Aceragen, Inc. - Annual Report: 2019 (Form 10-K)

 

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

Form 10-K

 

 

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2019

 

OR

 

 

Commission File Number: 001-31918

 

 

IDERA PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

(484) 348-1600

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act

 

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☑

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☑ 

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☑    No  ☐ 

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☑    No  ☐

 

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.☐

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.)    Yes  ☐    No   ☑ 

 

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $63.6 million based on the last sale price of the registrant’s common stock as reported on the Nasdaq Capital Market on June 28, 2019 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter).

 

As of February 15, 2020, the registrant had 30,538,478 shares of common stock outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE 

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its 2020 annual meeting of stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K where indicated. Such definitive proxy statement will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the year ended December 31, 2019.

 

 

 

IDERA PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

FORM 10-K

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

__________________________________

 

Unless the context otherwise indicates, references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “Idera,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

 

IMO® and Idera® are our trademarks. All other trademarks and service marks appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners.

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all share and per share amounts, including the exercise or conversion price of any of our securities, reflect, as applicable, the occurrence of a 1-for-8 reverse split of our common stock that occurred on July 27, 2018.

NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) and the documents we incorporate by reference contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included or incorporated in this report regarding our strategy, future operations, collaborations, intellectual property, cash resources, financial position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. The words “believes,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “could,” “should,” “potential,” “likely,” “projects,” “continue,” “will,” “schedule,” “would” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. We cannot guarantee that we actually will achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which may be beyond Idera’s control, and which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

 

There are a number of important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by forward-looking statements. These important factors include those set forth below under Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors.” These factors and the other cautionary statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents we incorporate by reference should be read as being applicable to all related forward-looking statements whenever they appear in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents we incorporate by reference.

 

In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our estimates only as of the date that this Annual Report on Form 10-K is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and should not be relied upon as representing our estimates as of any subsequent date. All forward-looking statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are made as of the date hereof, and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary notice. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

 

 

 

PART I.

 

Item 1.Business.

 

Overview

 

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a business strategy focused on the clinical development, and ultimately the commercialization, of drug candidates for both oncology and rare disease indications characterized by small, well-defined patient populations with serious unmet medical needs. Our current focus is on our Toll-like receptor, or TLR, agonist, tilsotolimod (IMO-2125), for oncology. We believe we can develop and commercialize targeted therapies on our own. To the extent we seek to develop drug candidates for broader disease indications, we have entered into and may explore additional collaborative alliances to support development and commercialization.

 

TLRs are key receptors of the immune system and play a role in innate and adaptive immunity. As a result, we believe TLRs are potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of a broad range of diseases. Using our chemistry-based platform, we designed both TLR agonists and antagonists to act by modulating the activity of targeted TLRs. A TLR agonist is a compound that stimulates an immune response through the targeted TLR. A TLR antagonist is a compound that inhibits an immune response by blocking the targeted TLR.

 

Our current TLR-targeted clinical-stage drug candidate, tilsotolimod, is an agonist of TLR9. We are currently developing tilsotolimod, via intratumoral injection, for the treatment of anti-PD1 refractory metastatic melanoma in combination with ipilimumab, an anti-CTLA4 antibody marketed as Yervoy® by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (“BMS”) in a Phase 3 registration trial. We are also evaluating intratumoral tilsotolimod in combination with nivolumab, an anti-PD1 antibody marketed as Opdivo® by BMS, and ipilimumab for the treatment of multiple solid tumors in a multicohort Phase 2 trial.

 

Clinical Development

 

Tilsotolimod (IMO-2125)

 

Tilsotolimod (IMO-2125) is a synthetic phosphorothioate oligonucleotide that acts as a direct agonist of TLR9 to stimulate the innate and adaptive immune systems. Tilsotolimod is being developed for administration via intratumoral injection in combination with systemically administered checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of various solid tumors, including (i) anti-PD1 refractory metastatic melanoma in combination with ipilimumab, (ii) microsatellite stable (“MSS”) colorectal cancer (“CRC”) in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab, and (iii) squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (“SCCHN”) in combination with ABBV-368 and other combinations. We refer to our tilsotolimod development program as the ILLUMINATE development program. See additional information under the heading “Collaborative Alliances” for information on the development of tilsotolimod in collaboration with AbbVie for patients with SCCHN.

 

Advancements in cancer immunotherapy have included the approval and late-stage development of multiple checkpoint inhibitors, which are therapies that target mechanisms by which tumor cells evade detection by the immune system. Despite these advancements, many patients fail to respond to these therapies. For instance, approximately 50% of patients with melanoma fail to respond to therapy with approved checkpoint inhibitors. Current published data suggests that the lack of response to checkpoint inhibition is related to a non-immunogenic tumor microenvironment. We believe TLR9 agonists may be useful in melanoma and other solid tumor types that are refractory to anti-PD1 treatment due, in part, to low mutation load and low dendritic cell infiltration. Because TLR9 agonists, such as tilsotolimod, stimulate the immune system, we believe there is a scientific rationale to evaluate the combination of intratumoral injection of tilsotolimod with checkpoint inhibitors. Specifically, we believe intratumoral injection of tilsotolimod activates a local immune response in the injected tumor, which may complement the effect of the systemically administered checkpoint inhibitors. Currently, there is minimal immunotherapy benefit, post chemotherapy, for patients with SCCHN and are no approved immunotherapy options for patients with MSS-CRC.

 

 

In studies conducted in our laboratories, intratumoral injection of TLR9 agonists, such as tilsotolimod, has potentiated the antitumor activity of multiple checkpoint inhibitors in preclinical tumor models. We believe these data support evaluation of combination regimens including the combination of a TLR9 agonist, such as tilsotolimod, with one or more checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of cancer.

 

Melanoma

 

Melanoma is a cancer that begins in a type of skin cell called melanocytes. While melanoma is one of the least common types of skin cancer, it has a poor prognosis when not detected and treated early. As is the case in many forms of cancer, melanoma becomes more difficult to treat once the disease has spread, or metastasized, beyond the skin to other parts of the body. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 100,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive melanoma this year. In recent years, pioneering immunotherapies known as checkpoint inhibitors have changed the treatment of advanced melanoma and have become the standard of care, with anti-PD-1 agents being the most commonly used immunotherapy in the first-line setting. These agents work by increasing the ability of the body’s immune system to help detect and fight cancer cells. However, due to primary or acquired resistance mechanisms that exclude or inhibit anti-tumor immune cells, as many as 60% of patients do not benefit from this type of therapy, and up to one-third of initial responders develop resistance to the therapy and ultimately experience disease progression. Today, these refractory patients are left with few options for further treatment, paving the way for novel investigational therapies such as tilsotolimod. 

 

We are currently developing tilsotolimod for use in combination with checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of patients with anti-PD1 refractory metastatic melanoma. Tilsotolimod has received Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of melanoma Stages IIb to IV and Fast Track designation for the treatment of anti-PD1 refractory metastatic melanoma in combination with ipilimumab therapy from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”).

 

 

 

ILLUMINATE-301 - Phase 3 Trial of Tilsotolimod (IMO-2125) in Combination with Ipilimumab in Patients with Anti-PD1 Refractory Metastatic Melanoma

 

In the first quarter of 2018, we initiated a Phase 3 trial of the tilsotolimod–ipilimumab combination in patients with anti-PD1 refractory metastatic melanoma, which we refer to as ILLUMINATE-301.  This trial will compare the results of the tilsotolimod–ipilimumab combination to those of ipilimumab alone in a 1:1 randomization. This trial originally targeted a sample size of 308 patients and was expected to be conducted at up to 110 sites worldwide. The family of primary endpoints of the trial are overall response rate (“ORR”) by RECIST v1.1 and median overall survival (“OS”). We believe positive results in either of the primary endpoints could lead to approval in the United States. Key secondary endpoints include ORR by immune-related RECIST, durable response rate, median time to response, median progression free survival (“PFS”) and patient-reported outcomes using a validated scale.

 

Following feedback from the ILLUMINATE-301 Steering Committee and global melanoma and immunology experts, we elected to make several modifications to the ILLUMINATE-301 trial design which better reflect the current treatment landscape in anti-PD-1 refractory melanoma and increase the probability of success in the trial. We are currently targeting a median OS improvement over ipilimumab alone of greater than or equal to 4.6 months, compared to 6.6 months originally targeted, and an ORR improvement of 10 percentage points over ipilimumab alone, compared to 20 percentage points originally targeted. Accordingly, the target effect size or hazard ratio has been adjusted to 0.71 from 0.63.  In order to maintain statistical power, the sample size was increased to 454 patients from the original target sample size of 308 patients. We solicited feedback from the FDA and they did not object to these changes.  We have also received approval from other global health authorities related to these changes. In March 2020, we completed target enrollment for ILLUMINATE-301.

 

 As discussed below under the heading “Collaborative Alliances,” in May 2018, we entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with BMS under which BMS has agreed to supply YERVOY® (ipilimumab), at its cost and for no charge to us, for use in ILLUMINATE-301, including for the increase in sample size.

 

ILLUMINATE-204 - Phase 1/2 Trial of Tilsotolimod (IMO-2125) in Combination with Ipilimumab or Pembrolizumab in Patients with Anti-PD1 Refractory Metastatic Melanoma

 

In December 2015, we initiated a Phase 1/2 clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of intratumoral tilsotolimod in combination with ipilimumab, in patients with metastatic melanoma (refractory to treatment with a PD1 inhibitor, also referred to as anti-PD1 refractory), which we refer to as ILLUMINATE-204. We subsequently amended the trial protocol to include an additional treatment arm to study the combination of tilsotolimod with pembrolizumab, an anti-PD1 antibody marketed as Keytruda® by Merck & Co., Inc., in the same patient population. The Phase 2 expansion of our ILLUMINATE-204 trial closed for enrollment in February 2019 with a total of 52 patients dosed at 8 mg tilsotolimod in combination with ipilimumab, 49 of which are evaluable for safety and efficacy.

 

In this clinical trial, tilsotolimod is administered intratumorally into a selected tumor lesion at weeks 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 11, 17, 23 and 29, for a total of nine doses, together with the standard dosing regimen of ipilimumab or pembrolizumab, administered intravenously. For patients who lack superficially accessible disease for injection, tilsotolimod is administered via injection into deep lesions, such as liver metastases, using interventional radiology guidance.

 

The trial was initiated at The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center (“MD Anderson”) under the strategic research alliance we entered into with MD Anderson in June 2015, and additional sites were added through the fourth quarter of 2018.  The primary objectives of the Phase 1 portion of the trial include characterizing the safety of the combinations and determining the recommended Phase 2 dose. A secondary objective of the Phase 1 portion of the trial is describing the antitumor activity of tilsotolimod when administered intratumorally in combination with ipilimumab or pembrolizumab. Objectives of the Phase 2 portion of the trial are to determine the objective response rate to the combinations using immune-related response criteria (“irRC”) and RECIST v1.1 criteria.  Additional objectives of the Phase 2 portion of the trial include determination of median PFS and median OS, and to continue to characterize the safety of the combinations. In the Phase 1 portion of the trial, serial biopsies were taken of selected injected and non-injected tumor lesions pre- and post-24 hours of the first dose of tilsotolimod, as well as at 8 and 13 weeks, to assess immune changes and response assessments. In the Phase 2 portion of the trial, biopsies were optional.

 

Ipilimumab Arm

 

In the Phase 1 portion of the ipilimumab arm of our Phase 1/2 clinical trial of tilsotolimod, escalating doses of tilsotolimod ranging from 4 mg through 32 mg were evaluated in a total of 18 patients, all but one who had progressed on nivolumab or pembrolizumab prior to enrollment in the trial.  The combination of tilsotolimod and ipilimumab was generally well-tolerated at all dose levels studied. In April 2017, we completed tilsotolimod dose escalation and, based on the safety and efficacy data and data from translational immune parameters, selected the 8 mg dose level as the recommended dose level for the Phase 2 portion of the ipilimumab arm of the trial.

 

In April 2017, we initiated enrollment in the Phase 2 portion of the ipilimumab arm of our Phase 1/2 clinical trial of tilsotolimod with the 8 mg dose of intratumoral tilsotolimod. The Phase 2 portion of the trial utilizes a two-stage design to evaluate the objective response rate of tilsotolimod in combination with ipilimumab, compared to historical data for ipilimumab alone in the anti-PD1 refractory metastatic melanoma population. Based on the responses observed, the trial advanced with the expansion of the ipilimumab-tilsotolimod combination arm of ILLUMINATE-204 at the recommended Phase 2 dose of 8 mg tilsotolimod.

 

The Phase 2 ipilimumab-tilsotolimod combination arm of the ILLUMINATE-204 trial closed for enrollment in February 2019 with a total of 52 patients dosed at the recommended Phase 2 dose.  As of August 5, 2019, of the 49 subjects evaluable for efficacy, 13 had a response representing a best overall response rate of 27%. Of the 13 responders, four were unconfirmed responses. Additionally, 36 of the 49 patients achieved stable disease or better, representing a disease control rate of 74%. Durable responses (>6 months) were observed in 5 of 9 confirmed responses per RECIST v1.1. Median overall survival (OS) had not yet been reached (min/max: 1.6 months/35 months).  

 

We subsequently examined the four unconfirmed responders (of the 13 responders noted above) out of the 49 subjects evaluable for efficacy.  As of October 23, 2019, two subjects were confirmed per RECIST v1.1 criteria, one remained unconfirmed, and one experienced disease progression.  As for disease control, 35 of the 49 patients achieved stable disease or better (71%). Durable responses (greater than six months) were observed in five of 10 confirmed responses per RECIST v1.1 criteria who were evaluable for durability. The safety profile observed is consistent with previously reported results.

 

Other key findings from the trial include data demonstrating a systemic antitumor effect on distant uninjected tumors in patients who received tilsotolimod in combination with ipilimumab. Also, data showing clinical responses were observed in patients whose tumors had low HLA-ABC expression before treatment was started. Since HLA-ABC expression is required for ipilimumab antitumor activity (Rodig, 2018), evidence of clinical responses in patients with low HLA-ABC expression supports the contribution of tilsotolimod’s mechanism of action to overcome resistance to ipilimumab in tumors with this HLA-ABC expression profile. This information suggests that tilsotolimod has the potential to enhance the overall response rate compared to that expected with ipilimumab alone.

 

Pembrolizumab Arm

 

In the Phase 1 portion of the pembrolizumab arm of our Phase 1/2 clinical trial of tilsotolimod, we evaluated escalating doses of tilsotolimod ranging from 8 mg through 32 mg.

 

We completed enrollment with a total of 9 patients dosed with the combination therapy in the 8 mg, 16 mg and 32 mg dosing cohorts in the Phase 1 dose escalation portion of the pembrolizumab arm of the trial. As of January 16, 2020, one patient who was treated at the 16 mg dose experienced a complete response by RECIST v1.1 criteria and has completed the study.

 

Refractory Solid Tumors

 

 

ILLUMINATE-101 - Phase 1b Trial of Intratumoral Tilsotolimod (IMO-2125) Monotherapy in Patients with Refractory Solid Tumors

 

In March 2017, we initiated a Phase 1b dose escalation trial of intratumoral tilsotolimod as a single agent in multiple tumor types, which we refer to as ILLUMINATE-101. In this trial, intratumoral tilsotolimod was administered on days 1, 8 and 15 of cycle 1 and on day 1 of each subsequent 21-day cycle, up to 17 cycles, for a total of 19 doses.  We completed enrollment of a total of 38 patients in four dose-escalation cohorts at doses of 8mg (cohort 1, n=11), 16mg (cohort 2, n=8), 23mg (cohort 3, n=10) and 32mg (cohort 4, n=9).  There were no dose-limiting toxicities observed and tilsotolimod appeared to be generally well-tolerated at each of the dose levels tested.  We also completed enrollment of 16 patients in a melanoma expansion cohort, which utilized a Simon’s optimal two-stage design, to assess whether tilsotolimod as a single agent (8mg dose) has any statistically relevant clinical activity, as demonstrated for objective response according to RECIST v1.1 criteria, in patients with metastatic melanoma who have progressed on or after treatment with a PD-(L)1 inhibitor. The study was completed in October 2019.

 

At the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in September 2019, we provided an update on ILLUMINATE-101, noting that as of July 1, 2019, a total of 54 patients had been dosed, including 38 patients in the dose-evaluation portion of the trial and 16 patients in the melanoma dose-expansion cohort. Of the 45 evaluable patients, 33% (n=15) had a best response stable disease. Duration of stable disease ranged from 1.5 to 12 months from the start of treatment, with stable disease ongoing for two patients. There were no correlations between dose and efficacy observed.

 

An additional purpose of this study was to obtain tumor biopsies to assess the effect of tilsotolimod on the tumor microenvironment in multiple types of solid tumors and inform the expansion of the development program beyond melanoma. Translational research in ILLUMINATE-101 demonstrated that tilsotolimod increased dendritic cell activation and upregulated MHC class II and IFN-α signaling, which suggests improved antigen presentation, and is similar to that observed and previously reported in the tumor biopsies from the ILLUMINATE-204 melanoma subjects. This observation provided additional rationale to expand the tilsotolimod clinical development program to additional solid tumors.

 

Other Solid Tumors

 

Advancements in cancer immunotherapy have included the approval and late-stage development of multiple checkpoint inhibitors, as single agents or in combination, for other solid tumors including, among others, dMMR/MSI-H colorectal cancer (“CRC”) and squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (“SCCHN”).

 

Nivolumab administered as monotherapy or in combination with ipilimumab has demonstrated benefit and is approved for the treatment of dMMR/MSI-H mCRC. However, in a previously treated microsatellite stable (“MSS”) CRC patient population, nivolumab + ipilimumab combination therapy did not produce objective responses. MSS-CRC has been shown to be highly immunosuppressive. Moreover, the tumor microenvironment in MSS-CRC has been shown to keep dendritic cells in an immature state. Given tilsotolimod’s mechanism of action of activating dendritic cells, it may serve a complementary function to nivolumab and ipilimumab within the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (“TME”) of MSS-CRC patients.

 

We believe, based on internally conducted commercial research and information published by the American Cancer Society and other references, that annually in the United States, approximately 140,000 people are diagnosed with CRC, of which 85% are MSS, and that approximately 50,000 deaths are attributed to CRC. Additionally, we believe that annually in the United States, approximately 64,000 people are diagnosed with SCCHN and there are approximately 14,000 deaths attributed to SCCHN. We also believe that, in 2018, approximately 200,000 patients in the United States with various tumor types have been treated with an anti-PD-1/anti-PD-L1 therapy. Approximately 87% of these patients may progress after treatment and therefore may benefit from alternative therapies.

 

Squamous cell carcinoma is the most frequent malignant tumor of the head and neck region and develops from the mucosal linings of the upper aerodigestive tract. Although the majority of patients present with loco-regional disease, more than 50% will succumb to recurrent or metastatic disease despite aggressive therapy with surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. Relapsed or metastatic SCCHN (“RM-SCCHN”) is currently an incurable disease with a poor prognosis and the mortality rate of patients presenting with advanced disease remains high. Recently, the results from prospectively conducted trials employing the immune-modulating antibodies nivolumab and pembrolizumab following chemotherapy heralded a new era of treatment for RM-SCCHN. Patients responding to these agents have seen durable responses and in controlled studies an overall survival benefit has been demonstrated for the anti-PD-1 antibodies versus standard of care chemotherapy. The challenge remains to increase the percentage of patients responding to these treatments, which currently ranges from 13% to 23% depending on the line of therapy.

