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Nuvectis Pharma (NVCT)
NASDAQ:NVCT
Risk Overview Q3, 2024
Risk Distribution
33% Tech & Innovation
29% Finance & Corporate
15% Legal & Regulatory
8% Production
8% Ability to Sell
6% Macro & Political
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
This chart displays the stock's most recent risk distribution according to category. TipRanks has identified 6 major categories: Finance & corporate, legal & regulatory, macro & political, production, tech & innovation, and ability to sell.
Risk Change Over Time
S&P500 Average
Sector Average
Risks removed
Risks added
Risks changed
Nuvectis Pharma Risk Factors
New Risk (0)
Risk Changed (0)
Risk Removed (0)
No changes from previous report
The chart shows the number of risks a company has disclosed. You can compare this to the sector average or S&P 500 average.
The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.
The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.
Risk Highlights Q3, 2024
Main Risk Category
Tech & Innovation
With 16 Risks
Tech & Innovation
With 16 Risks
Number of Disclosed Risks
48
No changes from last report
S&P 500 Average: 31
48
No changes from last report
S&P 500 Average: 31
Recent Changes
0Risks added
0Risks removed
1Risks changed
Since Sep 2024
0Risks added
0Risks removed
1Risks changed
Since Sep 2024
Number of Risk Changed
1
+1
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 3
1
+1
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 3
See the risk highlights of Nuvectis Pharma 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 48
Tech & Innovation
Total Risks: 16/48 (33%)Above Sector Average
Innovation / R&D6 | 12.5%
Innovation / R&D - Risk 1
We may not be able to submit IND applications to commence additional clinical trials on the timelines we expect, and even if we are able to, the FDA may not permit us to proceed.Innovation / R&D - Risk 2
Our development approach may never lead to marketable products.The patient populations for our product candidates and potential future product candidates may be limited to those with specific target mutations and may not be completely defined but are substantially smaller than the general treated cancer population and we will need to actively screen and identify these patients. Successful identification of patients is dependent on several factors, including achieving certainty as to how diseases with specific genetic alterations respond to our current product candidates or any future product candidates and, if necessary, developing companion diagnostics to identify such genetic alterations. Furthermore, even if we are successful in identifying patients, we cannot be certain that the resulting patient populations for our target indications will be large enough to achieve profitability. In addition, even if our approach is successful, we may never successfully identify additional diseases in which our product candidates may be effective. We do not know if our approach of treating patients with genetically defined cancers will be successful; and if our approach is unsuccessful, our business will suffer.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 3
We are early in our development efforts and are substantially dependent on our ability to advance NXP800, NXP900 or any of our other future product candidates through preclinical and clinical development, identify safe and effective doses and dosing schedules for our drug candidates, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize NXP800, NXP900 or any of our other future product candidates; if we experience delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.Our ability to generate product revenues from NXP800, NXP900 or any of our other future product candidates depends heavily on the successful clinical development and eventual commercialization. In addition, our drug development programs may contemplate the development of companion diagnostics, which are assays or tests to identify an appropriate patient population based on genetic mutations and other alterations. Companion diagnostics are subject to regulation as medical devices and must themselves receive marketing authorization from the FDA or certain other foreign regulatory agencies before they may be marketed. If a companion diagnostic is essential to the safe and effective use of any of our current and future product candidates, the FDA must conclude that the companion diagnostic meets the applicable standard for safety and effectiveness or for substantial equivalence for use with our product candidates before either the product candidates or companion diagnostic may be marketed in the United States.
Negative preclinical or clinical results in the development of our product candidates may prevent or delay our ability to continue or conduct clinical programs or receive regulatory approvals. For example, although we believe, based on preclinical studies of ARID1a-muted ovarian carcinoma models that demonstrated tumor growth inhibition, that this cancer type might be particularly sensitive to treatment with NXP800, this may not prove true in clinical testing, due to safety and tolerability issues and/or insufficient efficacy, and this holds true for any or all of the potential target indications. Moreover, anti-tumor activity may be different in each tumor type that we plan to evaluate in clinical trials. As a result, we may be required to discontinue development of our drug candidates or invest significant additional resources and delay our clinical trials and ultimately the approval, if any, of any of our other future product candidates.
Our current or future product candidates may not have favorable results in early clinical trials due to safety, tolerability and/or insufficient efficacy findings. In addition, positive results of early clinical trials are not necessarily predictive of future results, and any product candidate that we advance may not have favorable results in later clinical trials or receive regulatory approval. In March 2024 we announced preliminary safety and efficacy results from the ongoing Phase 1b study of NXP800 in platinum-resistant ARID1a-mutated ovarian carcinoma. Any results observed in this preliminary analysis may not be predictive of future results.
We may experience setbacks that could delay or prevent regulatory approval of, or our ability to commercialize, our current or future product candidates, including:
- negative or inconclusive efficacy results and/or adverse safety findings from our preclinical studies or clinical trials or positive results from the clinical trials of others for product candidates similar to ours leading to their approval, and evolving to a decision or requirement to conduct additional preclinical testing or clinical trials or abandon a program;- product-related side effects experienced by patients or subjects in our clinical trials or by individuals using drugs or therapeutics that we, the FDA, other regulators or others view as relevant to the development of our current or future product candidates;- delays in submitting IND applications or comparable foreign applications or delays or failure in obtaining the necessary approvals from regulators to commence a clinical trial, or a suspension or termination of a clinical trial once commenced;- conditions imposed by the FDA or comparable foreign authorities regarding the scope or design of our clinical trials, including our clinical endpoints;- delays in enrolling subjects in clinical trials, including difficulty or delays in identifying appropriate patients, or due to health-related emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and timely completion of clinical trials, including under GCP or good laboratory practice ("GLP") requirements;- inability to maintain compliance with regulatory requirements, including cGMPs, and complying effectively with other requirements pertaining to the quality of our current or future product candidates;- high drop-out rates of subjects from clinical trials due to safety and tolerability issues and/or insufficient efficacy;- inadequate supply or quality of our current or future product candidates or other materials necessary for the conduct of our clinical trials;- greater than anticipated clinical trial costs;- inability to compete with other therapies;- poor efficacy of or safety and/or tolerability issues observed with our current or future product candidates or the need for different doses or dosing schedules during clinical trials;- trial results taking longer than anticipated;- trials being subjected to fraud or data capture failure or other technical mishaps leading to the invalidation of our trials;- the results of our trials not supporting application for conditional approval in the European Union;- unfavorable FDA or other regulatory agency inspection and review of a clinical trial site;- failure of our third-party contractors or investigators to comply with regulatory requirements or otherwise meet their contractual obligations in a timely manner, or at all;- delays related to the impact of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the impact of COVID-19 on the FDA's ability to continue its normal operations;- delays and changes in regulatory requirements, policy and guidelines, including the imposition of additional regulatory oversight around clinical development generally or with respect to our technology in particular; or - varying interpretations of data by the FDA and similar foreign regulatory agencies.
