NEPHROS INC - Annual Report: 2020 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

For the transition period from       to

Commission File Number 001-32288

NEPHROS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant specified in its charter)

380 Lackawanna Place

South Orange, NJ 07079

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

(201) 343-5202

(Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

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

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Exchange 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 [X]

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes [  ] No [X]

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 [X] 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 [X] 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 emerging growth company. See 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 has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. [  ]

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

The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, as of June 30, 2020, was $43.9 million. Such aggregate market value was computed by reference to the closing price of the common stock as reported on the Nasdaq Stock Market on June 30, 2020. For purposes of making this calculation only, the registrant has defined affiliates as including only directors and executive officers and stockholders holding greater than 10% of the voting stock of the registrant as of June 30, 2020.

As of March 1, 2021, there were 9,911,541 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.001 par value, outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Certain portions of the registrant’s proxy statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2021 Proxy Statement”) are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The 2021 Proxy Statement will be filed within 120 days of December 31, 2020.

NEPHROS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a “safe harbor” for forward-looking statements. Certain statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K constitute “forward-looking statements.” Such statements include statements regarding the efficacy and intended use of our technologies under development, the timelines and strategy for bringing such products to market, the timeline for regulatory review and approval of our products, the availability of funding sources for continued development of such products, and other statements that are not historical facts, including statements that may be preceded by the words “intends,” “may,” “will,” “plans,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “predicts,” “estimates,” “aims,” “believes,” “hopes,” “potential” or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Actual results may differ materially from the expectations contained in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the risks that:

More detailed information about us and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements, including the forward-looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, is set forth in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our other periodic reports filed with the SEC. We urge investors and security holders to read those documents free of charge at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. We do not undertake to publicly update or revise our forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

PART I

Item 1. Business

Overview

We are a commercial-stage company that develops and sells high performance water solutions to the medical and commercial markets.

In medical markets, we sell water filtration products and waterborne pathogen detection products. Our medical water filters, mostly classified as ultrafilters, are used primarily by hospitals for the prevention of infection from waterborne pathogens, such as legionella and pseudomonas, and in dialysis centers for the removal of biological contaminants from water and bicarbonate concentrate. Because our ultrafilters capture contaminants as small as 0.005 microns in size, they minimize exposure to a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and endotoxins.

In commercial markets, we manufacture and sell water filters that improve the taste and odor of water and reduce biofilm, bacteria, and scale build-up in downstream equipment. Marketed under both the Nephros and AETHER brands, our products are marketed primarily to the food service, hospitality, convenience store, and health care markets.

Our pathogen detection systems are portable, near real-time systems designed to provide actionable data for infection control teams, biomedical engineers in dialysis clinics, and water quality teams in building management organizations.

We also have a subsidiary, Specialty Renal Products, Inc. (“SRP”), a development-stage medical device company, focused primarily on developing hemodiafiltration (“HDF”) technology. SRP is developing a second-generation of the Nephros OLpūr H2H Hemodiafiltration System, the FDA 510(k)-cleared medical device that enables nephrologists to provide HDF treatment to patients with end stage renal disease (“ESRD”).

We were founded in 1997 by healthcare professionals affiliated with Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital to develop and commercialize an alternative method to hemodialysis. We have extended our filtration technologies to meet the demand for liquid purification in other areas, in particular, water purification.

COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every business in the United States and around the world. To date, we have fully maintained operations through the crisis, supporting our customers and strategic partners. Our warehouse and laboratory teams have integrated disinfection procedures into their activities, while our office teams have worked primarily from home. Our manufacturing and sterilization facilities have been operational, our supply chain has not been materially impacted, and our warehouses are shipping product on normal schedules.

During the pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted our business in several ways, including:

During the month of April 2020, we applied for and received a $0.5 million loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), to help us offset potential adverse effects on our results of operations and financial condition caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. On January 14, 2021, we received notice that this loan was fully forgiven.