 

 

ILLUMINATE-206 - Phase 2 Trial of Tilsotolimod (IMO-2125) in Combination with Nivolumab and Ipilimumab for the treatment of Solid Tumors

 

In December 2018, we submitted an IND application to the FDA to evaluate tilsotolimod administered intratumorally, in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab in a Phase 2, multicohort study of multiple solid tumors. The basis for this study is supported by data generated from our ILLUMINATE-101 and ILLUMINATE-204 trials, which suggest the mechanism of action for tilsotolimod may be tumor-type agnostic and potentially beneficial in combination with checkpoint modulation in a variety of tumor types. In January 2019, we received notification from the FDA that the study may proceed and initiated the Phase 2, open-label, global, multicohort study for the treatment of specific solid tumors in September 2019.  We refer to this study as ILLUMINATE-206.  

 

Each cohort in this study is designed to be conducted in two parts. The purpose of the first part (Part 1) is for signal finding and utilizes a Simon’s minimax two-stage design in a single-arm. The primary objective of Part 1 is to evaluate the efficacy (measured by ORR based on RECIST v1.1) of intratumoral tilsotolimod in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab. Secondary objectives of Part 1 include safety, tolerability, immunogenicity and translational data evaluations. Based on the data from Part 1 of each cohort, expansion of a cohort may be conducted as Part 2. Part 2 objectives will be determined after the decision is made to initiate Part 2 of a given cohort. The start and end of the study will be independent for each cohort. 

 

The ILLUMINATE-206 cohorts are as follows:

 

We initiated ILLUMINATE-206 beginning with the MSS-CRC Cohort. An initial group of ten patients were enrolled to evaluate the safety of administering the combination of tilsotolimod, nivolumab and ipilimumab. Within Part 1 of the MSS-CRC Cohort, approximately 65 patients may be enrolled pending data from the signal-finding stage. See information on our clinical trial and supply agreement with AbbVie under the heading “Collaborative Alliances” which discusses the development of tilsotolimod in combination with ABBV-368 and other combinations for the treatment of SCCHN.

 

As discussed below under the heading “Collaborative Alliances,” in March 2019, we entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with BMS, under which BMS has agreed to manufacture and supply YERVOY® (ipilimumab) and OPDIVO® (nivolumab), at its cost and for no charge to us, for use in ILLUMINATE-206.

 

Discontinued Programs

 

In July 2018, following an analysis of our gene-silencing technology platform and our research portfolio, we decided to suspend our rare disease and discovery programs as part of our overall strategy to more narrowly focus our capital resources on the development and commercialization of tilsotolimod.

 

IMO-8400 for Rare Diseases

 

We had been developing IMO-8400, an antagonist of TLR7, TLR8 and TLR9, for the treatment of rare diseases, and dermatomyositis was our lead clinical target. In December 2015, we initiated a Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to assess the safety, tolerability and treatment effect of IMO-8400 in adult patients with dermatomyositis. In June 2018, we reported that the trial did not meet its primary endpoint of statistically significant change from baseline in the Cutaneous Dermatomyositis Disease Area and Severity Index (CDASI) activity score versus placebo. As a result, in July 2018, we made a decision to discontinue this clinical program upon completion of final close-out activities.

 

In April 2019, we out-licensed IMO-8400 to a privately-held biopharmaceutical company. See Note 10 of the notes to our financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.

 

Agreement with Abbott Molecular

 

We are party to a development and commercialization agreement with Abbott Molecular, Inc. (“Abbott”), which we entered into in May 2014, in connection with our prior IMO-8400 clinical development program for the treatment of certain genetically defined forms of B-cell lymphoma, including our Phase 1/2 clinical trial in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (“DLBCL”) harboring the MYD88 L265P oncogenic mutation. The agreement provided for the development and subsequent commercialization, by Abbott, of an in vitro companion diagnostic test utilizing polymerase chain reaction technology to identify with high sensitivity and specificity the presence in tumor biopsy samples of the oncogenic mutation referred to scientifically as MYD88 L265P. In September 2016, we suspended all clinical development of IMO-8400 for B-cell lymphomas.  While we have maintained our relationship with Abbott under the agreement, we are permitted to terminate the agreement upon 90 days written notice to Abbott and, under circumstances specified in the agreement, payment of a termination fee and wind-down costs. The parties also may terminate the agreement based on uncured material breaches by or the bankruptcy or insolvency of the other party, and each party has the right to terminate the agreement in the event of specified permanent injunctions based on infringement of third-party intellectual property rights.

 

IMO-9200 for Autoimmune Disease

 

We had developed a second novel synthetic oligonucleotide antagonist of TLR7, TLR8, and TLR9, IMO-9200, as a drug candidate for potential use in selected autoimmune disease indications. In 2015, we completed a Phase 1 clinical trial of IMO-9200 in healthy subjects as well as additional preclinical studies of IMO-9200 for autoimmune diseases. In 2015, we determined not to proceed with the development of IMO-9200 because the large autoimmune disease indications for which IMO-9200 had been developed did not fit within the strategic focus of our company. In November 2016, we entered into an exclusive license and collaboration agreement with Vivelix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (“Vivelix”), granting Vivelix worldwide rights to develop and market IMO-9200 for non-malignant gastrointestinal disorders, which agreement we refer to as the Vivelix Agreement. On November 4, 2018, Vivelix notified us that they decided to terminate ongoing development activities related to IMO-9200. Subsequently, on March 4, 2019, we mutually agreed to terminate the Vivelix Agreement.

 

Other Rare Disease and Discovery Programs

 

Collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline Intellectual Property Development Limited

 

In November 2015, we entered into a collaboration and license agreement with GlaxoSmithKline Intellectual Property Development Limited (“GSK”) to license, research, develop and commercialize pharmaceutical compounds from our nucleic acid chemistry technology for the treatment of selected targets in renal disease, which agreement we refer to as the GSK Agreement. In connection with the GSK Agreement, GSK provided an initial target for us to identify a potential population of development candidates to address such target under a mutually agreed upon research plan. Prior to suspending our rare disease and discovery programs, and the wind-

down of such discovery operations, we created multiple development candidates to address the initial target designated by GSK. Until November 2019, the expiration of the collaboration term, GSK had the right to designate one development candidate in its sole discretion, from the population of identified candidates, to move forward into clinical development. However, GSK did not designate any candidate for development during the collaboration term.  If such designation had occurred, GSK would have been solely responsible for the development and commercialization activities for that designated development candidate.

 

The GSK Agreement also provided GSK with the option to select up to two additional targets at any time during the first two years of the agreement, for further research under mutually agreed upon research plans. Upon selecting additional targets, GSK then had the option to designate one development candidate for each additional target, at which time GSK would have sole responsibility to develop and commercialize each such designated development candidate. GSK did not select any additional targets for research through the expiry of the option period.

 

Under the terms of the GSK Agreement, we received a $2.5 million upfront, non-refundable, non-creditable cash payment upon the execution of the GSK Agreement.  Additionally, we were initially eligible to receive a total of up to approximately $100 million in license, research, clinical development and commercialization milestone payments under the GSK agreement, of which $9 million of these milestone payments would have been payable by GSK upon the identification of the additional targets, the completion of current and future research plans and the designation of development candidates and $89 million would have been payable by GSK upon the achievement of clinical milestones and commercial milestones. As a result of GSK not designating a development candidate during the collaboration term, we are no longer eligible to receive any additional license, research, clinical development and commercialization milestone payments, or any royalty payments, pursuant to the GSK Agreement.

 

Collaborative Alliances

 

Our current alliances include collaborations with AbbVie Inc. (“AbbVie”) and BMS. In addition to our current alliances, we may seek to enter into additional collaborative alliances to support development and commercialization of our TLR agonists and antagonists.

 

Collaboration with AbbVie

 

Effective August 27, 2019, we entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with AbbVie, a global, research-based biopharmaceutical company, to conduct a clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of combinations of an OX40 agonist (ABBV-368), tilsotolimod, nab-paclitaxel and/or an anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antagonist (ABBV-181), which we refer to as the AbbVie Agreement. Under the AbbVie Agreement, we will provide a clinical trial supply of tilsotolimod to AbbVie and AbbVie will sponsor, fund and conduct the study entitled “A Phase 1b, Multicenter, Open-Label Study to Determine the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics, and Preliminary Efficacy of ABBV-368 plus Tilsotolimod and Other Therapy Combinations in Subjects with Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma” (the, “AbbVie Study”). We have agreed to manufacture and supply tilsotolimod at its cost and for no charge to AbbVie, for use in the AbbVie Study.

 

Collaboration with Bristol-Meyers Squibb

 

Effective May 18, 2018, we entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with BMS (the “May 2018 BMS Agreement”) to clinically evaluate the combination of tilsotolimod with BMS’s therapy YERVOY® (ipilimumab). Under the May 2018 BMS Agreement, we will sponsor, fund and conduct our ongoing global, open-label, multicenter Phase 3 clinical trial of tilsotolimod in combination with YERVOY® entitled “A Randomized Phase 3 Comparison of IMO-2125 with Ipilimumab versus Ipilimumab Alone in Patients with Anti-PD-1 Refractory Melanoma” in accordance with an agreed-upon protocol, which we refer to as ILLUMINATE-301.  Under the May 2018 BMS Agreement, BMS granted us a non-exclusive, non-transferrable, royalty-free license (with a right to sublicense) under its intellectual property to use YERVOY® in ILLUMINATE-301 and has agreed to manufacture and supply YERVOY®, at its cost and for no charge to us, for use in ILLUMINATE-301.

 

Effective March 11, 2019, we entered into a second clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with BMS (the “March 2019 BMS Agreement”) to clinically evaluate the combination of tilsotolimod with BMS’s therapy YERVOY® (ipilimumab) and OPDIVO® (nivolumab). Under the March 2019 BMS Agreement, we will sponsor, fund and conduct a Phase 2, open-label, global, multicenter, multicohort study of intratumoral tilsotolimod in combination with YERVOY® and OPDIVO® entitled “Study of Tilsotolimod in Combination with Nivolumab and Ipilimumab For the Treatment of Solid Tumors” in accordance with an agreed-upon protocol, which we refer to as ILLUMINATE-206.  Under the March 2019 BMS Agreement, BMS granted us a non-exclusive, non-transferrable, royalty-free license (with a right to sublicense) under its intellectual property to use YERVOY® and OPDIVO® in ILLUMINATE-206 and has agreed to manufacture and supply YERVOY® and OPDIVO®, at its cost and for no charge to us, for use in ILLUMINATE-206.

 

Academic and Research Collaborations

 

We have entered into research collaborations with scientists at leading academic research institutions. These research collaborations allow us to augment our internal research capabilities and obtain access to specialized knowledge and expertise. In general, our research collaborations may require us to supply compounds and pay various amounts to support the research. Under these research agreements, if a collaborator, solely or jointly with us, creates any invention, we may own exclusively such invention, have an automatic paid-up, royalty-free non-exclusive license or have an option to negotiate an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing license to such invention. Inventions developed solely by our scientists in connection with research collaborations are owned exclusively by us. These collaborative agreements are non-exclusive and may be terminated with limited notice.

 

Research and Development Expenses

 

We are committed to redefining the treatment of certain cancers and rare diseases and have historically dedicated a significant portion of our resources to our efforts on the discovery and development of our drug candidates.  For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, we spent approximately $34.9 million, $41.8 million, and $50.7 million, respectively, on research and development activities. We plan to continue to invest in research and development, primarily with respect to our clinical trials of tilsotolimod. Accordingly, we anticipate a significant portion of our operating expenses will continue to be related to clinical development in 2020 and beyond.

Patents, Proprietary Rights and Trade Secrets

 

Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our drug candidates, technology and know-how, to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of others and to prevent others from infringing our proprietary rights. We use a variety of methods to seek to protect our proprietary position, including filing U.S. and foreign patent applications related to our proprietary technology, inventions and improvements that are important to the development of our business. We also rely on trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovation, and in-licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our proprietary position.

 

We have devoted and continue to devote a substantial amount of our resources into establishing intellectual property protection for:

 

On November 5, 2019, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued to us U.S. Patent No. 10,463,686 entitled “Immune Modulation With TLR9 Agonists For Cancer Treatment,” which includes tilsotolimod. The patent includes 24 claims directed to methods of treating melanoma with intratumoral administration of tilsotolimod in combination with certain immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies, including inhibitors of the CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1 pathways. The patent is expected to expire in September 2037.

 

As of February 15, 2020, we owned approximately 53 U.S. patents and patent applications and about 184 patents and patent applications throughout the rest of the world for our TLR-targeted immune modulation technologies. These patents and patent applications include claims covering the chemical compositions of matter and methods of use of our IMO compounds, such as IMO-8400, IMO-9200 and tilsotolimod (IMO-2125), as well as other compounds. These patents and patent applications (if granted) expire at various dates ranging from 2020 to 2037. With respect to IMO-8400, we have six issued U.S. patents that cover the chemical composition of matter of IMO-8400 and certain methods of its use, the latest of which expires in 2031. With respect to IMO-9200, we have nine issued U.S. patents that cover the chemical composition for IMO-9200 and methods of its use, the latest of which expires in 2034. With respect to tilsotolimod, we have an issued U.S. patent that covers the chemical composition of matter of tilsotolimod that will expire in 2024 and additional patents that cover methods of its use, the latest of which will expire in 2037. We have pending applications in the United States and outside of the United States that cover methods of treatment or use of tilsotolimod, which, if granted, will expire between 2035 and 2039.

 

Because patent applications in the United States and many foreign jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all, and because publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries, neither we nor our licensors can be certain that we or they were the first to make the inventions claimed in issued patents or pending patent applications, or that we or they were the first to file for protection of the inventions set forth in these patent applications.

 

Litigation may be necessary to defend against or assert claims of infringement, to enforce patents issued to us, to protect trade secrets or know-how owned by us, or to determine the scope and validity of the proprietary rights of others or to determine the appropriate term for an issued patent. In addition, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) may declare interference proceedings to determine the priority of inventions with respect to our patent applications or reexamination or reissue proceedings to determine if the scope of a patent should be narrowed. Litigation or any of these other proceedings could result in substantial costs to and diversion of effort by us, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. These efforts by us may not be successful.

 

The term of individual patents depends upon the legal term for patents in the countries in which they are obtained. In most countries, including the United States, the patent term is 20 years from the earliest filing date of a non-provisional patent application. In the United States, a patent’s term may be lengthened by patent term adjustment, which compensates a patentee for administrative delays by the USPTO in examining and granting a

patent, or may be shortened if a patent is terminally disclaimed over an earlier filed patent. The term of a patent that covers a drug, biological product or medical device approved pursuant to a pre-market approval may also be eligible for patent term extension when FDA approval is granted, provided statutory and regulatory requirements are met. The length of the patent term extension is related to the length of time the drug is under regulatory review while the patent is in force. The Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, or the Hatch-Waxman Act, permits a patent term extension of up to five years beyond the expiration date set for the patent. Patent extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent applicable to each regulatory review period may be granted an extension and only those claims reading on the approved drug are extended. Similar provisions are available in Europe and other foreign jurisdictions to extend the term of a patent that covers an approved drug.

 

We may rely, in some circumstances, on trade secrets and confidentiality agreements to protect our technology. Although trade secrets are difficult to protect, wherever possible, we use confidential disclosure agreements to protect the proprietary nature of our technology. We regularly implement confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, scientific advisors, and other contractors and collaborators. However, there can be no assurance that these agreements will not be breached, that we will have adequate remedies for any breach, or that our trade secrets and/or proprietary information will not otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. To the extent that our employees, consultants or contractors use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may also arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions.

 

Manufacturing

 

We do not currently own or operate manufacturing facilities for the production of clinical or commercial quantities of any of our drug candidates. We currently rely and expect to continue to rely on other companies for the manufacture of our drug candidates for preclinical and clinical development. We source our bulk drug manufacturing requirements from a limited number of contract manufacturers through the issuance of work orders on an as-needed basis. We currently do not have any long-term supply contracts. We depend and will continue to depend on our contract manufacturers to manufacture our drug candidates in accordance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMP”) regulations for use in clinical trials. We will ultimately depend on contract manufacturers for the manufacture of our products for commercial sale, if and when our drug candidates are approved. Contract manufacturers are subject to extensive governmental regulation.

Competition

 

The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are characterized by rapidly advancing technologies, intense competition and a strong emphasis on proprietary products. We are currently developing tilsotolimod (IMO-2125), our TLR agonist drug candidate, for the treatment by intratumoral injection of multiple oncology indications in combination with checkpoint inhibitors. There are many other companies, both public and private, that are actively engaged in discovery, development, and commercializing products and technologies that may compete with our drug candidate, tilsotolimod, including TLR-targeted compounds as well as non-TLR-targeted therapeutics.  

 

Immuno-oncology, which utilizes a patient’s own immune system to combat cancer, is currently an active area of research for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Interest in immuno-oncology is driven by efficacy data in cancers with historically bleak outcomes and the potential to achieve a cure or functional cure for some patients. As such, we expect that our efforts in this field will be competitive with a wide variety of different approaches. Any one of these competitive approaches may result in the development of novel technologies that are more effective, safer or less costly than any that we are developing.

 

We are aware of other companies developing TLR agonists as well as other mechanisms of action that are focused on stimulating the immune response. These companies include, but are not limited to, Aduro Biotech, Inc., BioLineRx Ltd., Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dynavax Technologies Corporation, Exicure, Inc., Gilead Sciences Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd., Mologen AG VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Nektar Therapeutics, and Telormedix S.A.. Additionally, we are aware of other companies developing non-TLR therapies in our patient populations including, but not limited to OncoSec Immunotherapies, Iovance Biotherapeutics, Lytix Biopharma and Takara Bio.

 

We recognize that other companies, including large pharmaceutical companies, may be developing or have plans to develop products and technologies that may compete with ours. Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical, and human resources than we have. In addition, many of our competitors have significantly greater experience than we have in undertaking preclinical studies and human clinical trials of new pharmaceutical products, obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of products for use in health care and manufacturing, and marketing and selling approved products. Our competitors may discover, develop or commercialize products or other novel technologies that are more effective, safer or less costly than any that we are developing. Our competitors may also obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours.

 

We anticipate that the competition with our drug candidate, tilsotolimod, and technologies will be based on a number of factors including product efficacy, safety, availability, and price. The timing of market introduction of tilsotolimod and competitive products will also affect competition among products. We expect the relative speed with which we can develop tilsotolimod, complete the clinical trials and approval processes, and supply commercial quantities of the products to the market to be important competitive factors. Our competitive position will also depend upon our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, to obtain patent protection or otherwise develop proprietary products or processes, protect our intellectual property, and to secure sufficient capital resources for the period between technological conception and commercial sales.

 

Risks related to our competitors and our competitive position are discussed in further detail in the section entitled “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Government Regulation

 

Government authorities in the United States, at the federal, state and local level, and in other countries and jurisdictions, including the European Union, extensively regulate, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, quality control, approval, packaging, storage, recordkeeping, labeling, advertising, promotion, distribution, marketing, pricing, post-approval monitoring and reporting, and import and export of pharmaceutical products. The processes for obtaining regulatory approvals in the United States and in foreign countries and jurisdictions, along with subsequent compliance with applicable statutes and regulations and other regulatory authorities, require the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources.

 

Review and Approval of Drugs in the United States

 

In the United States, the FDA regulates drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) and associated implementing regulations. The failure to comply with the FDCA and other applicable U.S. requirements at any time during the product development process, approval process or after approval may subject an applicant and/or sponsor to a variety of administrative or judicial sanctions, including refusal by the FDA to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, imposition of a clinical hold, issuance of warning letters and other types of letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, restitution, disgorgement of profits, or civil or criminal investigations and penalties brought by the FDA and the Department of Justice, or the DOJ, or other governmental entities, including state agencies.