In addition, because we have limited financial and personnel resources and are focusing primarily on developing NXP800 and NXP900, we may forgo or delay pursuit of other future product candidates that may prove to have greater commercial potential and may fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a future product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to those future product candidates through collaboration, licensing, or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to such future product candidates.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 4
Clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain outcomes, clinical trials are difficult to design and implement, and any of our clinical trials could produce unsuccessful results or fail at any stage in the process.Clinical trials are conducted on humans, are expensive, and can take many years to complete, and outcomes are inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the process. Additionally, any positive results of preclinical studies and early clinical data of a drug candidate may not be predictive of the final results of the early clinical trial or of later-stage clinical trials, such that drug candidates may not reach later-stages clinical trials based on results from an early-stage clinical trial or reach later stages of clinical trials and fail to show the desired safety and efficacy traits despite having shown indications of those traits in preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in early and advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, notwithstanding promising results in preclinical studies or preliminary clinical findings. Therefore, the results of any existing and future clinical trials we conduct may not be successful. Clinical trials may be delayed, suspended or prematurely terminated because costs are greater than we anticipate or 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 are able to execute;- delay or failure in obtaining authorization to commence a trial, including approval from the appropriate independent review board ("IRB") to conduct testing of a candidate on human subjects, or inability to comply with conditions imposed by a regulatory authority regarding the scope or design of a clinical trial;- delay in reaching, or failure to reach, agreement on acceptable terms with prospective CROs and clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and trial sites;- 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 volunteers or patients to participate in a trial;- delay or failure in developing and validating companion diagnostics, if they are deemed necessary, on a timely basis;- failure of patients to complete a trial or return for post-treatment follow-up;- inability to monitor patients adequately during or after treatment;- clinical sites and investigators deviating from trial protocols, failing to conduct the trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or dropping out of a trial;- failure to initiate or delay of or inability to complete a clinical trial as a result of a clinical hold imposed by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority due to observed safety findings or other reasons;- negative or inconclusive results in our clinical trials, and our decision to our regulators' requirement that we conduct additional preclinical studies, clinical trials or that we abandon one or more of our product development programs; or - inability to manufacture sufficient quantities of a drug candidate of acceptable quality for use in clinical trials.
We rely and plan to continue to rely on CROs, contract manufacturing organizations ("CMOs") and clinical trial sites to ensure the proper and timely conduct of our clinical trials. Although we have and expect that we will have agreements in place with CROs and CMOs governing their contracted activities and conduct, we will have limited influence over their actual performance. As a result, we ultimately do not and will not have control over a CRO's or CMO's compliance with the terms of any agreement it may have with us, its compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, or its adherence to agreed-upon time schedules and deadlines, and a future CRO's or CMO's failure to perform those obligations could subject any of our clinical trials to delays or failure.
Further, we may also encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended, is put on clinical hold or terminated by us, by any IRB or ethics committee, by a Data Safety Monitoring Board, or by the FDA or European Medicines Agency ("EMA"), or other regulatory authority. A suspension or termination may be due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA, EMA or other regulatory authorities, exposing participants to health risks caused by unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, development of previously unseen safety issues, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a drug candidate, or changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions. Therefore, we cannot predict with any certainty the schedule for commencement or completion of any currently ongoing, planned or future clinical trials.
Many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of marketing approval for our current or future product candidates.
If we experience delays in the commencement or completion of, or suspension, hold or termination of, any clinical trial for our drug candidates, the commercial prospects of the drug candidate could be harmed, and our ability to generate product revenues from the drug candidate may be delayed or eliminated. In addition, any delays in completing our clinical trials will increase our costs, slow down our drug candidate development and approval process and jeopardize regulatory approval of our drug candidates and our ability to commence sales and generate revenues. The occurrence of any of these events could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects significantly.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 5
Difficulty in enrolling patients could delay or prevent clinical trials of our current or future product candidates.Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical studies of our current or future product candidates is critical to our success. The timing of completion of our clinical studies depends in part on the speed at which we can recruit patients to participate in testing our current or future product candidates and we may experience delays in our clinical trials if we encounter difficulties in enrollment.
Further, because we are currently focused on patients with specific and rare diseases, our ability to enroll eligible patients may be limited and may result in slower enrollment than we anticipate. Our clinical trials will compete with other clinical trials for current or future product candidates that are in the same therapeutic areas as our current or future product candidates, which may reduce the number and types of patients available to us.
Clinical trials may be subject to delays as a result of patient enrollment taking longer than anticipated or greater than anticipated subject withdrawal. We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our current or future product candidates if we are unable to locate and enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in these trials as required by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities. We cannot predict how successful we will be at enrolling subjects in future clinical trials. The enrollment of patients depends on many factors, including:
- patient identification and eligibility and inclusion/exclusion criteria defined in the protocol;- the size of the patient population required for analysis of the clinical trial's primary endpoints and the process for identifying patients;- potential disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including difficulties in initiating clinical sites, enrolling and retaining participants, diversion of health care resources away from clinical trials, travel or quarantine policies that may be implemented, and other factors;- the proximity of patients to clinical trial sites;- the design of the trial;- our ability to recruit clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and expertise;- clinicians' and patients' perceptions as to the potential advantages and risks of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new products that may be approved for the indications we are investigating;- the availability of competing commercially available therapies and other competing product candidates' clinical trials;- our ability to obtain and maintain clinical trial subject informed consents; and - the risk that subjects enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of the trials before completion.
If we are unable to locate and enroll sufficient eligible patients to participate, as required by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities, we may be unable to initiate or continue clinical trials for our current or future product candidates. If necessary, we intend to engage third parties to develop companion diagnostics for use in our clinical trials. If such third parties are unsuccessful, our difficulty in identifying patients with the targeted genetic mutations for our clinical trials would be increased. If we are unable to include patients with the targeted genetic mutations or patients with well-defined serious unmet medical needs, we may be unable to participate in the FDA's expedited review and development programs, including breakthrough therapy designation and fast track designation, or otherwise seek to accelerate clinical development and regulatory timelines.
Innovation / R&D - Risk 6
Our studies may fail to adequately demonstrate the safety, potency, purity, efficacy or any other necessary pharmacological properties of any of our current or future product candidates, which would prevent or delay development, regulatory approval and commercialization.Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of our current or future product candidates, including NXP800 and NXP900, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive studies that our current or future product candidates are both safe and effective for use in each target indication. Preclinical and clinical testing are expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the preclinical study and clinical trial processes, and, because our current product candidates are in an early stage of development, there is a high risk of failure.