We believe that, as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, we may experience – over the medium-to-long-term – a net positive impact on demand for all of our products, due especially to increased global awareness of infectious pathogens and the serious problems they cause. Specifically, we expect that:

In summary, the COVID-19 pandemic adds uncertainty to our business plans in the short term, while we believe that our medium-to-long-term prospects remain strong. At this time, we cannot predict the specific extent or duration of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our condition, resources and results.

Our Products

Water Filtration Products

We develop and sell water filtration products used in both medical and commercial applications. Our water filtration products employ multiple filtration technologies, as described below.

In medical markets, our primary filtration mechanism is to pass liquids through the pores of polysulfone hollow fiber. Our filters’ pores are significantly smaller than those of competing products, resulting in highly effective elimination of waterborne pathogens, including legionella bacteria (the cause of Legionnaires disease) and viruses, which are not eliminated by most other microbiological filters on the market. Additionally, the fiber structure and pore density in our hollow fiber enables significantly higher flow rates than in other polysulfone hollow fiber.

Our primary sales strategy in medical markets is to sell through value-added resellers (“VARs”). Leveraging VARs has enabled us to expand rapidly our access to target customers without significant sales staff expansion. In addition, while we are currently focused in medical markets, the VARs that support these customers also support a wide variety of commercial and industrial customers. We believe that our VAR relationships will facilitate growth in filter sales outside of the medical industry.

In commercial markets, we develop and sell our Nephros- and AETHER-branded filters, for which carbon-based absorption is the primary filtration mechanism. Aether products allow us to improve water’s odor and taste, to reduce scale and heavy metals, and to reduce other water contaminants for customers who are primarily in the food service, convenience store, and hospitality industries.

Our Aether filter offerings have the potential to generate accretive revenue growth in at least three ways. First, we expect the business to continue its organic growth. Second, cross-selling opportunities are generated by offering taste/odor-focused products to the medical markets, as well as pathogen-focused filtration to the commercial markets. Finally, as part of the more substantial Nephros organization, Aether may be able to compete for larger filtration contracts than may have been available to it as a smaller, independent firm. Since we acquired the AETHER brand, we have seen some promising results in each of these strategies, but it is still too early to judge the likelihood or magnitude of their long-term success.

In commercial markets, our model combines both direct and indirect sales. Our sales staff have sold products directly to a number of convenience stores, hotels, casinos, and restaurants. We are also pursuing large corporate contracts through partnerships.

Target Markets

Our ultrafiltration products currently target the following markets:

Hospitals and Other Healthcare Facilities. Nephros filters are a leading tool used to provide proactive protection to patients in high-risk areas (e.g., ice machines, surgical rooms, NICUs) and reactive protection to patients in broader areas during periods of water pathogen outbreaks. Our products are used in hundreds of medical facilities to aid in infection control, both proactively and reactively.

According to the American Hospital Association, approximately 6,200 hospitals, with approximately 931,000 beds, treated over 36 million patients in the United States in 2017. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that healthcare associated infections (“HAI”) occurred in approximately 1 out of every 31 hospital patients, or about 687,000 patients in 2015. HAIs affect patients in hospitals or other healthcare facilities and are not present or incubating at the time of admission. They also include infections acquired by patients in the hospital or facility, but appearing after discharge, and occupational infections among staff. Many HAIs are caused by waterborne bacteria and viruses that can thrive in aging or complex plumbing systems often found in healthcare facilities.

In June 2017, the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced the addition of requirements for facilities to develop policies and procedures that inhibit the growth and spread of legionella and other opportunistic pathogens in building water systems. Going forward, CMS surveyors will review policies, procedures, and reports documenting water management implementation results to verify that facilities are compliant with these requirements. We believe that these CMS regulations may have a positive impact on the sale of our HAI-inhibiting ultrafilters.

We currently have FDA 510(k) clearance on the following portfolio of medical device products for use in the hospital setting to aid in infection control:

Our complete hospital infection control product line, including in-line, point-of-use, and cartridge filters, can be viewed on our website at http://www.nephros.com/infection-control/. We are not including the information on our website as a part of, nor incorporating it by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Dialysis Centers - Water/Bicarbonate. In the dialysis water market, Nephros ultrafiltration products are among the highest performing products on the market. The DSU-D, SSU-D and the SSUmini have become the standard endotoxin filter in many portable reverse osmosis systems. The EndoPur^®, our large-format ultrafilter targeted at dialysis clinic water systems, provides the smallest pore size available. Following a long pilot project at a major dialysis provider, we are now seeing growth in the use of this product. In addition, we aim to expand EndoPur’s usage into heat-disinfected water systems, which will further open the market for this product.

