability to obtain, maintain and protect our proprietary rights and licensed intellectual property rights to the technologies and inventions used in or embodied by our products. We rely on a combination of patents and trademark rights, and to a lesser extent on trade secrets and copyrights, together with licenses and nondisclosure agreements to protect our technologies. These legal means, however, afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our business. We also have not pursued or maintained, and may not pursue or maintain in the future, patent protection for our products in every country or territory in which we sell or will in the future sell our products. In addition, we cannot be sure that any of our pending patent applications or pending trademark applications will issue or issue in a form that will be advantageous to us. Despite our efforts, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to adequately protect our proprietary rights, which could substantially impair our ability to compete. Our patents may be challenged and held invalid or we may be unable to extend the protection on products with expiring patents. Moreover, our competitors may independently develop equivalent knowledge, methods and know-how. Competitors could purchase our products and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, infringe our intellectual property rights, design around our protected technology or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual property rights. Further, although it is our policy to require each of our employees, consultants and any other parties who may be involved in the development of intellectual property on our behalf to execute proprietary information and inventions agreements, we may be unsuccessful in doing so with each party who in fact develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. The relevant assignment provisions may not be self-executing or may be breached, resulting in ownership disputes and/or litigation. We have many foreign patents and patent applications, and expect to pursue patent protection in the most significant markets in which we do business. The laws of other countries in which our products are or may be sold may not protect our product offerings and intellectual property to the same extent as U.S. laws, if at all. Many companies have encountered significant difficulties in obtaining, protecting and defending such rights in international markets. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against other parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, and certain countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to other parties. We also may be unable to protect our rights in trade secrets and unpatented proprietary technology in these countries. If we encounter such difficulties or are otherwise precluded from effectively protecting our intellectual property rights in these countries, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be substantially harmed. We may not be able to accurately estimate or control our future operating expenses in relation to obtaining, enforcing and/or defending intellectual property, which could lead to cash shortfalls. Our operating expenses may fluctuate significantly in the future as a result of the costs of preparing, filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing patent claims and other patent related costs, including litigation costs and the results of such litigation or costs associated with administrative proceedings and the results of such proceedings.

Our medical devices, drugs, drug/device combination products and other products are subject to extensive government regulation in the U.S. by the FDA, state regulatory authorities and foreign regulatory authorities in the countries in which we conduct business. These regulations relate to, among other things, approval or clearance of our products for sale, R&D, labeling, advertising, promotion, pricing and discounts, recordkeeping, reporting, import and export, post-approval studies and the sale and distribution of our products. See Item 1, Business, "Government Regulation – U.S. Regulation & Reimbursement" and "International Regulation & Reimbursement" in our Annual Report for additional information. Our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement action by the FDA, or state or foreign regulatory authorities, which may include, among other things, warning letters, fines, injunctions, recalls, refusals to grant or delays in granting requests, civil fines and penalties, operating restrictions, withdrawal of approvals and even criminal prosecution. The process of obtaining clearances or approvals to market our products can be expensive and lengthy, and we cannot guarantee that our current products will receive clearance or approval for additional indications or that our future products will receive clearance or approval on a timely basis, or without restrictions, if at all. Additionally, based upon a recent FDA determination, our pipeline products that are determined to be drug-device combination products, such as our iDose TR product, will require review and coordination by each of FDA's drug and device centers prior to approval, which may delay approval. In some instances, we or our partners have pursued, and may in the future pursue, a regulatory clearance or approval that proves unsuccessful, such as the FDA's failure to approve the PreserFlo Microshunt in the U.S. and our determination to conduct a second pivotal confirmatory study of our Epioxa pharmaceutical therapy based on recommendations from the FDA in pre-NDA submission meetings. When this occurs, the time and financial resources required to obtain FDA or other regulatory approval may substantially increase or new competitive products could reach the market faster than our product candidate, which could materially adversely impact our competitive position and prospects. We cannot assure you that we will receive the requisite approvals to sell our product candidates on our anticipated timeline or at all. Before we can obtain regulatory approval for any product candidate, we may have to undertake complex, time-consuming and expensive clinical testing in humans to demonstrate safety and efficacy, the outcomes of which are inherently uncertain and may never result in approved products or commercial sales. We have experienced in the past, and could experience in the future, delays in the commencement or completion of clinical trials or testing that could significantly affect our product development costs. We do not know whether planned clinical trials will begin on time, need to be redesigned, enroll an adequate number of patients in a timely manner or be completed on schedule, if at all, or be deemed insufficient by the FDA, which may require additional lengthy, time-consuming and expensive trials, which would further delay approval. We may suffer significant setbacks in clinical trials, even after earlier trials showed promising results, and failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. We, the clinical trial investigators, the independent review board overseeing the trial, the FDA, or another regulatory authority may suspend, delay or terminate clinical trials at any time due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the