The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials of a drug candidate may not be predictive of the final results of later-stage clinical trials. Results of our trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of adverse safety issues which may result in suspension or termination, and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could, through a clinical hold or otherwise, order us to halt or cease further development of or deny approval. Drug-related side effects could also affect patient recruitment into the study or patient willingness to remain in the study and therefore affect our ability to complete clinical trials. Drug-related side effects could also result in potential product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.
Moreover, our product or product candidates may cause undesirable side effects that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval or impact their availability and commercial potential after approval.
Trade Secrets9 | 18.8%
Trade Secrets - Risk 1
If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, we may not be able to build name recognition in our marks of interest and our business may be adversely affected.Trade Secrets - Risk 2
If we do not obtain patent term extension and data exclusivity for any of our current or future product candidates we may develop, our business may be materially harmed.Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of any FDA marketing approval of any of our current or future product candidates we may develop, one or more U.S. patents we may own or in-license in the future may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, or the Hatch-Waxman Act. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is shorter than what we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following expiration of any patents that issue from our patent applications, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects could be materially harmed.
Trade Secrets - Risk 3
We may be subject to claims that we or our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information or alleged trade secrets of third parties or competitors or breached non-competition or non-solicitation agreements with our competitors.We may be subject to claims that we or our employees, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed confidential information or trade secrets of third parties or competitors or our employees' former employers or our consultants' or contractors' current or former clients or customers. Litigation or arbitration may be necessary to defend against these claims, which may require substantial time and monetary expenditure.
Trade Secrets - Risk 4
We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship or ownership of our intellectual property, including any patents we may own or in-license currently or in the future.We may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in any patents we may own or in-license currently or in the future, trade secrets, or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship of any patents we may own or in-license in the future, trade secrets or other intellectual property, which may require substantial time and monetary expenditure.
Trade Secrets - Risk 5
Changes to patent law in the United States and in foreign jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our products.Our success is heavily dependent on intellectual property, particularly patents. Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Laws and regulations governing patents could further change in unpredictable ways that could weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce patents that we own or in-license now, or that we might obtain or in-license in the future.
Trade Secrets - Risk 6
Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or other violations may be costly and time consuming and may prevent or delay our product discovery and development efforts.The intellectual property landscape around precision medicine is crowded, and third parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing, misappropriating, or otherwise violating their intellectual property rights; the outcome of which would be uncertain and could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business. We or any of our future licensors or strategic partners may be party to, exposed to, or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation by third parties having patent or other intellectual property rights alleging that our current or future product candidates and/or proprietary technologies infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights. Thus, because of the large number of patents issued and patent applications filed in our fields, there may be a risk that third parties may allege they have patent rights encompassing our current or future product candidates, technologies or methods.
Third parties may assert that we are employing their proprietary technology without authorization. In addition, because some patent applications in the United States may be maintained in secrecy until the patents are issued, patent applications in the United States and many foreign jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, and publications in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain that others have not filed patent applications covering our current or future product candidates or technology. If any such patent applications issue as patents, and if such patents have priority over patent applications or patents we own or in-license, we may be required to obtain rights to such patents owned by third parties which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or may only be available on a non-exclusive basis.
In the event of a successful claim of infringement, misappropriation or other violation against us, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys' fees for willful infringement, obtain one or more licenses from third parties, pay royalties or redesign our infringing products, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure.
Trade Secrets - Risk 7
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.In addition to the protection afforded by patents we may own or in-license in the future, we seek to rely on trade secret protection, confidentiality agreements, and license agreements to protect proprietary know-how that is not patentable, processes for which patents are difficult to enforce, and any other elements of our product discovery and development processes that involve proprietary know-how, information, or technology that is not covered by patents. Although we require all of our employees, consultants, advisors and any third parties who have access to our proprietary know-how, information, or technology to enter into confidentiality agreements, trade secrets can be difficult to protect and we have limited control over the protection of trade secrets used by our collaborators and suppliers.
If we are unable to prevent unauthorized material disclosure of our intellectual property to third parties, we will not be able to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in our market, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and future prospects.
Trade Secrets - Risk 8
If we fail to comply with our obligations in our current license agreements, or in any future agreements under which we may license intellectual property rights from third parties or otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our current or future licensors, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.We are currently party to a license which grants us certain intellectual property rights relating to our lead product candidate, NXP800, as well as other related compounds, and to a license which grants us certain intellectual property rights relating to our second drug candidate, NXP900, as well as other compounds that inhibit the SRC and YES1 kinases. These agreements impose numerous obligations on us to maintain our licensing rights, including development, diligence, payment, commercialization, funding, milestone, royalty, sublicensing, insurance, patent prosecution, enforcement and other obligations. In spite of our efforts, our licensor might conclude that we have materially breached our license agreement and might therefore terminate the license agreement, thereby removing or limiting our ability to develop and commercialize NXP800 or NXP900 (and other compounds covered by the licenses).
Additionally, in the future, we may be party to other license or collaboration agreements with third parties to advance our research or allow commercialization of current or future product candidates. Such future agreements may impose numerous obligations, such as development, diligence, payment, commercialization, funding, milestone, royalty, sublicensing, insurance, patent prosecution, enforcement and other obligations on us and may require us to meet development timelines, or to exercise commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize licensed products, in order to maintain the licenses. In spite of our efforts, our future licensors might conclude that we have materially breached our future license agreements and might terminate the license agreements, thereby removing or limiting our ability to develop and commercialize products and technologies covered by these license agreements.
Any termination of these current or future licenses, or failure of the underlying patents to provide the intended exclusivity, could result in the loss of significant rights and could harm our ability to commercialize our current or future product candidates, and competitors or other third parties would have the freedom to seek regulatory approval of, and to market, products identical to ours and we may be required to cease our development and commercialization of certain of our current or future product candidates. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial conditions, results of operations, and prospects.
Trade Secrets - Risk 9
We currently hold a license to certain intellectual property rights relating to our lead product candidate, NXP800 and to NXP900, as well as intellectual property rights relating to other compounds that modulate HSF1 and the SRC and YES1 kinases. If we are unable to maintain patent and other intellectual property protection for NXP800 and NXP900, and to obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property protections for our other current or future product candidates and technology, or if the scope of intellectual property protection obtained or maintained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize products and technology similar or identical to ours, and our ability to commercialize NXP800, NXP900 or any other current or future product candidates or technology may be adversely affected.Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property protection in the United States and other countries with respect to our current or future product candidates, including NXP800 and NXP900, their respective components, formulations, combination therapies, methods used to manufacture them and methods of treatment and development that are important to our business, as well as successfully defending these patents against third-party challenges. If we do not adequately protect our intellectual property rights, or if the intellectual property rights we are able to obtain are insufficiently broad and exclusive, competitors may be able to erode or negate any competitive advantage we may have, which could harm our business and ability to achieve profitability.