 

An applicant seeking approval to market and distribute a new drug product in the United States must typically undertake the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preclinical Studies

 

Before an applicant begins testing a product candidate with potential therapeutic value in humans, the product candidate enters the preclinical testing stage. Preclinical studies include laboratory evaluation of the purity and stability of the manufactured drug substance or active pharmaceutical ingredient and the formulated drug or drug product, as well as in vitro and animal studies to assess the safety and activity of the drug for initial testing in humans and to establish a rationale for therapeutic use. The conduct of preclinical studies is subject to federal regulations and requirements, including GLP regulations. The results of the preclinical tests, together with manufacturing information, analytical data, any available clinical data or literature and plans for clinical studies, among other things, are submitted to the FDA as part of an IND. Additional preclinical testing, such as animal tests of reproductive adverse events and carcinogenicity, may continue after the IND is submitted.

 

Human Clinical Studies in Support of an NDA

 

Clinical trials involve the administration of the investigational product to human subjects under the supervision of qualified investigators in accordance with GCP requirements, which include, among other things, the requirement that all research subjects provide their informed consent in writing before their participation in any clinical trial. Clinical trials are conducted under written study protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the study, inclusion and exclusion criteria, the parameters to be used in monitoring safety and the effectiveness criteria to be evaluated. A protocol for each clinical trial and any subsequent protocol amendments must be submitted to the FDA as part of the IND. An IND is an exemption from the FDCA that allows an unapproved product candidate to be shipped in interstate commerce for use in an investigational clinical trial and a request for FDA authorization to administer such investigational product to humans. An IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless before that time the FDA raises concerns or questions related to a proposed clinical trial and places the trial on clinical hold or partial clinical hold. In such a case, the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns before the clinical trial can begin.

 

Typically, the FDA will require one IND for early development studies where the sponsor is uncertain of the indication or dosage form of the proposed product, where the drug is being developed for closely related indications within a single review division at FDA, or where there are multiple closely-related routes of administration using the same dosage formulation. On the other hand, multiple INDs may be required where there are two or more unrelated conditions being developed or where multiple dosage forms are being extensively investigated or where multiple routes of administration are being evaluated.

 

In addition to the foregoing IND requirements, an IRB representing each institution participating in the clinical trial must review and approve the plan for any clinical trial before it commences at that institution, and the IRB must conduct continuing review and reapprove the study at least annually. The IRB must review and approve, among other things, the study protocol and informed consent information to be provided to study subjects. An IRB must operate in compliance with FDA regulations. Information about certain clinical trials must be submitted within specific timeframes to the National Institutes of Health for public dissemination on their ClinicalTrials.gov website.

 

Additionally, some trials are overseen by an independent group of qualified experts organized by the trial sponsor, known as a data monitoring committee (“DMC”). This group provides recommendations as to whether a trial should move forward at designated check points based on access that only the group maintains to available data from the study. Suspension or termination of development during any phase of clinical trials can occur if it is determined that the participants or patients are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Other reasons for suspension or termination may be made by us based on evolving business objectives and/or competitive climate.

 

Human clinical trials are typically conducted in three sequential phases, which may overlap or be combined:

 

Phase 1:    The drug is initially introduced into healthy human subjects or patients with the target disease (e.g. cancer) or condition and tested for safety, dosage tolerance, absorption, metabolism, distribution, excretion and, if possible, to gain an early indication of its effectiveness and to determine optimal dosage.

 

Phase 2:    The drug is administered to a limited patient population to identify possible adverse effects and safety risks, to preliminarily evaluate the efficacy of the product for specific targeted diseases and to determine dosage tolerance and optimal dosage.

 

Phase 3:    The drug is administered to an expanded patient population, generally at geographically dispersed clinical trial sites, in well-controlled clinical trials to generate enough data to statistically evaluate the efficacy and safety of the product for approval, to establish the overall risk-benefit profile of the product, and to provide adequate information for the labeling of the product.

 

Progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials must be submitted at least annually to the FDA and more frequently if serious adverse events occur. In addition, IND safety reports must be submitted to the FDA for any of the following: serious and unexpected suspected adverse reactions; findings from other studies or animal or in vitro testing that suggest a significant risk in humans exposed to the drug; and any clinically important increase in the case of a serious suspected adverse reaction over that listed in the protocol or investigator brochure. Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials may not be completed successfully within any specified period, or at all. Furthermore, the FDA, the sponsor or the data monitoring committee for a clinical trial may suspend or terminate the clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the research subjects are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Similarly, an IRB can suspend or terminate approval of a clinical trial at its institution, or an institution it represents, if the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the IRB’s requirements or if the drug has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients. The FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure compliance with GCP and the integrity of the clinical data submitted.

 

Section 505(b)(2) NDAs

 

NDAs for most new drug products are based on two full clinical studies which must contain substantial evidence of the safety and efficacy of the proposed new product. These applications are submitted under Section 505(b)(1) of the FDCA. The FDA is, however, authorized to approve an alternative type of NDA under Section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA. This type of application allows the applicant to rely, in part, on the FDA’s previous findings of safety and efficacy for a similar product, or published literature. Specifically, Section 505(b)(2) applies to NDAs for a drug for which the investigations made to show whether or not the drug is safe for use and effective in use and relied upon by the applicant for approval of the application “were not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference or use from the person by or for whom the investigations were conducted.”

 

Thus, Section 505(b)(2) authorizes the FDA to approve an NDA based on safety and effectiveness data that were not developed by the applicant. NDAs filed under Section 505(b)(2) may provide an alternate and potentially more expeditious pathway to FDA approval for new or improved formulations or new uses of previously approved products. If the Section 505(b)(2) applicant can establish that reliance on the FDA’s previous approval is scientifically appropriate, the applicant may eliminate the need to conduct certain preclinical or clinical studies of the new product. The FDA may also require companies to perform additional studies or measurements to support the change from the approved product. The FDA may then approve the new drug candidate for all or some of the label indications for which the referenced product has been approved, as well as for any new indication sought by the Section 505(b)(2) applicant.

 

Submission of an NDA to the FDA

 

Assuming successful completion of required clinical testing and other requirements, the results of the preclinical and clinical studies, together with detailed information relating to the product’s chemistry, manufacture, controls and proposed labeling, among other things, are submitted to the FDA as part of an NDA requesting approval to market the drug product for one or more indications. Under federal law, the submission of most NDAs is subject to an application user fee, which for federal fiscal year 2019 is $2,588,478 for an application requiring clinical data. The sponsor of an approved NDA is also subject to an annual program fee, which for fiscal year 2019 is $309,915. Exceptions or waivers for these fees exist for a small company (fewer than 500 employees, including employees and affiliates) satisfying certain requirements and products with orphan drug designation for a particular indication are not subject to a fee provided there are no other intended uses in the NDA.

 

The FDA conducts a preliminary review of an NDA within 60 calendar days of its receipt and strives to inform the sponsor by the 74th day after the FDA’s receipt of the submission to determine whether the application is sufficiently complete to permit substantive review. The FDA may request additional information rather than accept an NDA for filing. In this event, the application must be resubmitted with the additional information. The resubmitted application is also subject to review before the FDA accepts it for filing. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an in-depth substantive review.

 

The FDA has agreed to specified performance goals in the review process of NDAs. Under the agreement, 90% of applications seeking approval of New Molecular Entities (“NMEs”), are meant to be reviewed within ten months from the date on which the FDA accepts the NDA for filing, and 90% of applications for NMEs that have been designated for “priority review” are meant to be reviewed within six months of the filing date. For applications seeking approval of drugs that are not NMEs, the ten-month and six-month review periods run from the date that the FDA receives the application.  The review process may be extended by the FDA for three additional months to consider new information or clarification provided by the applicant to address an outstanding deficiency identified by the FDA following the original submission.

 

Before approving an NDA, the FDA typically will inspect the facility or facilities where the product is or will be manufactured. These pre-approval inspections cover all facilities associated with an NDA submission, including drug component manufacturing (such as active pharmaceutical ingredients), finished drug product manufacturing, and control testing laboratories. The FDA will not approve an application unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities are in compliance with cGMP requirements and adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. Additionally, before approving an NDA, the FDA will typically inspect one or more clinical sites to assure compliance with GCP.

 

In addition, as a condition of approval, the FDA may require an applicant to develop a REMS. REMS use risk minimization strategies beyond the professional labeling to ensure that the benefits of the product outweigh the potential risks. To determine whether a REMS is needed, the FDA will consider the size of the population likely to use the product, seriousness of the disease, expected benefit of the product, expected duration of treatment, seriousness of known or potential adverse events, and whether the product is a new molecular entity. REMS can include medication guides, physician communication plans for healthcare professionals, and elements to assure safe use, or ETASU. ETASU may include, but are not limited to, special training or certification for prescribing or dispensing, dispensing only under certain circumstances, special monitoring, and the use of patient registries. The FDA may require a REMS before approval or post-approval if it becomes aware of a serious risk associated with use of the product. The requirement for a REMS can materially affect the potential market and profitability of a product.

 

The FDA is required to refer an application for a novel drug to an advisory committee or explain why such referral was not made. Typically, an advisory committee is a panel of independent experts, including clinicians and other scientific experts, that reviews, evaluates and provides a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions. The FDA is not bound by the recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations carefully when making decisions.

 

Fast Track, Breakthrough Therapy and Priority Review Designations

 

The FDA is authorized to designate certain products for expedited review if they are intended to address an unmet medical need in the treatment of a serious or life-threatening disease or condition. These programs are fast track designation, breakthrough therapy designation and priority review designation.

 

Specifically, the FDA may designate a product for fast track review if it is intended, whether alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and it demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for such a disease or condition. For fast track products, sponsors may have greater interactions with the FDA and the FDA may initiate review of sections of a fast track product’s NDA before the application is complete. This rolling review may be available if the FDA determines, after preliminary evaluation of clinical data submitted by the sponsor, that a fast track product may be effective. The sponsor must also provide, and the FDA must approve, a schedule for the submission of the remaining information and the sponsor must pay applicable user fees. However, the FDA’s time period goal for reviewing a fast track application does not begin until the last section of the NDA is submitted. In addition, the fast track designation may be withdrawn by the FDA if the FDA believes that the designation is no longer supported by data emerging in the clinical trial process.

 

Second, in 2012, Congress enacted the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (“FDASIA”). This law established a new regulatory scheme allowing for expedited review of products designated as “breakthrough therapies.” A product may be designated as a breakthrough therapy if it is intended, either alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the product may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing

therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. The FDA may take certain actions with respect to breakthrough therapies, including holding meetings with the sponsor throughout the development process; providing timely advice to the product sponsor regarding development and approval; involving more senior staff in the review process; assigning a cross-disciplinary project lead for the review team; and taking other steps to design the clinical trials in an efficient manner.

 

Third, the FDA may designate a product for priority review if it is a drug that treats a serious condition and, if approved, would provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness. The FDA determines, on a case-by-case basis, whether the proposed drug represents a significant improvement when compared with other available therapies. Significant improvement may be illustrated by evidence of increased effectiveness in the treatment of a condition, elimination or substantial reduction of a treatment-limiting drug reaction, documented enhancement of patient compliance that may lead to improvement in serious outcomes, and evidence of safety and effectiveness in a new subpopulation. A priority designation is intended to direct overall attention and resources to the evaluation of such applications, and to shorten the FDA’s goal for taking action on a marketing application from ten months to six months.

 

Accelerated Approval Pathway

 

The FDA may grant accelerated approval to a drug for a serious or life-threatening condition that provides meaningful therapeutic advantage to patients over existing treatments based upon a determination that the drug has an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. The FDA may also grant accelerated approval for such a condition when the product has an effect on an intermediate clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality (“IMM”), and that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on irreversible morbidity or mortality or other clinical benefit, taking into account the severity, rarity, or prevalence of the condition and the availability or lack of alternative treatments. Drugs granted accelerated approval must meet the same statutory standards for safety and effectiveness as those granted traditional approval.

 

For the purposes of accelerated approval, a surrogate endpoint is a marker, such as a laboratory measurement, radiographic image, physical sign, or other measure that is thought to predict clinical benefit, but is not itself a measure of clinical benefit. Surrogate endpoints can often be measured more easily or more rapidly than clinical endpoints. An intermediate clinical endpoint is a measurement of a therapeutic effect that is considered reasonably likely to predict the clinical benefit of a drug, such as an effect on IMM. The FDA has limited experience with accelerated approvals based on intermediate clinical endpoints, but has indicated that such endpoints generally may support accelerated approval where the therapeutic effect measured by the endpoint is not itself a clinical benefit and basis for traditional approval, if there is a basis for concluding that the therapeutic effect is reasonably likely to predict the ultimate clinical benefit of a drug.

 

The accelerated approval pathway is most often used in settings in which the course of a disease is long and an extended period of time is required to measure the intended clinical benefit of a drug, even if the effect on the surrogate or intermediate clinical endpoint occurs rapidly. Thus, accelerated approval has been used extensively in the development and approval of drugs for treatment of a variety of cancers in which the goal of therapy is generally to improve survival or decrease morbidity and the duration of the typical disease course requires lengthy and sometimes large trials to demonstrate a clinical or survival benefit.

 

The accelerated approval pathway is usually contingent on a sponsor’s agreement to conduct, in a diligent manner, additional post-approval confirmatory studies to verify and describe the drug’s clinical benefit. As a result, a drug candidate approved on this basis is subject to rigorous post-marketing compliance requirements, including the completion of Phase 4 or post-approval clinical trials to confirm the effect on the clinical endpoint. Failure to conduct required post-approval studies, or confirm a clinical benefit during post-marketing studies, would allow the FDA to withdraw the drug from the market on an expedited basis. All promotional materials for drug candidates approved under accelerated regulations are subject to prior review by the FDA.

 

The FDA’s Decision on an NDA

 

On the basis of the FDA’s evaluation of the NDA and accompanying information, including the results of the inspection of the manufacturing facilities, the FDA may issue an approval letter or a complete response letter. An

approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the product with specific prescribing information for specific indications. A complete response letter generally outlines the deficiencies in the submission and may require substantial additional testing or information in order for the FDA to reconsider the application. If and when those deficiencies have been addressed to the FDA’s satisfaction in a resubmission of the NDA, the FDA will issue an approval letter. The FDA has committed to reviewing such resubmissions in two or six months depending on the type of information included. Even with submission of this additional information, the FDA ultimately may decide that the application does not satisfy the regulatory criteria for approval.

 

If the FDA approves a product, it may limit the approved indications for use for the product, require that contraindications, warnings or precautions be included in the product labeling, require that post-approval studies, including Phase 4 clinical trials, be conducted to further assess the drug’s safety after approval, require testing and surveillance programs to monitor the product after commercialization, or impose other conditions, including distribution restrictions or other risk management mechanisms, including REMS, which can materially affect the potential market and profitability of the product. The FDA may prevent or limit further marketing of a product based on the results of post-market studies or surveillance programs. After approval, many types of changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications, manufacturing changes and additional labeling claims, are subject to further testing requirements and FDA review and approval.

 

Post-Approval Requirements

 

Drugs manufactured or distributed pursuant to FDA approvals are subject to pervasive and continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, requirements relating to recordkeeping, periodic reporting, product sampling and distribution, advertising and promotion and reporting of adverse experiences with the product. After approval, most changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications or other labeling claims, are subject to prior FDA review and approval. There also are continuing, annual user fee requirements for any marketed products and the establishments at which such products are manufactured, as well as new application fees for supplemental applications with clinical data.

 

In addition, drug manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacture and distribution of approved drugs are required to register their establishments with the FDA and state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and these state agencies for compliance with cGMP requirements. Changes to the manufacturing process are strictly regulated and often require prior FDA approval before being implemented. FDA regulations also require investigation and correction of any deviations from cGMP and impose reporting and documentation requirements upon the sponsor and any third-party manufacturers that the sponsor may decide to use. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money, and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain cGMP compliance.

 

Once an approval is granted, the FDA may withdraw the approval if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information; imposition of post-market studies or clinical trials to assess new safety risks; or imposition of distribution or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FDA strictly regulates the marketing, labeling, advertising and promotion of prescription drug products placed on the market. This regulation includes, among other things, standards and regulations for direct-to-consumer advertising, communications regarding unapproved uses, industry-sponsored scientific and educational activities, and promotional activities involving the Internet and social media. Promotional claims about a drug’s safety or effectiveness are prohibited before the drug is approved. After approval, a drug product generally may not be promoted for uses that are not approved by the FDA, as reflected in the product’s prescribing information. In the United States, health care professionals are generally permitted to prescribe drugs for such uses not described in the drug’s labeling, known as off-label uses, because the FDA does not regulate the practice of medicine. However, FDA regulations impose rigorous restrictions on manufacturers’ communications, prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses. It may be permissible, under very specific, narrow conditions, for a manufacturer to engage in nonpromotional, non-misleading communication regarding off-label information, such as distributing scientific or medical journal information.

 

If a company is found to have promoted off-label uses, it may become subject to adverse public relations and administrative and judicial enforcement by the FDA, the DOJ, or the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as state authorities. This could subject a company to a range of penalties that could have a significant commercial impact, including civil and criminal fines and agreements that materially restrict the manner in which a company promotes or distributes drug products. The federal government has levied large civil and criminal fines against companies for alleged improper promotion, and has also requested that companies enter into consent decrees or permanent injunctions under which specified promotional conduct is changed or curtailed.

 

In addition, the distribution of prescription pharmaceutical products is subject to the Prescription Drug Marketing Act (“PDMA”), and its implementing regulations, as well as the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (“DSCA”), which regulate the distribution and tracing of prescription drug samples at the federal level, and set minimum standards for the regulation of drug distributors by the states. The PDMA, its implementing regulations and state laws limit the distribution of prescription pharmaceutical product samples and the DSCA imposes requirements to ensure accountability in distribution and to identify and remove counterfeit and other illegitimate products from the market.

 

Abbreviated New Drug Applications for Generic Drugs

 

In 1984, with passage of the Hatch-Waxman Amendments to the FDCA, Congress authorized the FDA to approve generic drugs that are the same as drugs previously approved by the FDA under the NDA provisions of the statute. To obtain approval of a generic drug, an applicant must submit an abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA, to the agency. In support of such applications, a generic manufacturer may rely on the preclinical and clinical testing previously conducted for a drug product previously approved under an NDA, known as the reference listed drug (“RLD”).

 

Specifically, in order for an ANDA to be approved, the FDA must find that the generic version is identical to the RLD with respect to the active ingredients, the route of administration, the dosage form, and the strength of the drug. At the same time, the FDA must also determine that the generic drug is “bioequivalent” to the innovator drug. Under the statute, a generic drug is bioequivalent to a RLD if “the rate and extent of absorption of the drug do not show a significant difference from the rate and extent of absorption of the listed drug.”

 

Upon approval of an ANDA, the FDA indicates whether the generic product is “therapeutically equivalent” to the RLD in its publication “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” also referred to as the “Orange Book.” Physicians and pharmacists consider a therapeutic equivalent generic drug to be fully substitutable for the RLD. In addition, by operation of certain state laws and numerous health insurance programs, the FDA’s designation of therapeutic equivalence often results in substitution of the generic drug without the knowledge or consent of either the prescribing physician or patient.