To perform hemodialysis, all dialysis clinics have dedicated water purification systems to produce water and bicarbonate concentrate, two essential ingredients for making dialysate, the liquid that removes waste material from the blood. According to the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, there are approximately 6,500 dialysis clinics in the United States servicing approximately 468,000 patients annually. We estimate that there are over 100,000 hemodialysis machines in operation in the United States.

Medicare is the main payer for dialysis treatment in the United States. To be eligible for Medicare reimbursement, dialysis centers must meet the minimum standards for water and bicarbonate concentrate quality set by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (“AAMI”), the American National Standards Institute (“ANSI”) and the International Standards Organization (“ISO”). We anticipate that the stricter standards approved by these organizations in 2009 will be adopted by Medicare in the near future.

We currently have FDA 510(k) clearance on the following portfolio of medical device products for use in the dialysis setting to aid in bacteria, virus, and endotoxin retention:

Commercial and Industrial Facilities. Our commercial NanoGuard^® product line accomplishes ultrafiltration via small pore size (0.005 micron) technology, filtering bacteria and viruses from water. In addition, the AETHER brand expands our product line to include water filtration and purification technologies that are primarily focused on improving odor and taste and on reducing scale and heavy metals from filtered water.

We purchased the AETHER brand to expedite our access to commercial markets and to expand our filtration expertise and capabilities. Our commercial market focus is in the hotel, restaurant, and convenience store markets. In the first year post-acquisition, we upgraded Aether facilities to increase production and logistics capacity, integrated Aether products into the Nephros infection control product portfolio, and initiated sales efforts with a number of large commercial customers. We have recently added to our commercial sales team and, going forward, hope to close on one or more large contracts that may result in step-change increases in commercial market revenue.

Over time, we believe that the same water safety management programs currently underway at medical facilities may migrate to commercial markets. As the epidemiology of waterborne pathogens expands, links to contamination sources will become more efficient and the data more readily available. In cases where those sources are linked to restaurants, hotels, office buildings and residential complexes, the corporate owners of those facilities will likely face increasing liability exposure. We expect that building owners will come to understand ASHRAE-188, which outlines risk factors for buildings and their occupants, and provides water safety management guidelines. We believe, in time, most commercial buildings will need to follow the basic requirements of ASHRAE-188: create a water management plan, perform routine testing, and establish a plan to treat the building in the event of a positive test.

As demand for water testing and microbiological filtration grows, we will be ready to deploy our expertise and solutions based on years of experience servicing the medical market. We believe that we have an opportunity to offer unique expertise and products to the commercial market, and that our future revenue from the commercial market could even surpass our infection control revenue.

We currently market the following portfolio of proprietary products for use in the commercial, industrial, and food service settings:

AETHER products combine effectively with NanoGuard ultrafiltration technologies to offer full-featured solutions to the commercial water market, including to existing users of Everpure filter manifolds.

Military and Outdoor Recreation. We developed our individual water treatment device (“IWTD”) in both in-line and point-of-use configurations. Our IWTD allows a soldier in the field to derive drinking water from any freshwater source. This enables the soldier to remain hydrated, to help maintain mission effectiveness and unit readiness, and to extend mission reach. Our IWTD has been validated by the military to meet the NSF Protocol P248 standard. It has also been approved by the U.S. Army Public Health Command and the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command for deployment.