We intend to rely upon a combination of patents, patent applications, confidentiality agreements, trade secret protection and license agreements to protect the intellectual property related to our current or future product candidates and technologies. Any disclosure to or misappropriation by third parties of our confidential proprietary information could enable competitors to quickly duplicate or surpass our technological achievements, thus eroding our competitive position in our market. We, or any current or future partners, collaborators, or licensees, may fail to identify patentable aspects of inventions made in the course of development and commercialization activities before it is too late to obtain patent protection on them. We may be also unable to exclusively license relevant technology and associated intellectual property developed by others. Therefore, we may miss potential opportunities to establish our patent position.
If we are unable to secure additional patent protection or maintain existing or future patent protection with respect to NXP800, NXP900, or any other proprietary products and technology we develop, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects would be materially harmed.
We currently hold a license to certain intellectual property rights relating to NXP800, including its composition of matter and to other compounds that modulate HSF1 (activate the GCN2 kinase). In addition, we hold a license to certain intellectual property relating to NXP900, including its composition of matter and to other compounds that inhibit the SRC and YES1 kinases.
We have licensed one patent family covering the composition of matter for NXP800, including two issued U.S. patents covering the composition of matter for NXP800, as well as methods for using and making NXP800. Additionally, patents have been issued in major markets, including the U.S., the European Union, and Japan. The statutory expiration for the issued U.S. patents in this family is October 2034, without considering any patent extensions that may or may not be possible.
We have licensed a patent family directed to additional compounds that modulate HSF1. A patent from this family has been granted in the U.S., and has a statutory expiration of April 2036, without considering any patent extensions that may or may not be possible.
We have also licensed a patent family directed to deuterated compounds that modulate HSF1. Any U.S. patent that grants from this family would have a statutory expiration of October 2037, without considering any patent extensions or patent disclaimers that may or may not be possible.
We have licensed one patent family covering the composition of matter for NXP900, which has been granted in the U.S., EU, Japan, China and is pending in the United Kingdom and Canada. The statutory expiration for patents in this patent family is April 2036, without considering any possible patent term extension.
If the scope of our patent protection, whether now or in the future, with respect to NXP800, NXP900 or our future product candidates and technology is not sufficiently broad, we will be unable to prevent others from using our technology or from developing or commercializing technology and products similar or identical to ours or other competing products and technologies. Any failure to obtain or maintain patent protection, through our own patents or through in-licensing, with respect to NXP800, NXP900 and our future product candidates would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Even if they are unchallenged, our patent applications, if issued, and any patents we may own or in-license now or in the future, may not provide us with any meaningful protection or prevent competitors from designing around our patent claims to circumvent any patents we may own or in-license in the future by developing similar or alternative technologies or therapeutics in a non-infringing manner. If the patent protection provided by our patent applications or any patents we may pursue with respect to our current or future product candidates is not sufficiently broad to impede competition, our ability to successfully commercialize our current or future product candidates could be negatively affected, which would harm our business.
Additionally, we cannot be certain that the claims in our patent applications covering composition of matter (or other related aspects) of our current or future product candidates or technology will be considered patentable by the USPTO, or by patent offices in foreign countries, or that the claims in any issued patents we may own or in-license in the future will be considered patentable by courts in the United States or foreign countries.
The issuance of a patent does not foreclose challenges to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability. Therefore, our owned and in-licensed patents may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and elsewhere. Such challenges may result in loss of exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated, or held unenforceable, in whole or in part. Successful patent challenges could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and products. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such product candidates might expire before or shortly after such product candidates are commercialized. As a result, our owned and in-licensed patents may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.
Moreover, patents or patent applications owned or filed by us, or by our licensors or other collaborators, may be challenged or narrowed by third-party pre-issuance submissions of prior art to the USPTO, or by opposition, derivation, reexamination, inter parties review, post-grant review or interference proceedings. An adverse determination in any such submission, Patent Trial and Appeal Board trial, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, render unenforceable, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third party patent rights. In addition, if the breadth or strength of protection provided by our patents and patent applications is threatened, it could dissuade companies from collaborating with us to license, develop or commercialize current or future product candidates.
Technology1 | 2.1%
Technology - Risk 1
Our business and operations would suffer in the event of computer system failures, cyber-attacks, or deficiencies in our or third parties' cybersecurity.Finance & Corporate
Total Risks: 14/48 (29%)Below Sector Average
Share Price & Shareholder Rights7 | 14.6%
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1
Provisions in our certificate of incorporation, our bylaws, and Delaware law may discourage, delay, or prevent a change in control of our Company or changes in our management and, as a result, depress the trading price of our stock.Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company, and we cannot be certain if the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including: exemption from the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of SOX, as amended; being permitted to provide only two years of our audited financial statements and correspondingly reduced "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations"; exemption from any Public Company Accounting Oversight Board requirement regarding audit firm rotation or an auditor report supplement providing additional information about the audit and financial statements; reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation; and exemption from the nonbinding advisory votes on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
We have elected to take advantage of certain of the reduced reporting obligations. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be reduced or more volatile.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3
Our failure to meet the continuing listing requirements of the NASDAQ Capital Market could result in a de-listing of our securities.If we fail to satisfy the continuing listing requirements of NASDAQ, such as the corporate governance, stockholders' equity or minimum closing bid price requirements, NASDAQ may take steps to delist our common stock. Such a delisting would likely have a negative effect on the price of our common stock and would impair our stockholders' ability to sell or purchase our common stock. In the event of a delisting, we would likely take actions to restore our compliance with NASDAQ's listing requirements, but we can provide no assurance that any such action taken by us would allow our common stock to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our securities, prevent our common stock from dropping below the NASDAQ minimum bid price requirement or prevent future non-compliance with NASDAQ's listing requirements.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4
Our principal stockholders and management own a significant percentage of our stock and will be able to exert significant influence over matters subject to stockholder approval.As of November 1, 2024, our executive officers, directors, and 5% stockholders beneficially owned approximately 56.9% of our voting stock and anticipate that the same group will hold a significant portion of our outstanding voting stock for the foreseeable future. These stockholders will have the ability to influence us through their ownership position. This may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our common stock.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5
Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing stockholders, restrict our operations, or require us to relinquish rights to our current or future technologies or product candidates.We may seek additional capital through a combination of public and private equity offerings, ATM facility, debt financings, strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements. Any equity or equity-related financing may dilute our stockholders may subject us to restrictive covenants and interest costs. If we obtain funding through a strategic collaboration or licensing arrangement, we may be required to relinquish our rights to our current product candidates or any future product candidates that we may develop.