 

Under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments, the FDA may not approve an ANDA until any applicable period of non-patent exclusivity for the RLD has expired. The FDCA provides a period of five years of non-patent data exclusivity for a new drug containing a new chemical entity. For the purposes of this provision, a new chemical entity (“NCE”), is a drug that contains no active moiety that has previously been approved by the FDA in any other NDA. An active moiety is the molecule or ion responsible for the physiological or pharmacological action of the drug substance. In cases where such exclusivity has been granted, an ANDA may not be filed with the FDA until the

expiration of five years unless the submission is accompanied by a Paragraph IV certification, in which case the applicant may submit its application four years following the original product approval. The FDCA also provides for a period of three years of exclusivity if the NDA includes reports of one or more new clinical investigations, other than bioavailability or bioequivalence studies, that were conducted by or for the applicant and are essential to the approval of the application. This three-year exclusivity period often protects changes to a previously approved drug product, such as a new dosage form, route of administration, combination or indication.

 

The FDA must establish a priority review track for certain generic drugs, requiring the FDA to review a drug application within eight (8) months for a drug that has three (3) or fewer approved drugs listed in the Orange Book and is no longer protected by any patent or regulatory exclusivities, or is on the FDA’s drug shortage list. The new legislation also authorizes FDA to expedite review of ‘‘competitor generic therapies’’ or drugs with inadequate generic competition, including holding meetings with or providing advice to the drug sponsor prior to submission of the application.

 

Hatch-Waxman Patent Certification and the 30-Month Stay

 

Upon approval of an NDA or a supplement thereto, NDA sponsors are required to list with the FDA each patent with claims that cover the applicant’s product or an approved method of using the product. Each of the patents listed by the NDA sponsor is published in the Orange Book. When an Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”), or 505(b)(2) applicant files its application with the FDA, the applicant is required to certify to the FDA concerning any patents listed for the reference product in the Orange Book, except for patents covering methods of use for which the ANDA applicant is not seeking approval. 

 

Specifically, the applicant must certify with respect to each patent that:

 

 

 

 

 

A certification that the new product will not infringe the already approved product’s listed patents or that such patents are invalid or unenforceable is called a Paragraph IV certification. If the applicant does not challenge the listed patents or indicates that it is not seeking approval of a patented method of use, the application will not be approved until all the listed patents claiming the referenced product have expired (other than method of use patents involving indications for which the ANDA applicant is not seeking approval).

 

If the ANDA or 505(b)(2) applicant has provided a Paragraph IV certification to the FDA, the applicant must also send notice of the Paragraph IV certification to the NDA and patent holders once the ANDA or 505(b)(2) application has been accepted for filing by the FDA. The NDA and patent holders may then initiate a patent infringement lawsuit in response to the notice of the Paragraph IV certification. The filing of a patent infringement lawsuit within 45 days after the receipt of a Paragraph IV certification automatically prevents the FDA from approving the ANDA or 505(b)(2) application until the earlier of 30 months after the receipt of the Paragraph IV notice, expiration of the patent, or a decision in the infringement case that is favorable to the ANDA applicant.

 

Pediatric Studies and Exclusivity

 

Under the Pediatric Research Equity Act of 2003, an NDA or supplement thereto must contain data that are adequate to assess the safety and effectiveness of the drug product for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations, and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product is safe and effective. With enactment of the FDASIA in 2012, sponsors must also submit pediatric study plans prior to the assessment data. Those plans must contain an outline of the proposed pediatric study or studies the applicant plans to conduct, including study objectives and design, any deferral or waiver requests, and other information required by regulation. The applicant, the FDA, and the FDA’s internal review committee must then

review the information submitted, consult with each other, and agree upon a final plan. The FDA or the applicant may request an amendment to the plan at any time.

 

For drugs intended to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, the FDA must, upon the request of an applicant, meet to discuss preparation of the initial pediatric study plan or to discuss deferral or waiver of pediatric assessments. In addition, FDA will meet early in the development process to discuss pediatric study plans with sponsors and FDA must meet with sponsors by no later than the end-of-phase 1 meeting for serious or life-threatening diseases and by no later than ninety (90) days after FDA’s receipt of the study plan.

 

The FDA may, on its own initiative or at the request of the applicant, grant deferrals for submission of some or all pediatric data until after approval of the product for use in adults, or full or partial waivers from the pediatric data requirements. Additional requirements and procedures relating to deferral requests and requests for extension of deferrals are contained in the FDASIA. Unless otherwise required by regulation, the pediatric data requirements do not apply to products with orphan designation.

 

Pediatric exclusivity is another type of non-patent marketing exclusivity in the United States and, if granted, provides for the attachment of an additional six months of marketing protection to the term of any existing regulatory exclusivity, including the non-patent and orphan exclusivity. This six-month exclusivity may be granted if an NDA sponsor submits pediatric data that fairly respond to a written request from the FDA for such data. The data do not need to show the product to be effective in the pediatric population studied; rather, if the clinical trial is deemed to fairly respond to the FDA’s request, the additional protection is granted. If reports of requested pediatric studies are submitted to and accepted by the FDA within the statutory time limits, whatever statutory or regulatory periods of exclusivity or patent protection cover the product are extended by six months. This is not a patent term extension, but it effectively extends the regulatory period during which the FDA cannot approve another application.

 

Orphan Drug Designation and Exclusivity

 

Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a drug product as an “orphan drug” if it is intended to treat a rare disease or condition (generally meaning that it affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or more in cases in which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making a drug product available in the United States for treatment of the disease or condition will be recovered from sales of the product). A company must request orphan product designation before submitting an NDA. If the request is granted, the FDA will disclose the identity of the therapeutic agent and its potential use. Orphan product designation does not convey any advantage in or shorten the duration of the regulatory review and approval process, although it does convey certain advantages such as tax benefits and exemption from PDUFA fees.

 

If a product with orphan status receives the first FDA approval for the disease or condition for which it has such designation or for a select indication or use within the rare disease or condition for which it was designated, the product generally will receive orphan product exclusivity. Orphan product exclusivity means that the FDA may not approve any other applications for the same product for the same indication for seven years, except in certain limited circumstances. Competitors may receive approval of different products for the indication for which the orphan product has exclusivity and may obtain approval for the same product but for a different indication. If a drug or drug product designated as an orphan product ultimately receives marketing approval for an indication broader than what was designated in its orphan product application, it may not be entitled to exclusivity.

 

Orphan drug exclusivity will not bar approval of another product under certain circumstances, including if a subsequent product with the same drug for the same condition is shown to be clinically superior to the approved product on the basis of greater efficacy or safety, or providing a major contribution to patient care, or if the company with orphan drug exclusivity is not able to meet market demand. This is the case despite an earlier court opinion holding that the Orphan Drug Act unambiguously required the FDA to recognize orphan exclusivity regardless of a showing of clinical superiority.

 

Patent Term Restoration and Extension

 

A patent claiming a new drug product may be eligible for a limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, which permits a patent restoration of up to five years for patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review. The restoration period granted is typically one-half the time between the effective date of an IND and the submission date of an NDA, plus the time

between the submission date of an NDA and the ultimate approval date. Patent term restoration cannot be used to extend the remaining term of a patent past a total of 14 years from the product’s approval date. Only one patent applicable to an approved drug product is eligible for the extension, and the application for the extension must be submitted prior to the expiration of the patent in question. A patent that covers multiple drugs for which approval is sought can only be extended in connection with one of the approvals. The USPTO reviews and approves the application for any patent term extension or restoration in consultation with the FDA.

 

The 21st Century Cures Act

 

On December 13, 2016, President Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act (the “Cures Act”) into law.  The Cures Act is designed to modernize and personalize healthcare, spur innovation and research, and streamline the discovery and development of new therapies through increased federal funding of particular programs.  It authorizes increasing funding for FDA to spend on innovation projects.  The new law also amends the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize and expand funding for the National Institutes of Health.  The Act establishes the NIH Innovation Fund to pay for the cost of development and implementation of a strategic plan, early stage investigators and research.  It also charges NIH with leading and coordinating expanded pediatric research.  Further, the Cures Act directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand surveillance of neurological diseases.

 

With amendments to the FDCA and the Public Health Service Act, Title III of the Cures Act seeks to accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of new medicines and medical technologies.  To that end, and among other provisions, the Cures Act reauthorizes the priority review voucher program for certain drugs intended to treat rare pediatric diseases; creates a new priority review voucher program for drug applications determined to be material threat medical countermeasure applications; revises the FDCA to streamline review of combination product applications; requires FDA to evaluate the potential use of “real world evidence” to help support approval of new indications for approved drugs; provides a new “limited population” approval pathway for antibiotic and antifungal drugs intended to treat serious or life-threatening infections; and authorizes FDA to designate a drug as a “regenerative advanced therapy,” thereby making it eligible for certain expedited review and approval designations.

 

Review and Approval of Drug Products in the European Union

 

In order to market any product outside of the United States, a company must also comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of other countries and jurisdictions regarding quality, safety and efficacy and governing, among other things, clinical trials, marketing authorization, commercial sales and distribution of drug products. Whether or not it obtains FDA approval for a product, the company would need to obtain the necessary approvals by the comparable foreign regulatory authorities before it can commence clinical trials or marketing of the product in those countries or jurisdictions. The approval process ultimately varies between countries and jurisdictions and can involve additional product testing and additional administrative review periods. The time required to obtain approval in other countries and jurisdictions might differ from and be longer than that required to obtain FDA approval. Regulatory approval in one country or jurisdiction does not ensure regulatory approval in another, but a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one country or jurisdiction may negatively impact the regulatory process in others.

 

Clinical Trial Approval in the EU

 

Pursuant to the European Clinical Trials Directive, a system for the approval of clinical trials in the European Union has been implemented through national legislation of the member states. Under this system, an applicant must obtain approval from the competent national authority of a European Union member state in which the clinical trial is to be conducted. Furthermore, the applicant may only start a clinical trial after a competent ethics committee has issued a favorable opinion. Clinical trial application must be accompanied by an investigational medicinal product dossier with supporting information prescribed by the European Clinical Trials Directive and corresponding national laws of the member states and further detailed in applicable guidance documents.  In April 2014, the EU adopted a new Clinical Trials Regulation, which will be directly applicable to and binding without the need for any national implementing legislation.  Under the new coordinated procedure for the approval of clinical trials, the sponsor of a clinical trial will be required to submit a single application for approval of a clinical trial to a reporting EU Member State (RMS) through an EU Portal. The submission procedure will be the same irrespective of whether the clinical trial is to be conducted in a single EU Member State or in more than one EU Member State. 

The Clinical Trials Regulation also aims to streamline and simplify the rules on safety reporting for clinical trials. The Regulation was published on June 16, 2014 but is not expected to apply until 2019.   

 

Orphan Drug Designation and Exclusivity

 

Regulation 141/2000 provides that a drug shall be designated as an orphan drug if its sponsor can establish: that the product is intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition affecting not more than five in ten thousand persons in the European Community when the application is made, or that the product is intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening, seriously debilitating or serious and chronic condition in the European Community and that without incentives it is unlikely that the marketing of the drug in the European Community would generate sufficient return to justify the necessary investment. For either of these conditions, the applicant must demonstrate that there exists no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment of the condition in question that has been authorized in the European Community or, if such method exists, the drug will be of significant benefit to those affected by that condition.

 

Regulation 847/2000 sets out criteria and procedures governing designation of orphan drugs in the EU. Specifically, an application for designation as an orphan product can be made any time prior to the filing of an application for approval to market the product. Marketing authorization for an orphan drug leads to a ten-year period of market exclusivity. This period may, however, be reduced to six years if, at the end of the fifth year, it is established that the product no longer meets the criteria for orphan drug designation, for example because the product is sufficiently profitable not to justify market exclusivity. Market exclusivity can be revoked only in very selected cases, such as consent from the marketing authorization holder, inability to supply sufficient quantities of the product, demonstration of “clinically relevant superiority” by a similar medicinal product, or, after a review by the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products, requested by a member state in the fifth year of the marketing exclusivity period (if the designation criteria are believed to no longer apply). Medicinal products designated as orphan drugs pursuant to Regulation 141/2000 shall be eligible for incentives made available by the European Community and by the member states to support research into, and the development and availability of, orphan drugs.

 

Pharmaceutical Coverage, Pricing and Reimbursement

 

Significant uncertainty exists as to the coverage and reimbursement status of products approved by the FDA and other government authorities. Sales of products will depend, in part, on the extent to which the costs of the products will be covered by third-party payors, including government health programs in the United States such as Medicare and Medicaid, commercial health insurers and managed care organizations. The process for determining whether a payor will provide coverage for a product may be separate from the process for setting the price or reimbursement rate that the payor will pay for the product once coverage is approved. Third-party payors are increasingly challenging the prices charged, examining the medical necessity, and reviewing the cost-effectiveness of medical products and services and imposing controls to manage costs.  Third-party payors may also limit coverage to specific products on an approved list, or formulary, which might not include all of the approved products for a particular indication.

 

In order to secure coverage and reimbursement for any product that might be approved for sale, a company may need to conduct expensive pharmacoeconomic studies in order to demonstrate the medical necessity and cost-effectiveness of the product, in addition to the costs required to obtain FDA or other comparable regulatory approvals. A payor’s decision to provide coverage for a drug product does not imply that an adequate reimbursement rate will be approved. Third-party reimbursement may not be sufficient to maintain price levels high enough to realize an appropriate return on investment in product development.

 

The containment of healthcare costs also has become a priority of federal, state and foreign governments and the prices of drugs have been a focus in this effort. Governments have shown significant interest in implementing cost-containment programs, including price controls, restrictions on reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products. Adoption of price controls and cost-containment measures, and adoption of more restrictive policies in jurisdictions with existing controls and measures, could further limit a company’s revenue generated from the sale of any approved products. Coverage policies and third-party reimbursement rates may change at any time. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement status is attained for one or more products for which a company or its collaborators receive marketing approval, less favorable coverage

policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future. In the European Union, pricing and reimbursement schemes vary widely from country to country. Some countries provide that drug products may be marketed only after a reimbursement price has been agreed. Some countries may require the completion of additional studies that compare the cost-effectiveness of a particular drug candidate to currently available therapies, or so-called health technology assessments, in order to obtain reimbursement or pricing approval. For example, the European Union provides options for its member states to restrict the range of drug products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement and to control the prices of medicinal products for human use. European Union member states may approve a specific price for a drug product or may instead adopt a system of direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the drug product on the market. Other member states allow companies to fix their own prices for drug products, but monitor and control company profits. The downward pressure on health care costs in general, particularly prescription drugs, has become intense. As a result, increasingly high barriers are being erected to the entry of new products. In addition, in some countries, cross-border imports from low-priced markets exert competitive pressure that may reduce pricing within a country. Any country that has price controls or reimbursement limitations for drug products may not allow favorable reimbursement and pricing arrangements.

 

Healthcare Law and Regulation

 

Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of drug products that are granted marketing approval. Arrangements with providers, consultants, third-party payors and customers are subject to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations. Such restrictions under applicable federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, include the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some state laws require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government in addition to requiring drug manufacturers to report information related to payments to physicians and other health care providers or marketing expenditures. State and foreign laws also govern the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.

 

Healthcare Reform in the United States

 

A primary trend in the United States healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. There have been a number of federal and state proposals during the last several years regarding the pricing of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products, limiting coverage and reimbursement for drugs and other medical products, government control and other changes to the healthcare system in the United States.

 

By way of example, the United States and state governments continue to propose and pass legislation designed to reduce the cost of healthcare. In March 2010, the United States Congress enacted the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “PPACA”) which, among other things, includes changes to the coverage and payment for products under government health care programs. Among the provisions of the PPACA of importance to potential drug candidates are:

 

These healthcare reforms, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, more rigorous coverage criteria, new payment methodologies and additional downward pressure on the price for any approved product and/or the level of reimbursement physicians receive for administering any approved product. Reductions in reimbursement levels may negatively impact the prices or the frequency with which products are prescribed or administered.  Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors.  Since enactment of the PPACA, there have been numerous legal challenges and Congressional actions to repeal and replace provisions of the law.  In May 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation known as the American Health Care Act of 2017.  Thereafter, the Senate Republicans introduced and then updated a bill to replace the PPACA known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. The Senate Republicans also introduced legislation to repeal the PPACA without companion legislation to replace it, and a “skinny” version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017.  In addition, the Senate considered proposed healthcare reform legislation known as the Graham-Cassidy bill.  None of these measures was passed by the U.S. Senate.

 

The Trump Administration has also taken executive actions to repeal or delay implementation of the PPACA.  In January 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing federal agencies with authorities and responsibilities under the PPACA to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision of the PPACA that would impose a fiscal or regulatory burden on states, individuals, healthcare providers, health insurers, or manufacturers of pharmaceuticals or medical devices.  In October 2017, the President signed a second Executive Order allowing for the use of association health plans and short-term health insurance, which may provide fewer health benefits than the plans sold through the PPACA exchanges.  At the same time, the Administration announced that it will discontinue the payment of cost-sharing reduction (“CSR”) payments to insurance companies until Congress approves the appropriation of funds for such CSR payments. The loss of the CSR payments is expected to increase premiums on certain policies issued by qualified health plans under the PPACA.  A bipartisan bill to appropriate funds for CSR payments was introduced in the Senate, but the future of that bill is uncertain.

 

With enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which was signed by the President on December 22, 2017, Congress repealed the “individual mandate.”  The repeal of this provision, which requires most Americans to carry a minimal level of health insurance, will become effective in 2019.  According to the Congressional Budget Office, the repeal of the individual mandate will cause 13 million fewer Americans to be insured in 2027 and premiums in insurance markets may rise.  Additionally, on January 22, 2018, President Trump signed a continuing resolution on appropriations for fiscal year 2018 that delayed the implementation of certain PPACA-mandated fees, including the so-called “Cadillac” tax on certain high cost employer-sponsored insurance plans, the annual fee imposed on certain health insurance providers based on market share, and the medical device excise tax on non-exempt medical devices.  The Congress will likely consider other legislation to replace elements of the PPACA, during the next Congressional session.

 

Further, there have been several recent U.S. congressional inquiries and proposed federal and proposed and enacted state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, reduce the costs of drugs under Medicare and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products. At the federal level, Congress and the Trump administration have each indicated that it will continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs. At the state level, individual states are increasingly aggressive in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. In addition, regional health care authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other health care programs. These measures could reduce the ultimate demand for our products, once approved, or put pressure on our product pricing.

 

Information About Our Executive Officers

 

See Part III, Item 10. “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance” for information relating to our executive officers.

 

Employees

 

As of February 15, 2020, we employed 36 individuals, 22 of whom are engaged in research and development activities and six of whom hold a Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent degree. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, and we consider relations with our employees to be good.

 

Corporate Information

 

We were incorporated in Delaware in 1989 and our office headquarters is located at 505 Eagleview Boulevard, Suite 212, Exton, Pennsylvania 19341.

 

Information Available on the Internet

 

Our internet address is www.iderapharma.com. The contents of our website are not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our internet address is included in this document as an inactive textual reference. We make available free of charge through our web site our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or furnish such materials to the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site at www.sec.gov containing reports, proxies and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

 

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

 

RISK FACTORS

 

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below in addition to the other information included or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before purchasing our common stock. Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected by any of these and currently unknown risks or uncertainties. In that case, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment in our securities.

 

Risks Relating to Our Financial Results and Need for Financing

 

We will need additional financing, which may be difficult to obtain on terms attractive to us or at all. Our failure to obtain necessary financing or doing so on unattractive terms could result in the termination of our operations and the sale and license of our assets or otherwise adversely affect our research and development programs and other operations.