In May 2015, we entered into a Sublicense Agreement (the “Sublicense Agreement”) with CamelBak Products, LLC (“CamelBak”). Under this Sublicense Agreement, we granted CamelBak an exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide (with the exception of Italy) sublicense and license, in each case solely to market, sell, distribute, import and export the IWTD. In exchange for the rights granted to CamelBak, CamelBak agreed, through December 31, 2022, to pay us a percentage of the gross profit on any sales made to a branch of the U.S. military, subject to certain exceptions, and to pay us a fixed per-unit fee for any other sales made. CamelBak was also required to meet or exceed certain minimum annual fees payable to us, and, if such fees are not met or exceeded, we were able to convert the exclusive sublicense to a non-exclusive sublicense with respect to non-U.S. military sales. In the first quarter of 2019, the Sublicense Agreement was amended to eliminate the minimum fee obligations starting May 6, 2018 and, as such, CamelBak has no further minimum fee obligations. There was no royalty revenue recognized during the year ended December 31, 2020 related to this Sublicense Agreement. Royalty revenue of approximately $16,000 was recognized during the year ended December 31, 2019 related to the Sublicense Agreement. CamelBak product sales have been slower than originally hoped. However, military contracts often take years to close, and we remain optimistic about these products and markets.

Pathogen Detection Systems

We recently expanded our portfolio of solutions with the introduction of our PluraPath™, SequaPath™, and DialyPath™ pathogen detection systems, which we believe represent significant growth opportunities for Nephros.

PluraPath: Pathogen Detection in Infection Control. We developed the PluraPath pathogen detection system to provide real-time data to infection control teams executing their water management plans. We integrated our ultrafilter technology with emerging, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) technology and real-time analytics. We chose a portable, open-source qPCR platform that allows us to parallel-processes up to 15 different bacteria and virus assays. We worked with industry experts to select and develop DNA- and RNA-based assays that could meet our goals of providing quantitative precision within one hour. We also developed a mobile application to extract and process the data real-time. Furthermore, we designed the system so that anyone can perform qPCR testing, not just someone with training in microbiological laboratory techniques.

With the PluraPath system, it is possible to map and track the changes to levels of multiple bacterial and viral pathogens in a building’s water system on a real-time basis, at cost levels equivalent to assays that currently take 24-72 hours or more and typically provide data on only a single pathogen. Using PluraPath, we expect that infection control teams will be able to quickly assess approximate levels of a broad array of pathogens in their water systems, and optimally focus their secondary disinfection efforts and point-of-use filtration; services and products offered by our strategic partners.

The PluraPath system does not replace culture-based assays, which are the current regulatory requirements for confirmation in testing for waterborne pathogens. Rather, we believe PluraPath will become a valuable tool in the arsenal of defense, permitting faster decision making about a larger target population of pathogens. Our objective is to provide our customers and strategic partners with a user-friendly system that delivers dependable, actionable data to infection control teams in less than an hour.

SequaPath: Facility-Wide Pathogen Detection. Bacterial contaminants in water systems can originate from thousands of different bacterial families. The technology now exists to map the water system biome in real-time, on-site, using an enhanced form of the portable PluraPath system and a bioinformatics database. The SequaPath system provides the capability to screen water for over 20,000 different bacterial genera (families), including genera of the 40+ pathogenic bacteria listed by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) in their “Opportunistic Pathogens of Premise Plumbing.” The system incorporates our proprietary filtration technology and a DNA sequencing step that makes it possible to screen rapidly for genera of waterborne pathogens. Like PluraPath, the SequaPath platform is portable, allowing for same-day on-site analysis.

The SequaPath technology was used to perform a recent academic study that found far more bacteria in buildings unoccupied during the COVID-19 pandemic than in occupied buildings. The potential for building biome mapping is enormous. We are developing the technology, processes, and procedures to perform as many as 96 tests in a single run. Our plan is to first provide SequaPath as a service, and then as a product that we can support with partners who have the in-house technical capabilities to manage this system.

While this service could be of value to the management of any water system in any building in any part of the world, we will first focus on the hospital customers of our strategic partners. Once proven in the hospital space, we believe that SequaPath has the potential to shift the building water testing paradigm across multiple markets and geographies.