Additional fundraising efforts may divert our management from their day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our operations. If we are unable to raise additional capital as needed or on acceptable terms, we may be required to delay or discontinue any research, development or commercialization programs and may be unable to expand our operations or otherwise capitalize on our business opportunities. Further, we may be required to seek collaborators for potential product candidates earlier, or on less favorable terms, than might otherwise be desired, or to relinquish or license our rights to potential product candidates in markets where we otherwise would seek to pursue development or commercialization. Any of the above events could significantly harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations and cause the price of our common stock to decline.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6
If equity research analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of or downgrade our Common Stock, the price of our Common Stock could decline.The trading market for our Common Stock relies in part on the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us or our business. We do not control these analysts. We may never obtain research coverage by industry or financial analysts. If no or few analysts publish research reports on the Company or if analysts publish negative research reports about the Company, our stock price may significantly decline.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7
We do not know whether an active, liquid and orderly trading market will develop for our Common Stock or what the market price of our Common Stock will be and, as a result, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares of our Common Stock.Prior to the pricing of our initial public offering on February 4, 2022, there was no public trading market for shares of our Common Stock and after our IPO the trading price of our Common Stock has been volatile. Although our Common Stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, an active trading market for our shares is still developing and may not be sustained in the future. The lack of an active market for our Common Stock creates volatility in the price of the stock and may impair investors' ability to sell their shares at the time they wish to sell them or at a price that they consider reasonable and may reduce the fair market value of their shares. Further, an inactive market may impair our ability to raise capital by selling shares of our Common Stock and to enter into strategic partnerships or acquire companies or products using our shares of common stock as consideration.
Accounting & Financial Operations3 | 6.3%
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 1
We do not intend to pay dividends on our Common Stock in the foreseeable future, so any returns will be limited to the value of our stock, which may be volatile.Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 2
Our limited operating history may make it difficult for you to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. We were incorporated in Delaware in July 2020, and our operations to date have been limited to organizing and staffing our company, business planning, raising capital, identifying, investigating, licensing and evaluating potential product candidates, and establishing arrangements with third parties for the manufacture of initial quantities of our lead product candidate and component materials. Both of our product candidates are in early clinical development. We have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully conduct or complete any clinical development program for our drug candidates, obtain marketing approvals, manufacture a commercial-scale product or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales, marketing and distribution activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Consequently, any predictions about our future success or viability may not be as accurate.
We may need to transition at some point from a company with a research and development focus to a company capable of supporting commercial activities related to the full product life cycle. We may not be successful in such a transition.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 3
We have incurred losses since inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future. We may never achieve or maintain profitability.Investment in biopharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and entails substantial upfront capital expenditures and significant risk that our current or potential future product candidates will fail to demonstrate adequate efficacy or an acceptable safety profile, gain regulatory approval and become commercially viable. We are still in the early stages of development of our product candidates and initiated our first clinical trial in December 2021. We have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales to date. We continue to incur significant research and development and other expenses related to our ongoing operations. In addition, as a business with a limited operating history, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
We have incurred losses in each period since we commenced operations. Since inception through the end of September 30, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $67.0 million. We expect to continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect these losses to increase substantially if and as we continue our research and development efforts for our lead product candidate; conduct preclinical studies and clinical trials for our current and future product candidates; seek marketing approvals for any current or future product candidate that successfully completes clinical trials; experience any delays or encounter any issues with any of the above; establish a sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure and scale-up manufacturing capabilities to commercialize any current or future product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval; obtain, expand, maintain, enforce and protect our intellectual property portfolio; hire additional clinical, regulatory and scientific personnel; and operate as a public company.
Our pipeline product candidates, NXP800 and NXP900, are both in clinical development. Both product candidates will require additional preclinical and clinical studies, regulatory review and approval, substantial investment, access to sufficient clinical and commercial manufacturing capacity and significant marketing efforts before we can potentially generate any revenue from product sales. The Phase 1 study for NXP800 started in December 2021 and NXP900 started in September 2023. To date, we have not generated any revenue from our product candidates. Our ability to generate revenue will depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to:
- Our ability to timely and successfully complete of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, which may be significantly slower or more costly than anticipated and will depend upon several factors including the performance of third-party contractors, our ability to enroll patients into the clinical trials and the safety, tolerability and efficacy results generated in clinical trials;- successful submissions of IND applications to the FDA and any additional comparable applications;- completion of nonclinical studies necessary for the IND or comparable submission, as appropriate;- whether we are required by the FDA or similar foreign regulatory authorities to conduct additional clinical trials or other studies to support the approval and commercialization of our current or future product candidates;- the FDA's and similar foreign regulatory authorities' acceptance of the safety, potency, purity, efficacy and risk to benefit profile of our current or future product candidates;- the prevalence, duration and severity of side effects or other safety issues experienced with our current or future product candidates, if any;- the timely receipt of necessary marketing approvals from the FDA and similar foreign regulatory authorities;- the actual and perceived availability, cost, risk profile and safety and efficacy of our current or future product candidates, if approved, relative to existing and future alternative cancer therapies and competitive product candidates and technologies;- our ability and the ability of third parties with whom we contract to manufacture adequate clinical and commercial supplies of our current or future product candidates, to remain in good standing with regulatory authorities and to develop, validate and maintain commercially viable manufacturing processes that are compliant with cGMP;- our ability to successfully develop a commercial strategy and to commercialize any current or future product candidate in the United States and internationally, if approved for marketing, reimbursement, sale and distribution in such countries and territories, whether alone or in collaboration with others;- patient demand for our current or future product candidates, if approved; and - our ability to establish and enforce intellectual property rights in and to our current or future product candidates.
Many of the factors listed above are beyond our control and could cause us to experience significant delays or prevent us from obtaining regulatory approvals or commercializing our current and future product candidates. Even if we can commercialize any current or future product candidates, we may not achieve profitability soon after generating product sales, if ever.
Debt & Financing2 | 4.2%
Debt & Financing - Risk 1
We will require substantial additional funding. Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing stockholders, or require us to relinquish proprietary rights. If we are unable to raise capital as needed, we may be compelled to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development programs or commercialization efforts.Debt & Financing - Risk 2
The insurance coverage and reimbursement status of newly approved products is uncertain. Our current or future product candidates may become subject to unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party coverage and reimbursement practices, or healthcare reform initiatives, which would harm our business. 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.Adverse pricing limitations may hinder our ability to recoup our investment in one or more of our current or future product candidates, even if any such current or future product candidate we may develop obtains marketing approval.