 

We had cash, cash equivalents and investments of approximately $42.8 million at December 31, 2019, inclusive of the $6.2 million contingently refundable option fee received in connection with the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement. We believe, based on our current operating plan, our existing cash, cash equivalents and investments on hand as of December 31, 2019, excluding the $6.2 million contingently refundable option fee and including interest income and cash received through February 2020 from the ATM Agreement and LPC Purchase Agreement, both of which are discussed below within Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, will enable us to fund our operations into the first quarter of 2021. Specifically, we believe our available funds will be sufficient to enable us to perform the following:

 

We expect that we will need to raise additional funds in order to complete our ongoing clinical trials of tilsotolimod and to continue to fund our operations. We are seeking and expect to continue to seek additional funding through collaborations, the sale or license of assets or financings of equity or debt securities. We believe that the key factors that will affect our ability to obtain funding are:

In addition, increases in expenses or delays in clinical development may adversely impact our cash position and require additional funds or cost reductions.

 

Financing may not be available to us when we need it or may not be available to us on favorable or acceptable terms or at all. We could be required to seek funds through collaborative alliances or through other means that may require us to relinquish rights to some of our technologies, drug candidates or drugs that we would otherwise pursue on our own. In addition, if we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our then existing stockholders may experience dilution. The terms of any financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of existing stockholders. An equity financing that involves existing stockholders may cause a concentration of ownership. Debt financing, if available, may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends, and are likely to include rights that are senior to the holders of our common stock. Any additional debt or equity financing may contain terms which are not favorable to us or to our stockholders, such as liquidation and other preferences, or liens or other restrictions on our assets. As discussed in Note 14 to the financial statements appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, additional equity financings may also result in cumulative changes in ownership over a three-year period in excess of 50% which would limit the amount of net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards that we may utilize in any one year.

 

If we are unable to obtain adequate funding on a timely basis or at all, we will be required to terminate, modify or delay clinical trials of tilsotolimod, or relinquish rights to portions of our technology, drug candidates and/or products.

 

We have incurred substantial losses and expect to continue to incur losses. We will not be successful unless we reverse this trend.

 

As of December 31, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $720.9 million. Since January 1, 2001, we have primarily been involved in the development of our TLR pipeline. From January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2019, we incurred losses of $460.7 million. We incurred losses of $260.2 million prior to December 31, 2000, during which time we were primarily involved in the development of earlier generation antisense technology. These losses, among other things, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders' equity, total assets and working capital.

 

We have never had any products of our own available for commercial sale and have received no revenues from the sale of drugs. As of December 31, 2019, substantially all of our revenues have been from collaborative and license agreements. We have devoted substantially all of our efforts to research and development, including clinical trials, and have not completed development of any drug candidates. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with developing drugs, we are unable to predict the extent of any future losses, whether or when any of our drug candidates will become commercially available, or when we will become profitable, if at all. We expect to incur substantial operating losses in future periods.

 

Risks Relating to Our Business, Strategy and Industry

 

We are depending heavily on the development of our lead TLR-targeted drug candidate, tilsotolimod, in our immuno-oncology program. If we terminate the development of this program or are unable to successfully develop and commercialize tilsotolimod or any other drug candidate, or experience significant delays in doing so, our business may be materially harmed.

 

We have invested a significant portion of our time and financial resources in the development of TLR-targeted clinical-stage drug candidates as part of our immuno-oncology and rare disease programs. In the future, we intend to continue to invest a significant portion of our time and financial resources in the development of our lead TLR-

targeted candidate, tilsotolimod, in our immuno-oncology program. For instance, we are conducting (i) a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of tilsotolimod, administered intratumorally, in combination with ipilimumab or pembrolizumab in patients with anti-PD1 refractory metastatic melanoma, (ii) a Phase 2 clinical trial of tilsotolimod in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab for the treatment of MSS-CRC tumor types, (iii) a Phase 3 clinical trial of tilsotolimod, administered intratumorally, in combination with ipilimumab in patients with anti-PD1 refractory metastatic melanoma, and (iv) a Phase 1b trial of tilsotolimod, administered intratumorally, as a monotherapy in patients with refractory solid tumors.  

 

We anticipate that our ability to generate product revenues will depend heavily on the successful development and commercialization of our TLR drug candidate, tilsotolimod.

 

Our ability to generate future milestone and royalty revenues under our current collaboration with GSK, and under any other collaboration that we enter into with respect to our other programs, will depend on the development and commercialization of the drug candidates being developed under the collaborations.

 

We have entered into and may in the future continue to seek to enter into collaborative alliances with pharmaceutical companies to advance our TLR agonists and antagonist candidates and with respect to additional applications of our nucleic acid chemistry technology program, which we suspended internally in 2018. Should we in the future seek to do so, we may not be able to enter into such agreements on attractive terms or at all.

 

Our ability to successfully develop and commercialize potential drug candidates will depend on our ability to overcome these recent challenges and on several factors, including the following:

 We are developing tilsotolimod in combination with other immuno-modulatory compounds and chemotherapeutic agents and our efforts may not be successful or result in any approved and marketable products.

 

Tilsotolimod is being developed for administration via intratumoral injection in combination with systemically administered checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of various solid tumors, including (i) anti-PD1 refractory metastatic melanoma in combination with ipilimumab, (ii) microsatellite stable colorectal cancer in combination with nivolumab and ipilimumab, and (iii) squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in combination with ABBV-368 and other therapy combinations. While we have evaluated the safety profile of tilsotolimod as a single agent via intratumoral injection in previous trials, and as marketed products the safety profiles of ipilimumab and nivolumab are each known, the safety profile of the combination of tilsotolimod with ipilimumab and/or nivolumab are still being evaluated. Further, we recently entered into the AbbVie Agreement under which AbbVie will conduct a clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of combinations of an OX40 agonist (ABBV-368), tilsotolimod, nab-paclitaxel and/or an anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antagonist (ABBV-181).These factors may result in participating subjects experiencing serious adverse events or undesirable side effects or exposure to unacceptable health risks requiring us or AbbVie to suspend or terminate any clinical trials which are being conducted with tilsotolimod and other therapeutic agents.

 

If we experience delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials, our receipt of necessary regulatory approvals could be delayed or prevented.

 

We may not be able to initiate or continue clinical trials for our drug 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 similar regulatory authorities outside the United States. Additionally, because there are a limited number of patients with dermatomyositis, or other rare diseases having indications for which we may determine to develop our TLR antagonists, our ability to enroll eligible patients in any clinical trials for these indications may be limited or may result in slower enrollment than we anticipated. In addition, some of our competitors have ongoing clinical trials for drug candidates that treat the same indications as our drug candidates, and patients who would otherwise be eligible for our clinical trials may instead enroll in clinical trials of our competitors' drug candidates.

 

Patient enrollment can be affected by other factors, including the:

 

Our inability to enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials would result in significant delays and could require us to abandon one or more clinical trials altogether. Enrollment delays in our clinical trials may result in increased development costs for our drug candidates, which would cause the value of our company to decline and limit our ability to obtain additional financing.

 

If our clinical trials are unsuccessful, or if they are delayed or terminated, we may not be able to develop and commercialize our drug candidates.

 

In order to obtain regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of our drug candidates, we are required to complete extensive clinical trials in humans to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our drug candidates. Clinical trials are lengthy, complex, and expensive processes with uncertain results. We may not be able to complete any clinical trial of a potential product within any specified time period. Moreover, clinical trials may not show our potential products to be both safe and efficacious. The FDA or other equivalent foreign regulatory agencies may not allow us to complete these trials or commence and complete any other clinical trials.

The results from preclinical testing of a drug candidate that is under development may not be predictive of results that will be obtained in human clinical trials. In addition, the results of early human clinical trials may not be predictive of results that will be obtained in larger scale, advanced stage clinical trials.

 

Furthermore, interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results, and failure of any of our clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing. Companies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including companies with greater experience in preclinical testing and clinical trials than we have, have suffered significant setbacks in clinical trials, even after demonstrating promising results in earlier trials. Moreover, effects seen in nonclinical studies, even if not observed in clinical trials, may result in limitations or restrictions on clinical trials. Numerous unforeseen events may occur during, or as a result of, preclinical testing, nonclinical testing or the clinical trial process that could delay or inhibit the ability to receive regulatory approval or to commercialize drug products.

 

Other companies developing drugs targeted to TLRs have experienced setbacks in clinical trials. These setbacks may result in enhanced scrutiny by regulators or institutional review boards (“IRBs”) of clinical trials of our drug candidates, including our TLR-targeted drug candidates, which could result in regulators or IRBs prohibiting the commencement of clinical trials, requiring additional nonclinical studies as a precondition to commencing clinical trials or imposing restrictions on the design or scope of clinical trials that could slow enrollment of trials, increase the costs of trials or limit the significance of the results of trials. Such setbacks could also adversely impact the desire of investigators to enroll patients in, and the desire of patients to enroll in, clinical trials of our drug candidates.

 

Other events that could delay or inhibit conduct of our clinical trials include:

 

We do not know whether clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, if at all. Significant clinical trial delays also could allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do and impair our ability to commercialize our drug candidates.

 

Delays in commencing clinical trials of potential products could increase our costs, delay any potential revenues, and reduce the probability that a potential product will receive regulatory approval.

 

Our drug candidates and our collaborators' drug candidates will require preclinical and other nonclinical testing and extensive clinical trials prior to submission of any regulatory application for commercial sales. In conducting clinical trials, we cannot be certain that any planned clinical trial will begin on time, if at all. Delays in commencing clinical trials of potential products could increase our drug candidate development costs, delay any potential revenues, reduce the potential length of patent exclusivity and reduce the probability that a potential product will receive regulatory approval.

 

Commencing clinical trials may be delayed for a number of reasons, including delays in:

 

The technologies on which we rely are unproven and may not result in any approved and marketable products.

 

Our technologies or therapeutic approaches are relatively new and unproven. We have focused our efforts on the research and development of RNA- and DNA-based compounds, or oligonucleotides, targeted to TLRs. Neither we nor any other company have obtained regulatory approval to market such TLR-targeted drug candidates as therapeutic drugs, and no such products currently are being marketed. The results of preclinical studies with TLR-targeted compounds may not be indicative of results that may be obtained in clinical trials, and results we have obtained in the clinical trials we have conducted to date may not be predictive of results in subsequent large-scale clinical trials. Further, the chemical and pharmacological properties of RNA- and DNA-based compounds targeted to TLRs may not be fully recognized in preclinical studies and small-scale clinical trials, and such compounds may interact with human biological systems in unforeseen, ineffective or harmful ways that we have not yet identified.

 

Moreover, only five nucleic acid-based therapeutics have been approved by the FDA for marketing in the United States since 1998 and are currently being marketed. As such, oligonucleotides as a chemical class of drug candidates have limited precedence for successful late-stage development and regulatory approval.

 

As a result of these factors, we may never succeed in obtaining regulatory approval to market any product. Furthermore, the commercial success of any of our drug candidates for which we may obtain marketing approval from the FDA or other regulatory authorities will depend upon their acceptance by patients, the medical community, and third-party payors as clinically useful, safe, and cost-effective. In addition, if products being developed by our competitors have negative clinical trial results or otherwise are viewed negatively, the perception of our technologies and market acceptance of our drug candidates could be impacted negatively.

 

Our setbacks with respect to our TLR-targeted compounds, together with the setbacks experienced by other companies developing oligonucleotides-based compounds and TLR-targeted compounds, may result in a negative perception of our technology and our TLR-targeted compounds, impact our ability to obtain marketing approval of

these drug candidates and adversely affect acceptance of our technology and our TLR-targeted compounds by patients, the medical community and third-party payors.

 

Our efforts to educate the medical community on our potentially unique approaches may require greater resources than would be typically required for products based on conventional technologies or therapeutic approaches. The safety, efficacy, convenience, and cost-effectiveness of our drug candidates as compared to competitive products will also affect market acceptance.

 

We face substantial competition, which may result in others discovering, developing or commercializing drugs before or more successfully than us.

 

We are currently developing tilsotolimod (IMO-2125), our TLR agonist drug candidate, for the treatment by intratumoral injection of multiple oncology indications in combination with checkpoint inhibitors. In the immune-oncology environment, there are many other companies, public and private, that are actively engaged in discovery, development, and commercializing products and technologies that may compete with our drug candidate and program, including TLR-targeted compounds as well as non-TLR-targeted therapeutics. 

 

Immuno-oncology, which utilizes a patient’s own immune system to combat cancer, is currently an active area of research for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Interest in immuno-oncology is driven by efficacy data in cancers with historically bleak outcomes and the potential to achieve a cure or functional cure for some patients. As such, we expect that our efforts in this field will be competitive with a wide variety of different approaches. Any one of these competitive approaches may result in the development of novel technologies that are more effective, safer or less costly than any that we are developing.

 

We are aware of other companies developing TLR agonists as well as other mechanisms of action that are focused on stimulating the immune response. These companies include, but are not limited to, Aduro Biotech, Inc., BioLineRx Ltd., Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dynavax Technologies Corporation, Exicure, Inc., Gilead Sciences Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd., Mologen AG VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Nektar Therapeutics, and Telormedix S.A. Additionally, we are aware of other companies developing non-TLR therapies in our patient populations including, but not limited to OncoSec Immunotherapies, Iovance Biotherapeutics, Lytix Biopharma and Takara Bio.

 

Some potentially competitive products have been in development or commercialized for years, in some cases by large, well established pharmaceutical companies. Many of the marketed products have been accepted by the medical community, patients, and third-party payors. Our ability to compete may be affected by the previous adoption of such products by the medical community, patients, and third-party payors. Additionally, in some instances, insurers and other third-party payors seek to encourage the use of generic products, which makes branded products, such as is planned for our drug candidates upon commercialization, potentially less attractive, from a cost perspective, to buyers.

 

We recognize that other companies, including large pharmaceutical companies, may be developing or have plans to develop products and technologies that may compete with ours. Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical, and human resources than we have. In addition, many of our competitors have significantly greater experience than we have in undertaking preclinical studies and human clinical trials of new pharmaceutical products, obtaining FDA and other regulatory approvals of products for use in health care and manufacturing, and marketing and selling approved products. Our competitors may discover, develop or commercialize products or other novel technologies that are more effective, safer or less costly than any that we are developing. Our competitors may also obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours.

 

We anticipate that the competition with our drug candidates and technologies will be based on a number of factors including product efficacy, safety, availability, and price. The timing of market introduction of our drug candidates and competitive products will also affect competition among products. We expect the relative speed with which we can develop products, complete the clinical trials and approval processes, and supply commercial quantities of the products to the market to be important competitive factors. Our competitive position will also depend upon our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, to obtain patent protection or otherwise develop proprietary products or processes, protect our intellectual property, and to secure sufficient capital resources for the period between technological conception and commercial sales.

 

We face risks related to health epidemics and other outbreaks of communicable diseases, which could significantly disrupt our operations and may materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.

 

Our business could be adversely impacted by the effects of the coronavirus or other epidemics. In December 2019, a novel strain of the coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged in China and the virus has now spread to several other countries, including Europe and the U.S., and infections have been reported globally. The extent to which the coronavirus impacts our operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time, and include the duration, severity and scope of the outbreak and the actions taken to contain or treat the coronavirus outbreak. The continued spread of the coronavirus globally could materially and adversely impact our operations including without limitation, our clinical trial operations, regulatory approval and the timing thereof, the operations of our collaboration partners, travel, employee health and availability which may have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, with respect to our ILLUMINATE-301 trial, the coronavirus outbreak could impact our ability to obtain results if trial participants are unable to travel to and from clinical sites for administration of the therapies and/or for scans or testing pursuant to the ILLUMINATE-301 trial protocol; deliver clinical trial supplies to clinical trial sites; conduct the trial if clinical trial sites close; and produce accurate results if the pandemic is found to impact trial endpoints.

 

In addition, a significant outbreak of coronavirus could result in widespread global health crisis that could adversely affect global economies and financial markets resulting in an economic downturn that could affect future revenue and operating results.  

 

 

Risks Related to Human Capital Management

The loss of key personnel, especially our principal executive officer, could delay or prevent us from achieving our objectives.

Our success is highly dependent on the retention of principal members of our technical and management staff, including our President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Vincent Milano.

 

We are a party to an employment agreement with Mr. Milano, which is terminable upon 15 days prior written notice at the election of either party and immediately in the event of a termination for cause (as defined therein). We do not carry key man life insurance for Mr. Milano.

 

Competition for technical and management personnel is intense in our industry, and we may not be able to sustain our operations or grow if we are unable to attract and retain key personnel.

 

Our future growth will require hiring a number of qualified technical and management personnel. Accordingly, recruiting and retaining such personnel in the future will be critical to our success. There is intense competition from other companies and research and academic institutions for qualified personnel in the areas of our activities. If we are not able to continue to attract and retain, on acceptable terms, the qualified personnel necessary for the continued development of our business, we may not be able to sustain our operations or growth.

 

Because we are a small biopharmaceutical-focused company with limited resources, we may be unable to attract and retain qualified personnel; the termination of relationships with key management, consulting and scientific personnel or the inability to recruit and retain additional personnel could prevent us from developing our technologies, conducting clinical trials and/or obtaining financing.

 

We are a small company and we rely heavily on third parties and outside consultants to conduct many important functions. As of December 31, 2019, we had 36 full-time employees. We may require additional experienced executive, accounting, legal, administrative and other personnel from time to time in the future. Also, because of the specialized scientific nature of our business, our ability to develop products and to compete with our current and future competitors largely depends upon our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly-qualified managerial, consulting and scientific personnel. If we are unable to retain the services of one or more of the principal members of senior management, consultants or other key employees, our ability to implement our business strategy could be materially harmed. We face intense competition for qualified employees and consultants from biopharmaceutical companies, research organizations and academic institutions. Attracting, retaining or replacing these personnel on acceptable terms may be difficult and time-consuming given the high demand in our industry for similar personnel. There is intense competition for qualified personnel in the areas of our activities, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to attract and retain the qualified personnel necessary for the development of our business.

 

Risks Related to Regulatory Approval and Marketing of Our Drug Candidates and Other

Legal Compliance Matters

 

Even if we complete the necessary preclinical studies and clinical trials, the marketing approval process is expensive, time-consuming and uncertain and may prevent us from obtaining approvals for the commercialization of some or all of our drug candidates. As a result, we cannot predict when or if we, or any future collaborators, will obtain marketing approval to commercialize a drug candidate.

 

Our drug candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their design, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, marketing, promotion, sale and distribution, export and import are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, whose laws and regulations may differ from country to country. We are not permitted to market our drug candidates in the United States or in other countries until we, or any future collaborators, receive approval of an NDA from the FDA or marketing approval from applicable regulatory authorities outside of the United States.

 

All of the drug candidates that we are developing, or may develop in the future, will require additional research and development, extensive preclinical studies, nonclinical testing, clinical trials, and regulatory approval prior to any commercial sales. This process is lengthy, often taking a number of years, is uncertain, and is expensive. Securing marketing approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the drug candidate's safety and purity. Securing marketing approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the regulatory authorities.

 

Since our inception, we have conducted, or collaborated with others to conduct, clinical trials of a number of compounds and for a number of disease indications.

 

The FDA and other regulatory authorities may not approve any of our potential products for any indication.

 

We may need to address a number of technological challenges in order to complete development of our drug candidates. Moreover, these products may not be effective in treating any disease or may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, unintended alteration of the immune system over time, toxicities or other characteristics that may preclude our obtaining regulatory approval or prevent or limit commercial use. In addition, changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment of additional statutes or regulations, or changes in regulatory review for each submitted product application, may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application. The FDA and comparable authorities in other countries have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data is insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other studies. In addition, varying interpretations of the data obtained from preclinical and clinical testing could delay, limit or prevent marketing approval of a drug candidate.