DialyPath: Endotoxin Detection in Dialysis Facilities. We have also been investigating pathogen detection efforts in the dialysis space. The LAL (limulus amebocyte lysate) test is a dialysis industry standard assay that identifies the presence of potential endotoxins, agnostic to the source species. The source of endotoxins are gram-negative bacteria. LAL testing routinely takes 48-72 hours to provide results from the time of shipping the sample to a central laboratory. When dialysis clinics have urgent contamination or severely elevated endotoxin issues, they may have to shut down for extended periods of time creating enormous logistical issues for patients and increasing the cost of care.

To provide a real-time solution for this testing paradigm, we launched the DialyPath pathogen detection and endotoxin estimation system on October 13, 2020. The DialyPath system mirrors PluraPath, but includes a gram-negative DNA marker test and tests for six different gram-negative bacteria. The DialyPath system is designed to provide data on two test samples in one run in about an hour. The system provides an estimate of the overall endotoxin in the sample, as well as estimated levels of six specific endotoxin-generating bacteria known to be frequent invaders of dialysis clinic water systems, and to cause inflammation in dialysis patients.

Specialty Renal Products: HDF System

Introduction to HDF

The current standard of care in the United States for patients with chronic renal failure is hemodialysis (“HD”), a process in which toxins are cleared via diffusion. Patients typically receive HD treatments at least 3 times weekly for 3-4 hours per treatment. HD is most effective in removing smaller, easily diffusible toxins. For patients with acute renal failure, the current standard of care in the United States is hemofiltration (“HF”), a process where toxins are cleared via convection. HF offers a much better removal of larger sized toxins when compared to HD; however, HF treatment is more challenging for patients, as it is performed on a daily basis, and typically takes 12-24 hours per treatment.

Hemodiafiltration (“HDF”) is an alternative dialysis modality that combines the benefits of HD and HF into a single therapy by clearing toxins using both diffusion and convection. Though not widely used in the United States, HDF is prevalent in Europe and is performed for a growing number of patients. Clinical experience and literature show the following clinical and patient benefits of HDF:

However, like HD, HDF can be resource-intensive and can require a significant amount of time to deliver one course of treatment.

Nephros HDF Background

Over the course of our history, we originally developed a medical device that enabled a standard HD machine to perform HDF. We refer to our approach as an on-line mid-dilution hemodiafiltration (“mid-dilution HDF”) system. Our original solution included an OLpūr H2H Hemodiafiltration Module (“H2H Module”), an OLpūr MD 220 Hemodiafilter (“HDF Filter”) and an H2H Substitution Filter (“Dialysate Filter”).

Our H2H Module attaches to a standard HD machine to perform on-line HDF therapy. The HD machine controls and monitors the basic treatment functions, as it would normally when providing HD therapy. The H2H Module is a free-standing, movable device that is placed next to either side of an HD machine. The H2H Module connects to the clinic’s water supply, drain, and electricity.

The H2H Module utilizes the HDF Filter, and is very similar to a typical hollow fiber dialyzer assembled with a single hollow fiber bundle made with a high-flux (or high-permeability) membrane. The fiber bundle is separated into two discrete, but serially connected, blood paths. Dialysate flows in one direction that is counter-current to blood flow in Stage 1 and co-current to blood flow in Stage 2.

In addition to the HDF Filter, the H2H Module also utilizes a Dialysate Filter during patient treatment. The Dialysate Filter is a hollow fiber, ultrafilter device that consists of two sequential (redundant) ultrafiltration stages in a single housing. During on-line HDF with the H2H Module, fresh dialysate is redirected by the H2H Module’s hydraulic (substitution) pump and passed through this dual-stage ultrafilter before being infused as substitution fluid into the extracorporeal circuit. Providing ultrapure dialysate is crucial for the success of on-line HDF treatment.

Our original HDF system conformed with current ANSI/AAMI/ISO standards and was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for the treatment of patients with chronic renal failure in 2012. To date, our HDF System is the only HDF system cleared by the FDA.