trial in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements or trial protocols, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using the product, lack of sufficient funding, medical device product malfunctions, adverse events, or to avoid exposing trial participants to unacceptable health risks. Any delay or failure in clinical trials would delay or prevent our ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and prospects. As part of the PMA regulatory application and approval process, the FDA will generally conduct a pre-approval inspection of the applicant or its third-party manufacturers' or suppliers' manufacturing facilities to ensure compliance with the FDA's Quality System Regulation (QSR) for medical devices or current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulations for drug and combination products, such as our iDose TR product. If our facilities, or those of our third-party manufacturers or suppliers, fail to meet the QSR or cGMP regulations, as applicable, or other standards required by the FDA, we could experience a delay in obtaining the necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to commercialize our pipeline products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition and results. Even after we have obtained the proper regulatory clearance or approval to market a product, we have ongoing responsibilities under FDA regulations and applicable foreign laws and regulations. We may also be required to seek additional regulatory approvals to modify our approved products or their manufacturing processes or indications, which may entail significant time and expense. We and our suppliers are subject to extensive post-marketing regulatory requirements including post-marketing studies, and failure to comply with applicable requirements in a timely manner could subject us to enforcement actions, including recall or product approval withdrawals. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements is subject to continual review and is monitored rigorously through periodic inspections by the FDA. Other post-market requirements on our products include establishment registration and device listing, quality system and good manufacturing requirements, reporting of adverse events and device malfunctions, product tracing, reporting of corrections and removals (recalls), labeling requirements, and promotional restrictions. Under FDA regulations, combination products are subject to the quality system and good manufacturing requirements applicable to both drugs and medical devices. Our products could malfunction, cause unexpected adverse events, or experience performance problems that require review and possible corrective action by us or a component supplier, including a recall or market withdrawal. Any recall or product withdrawal, whether required by the FDA or another regulatory authority or initiated by us, could harm our reputation with customers, cause us to incur significant expense and negatively affect our sales. In addition, our promotional materials, sales techniques, pricing programs and training methods must comply with FDA and other applicable laws and regulations, including the prohibition of the promotion of a drug or medical device for a use that has not been cleared or approved by the FDA or other regulatory authorities, also known as an "off-label" use. The FDA or other regulatory authorities may limit the indications for use of our products, thereby restricting our ability to promote the drug or device. Physicians may use our products, particularly newly-approved products, off-label or in combination with other products that are not indicated or appropriate, as the FDA does not restrict or regulate a physician's choice of treatment within the practice of medicine. However, if the FDA determines that our promotional materials, sales techniques, pricing programs or training constitutes promotion of an off-label use or encourages over-utilization of our products or use of our products in combinations that are not indicated or appropriate, it could request that we modify our materials, techniques, programs or training or subject us to enforcement actions. We are subject to healthcare fraud and abuse, anti-kickback, false claims and transparency laws and regulations, among others, which are enforced by federal, state and international governments with respect to our marketing, training, customer arrangements, discount, rebate and pricing programs, product bundling, financial arrangements with physicians, patient assistance programs, reimbursement support services, and other practices. See Item 1, Business, "Government Regulation – U.S. Regulation & Reimbursement" and "International Regulation & Reimbursement" contained in our Annual Report for additional information about the laws and regulations which apply to us. The U.S. Department of Justice has increased its scrutiny of interactions between manufacturers and healthcare providers, as well as various patient, product and reimbursement support programs and speaker bureaus, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry. Although we try to structure our arrangements within available safe harbors whenever possible, we may nevertheless become subject to government scrutiny or investigation. Violations may result in civil monetary penalties, criminal penalties, and exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, all of which would have an adverse effect on our business. We are also subject to compliance with various anti-bribery laws and regulations, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, and similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions, which generally prohibit companies and their agents from making bribes or other improper payments to officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. We are also subject to limitations on trade with persons in sanctioned countries. Our sales in international markets increase the inherent risks of encountering such issues. While our employees, distributors and agents are required to comply with these laws and regulations, no assurance can be given that our training efforts and internal policies and procedures will prevent violations of these laws. Any actual or alleged violations of these laws and regulations could subject us to government investigations, criminal sanctions, severe fines and penalties that could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The scope and enforcement of each of the laws applicable to our business and products is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of the government regulations that apply to us, we may be subject to civil and criminal penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in federal and state healthcare programs and the curtailment or restricting of our operations, any of which could harm our ability to operate our business and our financial results. Responding to a government investigation is time and resource intensive, and may cause harm to our business and reputation even if we are able to successfully defend against it. Additionally, resolution of any such investigation may require agreement to onerous corporate integrity agreements or other compliance or reporting requirements, which may negatively affect our business.