Our ability to successfully commercialize any current or future product candidates will depend in part on the coverage and reimbursement for the products and related treatments from government health administration authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations. These organizations decide which medications they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. If coverage and adequate reimbursement is not available, or the approved reimbursement amount is not high enough, we may be unable to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to generate a return on our investment and may be unable to successfully commercialize our current or future product candidates. Reimbursement by a third-party payor may depend upon a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the third-party payor's determination that use of a product is a covered benefit under its health plan, safe, effective and medically necessary, appropriate for the specific patient, cost-effective, and neither experimental nor investigational. If coverage and adequate reimbursement is not available, or the approved reimbursement amount is not high enough, we may be unable to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to generate a return on our investment and may be unable to successfully commercialize our current or future product candidates.
A primary trend in the U.S. healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. Government authorities and third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications. In general, the prices of medicines under such systems are substantially lower than in the United States.
There is also significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products, and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the medicine is approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. In the United States, the principal decisions about reimbursement for new medicines are typically made by CMS. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time consuming and costly process that may require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of our products to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance. It is difficult to predict what CMS will decide with respect to reimbursement for fundamentally novel products such as ours. Reimbursement agencies in Europe may be more conservative than CMS. Our inability to promptly obtain coverage and profitable payment rates from both government-funded and private payors for any approved products we may develop could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, our ability to raise capital needed to commercialize our current or future product candidates, and our overall financial condition.
Corporate Activity and Growth2 | 4.2%
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 1
We will incur significant increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to compliance activities and initiatives.Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 2
We will need to grow the size of our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth.As of November 1, 2024, we had 13 full-time employees. We also contract for various services through consulting and vendor agreements. We intend to hire new employees to conduct our research and development activities in the future. Any delay in hiring such new employees could result in delays in our research and development activities and would harm our business. As our development and commercialization plans and strategies develop, and as we transition into operating as a public company, we expect to need additional managerial, operational, sales, marketing, financial and other personnel, as well as additional facilities to expand our operations.
If we are not able to effectively expand our organization by hiring new employees and expanding our groups of consultants and contractors, or we are not able to effectively build out new facilities to accommodate this expansion, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize our current or future product candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals.
Legal & Regulatory
Total Risks: 7/48 (15%)Below Sector Average
Regulation5 | 10.4%
Regulation - Risk 1
Even if we receive regulatory approval of our current or future product candidates, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our current or future product candidates.Regulation - Risk 2
Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our current or future product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining regulatory approval of our current or future product candidates in other jurisdictions.Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of any of our current or future product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain regulatory approval in any other jurisdiction, while a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the regulatory approval process in other jurisdictions. For example, even if the FDA grants regulatory approval of a product candidate, similar foreign regulatory authorities must also approve the manufacturing, marketing and promotion of the product candidate in those countries. Drug product approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials as clinical trials conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for our products is also subject to approval.
We may also submit marketing applications in other countries. Regulatory authorities in jurisdictions outside of the United States have requirements for approval of product candidates with which we must comply prior to marketing in those jurisdictions. Obtaining similar foreign regulatory approvals and compliance with similar foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. We do not have any product candidates approved for sale in any jurisdiction, including international markets, and we do not have experience in obtaining regulatory approval in international markets. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets and/or receive applicable marketing approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our current or future product candidates will be harmed.
Regulation - Risk 3
Denial of or delay in our receipt of required regulatory approvals may prevent or delay commercialization of our current or future product candidates and our ability to generate revenue may be materially impaired.The research, testing, manufacturing, labeling, approval, sale, marketing and distribution of drug products are, and will remain, subject to extensive regulation by the FDA in the United States and by the respective regulatory authorities in other countries where regulations differ. We will not be permitted to market our current or future product candidates in the United States until we receive the respective approval of an NDA from the FDA, or in any foreign countries until we receive the requisite approval from the respective regulatory authorities in such countries. The time required to obtain regulatory approval, if any, by the FDA, EMA and comparable foreign authorities is unpredictable, but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities and the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. 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 studies or clinical trials.
Obtaining regulatory approval requires the submission of extensive nonclinical and clinical data and supporting information to regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the product candidate's safety and efficacy. Securing regulatory approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing process, and in many cases the inspection of manufacturing, processing, and packaging facilities by the regulatory authorities. Our current or future 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, or there may be deficiencies in cGMP compliance by us or by our CMOs that could result in the candidate not being approved. Moreover, we have not obtained regulatory approval for any drug candidate in any jurisdiction and it is possible that none of our existing drug candidates or any drug candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval.
Our drug candidates could fail to receive, or could be delayed in receiving, regulatory approval for many reasons, including any one or more of the following:
- the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with the design or implementation of our clinical trials;- we may be unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities that a drug candidate is safe and effective for its proposed indication;- the results of clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical significance required by the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities for approval;- we may be unable to demonstrate that a drug candidate's clinical and other benefits outweigh its safety risks;- the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from preclinical studies or clinical trials;- the data collected from clinical trials of our drug candidates may not be sufficient to support the submission of an NDA or other submission or to obtain regulatory approval in the United States or elsewhere;- upon review of our clinical trial sites and data, the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may find our record keeping or the record keeping of our clinical trial sites to be inadequate;- the manufacturing processes or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies may fail to meet the requirements of the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities;- the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may fail to approve the companion diagnostics we contemplate developing internally or with partners; and - the change of the medical standard of care or the approval policies or regulations of the FDA, EMA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner that renders our clinical data insufficient for approval.
The time and expense of the approval process, as well as the unpredictability of future clinical trial results and other contributing factors, may result in our failure to obtain regulatory approval to market NXP800, NXP900 or any other drug candidates we may seek to develop in the future, which would significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects. In such case, we may also not have the resources to conduct new clinical trials and/or we may determine that further clinical development of any such drug candidate is not justified and may discontinue any such programs.
In addition, even if we were to obtain regulatory approval in one or more jurisdictions, regulatory authorities may approve any of our drug candidates for fewer or more limited indications than we request, may not approve prices we may propose to charge for our products, may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials (referred to as "conditional" or "accelerated" approval depending on the jurisdiction), or may approve a drug candidate with a label that does not include the labeling claims necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of that drug candidate. Any of the foregoing circumstances could materially harm the commercial prospects for our drug candidates.