Over the last four years, DaVita Healthcare Partners, the Renal Research Institute (a research division of Fresenius Medical Care), and Vanderbilt University conducted post-market evaluations of our hemodiafiltration system in their clinics. We gathered direct feedback from these evaluations to develop a better understanding of how our system best fits into the current clinical and economic ESRD treatment paradigm. The ultimate goal of the evaluations was to better understand the potential for HDF in the U.S. clinical setting in order to (a) improve the quality of life for the patient, (b) reduce overall expenditure compared to other dialysis modalities, (c) minimize the impact on nurse work flow at the clinic, and (d) demonstrate the pharmacoeconomic benefit of the HDF technology to the U.S. healthcare system, as has been done in Europe with other HDF systems. The last evaluation was concluded at Vanderbilt in the first quarter of 2018.

Specialty Renal Products, Inc. (SRP)

Over the past three years, we have dramatically simplified and redesigned our HDF device. Our updates have made the system significantly easier to use. By shifting from a reusable substitution ultrafilter to a disposable substitution ultrafilter, we were able to simplify the set-up process and substantially reduce the time required between patient treatments – two of the key complaints from our first-generation system. We used real-time user feedback to aid in the fine-tuning of our changes to the system that impacted usability. We believe our second generation HDF system will meet the needs of both clinicians and patients.

In 2018, we spun-off the development of the HDF device into SRP. We raised $3 million of outside capital directly into SRP to fund the second-generation development described above while Nephros maintains a 62.5% ownership stake in SRP. On October 9, 2020, Nephros and SRP entered into a formal loan agreement, in which Nephros agreed to lend up to $1.3 million of operating funds to SRP, including the $1.0 million borrowed by SRP during the year ended December 31, 2020. These funds are expected to be sufficient to fund SRP through the planned FDA 510(k) clearance process of SRP’s second-generation hemodiafiltration system, which is expected to be initially submitted to the FDA in early 2021.

Once we have obtained FDA clearance for our second-generation device, we intend to launch it at clinics that have previous experience with our device. We plan to then expand our efforts, on a measured basis, to clinics that wish to provide HDF therapy to their patients. At this time, we do not believe making a rapid and broad push into the market would be optimal; nephrologists in the United States are not trained on HDF therapy. However, many nephrologists want to explore the option and we believe that early adopters will want to perform studies to better understand the technology. We intend to support these investigator-initiated studies.

While a number of studies have been performed in Europe, the body of evidence for optimal use of HDF needs to be built in the U.S. treatment setting. According to European data from Fresenius, over 15% of dialysis treatments are HDF. That could translate to over 10 million individual treatments if HDF achieved that level of penetration in the United States. We do not believe that the United States will instantaneously mirror Europe. However, we do believe that HDF therapy has a place in the treatment landscape for patients with ESRD in the United States, and we look forward to enabling this pathway.

Corporate Information

We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in April 1997. Our principal executive offices are located at 380 Lackawanna Place, South Orange, New Jersey 07079, and our telephone number is (201) 343-5202. We also have offices in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada and in Dublin, Ireland. For more information about Nephros, please visit our website at www.nephros.com. We are not including the information on our website as a part of, nor incorporating it by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Manufacturing and Suppliers

We do not, and do not intend to in the near future, manufacture any of our medical device filtration products. We do manufacture some of our commercial filtration products in our Aether facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition, we plan to manufacture some pathogen detection products in our Reno, Nevada facility.

With regard to the OLpūr MD190 and MD220, on June 27, 2011, we entered into a License Agreement (the “License Agreement”), effective July 1, 2011, as amended by the first amendment dated February 19, 2014, with Bellco S.r.l. (“Bellco”), an Italy-based supplier of hemodialysis and intensive care products, for the manufacturing, marketing and sale of our patented mid-dilution dialysis filters. Under the License Agreement, as amended, we granted Bellco a license to manufacture, market and sell the covered products under its own name, label, and CE mark in certain countries on an exclusive basis, and to do the same on a non-exclusive basis in certain other countries.