Any delay in obtaining or failure to obtain required approvals could materially adversely affect our ability or that of any collaborators we may have to generate revenue from the particular drug candidate, which likely would result in significant harm to our financial position and adversely impact our stock price.

 

Our failure to obtain marketing approval in foreign jurisdictions would prevent our drug candidates from being marketed abroad, and any approval we are granted for our drug candidates in the United States would not assure approval of drug candidates in foreign jurisdictions.

 

In order to market and sell our drugs in the European Union and many other jurisdictions, we, and any future collaborators, must obtain separate marketing approvals and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements. The approval procedure varies among countries and can involve additional testing. The time required to obtain approval may differ substantially from that required to obtain FDA approval. The marketing approval process outside of the United States generally includes all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. In addition, in many countries outside of the United States, it is required that the drug be approved for reimbursement before the drug can be approved for sale in that country. We, and any future collaborators, may not obtain approvals from regulatory authorities outside of the United States on a timely basis, if at all. Approval by the FDA does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions, and approval by one regulatory authority outside of the United States does not ensure approval by regulatory authorities in other countries or jurisdictions or by the FDA.

 

Additionally, on June 23, 2016, the electorate in the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) voted in favor of leaving the European Union (“E.U.”), commonly referred to as Brexit. On March 29, 2017, the U.K. formally notified the E.U. of its intention to withdraw pursuant to Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and began to negotiate the terms of its withdrawal and outline the future relationship between the U.K. and E.U. upon exit, which occurred on January 31, 2020. Following the U.K.’s departure, there is now a transition period during which existing arrangements will remain in place until the end of 2020, allowing detailed discussions on the future relationship between the U.K. and the E.U. to take place.

 

The potential impact on our future results of operations and liquidity resulting from Brexit remains unclear. The actual effects of Brexit will depend upon many factors and significant uncertainty remains with respect to the future relationship between the U.K. and the E.U. The final outcome of the discussions during the transition period may impact certain business operations, such as forcing us to restrict or delay efforts to develop or seek regulatory approval in the U.K. and/or E.U., including the approval and supply of our drug candidates. Such delays in obtaining, or an inability to obtain, any marketing approvals, as a result of Brexit or otherwise, would prevent us from commercializing our drug candidates in the U.K. and/or the E.U. and restrict our ability to generate revenue in these jurisdictions which may impact our ability to achieve and sustain profitability which may significantly and materially harm our business.

 

Even if we, or any future collaborators, obtain marketing approvals for our drug candidates, the terms of approvals and ongoing regulation of our drugs may limit how we, or they, manufacture and market our drugs, which could materially impair our ability to generate revenue.

 

Once marketing approval has been granted, an approved drug and its manufacturer and marketer are subject to ongoing review and extensive regulation. We, and any future collaborators, must therefore comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for any of our drug candidates for which we or they obtain marketing approval. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the drug’s approved labeling. Thus, we, and any future collaborators, may not be able to promote any drugs we develop for indications or uses for which they are not approved.

In addition, manufacturers of approved drugs and those manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMPs, which include requirements relating to quality control and quality assurance as well as the corresponding maintenance of records and documentation and reporting requirements. We, our contract manufacturers, our future collaborators and their contract manufacturers could be subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA to monitor and ensure compliance with cGMPs.

Accordingly, assuming we, or our future collaborators, receive marketing approval for one or more of our drug candidates, we, and our future collaborators, and our and their contract manufacturers will continue to expend time, money and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production, product surveillance and quality control.

If we, and our future collaborators, are not able to comply with post-approval regulatory requirements, we, and our future collaborators, could have the marketing approvals for our drugs withdrawn by regulatory authorities and our, or our future collaborators’, ability to market any future drugs could be limited, which could adversely affect our ability to achieve or sustain profitability. Further, the cost of compliance with post-approval regulations may have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition.

 

Moreover, legislative and regulatory proposals have been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for pharmaceutical products. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether the FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our drug candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by the United States Congress of the FDA's approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us and any collaborators to more stringent product labeling and post-marketing testing and other requirements.

 

Any of our drug candidates for which we, or our future collaborators, obtain marketing approval in the future could be subject to post-marketing restrictions or withdrawal from the market and we, and our future collaborators, may be subject to substantial penalties if we, or they, fail to comply with regulatory requirements or if we, or they, experience unanticipated problems with our drugs following approval.

Any of our drug candidates for which we, or our future collaborators, obtain marketing approval in the future, as well as the manufacturing processes, post-approval studies and measures, labeling, advertising and promotional activities for such drug, among other things, will be subject to continual requirements of and review by the FDA and other regulatory authorities. These requirements include submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports, registration and listing requirements, requirements relating to manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance and corresponding maintenance of records and documents, requirements regarding the distribution of samples to physicians and recordkeeping. Even if marketing approval of a drug candidate is granted, the approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses for which the drug may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, including the requirement to implement a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, which could include requirements for a restricted distribution system.

The FDA may also impose requirements for costly post-marketing studies or clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety or efficacy of a drug. The FDA and other agencies, including the DOJ, closely regulate and monitor the post-approval marketing and promotion of drugs to ensure that they are manufactured, marketed and distributed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved labeling. The FDA imposes stringent restrictions on manufacturers’ communications regarding off-label use and if we, or our future collaborators, do not market any of our drug candidates for which we, or they, receive marketing approval for only their approved indications, we, or they, may be subject to warnings or enforcement action for off-label marketing. Violation of the FDCA and other statutes, including the False Claims Act, relating to the promotion and advertising of prescription drugs may lead to investigations or allegations of violations of federal and state health care fraud and abuse laws and state consumer protection laws.

In addition, later discovery of previously unknown adverse events or other problems with our drugs or their manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may yield various results, including:

 

Under the CURES Act and the Trump Administration’s regulatory reform initiatives, the FDA’s policies, regulations and guidance may be revised or revoked and that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our drug candidates, which would impact our ability to generate revenue.

In December 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act, or Cures Act, was signed into law. The Cures Act, among other things, is intended to modernize the regulation of drugs and spur innovation, but its ultimate implementation is unclear. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained and we may not achieve or sustain profitability, which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We also cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States or abroad. For example, certain policies of the Trump administration may impact our business and industry. Namely, the Trump administration has taken several executive actions, including the issuance of a number of Executive Orders, that could impose significant burdens on, or otherwise materially delay, the FDA’s ability to engage in routine regulatory and oversight activities such as implementing statutes through rulemaking, issuance of guidance, and review and approval of marketing applications. An under-staffed FDA could result in delays in the FDA’s responsiveness or in its ability to review submissions or applications, issue regulations or guidance, or implement or enforce regulatory requirements in a timely fashion or at all. Moreover, on January 30, 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order, applicable to all executive agencies, including the FDA, which requires that for each notice of proposed rulemaking or final regulation to be issued in fiscal year 2017, the agency shall identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed, unless prohibited by law. These requirements are referred to as the “two-for-one” provisions. This Executive Order includes a budget neutrality provision that requires the total incremental cost of all new regulations in the 2017 fiscal year, including repealed regulations, to be no greater than zero, except in limited circumstances. For fiscal years 2018 and beyond, the Executive Order requires agencies to identify regulations to offset any incremental cost of a new regulation and approximate the total costs or savings associated with each new regulation or repealed regulation. In interim guidance issued by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within OMB on February 2, 2017, the administration indicates that the “two-for-one” provisions may apply not only to agency regulations, but also to significant agency guidance documents. In addition, on February 24, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order directing each affected agency to designate an agency official as a “Regulatory Reform Officer” and establish a “Regulatory Reform Task Force” to implement the two-for-one provisions and other previously issued executive orders relating to the review of federal regulations, however it is difficult to predict how these requirements will be implemented, and the extent to which they will impact the FDA’s ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If these executive actions impose constraints on the FDA’s ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted.

 

We may not be able to obtain or maintain orphan drug exclusivity for applications of our TLR drug candidates.

 

Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and Europe, may designate drugs for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product as an orphan drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States.

 

Generally, if a product with an orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first marketing approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, or the FDA from approving another marketing application for the same drug for the same indication for that exclusivity period. The applicable period is seven years in the United States and ten years in Europe. The European exclusivity period can be reduced to six years if a drug no longer meets the criteria for orphan drug designation or if the drug is sufficiently profitable such that market exclusivity is no longer justified. Orphan drug exclusivity may be lost if the FDA or EMA determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the drug to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition.

 

In June 2017, the FDA granted us orphan drug designation for tilsotolimod for the treatment of melanoma Stages IIb to IV. However, there can be no assurance that we will obtain orphan drug designation or exclusivity for any other disease indications for which we develop tilsotolimod, or for our other drug candidates. Even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs can be approved for the same condition. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve the same drug for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care.

 

On August 3, 2017, Congress passed the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017, or FDARA. FDARA, among other things, codified the FDA’s pre-existing regulatory interpretation, to require that a drug sponsor demonstrate the clinical superiority of an orphan drug that is otherwise the same as a previously approved drug for the same rare disease in order to receive orphan drug exclusivity. The new legislation reverses prior precedent holding that the Orphan Drug Act unambiguously requires that the FDA recognize the orphan exclusivity period regardless of a showing of clinical superiority. The FDA may further reevaluate the Orphan Drug Act and its regulations and policies. We do not know if, when, or how the FDA may change the orphan drug regulations and policies in the future, and it is uncertain how any changes might affect our business. Depending on what changes the FDA may make to its orphan drug regulations and policies, our business could be adversely impacted.

 

A fast track designation by the FDA may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process, and does not increase the likelihood that drug candidates will receive marketing approval.

 

We intend to seek fast track designation for some applications of our drug candidates. If a drug is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition and the drug demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for this condition, the drug sponsor may apply for FDA fast track designation. The FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant this designation, so even if we believe a particular drug candidate is eligible for this designation, we cannot assure you that the FDA would decide to grant it.

 

In November 2017, the FDA granted us fast track designation for tilsotolimod for the treatment of anti-PD1 refractory metastatic melanoma in combination with ipilimumab therapy.  However, even with fast track designation, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may withdraw fast track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program.

 

A breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA for any application of our drug candidates may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process, and it does not increase the likelihood that those drug candidates will receive marketing approval.

 

We may seek a breakthrough therapy designation for some applications of our drug candidates. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a drug that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. For drugs and biologics that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the FDA and the sponsor of the trial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Drugs designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA are also eligible for accelerated approval.

 

Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe an application of one of our drug candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of a breakthrough therapy designation for a drug candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to drugs considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of our drug candidates qualify as breakthrough therapies, the FDA may later decide that the products no longer meet the conditions for qualification or decide that the time period for FDA review or approval will not be shortened.

 

If we are required by the FDA to obtain approval of a companion diagnostic in connection with and as a condition to approval of a drug candidate, and we do not obtain or we experience delays in obtaining FDA approval of a diagnostic device, we will not be able to commercialize the drug candidate and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.

 

According to FDA guidance, if the FDA determines that a companion diagnostic device is essential to the safe and effective use of a novel therapeutic product or indication, the FDA generally will not approve the therapeutic product or new therapeutic product indication if the companion diagnostic is not also approved or cleared for that indication. Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, companion diagnostics are regulated as medical devices and the FDA has generally required companion diagnostics intended to select the patients who will respond to cancer treatment to obtain Premarket Approval, or a PMA. The PMA process, including the gathering of clinical and preclinical data and the submission to and review by the FDA, involves a rigorous premarket review during which the applicant must prepare and provide the FDA with reasonable assurance of the device's safety and effectiveness and information about the device and its components regarding, among other things, device design, manufacturing and labeling. PMA approval is not guaranteed and may take considerable time, and the FDA may ultimately respond to a PMA submission with a not approvable determination based on deficiencies in the application and require additional clinical trial or other data that may be expensive and time-consuming to generate and that can substantially delay approval.

 

We do not have experience or capabilities in developing or commercializing diagnostics and plan to rely on third parties or collaborators to perform these functions. Companion diagnostics are subject to regulation by the FDA and similar regulatory authorities outside the United States as medical devices and require separate regulatory approval prior to commercialization.

 

If we, or any third parties that we engage to assist us or any of our collaborators, are unable to successfully develop companion diagnostics for our TLR antagonist drug candidates that require a companion diagnostic, or experience delays in doing so:

If any of these events were to occur, our business would be harmed, possibly materially.

 

We have only limited experience in regulatory affairs and our drug candidates are based on new technologies; these factors may affect our ability or the time we require to obtain necessary regulatory approvals.

 

We have only limited experience in filing the applications necessary to obtain regulatory approvals. Moreover, the products that result from our research and development programs will likely be based on new technologies and new therapeutic approaches that have not been extensively tested in humans. The regulatory requirements governing these types of products may be more rigorous than for conventional drugs. As a result, we may experience a longer regulatory process in connection with obtaining regulatory approvals of any product that we develop.

 

We may experience difficulties and delays in manufacturing certain of our drug candidates.

 

We may, in the future, experience difficulties and delays inherent in manufacturing our products, such as (i) failure by us or any of our vendors or suppliers to comply with Current Good Manufacturing Practices and other applicable regulations and quality assurance guidelines that could lead to manufacturing shutdowns, product shortages and delays in product manufacturing; (ii) delays related to the construction of new facilities or the expansion of existing facilities, including those intended to support future demand for our products; and (iii) other manufacturing or distribution problems including changes in manufacturing production sites and limits to manufacturing capacity due to regulatory requirements, changes in types of products produced, or physical limitations that could impact continuous supply. In addition, we could experience difficulties or delays in manufacturing our products caused by natural disasters, such as hurricanes. Manufacturing difficulties can result in product shortages, leading to lost sales and reputational harm to us.

 

Our relationships with healthcare providers and physicians and third-party payors will be subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which could expose us to criminal sanctions, civil penalties, contractual damages, reputational harm and diminished profits and future earnings.

Healthcare providers, physicians and third party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any drugs for which we obtain marketing approval. Our future arrangements with third party payors, healthcare providers and physicians may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell and distribute any drugs for which we obtain marketing approval. These include the following:

Some state laws require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant compliance guidance promulgated by the federal government and require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures. State and foreign laws also govern the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not pre-empted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.

 

Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations will involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment, exclusion of products from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business is found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs.

 

Current and future legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us and any collaborators to obtain marketing approval of our drug candidates and may affect the prices we, or they, may obtain.

 

In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system that could, among other things, prevent or delay marketing approval of our drug candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability, or the ability of any collaborators, to profitably sell any products for which we, or they, obtain marketing approval. We expect that current laws, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we, or any collaborators, may receive for any approved products.

 

For example, in March 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, or collectively the PPACA. Among the provisions of the PPACA of potential importance to our business and our drug candidates are the following:

 

In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the PPACA was enacted. These changes include the Budget Control Act of 2011, which, among other things, led to aggregate reductions to Medicare payments to providers of up to 2% per fiscal year that started in 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, will stay in effect through 2025 unless additional congressional action is taken, and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which, among other things, reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. These new laws may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and otherwise affect the prices we may obtain for any of our drug candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval or the frequency with which any such drug candidate is prescribed or used. Further, there have been several recent U.S. congressional inquiries and proposed state and federal legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, reduce the costs of drugs under Medicare and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drug products.

 

We expect that these healthcare reforms, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, more rigorous coverage criteria, new payment methodologies and additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved product and/or the level of reimbursement physicians receive for administering any approved product we might bring to market. Reductions in reimbursement levels may negatively impact the prices we receive or the frequency with which our products are prescribed or administered.  Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. 

 

The Trump Administration has also taken a number of executive actions to repeal or delay implementation of the PPACA. Most recently, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 repealed the “individual mandate.”  The repeal of this provision, which requires most Americans to carry a minimal level of health insurance, became effective in 2019.  According to the Congressional Budget Office, the repeal of the individual mandate will cause 13 million fewer Americans to be insured in 2027 and premiums in insurance markets may rise. 

 

We will continue to evaluate the effect that the PPACA and its possible repeal and replacement could have on our business.  It is possible that repeal and replacement initiatives, if enacted into law, could ultimately result in fewer individuals having health insurance coverage or in individuals having insurance coverage with less generous benefits.  While the timing and scope of any potential future legislation to repeal and replace PPACA provisions is highly uncertain in many respects, it is also possible that some of the PPACA provisions that generally are not favorable for the research-based pharmaceutical industry could also be repealed along with PPACA coverage expansion provisions Accordingly, such reforms, if enacted, could have an adverse effect on anticipated revenue from drug candidates that we may successfully develop and for which we may obtain marketing approval and may affect our overall financial condition and ability to develop commercialize drug candidates. 

 

The costs of prescription pharmaceuticals in the United States has also been the subject of considerable discussion in the United States, and members of Congress and the Administration have stated that they will address such costs through new legislative and administrative measures.  The pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is also subject to governmental control outside the United States.  In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost effectiveness of our drug candidates to other available therapies. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our ability to generate revenues and become profitable could be impaired.  In the European Union, similar political, economic and regulatory developments may affect our ability to profitably commercialize our products. In addition to continuing pressure on prices and cost containment measures, legislative developments at the European Union or member state level may result in significant additional requirements or obstacles that may increase our operating costs.

 

Moreover, legislative and regulatory proposals have also been made to expand post-approval requirements and restrict sales and promotional activities for pharmaceutical drugs. We cannot be sure whether additional legislative changes will be enacted, or whether the FDA regulations, guidance or interpretations will be changed, or what the impact of such changes on the marketing approvals of our drug candidates, if any, may be. In addition, increased scrutiny by Congress of the FDA’s approval process may significantly delay or prevent marketing approval, as well as subject us and any future collaborators to more stringent drug labeling and post-marketing testing and other requirements.

 

Laws and regulations governing any international operations we may have in the future may preclude us from developing, manufacturing and selling certain drug candidates outside of the United States and require us to develop and implement costly compliance programs.

 

We are subject to numerous laws and regulations in each jurisdiction outside the United States in which we operate. The creation, implementation and maintenance of international business practices compliance programs is costly and such programs are difficult to enforce, particularly where reliance on third parties is required.

 

The FCPA prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with certain accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations. The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA are enforced primarily by the DOJ. The SEC is involved with enforcement of the books and records provisions of the FCPA.

 

Compliance with the FCPA and other anti-bribery laws is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which corruption is a recognized problem. In addition, the FCPA presents particular challenges in the pharmaceutical industry, because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other hospital employees are considered foreign officials. Certain payments to hospitals in connection with clinical trials and other work have been deemed to be improper payments to government officials and have led to FCPA enforcement actions.

 

Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non-U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. Our expansion outside of the United States, has required, and will continue to require, us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing, or selling certain drugs and drug candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs. The failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may result in substantial penalties, including suspension or debarment from government contracting. Violation of the FCPA and other anti-bribery laws can result in significant civil and criminal penalties. Indictment alone under the FCPA can lead to suspension of the right to do business with the U.S. government until the pending claims are resolved. Conviction of a violation of the FCPA can result in long-term disqualification as a government contractor. The termination of a government contract or relationship as a result of our failure to satisfy any of our obligations under laws governing international business practices would have a negative impact on our operations and harm our reputation and ability to procure government contracts. The SEC also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of the FCPA’s accounting provisions.

 

Governments outside of the United States tend to impose strict price controls, which may adversely affect our revenues from the sales of drugs, if any.

 

In some countries, particularly the countries of the European Union, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after the receipt of marketing approval for a drug. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we, or our future collaborators, may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost-effectiveness of our drug to other available therapies. If reimbursement of our drugs is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our business could be materially harmed.