Regulation - Risk 4
Healthcare legislative measures and changes in policies, funding, staffing and leadership at the FDA and other agencies could hinder or prevent the commercial success of our products.In the United States, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the healthcare system that could affect our future results of operations and the future results of operations of our potential customers.
In recent years, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which biopharmaceutical manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several recent government inquiries as well as federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, increase drug price transparency, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, reduce the cost of drugs under Medicare, and reform government reimbursement for drug products. Congress and the executive branch have each indicated that they will continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs, making this area subject to ongoing uncertainty. At the state level in the United States, legislatures have also increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control drug product pricing.
While we cannot predict what impact these laws or policies will have in general or specifically on any product we may commercialize in the future, such efforts by the government and payors may result in downward pressure on reimbursement, which could negatively affect market acceptance of new products. Any rebates, discounts, taxes costs or regulatory or systematic changes on healthcare may have a significant effect on our profitability in the future.
Given recent federal and state government initiatives directed at lowering the total cost of healthcare, the executive branch, Congress and state legislatures will likely continue to focus on healthcare reform and the reform of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. While we cannot predict the full outcome of any such government action or legislation, it may harm our ability to market our products and generate revenues.
Furthermore, regulatory authorities' assessment of the data and results required to demonstrate safety and effectiveness can change over time and can be affected by many factors, such as the emergence of new information, including on other products, changing policies and agency funding, staffing and leadership. We cannot be sure whether future changes to the regulatory environment will be favorable or unfavorable to our business prospects.
Regulation - Risk 5
The FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not accept data from any preclinical or clinical trials we may conduct in foreign countries.The FDA's acceptance of data generated for patients recruited outside the United States from clinical trials conducted in whole or in part outside the United States may be subject to certain conditions, if accepted at all.
Although the FDA has the authority to accept foreign data as part or even the sole basis for marketing approval, the FDA generally does not approve an application on the basis of foreign data alone unless (i) the data is applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice, (ii) the trials were performed by clinical investigators of recognized competence and pursuant to GCP regulations, and (iii) the FDA's clinical trial requirements were met. Many foreign regulatory authorities have similar approval requirements. In addition, any clinical study conducted in whole or in part outside of the United States would be subject to the applicable local laws of the jurisdiction where the trial was conducted. We cannot guarantee that the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority will accept data from trials conducted in whole or in part outside of the United States, which may result in the need for additional trials.
Litigation & Legal Liabilities1 | 2.1%
Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 1
If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our current or future product candidates.Environmental / Social1 | 2.1%
Environmental / Social - Risk 1
If we fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could have a material adverse effect on the success of our business.Production
Total Risks: 4/48 (8%)Below Sector Average
Employment / Personnel1 | 2.1%
Employment / Personnel - Risk 1
We are highly dependent on our key personnel and anticipate hiring new key personnel. If we are not successful in attracting and retaining highly qualified personnel, we may not be able to successfully implement our business strategy.Supply Chain3 | 6.3%
Supply Chain - Risk 1
If our third-party manufacturers use hazardous and biological materials in a manner that causes injury or violates applicable law, we may be liable for damages.Supply Chain - Risk 2
We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on the third-party manufacturers to manufacture our current or future product candidates. Reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our products or such quantities at an acceptable quality and cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.We do not currently own any facility that may be used as our clinical-scale manufacturing and processing facility and must rely on outside vendors to manufacture our current or future product candidates. We rely on a single CMO to make the NXP800 drug substance and finished drug product, each performed at a different manufacturing facility. We rely on a single CMO to manufacture NXP900 drug substance and another single CMO to manufacture NXP900 drug product. There is no assurance that we will be able to retain these relationships, and if we are unable to maintain these relationships, we could experience delays in our development efforts. There is no assurance that our CMOs will be successful in manufacturing NXP800 and/or NXP900 drug substance or product. If NXP800, NXP900 or any other drug candidate we may develop or acquire in the future receives regulatory approval, we will likely rely on one or more CMOs to manufacture the commercial supply of such drugs.
Our anticipated reliance on a limited number of third-party manufacturers exposes us to a number of risks, including:
- due to the limited number of potential manufacturers, and because the FDA requires inspection of any manufacturers' cGMP compliance as part of our marketing application, we may be unable to identify manufacturers on acceptable terms, if at all;- a new manufacturer would have to be educated in and develop substantially equivalent processes for, the production of our current or future product candidates;- our third-party manufacturers might be unable to timely manufacture our current or future product candidates or produce the quantity and quality required to meet our clinical and commercial needs due to a variety of potential reasons including failure to achieve drug substance or drug product specifications, batch to batch inconsistencies, site or equipment contaminations, failure to scale up as needed in a cost-efficient manner, failed regulatory inspections, competition for production capacity and availability from other customers;- we may not own, or may have to share, the intellectual property rights to any improvements made by our third-party manufacturers in the manufacturing process for our current or future product candidates;- our third-party manufacturers could breach or terminate their agreements with us;- our third-party manufacturers might be unable to formulate and manufacture our drugs in the volume and of the quality required to meet our clinical and commercial needs, if any;- our third-party manufacturers may not perform as contractually agreed or may not remain in the contract manufacturing business for the time required to supply our clinical trials or to successfully produce, store and distribute our products;- drug manufacturers are subject to ongoing periodic unannounced inspection by the FDA and some state agencies in the United States, as well as foreign regulatory authorities, to ensure strict compliance with cGMP regulations and other regulatory requirements; and - raw materials and components used in the manufacturing process, particularly those for which we have no other source or supplier, may not be available or may not be suitable or acceptable for use due to material or component defects.
Each of these risks could delay or prevent the completion of our preclinical or clinical trials or the approval of any of our current or future product candidates by the FDA or another foreign regulatory authority, result in higher costs or adversely impact commercialization of our current or future product candidates.
Although our agreements with our CMOs require them to perform according to certain cGMP requirements such as those relating to quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel, we cannot control the conduct of our CMOs to implement and maintain these standards. If any of our CMOs cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the regulatory requirements of the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign authorities, we could be prevented from obtaining regulatory approval for our drug candidates unless and until we engage a substitute CMO that can comply with such requirements, which we may not be able to do. Any such failure by any of our CMOs would significantly impact our ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market our drug candidates, if approved.
Supply Chain - Risk 3
We plan to rely on third parties to conduct our preclinical studies and clinical trials. If these third parties do not properly and successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval of or commercialize our current or future product candidates.We plan to utilize and depend upon independent investigators and collaborators, such as medical institutions, CROs, CMOs, and strategic partners to conduct and support our preclinical studies and clinical trials under agreements with us. We rely upon, and plan to continue to rely upon, such third-party entities to execute our clinical trials and preclinical studies and to monitor and manage data produced by and relating to those studies and trials. However, in the future we may not be able to establish arrangements with CROs when needed or on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all, which could negatively affect our development efforts with respect to our drug candidates and materially harm our business, operations and prospects. As a result of the use of third-party contractors, we will have only limited control over certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies, including each of our clinical trials, is conducted in accordance with the applicable protocol, legal and regulatory requirements as well as scientific standards, and our reliance on any third-party entity will not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities.