On April 23, 2012, we entered into a License and Supply Agreement (the “License and Supply Agreement”) with Medica S.p.A. (“Medica”), an Italy-based medical product manufacturing company, for the marketing and sale of certain filtration products based upon Medica’s proprietary Medisulfone ultrafiltration technology in conjunction with our filtration products, and for an exclusive supply arrangement for the filtration products. Under the License and Supply Agreement, as amended, Medica granted to us an exclusive license, with right of sublicense, to market, promote, distribute, offer for sale and sell the filtration products worldwide, with certain limitations on territory, during the term of the License and Supply Agreement. In addition, we granted to Medica an exclusive license under our intellectual property to make the filtration products during the term of the License and Supply Agreement. The filtration covered under the License and Supply Agreement include both certain products based on Medica’s proprietary Versatile microfiber technology and certain filtration products based on Medica’s proprietary Medisulfone ultrafiltration technology. The term of the License and Supply Agreement with Medica expires on December 31, 2025, unless earlier terminated by either party in accordance with the terms of the License and Supply Agreement.

In exchange for the rights granted, we agreed to make minimum annual aggregate purchases from Medica throughout the term of the License and Supply Agreement. As part of the License and Supply Agreement, we granted to Medica 300,000 options to purchase our common stock, which vested over the first three years of the agreement. We currently have an understanding with Medica whereby we have agreed to pay interest to Medica at a 12% annual rate calculated on the principal amount of any outstanding invoices that are not paid pursuant to the original payment terms.

Sales and Marketing

Under the Bellco License Agreement, as discussed above, we granted Bellco a license to manufacture, market and sell the covered products under its own name, label and CE mark in the territory, as defined in the License Agreement. In addition, if requested by us, Bellco will be required to sell the covered products to our distributors in the stated territory.

Our New Jersey headquarters oversees global sales and marketing activity of our ultrafilter products. We work with multiple distributors for our ultrafilter products in the hospital and dialysis water markets. For the food service and hospitality markets, our Aether division leads global sales and marketing activity. For other prospective markets for our ultrafilter products, we are pursuing alliance opportunities for joint product development and/or distribution. Our ultrafilter manufacturer in Europe shares certain intellectual property rights with us for one of our dual stage ultrafilter designs.

Research and Development

Our research and development efforts continue on several fronts directly related to our current product lines. For the ultrafiltration systems business, we are continually working with existing and potential distributors of ultrafilter products to develop solutions to meet customer needs. Our pathogen detection systems organization is driving the development of PluraPath and other related systems planned for the future. Our SRP subsidiary is driving the development of our second-generation HDF system.

Major Customers

For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the following customers accounted for the following percentages of our revenues, respectively:

As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the following customers accounted for the following percentages of our accounts receivable, respectively:

Competition

With respect to the water filtration market, we compete with companies that are well-entrenched in the water filtration domain. These companies include Pall Corporation (now wholly owned by Danaher Corporation), which manufactures point-of-use microfiltration products, as well as 3M and Pentair, who manufacture the Cuno® and Everpure® brands of water filtration and purification products respectively. Our methods of competition in the water filtration domain include:

The PluraPath pathogen detection system will compete in the $8 billion global water testing market. Portable, real-time water testing, however, is a relatively new market, with few competitors, including Spartan Bioscience.

The dialyzer and renal replacement therapy market is subject to intense competition. Accordingly, our future success will depend on our ability to meet the clinical goals of nephrologists, improve patient outcomes and remain cost-effective for payers.

We also compete with other suppliers of ESRD therapies, supplies and services. These suppliers include Fresenius Medical Care AG and Baxter International, Inc., currently two of the primary machine manufacturers in hemodialysis. Fresenius Medical Care AG and Baxter International, Inc. also manufacture HDF machines that are not currently approved in the United States.

The markets in which we sell our dialysis products are highly competitive. Our competitors in the sale of hemodialysis products include Baxter International Inc., Fresenius Medical Care AG, Asahi Kasei Medical Co. Ltd., B. Braun Melsungen AG, Nipro Medical Corporation Ltd., Nikkiso Co., Ltd., Terumo Medical Corporation and Toray Medical Co., Ltd.

Other competitive considerations include pharmacological and technological advances in preventing the progression of ESRD in high-risk patients, such as those with diabetes and hypertension, technological developments by others in the area of dialysis, the development of new medications designed to reduce the incidence of kidney transplant rejection, and progress in using kidneys harvested from genetically-engineered animals as a source of transplants.