 

If we fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

We are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes. Our operations involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological and radioactive materials. Our operations also produce hazardous waste products. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and wastes. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury from these materials. In the event of contamination or injury resulting from our use of hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources. We also could incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties.

 

Although we maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not maintain insurance for environmental liability or toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us in connection with our storage or disposal of biological, hazardous or radioactive materials.

 

In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These current or future laws and regulations may impair our research, development or commercialization efforts. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.

 

Our employees may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including non-compliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could cause significant liability for us and harm our reputation.

 

We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct, including intentional failures to comply with FDA regulations or similar regulations of comparable foreign regulatory authorities, provide accurate information to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, comply with manufacturing standards we have established, comply with federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations and similar laws and regulations established and enforced by comparable foreign regulatory authorities, report financial information or data accurately or disclose unauthorized activities to us. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws, standards or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business and results of operations, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.

 

We depend on information technology, infrastructure and data to conduct our business. Any significant disruption could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

We are dependent upon information technology, infrastructure and data. Computer systems, including ours and those of our suppliers, partners and service providers, contain sensitive confidential information or intellectual property.  Computer systems are vulnerable to service interruption or destruction, cyber-attacks (both malicious and random) and other natural or man-made incidents or disasters, which may be prolonged or go undetected.  Such events and attacks are increasing in their frequency, sophistication and intensity, and have become increasingly difficult to detect. A significant or large-scale interruption of our information technology could adversely affect our ability to manage and keep our operations running efficiently and effectively. An incident that results in a wider or sustained disruption to our business or products could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Likewise, data privacy or security breaches by employees or others may pose a risk that sensitive data, including our intellectual property, trade secrets or personal information of our employees, patients or other business partners may be exposed to unauthorized persons or to the public. There can be no assurance that our efforts, or the efforts of our partners and vendors, will prevent service interruptions, or identify breaches in our systems, that could adversely affect our business and operations and/or result in the loss of critical or sensitive information, which could result in financial, legal, business or reputational harm to us. In addition, our liability insurance may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to security breaches, cyberattacks and other related breaches.

 

Risks Relating to Collaborators

 

Our existing collaborations and any collaborations we enter into in the future may not be successful.

 

Historically, an important element of our business strategy has included entering into collaborative alliances with corporate collaborators, primarily large pharmaceutical companies, for the development, commercialization, marketing, and distribution of some of our drug candidates. Our current collaboration and/or license agreements, as more fully described within Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or any collaborations we may enter into in the future, may not be successful. The success of our collaborative alliances, if any, will depend heavily on the efforts and activities of our collaborators. Our existing collaborations and any potential future collaborations have risks, including the following:

 

 

Given these risks, it is possible that any collaborative alliance into which we enter may not be successful. Collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and other third parties often are terminated or allowed to expire by the other party. For example, in March 2019, we mutually agreed to terminate the Vivelix Agreement. Additionally, in November 2019, the collaboration term of the GSK Agreement expired. The termination or expiration of our current collaboration agreements or any other collaboration agreement that we enter into in the future may adversely affect us financially and could harm our business reputation.  

 

If we are unable to establish additional collaborative alliances, our business may be materially harmed.

 

Collaborators provide the necessary resources and drug development experience to advance our compounds in their programs. We have entered into and expect to continue to seek to enter into collaborative alliances with pharmaceutical companies to advance our TLR agonist and antagonist candidates and with respect to additional applications of our nucleic acid chemistry technology research program. Upfront payments and milestone payments received from collaborations help to provide us with the financial resources for our internal research and development programs. Our internal programs are focused on developing TLR-targeted drug candidates for the potential treatment of certain rare diseases and in our immuno-oncology program and on nucleic acid chemistry drug candidates. We believe that additional resources will be required to advance compounds in all of these areas. If we do not reach agreements with additional collaborators in the future, we may not be able to obtain the expertise and resources necessary to achieve our business objectives, our ability to advance our compounds will be jeopardized and we may fail to meet our business objectives.

 

We may have difficulty establishing additional collaborative alliances, particularly with respect to our TLR-targeted drug candidates and technology. For example, potential collaborators may note that our prior TLR collaborations with Vivelix, Novartis and with Merck KGaA have been terminated. Potential collaborators may also be reluctant to establish collaborations with respect to tilsotolimod (IMO-2125) or IMO-9200, given our prior setbacks with respect to these drug candidates. We also face, and expect to continue to face, significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. 

 

Even if a potential partner were willing to enter into a collaborative alliance with respect to our TLR-targeted compounds or technology or our nucleic acid chemistry technology, the terms of such a collaborative alliance may not be on terms that are favorable to us. Moreover, collaborations are complex and time consuming to negotiate, document, and implement. We may not be successful in our efforts to establish and implement collaborations on a timely basis.

 

Risks Relating to Intellectual Property

 

If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our discoveries, the value of our technology and products will be adversely affected.

 

Our patent positions, and those of other drug discovery companies, are generally uncertain and involve complex legal, scientific, and factual questions. Our ability to develop and commercialize drugs depends in significant part on our ability to:

 

We do not know whether any of our currently pending patent applications or those patent applications that we license will result in the issuance of any patents. Our issued patents and those that may be issued in the future, or those licensed to us, may be challenged, invalidated, held unenforceable, narrowed in the course of a post-issuance proceeding or circumvented, and the rights granted thereunder may not provide us proprietary protection or competitive advantages against competitors with similar technology. Moreover, intellectual property laws may change and negatively impact our ability to obtain issued patents covering our technologies or to enforce any patents that issue. Because of the extensive time required for development, testing, and regulatory review of a potential product, it is possible that, before any of our products can be commercialized, any related patent may expire or remain in force for only a short period following commercialization, thus reducing any advantage provided by the patent.

 

Because patent applications in the United States and many foreign jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all, and because publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind actual discoveries, neither we nor our licensors can be certain that we or they were the first to make the inventions claimed in issued patents or pending patent applications, or that we or they were the first to file for protection of the inventions set forth in these patent applications.

 

As of February 15, 2020, we owned approximately 53 U.S. patents and patent applications and approximately 184 patents and patent applications throughout the rest of the world for our TLR-targeted immune modulation technologies. These patents and patent applications include claims covering the chemical compositions of matter and methods of use of our IMO compounds, such as IMO-8400, IMO-9200 and tilsotolimod (IMO-2125), as well as other compounds. These patents and patent applications (if granted) expire at various dates ranging from 2020 to 2037. With respect to IMO-8400, we have six issued U.S. patents that cover the chemical composition of matter of IMO-8400 and certain methods of its use, the latest of which will expire in 2031. With respect to IMO-9200, we have nine issued U.S. patents that cover the chemical composition for IMO-9200 and methods of its use, the latest of which will expire in 2034. With respect to tilsotolimod, we have an issued U.S. patent that covers the chemical composition of matter of tilsotolimod that expires in 2024 and additional patents covering methods of its use, the latest of which will expire in 2037. We have pending applications in the United States and outside of the United States that cover methods of treatment or use of tilsotolimod, which, if granted, will expire between 2035 and 2039.

 

Third parties may own or control patents or patent applications and require us to seek licenses, which could increase our development and commercialization costs, or prevent us from developing or marketing products.

 

Although we have many issued patents and pending patent applications in the United States and other countries, we may not have rights under certain third-party patents or patent applications related to our compounds under development. Third parties may own or control these patents and patent applications in the United States and abroad. In particular, we are aware of certain third-party U.S. patents that contain claims related to immunostimulatory polynucleotides and their use to stimulate an immune response, as well as to antisense technology. Although we do not believe any of our TLR or antisense compounds under development infringe any valid claim of these patents, we cannot be assured that the holder of such patents would not seek to assert such

patents against us or, if the holder did, that the courts would not interpret the claims of such patents more broadly than we believe appropriate and determine that we are in infringement of such patents. In addition, there may be other patents and patent applications related to our current or future drug candidates of which we are not aware. Therefore, in some cases, in order to develop, manufacture, sell or import some of our drug candidates, we or our collaborators may choose to seek, or be required to seek, licenses under third-party patents issued in the United States and abroad or under third-party patents that might issue from U.S. and foreign patent applications. In such an event, we would be required to pay license fees or royalties or both to the licensor. If licenses are not available to us on acceptable terms, we or our collaborators may not be able to develop, manufacture, sell or import these products, or may be delayed in doing so. Either of these results could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

We may become involved in expensive patent litigation or other proceedings, which could result in our incurring substantial costs and expenses or substantial liability for damages, require us to stop our development and commercialization efforts or result in our patents being invalidated, interpreted narrowly or limited.

 

There has been substantial litigation and other proceedings regarding patent and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology industry. We may become a party to various types of patent litigation or other proceedings regarding intellectual property rights from time to time even under circumstances where we are not practicing and do not intend to practice any of the intellectual property involved in the proceedings.

 

In addition to litigation, we may become involved in patent office proceedings, including oppositions, reexaminations, supplemental examinations and inter partes reviews involving our patents or the patents of third parties. We may initiate such proceedings or have such proceedings brought against us. An adverse determination in any such proceeding, or in litigation, could reduce the scope of, or invalidate, our patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our technology or products and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. 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 drug candidates. An adverse determination in a proceeding involving a patent in our portfolio could result in the loss of protection or a narrowing in the scope of protection provided by that patent.

 

The cost to us of any patent litigation or other proceeding, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the cost of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their substantially greater financial resources. If any patent litigation or other proceeding is resolved against us, we or our collaborators may be enjoined from developing, manufacturing, selling or importing our drugs without a license from the other party and we may be held liable for significant damages. We may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially acceptable terms or at all. In a patent office proceeding, such as an opposition, reexamination or inter partes review, our patents may be narrowed or invalidated.

 

Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace. Patent litigation and other proceedings may also absorb significant management time.

 

Our intellectual property may be infringed by a third party.

 

Third parties may infringe one or more of our issued patents or trademarks. We cannot predict if, when or where a third party may infringe one or more of our issued patents or trademarks. To counter infringement, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Moreover, there is no assurance that we would be successful in a court of law in proving that a third party is infringing one or more of our issued patents or trademarks. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could also provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us, alleging that we infringe their intellectual property. In addition, in a patent infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent of ours is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, construe the patent’s claims narrowly and/or refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question, any of which may adversely affect our business. Even if we are successful in proving in a court of law that a third party is infringing one or more of our issued patents or trademarks there can be no assurance that we would be successful in halting their infringing activities, for example, through a permanent injunction, or that we would be fully or even partially financially compensated for any harm to our business. We may be forced to enter into a license or other agreement with the

infringing third party at terms less profitable or otherwise commercially acceptable to us than if the license or agreement were negotiated under conditions between those of a willing licensee and a willing licensor.

 

Additionally, we may not become aware of a third-party infringer within legal timeframes for compensation or at all, thereby possibly losing the ability to be compensated for any harm to our business. Such a third party may be operating in a foreign country where the infringer is difficult to locate and/or the intellectual property laws may be more difficult to enforce. Some third-party infringers may be able to sustain the costs of complex infringement litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. Any inability to stop third-party infringement could result in loss in market share of some of our products or even lead to a delay, reduction and/or inhibition of the development, manufacture or sale of certain products by us. There is no assurance that a product produced and sold by a third-party infringer would meet our or other regulatory standards or would be safe for use. Such third‑party infringer products could irreparably harm the reputation of our products thereby resulting in substantial loss in market share and profits.

 

We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants or independent contractors have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information of third parties.

 

We employ individuals who were previously employed at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. We may be subject to claims that the we or our employees, consultants or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed confidential information of our employees’ former employers or other third parties. We may also be subject to claims that former employers or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. There is no guarantee of success in defending these claims, and if we do not prevail, we could be required to pay substantial damages and could lose rights to important intellectual property. Even if we are successful, litigation could result in substantial cost and be a distraction to our management and other employees.

 

Risks Relating to Product Manufacturing, Marketing and Sales, and Reliance on Third Parties

 

Because we have limited manufacturing experience, and no manufacturing facilities or infrastructure, we are dependent on third-party manufacturers to manufacture drug candidates for us. If we cannot rely on third-party manufacturers, we will be required to incur significant costs and devote significant efforts to establish our own manufacturing facilities and capabilities.

 

We have limited manufacturing experience and no manufacturing facilities, infrastructure or clinical or commercial scale manufacturing capabilities. In order to continue to develop our drug candidates, apply for regulatory approvals, and ultimately commercialize products, we need to develop, contract for or otherwise arrange for the necessary manufacturing capabilities.

 

We currently rely upon third parties to produce material for nonclinical and clinical testing purposes and expect to continue to do so in the future. We also expect to rely upon third parties to produce materials that may be required for the commercial production of our drug candidates, if approved. Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacture of our drug candidates may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to develop drug candidates and commercialize any drug candidates on a timely and competitive basis. We currently do not have any long-term supply contracts.

 

There are a limited number of manufacturers that operate under the FDA's cGMP regulations capable of manufacturing our drug candidates. As a result, we may have difficulty finding manufacturers for our drug candidates with adequate capacity for our needs. If we are unable to arrange for third-party manufacturing of our drug candidates on a timely basis, or to do so on commercially reasonable terms, we may not be able to complete development of our drug candidates or market them.

 

Reliance on third-party manufacturers entails risks to which we would not be subject if we manufactured drug candidates ourselves, including:

 

Any contract manufacturers with which we enter into manufacturing arrangements will be subject to ongoing periodic, unannounced inspections by the FDA, or foreign equivalent, and corresponding state and foreign agencies or their designees to ensure compliance with cGMP requirements and other governmental regulations and corresponding foreign standards. Any failure by our third-party manufacturers to comply with such requirements, regulations or standards could lead to a delay in the conduct of our clinical trials, or a delay in, or failure to obtain, regulatory approval of any of our drug candidates. Such failure could also result in sanctions being imposed, including fines, injunctions, civil penalties, delays, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, product seizures or recalls, imposition of operating restrictions, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, or criminal prosecution.

 

Additionally, contract manufacturers may not be able to manufacture our drug candidates at a cost or in quantities necessary to make them commercially viable. As of January 1, 2020, our third-party manufacturers have met our manufacturing requirements, but we cannot be assured that they will continue to do so. Furthermore, changes in the manufacturing process or procedure, including a change in the location where the drug substance or drug product is manufactured or a change of a third-party manufacturer, may require prior FDA review and approval in accordance with the FDA's cGMP and New Drug Application/biologics license application regulations. Contract manufacturers may also be subject to comparable foreign requirements. This review may be costly and time-consuming and could delay or prevent the launch of a drug candidate. The FDA or similar foreign regulatory agencies at any time may also implement new standards, or change their interpretation and enforcement of existing standards for manufacture, packaging or testing of products. If we or our contract manufacturers are unable to comply, we or they may be subject to regulatory action, civil actions or penalties.

 

We have no experience selling, marketing or distributing products and no internal capability to do so.

 

If we receive regulatory approval to commence commercial sales of any of our drug candidates, we will face competition with respect to commercial sales, marketing, and distribution. These are areas in which we have no experience. To market any of our drug candidates directly, we would need to develop a marketing and sales force with technical expertise and with supporting distribution capability. In particular, we would need to recruit experienced marketing and sales personnel. Alternatively, we could engage a pharmaceutical or other healthcare company with an existing distribution system and direct sales force to assist us. However, to the extent we entered into such arrangements, we would be dependent on the efforts of third parties. If we are unable to establish sales and distribution capabilities, whether internally or in reliance on third parties, our business would suffer materially.

 

If third parties on whom we rely for clinical trials do not perform as contractually required or as we expect, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our drug candidates and our business may suffer.

 

We do not have the ability to independently conduct the clinical trials required to obtain regulatory approval for our drug candidates. We depend on independent clinical investigators, contract research organizations, and other third-party service providers in the conduct of the clinical trials of our drug candidates and expect to continue to do so. We expect to contract with contract research organizations for future clinical trials. We rely heavily on these parties for successful execution of our clinical trials, but do not control many aspects of their activities. We are responsible for ensuring that each of our clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general

investigational plan and protocols for the trial. Moreover, the FDA and foreign regulatory agencies require us to comply with certain standards, commonly referred to as good clinical practices, and applicable regulatory requirements, for conducting, recording, and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity, and confidentiality of clinical trial participants are protected. Our reliance on third parties that we do not control does not relieve us of these responsibilities and requirements. Third parties may not complete activities on schedule, or at all, or may not conduct our clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols. If these third parties fail to carry out their obligations, we may need to enter into new arrangements with alternative third parties. This could be difficult, costly or impossible, and our preclinical studies or clinical trials may need to be extended, delayed, terminated or repeated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval in a timely fashion, or at all, for the applicable drug candidate, or to commercialize such drug candidate being tested in such studies or trials. If we seek to conduct any of these activities ourselves in the future, we will need to recruit appropriately trained personnel and add to our research, clinical, quality and corporate infrastructure.

 

The commercial success of any drug candidates that we may develop will depend upon the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors, and others in the medical community.

 

Any products that we ultimately bring to the market, if they receive marketing approval, may not gain market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors or others in the medical community. For example, current cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy are well-established in the medical community, and doctors may continue to rely on these treatments. If our products do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate product revenue and we may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of our products, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:

 

Even if a potential product displays a favorable efficacy and safety profile, market acceptance of the product will not be known until after it is launched. Our efforts to educate patients, the medical community, and third-party payors on the benefits of our drug candidates may require significant resources and may never be successful. Such efforts to educate the marketplace may require more resources than are required by conventional technologies marketed by our competitors.

 

If we are unable to obtain adequate reimbursement from third-party payors for any products that we may develop or acceptable prices for those products, our revenues and prospects for profitability will suffer.

 

Most patients rely on Medicare, Medicaid, private health insurers, and other third-party payors to pay for their medical needs, including any drugs we may market. If third-party payors do not provide adequate coverage or reimbursement for any products that we may develop, our revenues and prospects for profitability will suffer. Congress enacted a limited prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. While the program established by this statute may increase demand for our products if we were to participate in this program, our prices will be negotiated with drug procurement organizations for Medicare beneficiaries and are likely to be lower than we might otherwise obtain. Non-Medicare third-party drug procurement organizations may also base the price they are willing to pay on the rate paid by drug procurement organizations for Medicare beneficiaries or may otherwise negotiate the price they are willing to pay.

 

A primary trend in the United States healthcare industry is toward cost containment. In addition, in some foreign countries, particularly the countries of the European Union, the pricing of prescription pharmaceuticals is subject to governmental control. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take six months or longer after the receipt of regulatory marketing approval for a product. To obtain reimbursement or pricing approval in some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial that compares the cost effectiveness of our drug candidates or products to other available therapies. The conduct of such a clinical trial could be expensive and result in delays in commercialization of our drug candidates. These further clinical trials would require additional time, resources, and expenses. If reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, or if pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels, our prospects for generating revenue, if any, could be adversely affected and our business may suffer.

 

In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act became law. These health care reform laws are intended to broaden access to health insurance; reduce or constrain the growth of health care spending, especially Medicare spending; enhance remedies against fraud and abuse; add new transparency requirements for health care and health insurance industries; impose new taxes and fees on certain sectors of the health industry; and impose additional health policy reforms. Among the new fees is an annual assessment on makers of branded pharmaceuticals and biologics, under which a company's assessment is based primarily on its share of branded drug sales to federal health care programs. Such fees could affect our future prospects for profitability. Although it is too early to determine the effect of the health care legislation on our future prospects for profitability and financial condition, the law appears likely to continue the pressure on pharmaceutical pricing, especially under the Medicare program, and may also increase our regulatory burdens and operating costs.