Based on our present expectations, we and our third-party contractors will be required to comply with GCP regulations for the clinical development of all of our drug candidates. If we or any of these third parties fail to comply with applicable GLP or GCP regulations, the clinical data generated in our preclinical and clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications, which we may not have sufficient cash or other resources to support and which would delay our ability to generate revenue from future sales of such drug candidate. Any agreements governing our relationships with CROs or other contractors with whom we currently engage or may engage in the future may provide those outside contractors with certain rights to terminate a clinical trial under specified circumstances. If such an outside contractor terminates its relationship with us during the performance of a clinical trial, we would be forced to seek an engagement with a substitute contractor, which we may not be able to do on a timely basis or on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, and the applicable clinical trial would experience delays or may not be completed.
Large-scale clinical trials require significant additional financial and management resources and reliance on third-party clinical investigators, CROs, and consultants, which may cause us to encounter delays that are outside of our control. We may be unable to identify and contract with sufficient investigators, CROs, or consultants on a timely basis, if at all.
If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they need to be replaced, or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols, legal and regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our preclinical or clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated and we may not be able to complete development of, obtain regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize, our current or future product candidates. In addition, we will be unable to control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our preclinical and clinical programs. These outside contractors may not assign as great a priority to our programs or pursue them as diligently as we would if we were undertaking such programs ourselves. As a result, our operations and the commercial prospects for the effected drug candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed. These contractors may also have relationships with other commercial entities, some of whom may compete with us. If our contractors assist our competitors to our detriment, our competitive position would be harmed.
If our relationships with any third parties conducting our studies are terminated, we may be unable to enter into arrangements with alternative third parties on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. Switching or adding third parties to conduct our studies involves substantial cost and requires extensive management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new third party commences work. As a result, delays occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. Although we carefully manage our relationships with third parties conducting our studies, we cannot assure you that we will not encounter similar challenges or delays in the future or that these delays or challenges will not have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Ability to Sell
Total Risks: 4/48 (8%)Below Sector Average
Competition1 | 2.1%
Competition - Risk 1
We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing products before or more successfully than we do.Demand1 | 2.1%
Demand - Risk 1
If any of our current or future product candidates do not achieve broad market acceptance among physicians, patients, healthcare payors and the medical community, the revenues from any such current or future product candidate may be limited.Sales & Marketing2 | 4.2%
Sales & Marketing - Risk 1
We currently have no marketing and sales organization and have limited experience in marketing products. If we are unable to establish marketing and sales capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell any approved product candidates, we may not be able to generate product revenue.Sales & Marketing - Risk 2
Our future relationships with customers and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere may be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse, false claims, transparency, health information privacy and security and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm, administrative burdens, diminished profits and future earnings.Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors in the U.S. and elsewhere will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any current or future product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. Our future arrangements with third-party payors and customers may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the federal False Claims Act, which may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we sell, market and distribute any current or future product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. In addition, we may be subject to transparency laws and patient privacy regulation by the federal and state governments and by governments in foreign jurisdictions in which we conduct our business. The applicable federal, state and foreign healthcare laws and regulations that may affect our ability to operate include, but are not necessarily limited to:
- the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, offering, receiving or providing remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, to induce or reward, or in return for, either the referral of an individual for, or the purchase, order or recommendation of, any good or service, for which payment may be made under federal and state healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid;- federal civil and criminal false claims laws and civil monetary penalty laws, including the federal False Claims Act, which impose criminal and civil penalties, including civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, against individuals or entities for knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, to the federal government, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs, claims for payment that are false or fraudulent or making a false statement to avoid, decrease or conceal an obligation to pay money to the federal government; the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"), which imposes criminal and civil liability for executing a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or making false statements relating to healthcare matters;- HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, and their respective implementing regulations, which impose obligations on covered healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses, as well as their business associates that create, receive, maintain or transmit individually identifiable health information for or on behalf of a covered entity, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information;- the federal Open Payments program, which requires manufacturers of certain drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, with specific exceptions, to report annually to CMS, information related to "payments or other transfers of value" made to "covered recipients," which include physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors, and teaching hospitals) and applicable manufacturers. Applicable group purchasing organizations also are required to report annually to CMS the ownership and investment interests held by the physicians and their immediate family members. The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act added to the definition of covered recipient practitioners including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists and certified nurse-midwives effective in 2022. Data collection began on August 1, 2013 with requirements for manufacturers to submit reports to CMS by March 31, 2014 and 90 days after the end of each subsequent calendar year. Disclosure of such information was made by CMS on a publicly available website beginning in September 2014; and - analogous state and foreign laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, which may apply to sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by non-governmental third-party payors, including private insurers; state and foreign data privacy or data protection laws and regulations, such as state health data privacy legislation, state data breach legislation, or general state privacy legislation such as California's Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and its implementing regulations; state and foreign laws that require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry's voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government or otherwise restrict payments that may be made to healthcare providers; state and foreign laws that require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures; and state and foreign laws governing the privacy and security of health information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.
In November 2020, HHS finalized significant changes to the regulations implementing the Anti-Kickback Statute, as well as the Physician Self-Referral Law and the civil monetary penalty rules regarding beneficiary inducements, with the goal of offering the healthcare industry more flexibility and reducing the regulatory burden associated with those fraud and abuse laws, particularly with respect to value-based arrangements among industry participants.
Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations may 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, including, without limitation, damages, fines, imprisonment, exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our businesses. If any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business, including our collaborators, is found not to be in compliance with applicable laws, it may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from participation in government healthcare programs, which could also materially affect our businesses.
Macro & Political
Total Risks: 3/48 (6%)Below Sector Average
Economy & Political Environment1 | 2.1%
Economy & Political Environment - Risk 1
Our growth is subject to economic and political conditions.International Operations1 | 2.1%
International Operations - Risk 1
A variety of risks associated with marketing our current or future product candidates internationally could materially adversely affect our business.Natural and Human Disruptions1 | 2.1%
Natural and Human Disruptions - Risk 1
Major public health issues, and specifically the policies and procedures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic which are still in place, could have an adverse effect on our clinical trials, financial condition, results of operations, and other aspects of our business.Changed
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.