 

Third-party payors are challenging the prices charged for medical products and services, and many third-party payors limit reimbursement for newly-approved health care products. These third-party payors may base their coverage and reimbursement on the coverage and reimbursement rate paid by carriers for Medicare beneficiaries. Furthermore, many such payors are investigating or implementing methods for reducing health care costs, such as the establishment of capitated or prospective payment systems. Cost containment pressures have led to an increased emphasis on the use of cost-effective products by health care providers. In particular, third-party payors may limit the indications for which they will reimburse patients who use any products that we may develop. Cost control initiatives could limit the price we might establish for products that we or our current or future collaborators may develop or sell, which would result in lower product revenues or royalties payable to us.

 

We face a risk of product liability claims and may not be able to obtain insurance.

 

Our business exposes us to the risk of product liability claims that is inherent in the manufacturing, testing, and marketing of human therapeutic drugs. We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our drug candidates in human clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercially sell any products. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims and product recalls may result in:

 

Although we have product liability and clinical trial liability insurance that we believe is adequate, this insurance is subject to deductibles and coverage limitations. We may not be able to obtain or maintain adequate protection against potential liabilities. If we are unable to obtain insurance at acceptable cost or otherwise protect against potential product liability claims, we will be exposed to significant liabilities, which may materially and adversely affect our business and financial position. These liabilities could prevent or interfere with our commercialization efforts.

 

If we breach our agreements with third parties or if there is a dispute concerning any of our agreements with third parties, our business could be materially harmed.

Our agreements with third parties impose on us various obligations, as described throughout Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If we fail to comply with such obligations, or a counterparty to our agreements believes that we have failed to comply with such obligations, we may be sued and the costs of the resulting litigation could materially harm our business. Additionally, disputes may arise under these agreements, including with respect to the interpretation of such agreements and fee redeterminations or renegotiations thereof. These disputes may lead to litigation, termination of the agreement, or amendments that change our rights under the agreement, which could materially affect our financial position and materially harm our business.

 

Risks Relating to Ownership of Our Common Stock

 

Our corporate governance structure, including provisions in our certificate of incorporation and by-laws and Delaware law, may prevent a change in control or management that stockholders may consider desirable.

 

Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law and our certificate of incorporation and by-laws contain provisions that might enable our management to resist a takeover of our company or discourage a third party from attempting to take over our company. These provisions include:

 

In addition, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law imposes restrictions on our ability to engage in business combinations and other specified transactions with significant stockholders. These provisions could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us or a change in our management that stockholders may consider favorable or beneficial. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other stockholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.

 

We have three significant securityholders. If these securityholders choose to act together, they could exert substantial influence over our business. In addition, in connection with any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets, they would be entitled to receive consideration in excess of their reported beneficial ownership of our common stock.

 

As of February 15, 2020, Baker Bros. Advisors LP, and certain of its affiliated funds (collectively, “Baker Brothers”) held 4,608,786 shares of our common stock, warrants to purchase up to 2,708,812 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.08 per share, warrants to purchase 2,368,400 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $1.52 per share and 23,684 shares of our Series B1 preferred stock convertible into 2,368,400 shares of our common stock. As of February 15, 2020, Baker Brothers beneficially owned 15.1% of our outstanding common stock, which excludes all convertible securities as a result of certain beneficial ownership limitations. Under the terms of the warrants issued to Baker Brothers and the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement (as defined below) related to the securities issued in connection with the 2019 Private Placement, Baker Brothers is not permitted to convert or exercise any common stock equivalents to the extent that such

conversion or exercise would result in Baker Brothers (and its affiliates) beneficially owning more than 4.99% of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of shares of common stock issuable upon conversion or exercise of such securities. Baker Brothers has the right to increase this beneficial ownership limitation in its discretion on 61 days' prior written notice to us, provided that in no event is Baker Brothers permitted to convert or exercise such securities to the extent that such exercise would result in Baker Brothers (and its affiliates) beneficially owning more than 19.99% of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of shares of common stock issuable upon conversion or exercise of such securities. The information in this paragraph is based on a Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on September 6, 2019 and information provided to us by Baker Brothers. On February 9, 2015, we entered into a registration rights agreement with Baker Brothers, pursuant to which we agreed to file registration statements to register for resale the shares of our common stock, including shares issuable upon the exercise of the warrants, held by Baker Brothers. Additionally, on December 23, 2019, concurrently with the execution of the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement, we entered into a registration rights agreement with Baker Brothers, pursuant to which we agreed, following demand by Baker Brothers, to file with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-3 covering the resale of the shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of the Series B Preferred Stock or exercise of the Series B Warrants (defined below) (as applicable) as promptly as reasonably practicable following such demand, and in any event within 60 days of such demand.

 

As of February 15, 2020, entities affiliated with Pillar Invest Corporation (the “Pillar Investment Entities”) held 3,221,317 shares of our common stock, constituting 10.5% of our outstanding common stock, and beneficially owned 10.6% of our outstanding common stock. The information in this paragraph is based on a Schedule 13D/A filed with the SEC on July 25, 2019, a Form 3 filed with the SEC on August 5, 2019 and Form 4’s filed with the SEC on November 8, 2019 and February 26, 2020.

 

As of February 15, 2020, Castellina Ventures Ltd. (“Castellina”) held 2,137,638 shares of our common stock, constituting 7.0% of our outstanding common stock. The information in this paragraph is based on a Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on September 4, 2018.

 

If any of our significant security holders acted together, they could be able to exert substantial influence over our business. This concentration of voting power could delay, defer or prevent a change of control, entrench our management and the board of directors or delay or prevent a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving us on terms that other stockholders may desire. In addition, conflicts of interest could arise in the future between us, on the one hand, and either of our significant securityholders on the other hand, concerning potential competitive business activities, business opportunities, the issuance of additional securities and other matters.

 

Although there are contractual limitations on the beneficial ownership of Baker Brothers, if Baker Brothers were to exercise their warrants for common stock or convert their preferred stock, and/or choose to act together with any of our other significant security holders, they could be able to exert substantial influence over our business. This concentration of voting power could delay, defer or prevent a change of control, entrench our management and the board of directors or delay or prevent a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving us on terms that other stockholders may desire. In addition, conflicts of interest could arise in the future between us, on the one hand, and either or all of our significant securityholders on the other hand, concerning potential competitive business activities, business opportunities, the issuance of additional securities and other matters.

 

Furthermore in the event of a sale of our company, whether by merger, sale of all or substantially all of our assets or otherwise, Baker Brothers would be entitled to receive, with respect to each share of common stock issuable upon conversion of preferred stock or exercise of warrants then held by them and without regard to the beneficial ownership limitations imposed on the conversion or exercise of such securities, the same amount and kind of securities, cash or property as they would have been entitled to receive if such securities had been converted into or exercised for shares of our common stock immediately prior to such sale of our company. Because Baker Brothers would receive this sale consideration with respect to preferred stock and warrants not included in their reported beneficial ownership of our common stock, in the event of a sale of our company, they would be entitled to receive a significantly larger portion of the total proceeds distributable to the holders of our securities than is represented by their reported beneficial ownership of our common stock.

 

Our stock price has been and may in the future be extremely volatile. In addition, because our common stock has historically been traded at low volume levels, our investors' ability to trade our common stock may be limited. As a result, investors may lose all or a significant portion of their investment.

 

Our stock price has been and may in the future be volatile. During the period from January 1, 2019 to February 15, 2020, the closing sales price of our common stock ranged from a high of $4.19 per share to a low of $1.45 per share. The stock market has also experienced periods of significant price and volume fluctuations and the market prices  of biotechnology companies in particular have been highly volatile, often for reasons that have been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including:

 

In addition, our common stock has historically been traded at low volume levels and may continue to trade at low volume levels. As a result, any large purchase or sale of our common stock could have a significant impact on the price of our common stock and it may be difficult for investors to sell our common stock in the market without depressing the market price for the common stock or at all.

 

As a result of the foregoing, investors may not be able to resell their shares at or above the price they paid for such shares. Investors in our common stock must be willing to bear the risk of fluctuations in the price of our common stock and the risk that the value of their investment in our stock could decline.

 

If securities analysts do not publish research reports about our business or if they downgrade us or our sector, the price of our common stock could decline.

 

The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on research reports that industry or financial analysts publish about the us and our business. If analysts downgrade us or other research analysts downgrade the industry in which we operate or the stock of any of our competitors, the price of our common stock may decline. Additionally, we currently only have six analysts covering our stock. We lack the potential benefit that coverage by other analysts may provide.

 

Our financial statements, including our balance sheets and statements of operations and comprehensive loss, are subject to quarterly changes related to the revaluation our warrant and future tranche right liabilities.

 

In accordance with ASC Topic 480, Liabilities-Distinguishing from Equity and/or ASC Topic 815, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, our outstanding Series B1 convertible preferred shares are accounted for as temporary equity and related warrants and future tranche rights issued in connection with our December 2019 Private Placement are accounted for as liabilities at fair value.  Accordingly, the associated warrant and future tranche right liabilities are re-measured at each reporting period with changes in fair value recorded in earnings. The process of determining the fair value of the warrants and future tranche rights requires complex models and the development of significant and subjective estimates that may, and are likely to, change over the duration of the instrument with related changes in internal and external market factors. As a result, our financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly, based on factors, such as the trading value of our common stock and certain assumptions, which are outside of our control. The liabilities and accounting line items associated with our warrant and future tranche right liabilities on our balance sheet and statement of operations are non-cash items, and the inclusion of such items in our financial statements may materially affect the outcome of our quarterly and annual results, even though such items are non-cash and do not affect the cash we have available for operations. Investors should take such accounting matters and other non-cash items into account when comparing our quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year operating results and financial statements.

 

We completed a private placement of our Series B1 preferred stock in December 2019 and are contingently obligated to sell shares of Series B2, Series B3 and Series B4 preferred stock and warrants to the extent Baker Brothers exercise its option to purchase these securities pursuant to the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement. If we are required to redeem shares of Series B1, Series B2, Series B3 or Series B4 preferred stock, or in the event the we do not receive required shareholder approval and the option fee we received pursuant to the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement is required to be returned to Baker Brothers, our cash position will be negatively impacted. In addition, we may not have sufficient funds to redeem such shares of preferred stock.

 

Pursuant to the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement, we issued 23,684 shares of Series B1 preferred stock in connection with our December 2019 private placement and are contingently obligated to issue 98,685 shares of Series B2 preferred stock, 82,814 shares of Series B3 preferred stock and 82,418 shares of Series B4 preferred stock and accompanying warrants exercisable for either common stock or Series B1 preferred stock, to the extent Baker Brothers exercise its option to purchase these securities pursuant to the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement. We received a $6.2 million contingently refundable option fee pursuant to the December 2019 Securities representing $0.125 for each share of our common stock underlying (i) the Series B2 preferred stock and accompanying warrants, (ii) the Series B3 preferred stock and accompanying warrants and (iii) Series B4 preferred stock and accompanying warrants, issuable in the transaction. In the event we do not receive the required shareholder approval to increase our authorized shares of common stock in an amount sufficient to cover the conversion of Series B2, Series B3 and Series B4 preferred stock and warrants on or prior to December 31, 2020, the option fee shall be returned to Baker Brothers within five business days after such date. Although the Board recommends the stockholders support the proposal to increase the authorized shares, there can be no assurance that such approval will be obtained.

 

Further, subject to the terms of the Certificate of Designations, Preferences and Rights of Series B1 Convertible Preferred Stock, Series B2 Convertible Preferred Stock, Series B3 Convertible Preferred Stock and Series B4 Convertible Preferred Stock of the Company, on or after the five-year anniversary of the applicable initial issuance date of each such series of preferred stock, and to the extent that the holder’s redemption rights with regard to such series of preferred stock are not lost upon our achievement of certain criteria regarding our stock price and ILLUMINATE-301 on or before the two-year anniversary date of the applicable initial issuance date, some or all of our outstanding shares of such series of preferred stock may be redeemable at the option of the holder at a redemption price of $152.00 per share of Series B1 and Series B2 preferred stock and $182.00 per share of Series B3 and Series B4 preferred stock, upon delivery of an irrevocable written notice to us. If a holder of preferred stock requests redemption, we will be required to redeem such shares of preferred stock, subject to certain provisions regarding insufficient funds. We may be unable to redeem such preferred stock if restrictions under applicable law or contractual obligations prohibit such redemption. For example, Delaware law provides that a redemption on capital stock may only be paid from “surplus” or, if there is no “surplus,” from a corporation’s net profits for the then-current or the preceding fiscal year. Unless we operate profitably, our ability to redeem the preferred stock would require the availability of adequate “surplus,” which is defined as the excess, if any, of our net assets (total assets less total liabilities) over our capital. To date, we have operated at a loss. To the extent a

Series B preferred stockholder exercises its redemption rights when it is eligible to do so, and if we do not have sufficient “surplus” under Delaware law at that time, we would be unable to effect such redemption. If we do have sufficient “surplus” to effect such redemption at that time, our available cash will be negatively impacted and our ability to use the net proceeds from this offering could be substantially limited. In addition, such reduction in our available cash could decrease the trading price of our common stock.

 

The issuance or sale of shares of our common stock, or rights to acquire shares of our common stock, including the issuance of our securities pursuant to the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement, could depress the trading price of our common stock.

 

Under the terms of the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement, the private placement transaction consists of four separate tranches. In the first tranche, we issued and sold 23,684 shares of Series B1 preferred stock, at a purchase price of $152 per share and a conversion price of $1.52 per share, and related warrants to purchase up to 2,368,400 shares of common stock (or, if the holder elects to exercise the warrants for shares of Series B1 preferred stock, 23,684 shares of Series B1 preferred stock), at an exercise price of $1.52 per share (or, if the holder elects to exercise the warrants for shares of Series B1 Preferred Stock, $152 per Series B1 preferred share).  In addition, we agreed to issue and sell the following securities in future tranches: (i) tranche 2 consists of 98,685 shares of Series B2 preferred stock, at a purchase price of $152 per share and a conversion price of $1.52 per share, and related warrants to purchase up to 9,868,500 shares of common stock (or, if the holder elects to exercise the warrants for shares of Series B1 preferred stock, 98,685 shares of Series B1 preferred stock), at an exercise price of $1.52 per share (or, if the holder elects to exercise the warrants for Series B1 preferred stock, $152 per Series B1 preferred share); (ii) tranche 3 consists of 82,418 shares of Series B3 preferred stock, at a purchase price of $182 per share and a conversion price of $1.82 per share, and related warrants to purchase up to 6,593,440 shares of common stock (or, if the holder elects to exercise the warrants for shares of Series B1 preferred stock, 65,934 shares of Series B1 preferred stock), at an exercise price of $1.82 per share (or, if the holder elects to exercise the warrants for Series B1 preferred stock, $182 per Series B1 preferred share); and (iii) tranche 4 consists of 82,418 shares of Series B4 preferred stock, at a purchase price of $182 per share and a conversion price of $1.82 per share, and related warrants to purchase up to 6,593,440 shares of common stock (or, if the holder elects to exercise the warrants for shares of Series B1 preferred stock, 65,934 shares of Series B1 preferred stock), at an exercise price of $1.82 per share (or, if the holder elects to exercise the warrants for Series B1 preferred stock, $182 per Series B1 preferred share), for additional gross proceeds of up to $87.6 million, each tranche to occur at such investors’ discretion. However, if at any time following the closing date of tranche 3 our common stock has achieved a closing price on the Nasdaq Capital Market of at least $7.60 for twenty (20) days out of any thirty (30) consecutive day period, we may elect to terminate Baker Brothers’ right to purchase shares in tranche 4 that were not issued and sold prior to such date.

 

In addition, we may conduct future offerings of our common stock, preferred stock or other securities that are convertible into or exercisable for our common stock to finance our operations or fund acquisitions, or for other purposes. If (i) we issue shares of common stock pursuant to the conversion or exercise of the securities issuable under the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement, (ii) we issue additional shares of our common stock or rights to acquire shares of our common stock in other future transactions, (iii) any of our existing stockholders sells a substantial amount of our common stock, or (iv) the market perceives that such issuances or sales may occur, then the trading price of our common stock may significantly decrease. In addition, our issuance of additional shares of common stock will dilute the ownership interests of our existing common stockholders.

 

Certain investors in the December 2019 private placement will have the ability to control or significantly influence certain business decisions.

 

Pursuant to the terms of the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement, subject to certain conditions, Baker Brothers have consent rights over certain significant matters of the Company’s business. These include decisions to (i) issue or authorize equity securities that rank equal or senior to the Series B1, Series B2, Series B3 and Series B4 preferred stock with respect to liquidation preference, (ii) incur any indebtedness in excess of $1,000,000 , in the aggregate, outside the ordinary course of business (other than the refinancing of the Company’s existing term debt), (iii) sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of tilsotolimod (such approval not to be reasonably withheld), (iv) license tilsotolimod in the United States or the European Union (in each case such approval not to be unreasonably withheld), or (v) pay any dividends. As a result, Baker Brothers will have significant influence over certain matters affecting our business.

Because we do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock, investor returns will be limited to any increase in the value of our stock.

 

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to support our operations and finance the growth and development of our business and do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. Additionally, the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement, more fully described below, contains negative covenants which restricts our ability to pay dividends on our equity securities. Any return to stockholders will therefore be limited to the appreciation of their stock, if any. 

 

 

Item 1B.    Unresolved Staff Comments.

 

None.

 

Item 2.    Properties.

 

We lease approximately 11,000 square feet of office space located in Exton, Pennsylvania. The lease was to expire on May 31, 2020, subject to a five-year renewal option.  In December 2019, we elected to exercise the five-year renewal option which extended the lease through May 31, 2025.  We may terminate the lease at any point as long as we remain a member of the landlord’s group and require a space with more square footage.  We have specified rights to sublease this facility.

 

Item 3.    Legal Proceedings.

 

None.

 

Item 4.    Mine Safety Disclosures.

 

Not applicable.

 

PART II.

 

Item 5.Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

 

Market Information

 

Our common stock is listed under the symbol “IDRA” on the Nasdaq.

 

Holders of Record

 

As of February 15, 2020, we had approximately 57 common stockholders of record registered on our books, excluding shares held through banks and brokers.

 

Dividends

 

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock, and we do not expect to pay any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. The declaration and payment of dividends in the future, of which there can be no assurance, will be determined by our board of directors in light of conditions then existing, including earnings, financial condition, capital requirements and other factors. In addition, the December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement, more fully described below, contains negative covenants which restricts our ability to pay dividends on our equity securities.

 

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

 

The following table provides information as of December 31, 2019 regarding total shares subject to outstanding stock options, warrants and rights and total additional shares available for issuance under our existing equity incentive and employee stock purchase plans. In addition, from time to time, we grant “inducement grants” pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

 

The following is a summary of transactions by us involving sales of our securities that were not registered under the Securities Act during the year ended December 31, 2019.

 

December 2019 Private Placement

 

On December 23, 2019, we filed a current report on Form 8-K reporting a private placement transaction pursuant to a Securities Purchase Agreement, dated as of December 23, 2019, by and between us and certain institutional  investors (the “December 2019 Securities Purchase Agreement”).  For additional information regarding the transaction, see Note 7 to the financial statements included in this report.

 

Concurrent with the private placement, we amended outstanding warrants initially issued on May 7, 2013, September 30, 2013 and February 10, 2014 to remove expiration date.  Following the amendment, these warrants will not expire.

 

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

 

We did not repurchase any of our equity securities during the year ended December 31, 2019.

 

 

Item 6.Selected Financial Data.

 

The following selected financial data are derived from our financial statements. The data should be read in conjunction with Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and the financial statements, related notes, and other financial information included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.