We are not aware of any other companies using technology similar to ours in the treatment of ESRD. Our competition would increase, however, if companies that currently sell ESRD products, or new companies that enter the market, develop technology that is more efficient than ours. We believe that in order to become competitive in this market, we will need to develop and maintain competitive products and take and hold sufficient market share from our competitors. Therefore, we expect our methods of competing in the ESRD marketplace to include:

Intellectual Property

Patents

We protect our technology and products through patents and patent applications. In addition to the United States, we also apply for patents in other jurisdictions, such as the European Patent Office, Canada and Japan, to the extent we deem appropriate. We have built a portfolio of patents and applications covering our products, including their hardware design and methods of hemodiafiltration.

We believe that our patent strategy will provide a competitive advantage in our target markets, but our patents may not be broad enough to cover our competitors’ products, and may be subject to invalidation claims. Our U.S. patents for the “Method and Apparatus for Efficient Hemodiafiltration” and for the “Dual-Stage Filtration Cartridge” have claims that cover the OLpūr MDHDF filter series and the method of hemodiafiltration employed in the operation of the products. Technological developments in ESRD therapy could reduce the value of our intellectual property. Any such reduction could be rapid and unanticipated. We have issued patents on our water filtration products and applications in process to cover various applications in residential, commercial, and remote environments.

As of December 31, 2020, we had six U.S. patents, three Mexican patents, one Chinese patent, one French patent, one German patent, one Italian patent, one United Kingdom patent, and one Canadian patent. In addition, we had three pending patent applications in the United States. Our pending patent applications relate to a range of filter technologies, including liquid purification filter systems and portable systems for detecting waterborne pathogens by rapid filtration, concentration and detection of the waterborne pathogens.

Trademarks

As of December 31, 2020, in the United States, we secured registrations of the trademarks HYDRAGUARD, NANOGUARD, ENDOPUR, FILPATH, and SEQUAPATH. We have also filed trademark applications for PLURAPATH and DIALYPATH in the United States. In Canada, we filed trademark applications for PLURAPATH and SEQUAPATH.

Governmental Regulation

The research and development, manufacturing, promotion, marketing and distribution of our ESRD therapy products in the United States, Europe and other regions of the world are subject to regulation by numerous governmental authorities, including the FDA, the European Union and analogous agencies.

United States

The FDA regulates the manufacture and distribution of medical devices in the United States pursuant to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics (FDC) Act. All of our ESRD therapy products are regulated in the United States as medical devices by the FDA under the FDC Act. Under the FDC Act, medical devices are classified in one of three classes, namely Class I, II or III, on the basis of the controls deemed necessary by the FDA to reasonably ensure their safety and effectiveness.

Before a new medical device can be introduced to the market, Section 510(k) and Section 515 of the FDC Act require a manufacturer who intends to market a medical device to submit a premarket notification (Section 510(k)) or a request for premarket approval (Section 515), to the FDA.

A 510(k) clearance will be granted if the submitted information establishes that the proposed device is “substantially equivalent” to a legally marketed Class I or Class II medical device or to a Class III medical device for which the FDA has not called for premarket approval under Section 515. The 510(k) clearance process is generally faster and simpler than the premarket approval process.

Premarket approval (PMA) is the FDA’s process of scientific and regulatory review to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Class III medical devices. Class III devices are those that support or sustain human life, are of substantial importance in preventing impairment of human health, or which present a potential, unreasonable risk of illness or injury, or are new and present unknown safety or effectiveness issues or risks. PMA is the most stringent type of device marketing application required by the FDA. To gain approval, the manufacturer must present adequate scientific evidence to assure that the device is safe and effective for its intended use(s).

For any devices cleared through the 510(k) clearance process, modifications or enhancements that could significantly affect the safety or effectiveness of the device or that constitute a major change to the intended use of the device will require a new 510(k) clearance submission. Accordingly, if we do obtain Section 510(k) clearance for any of our ESRD therapy and/or filtration products, we will need to submit another Section 510(k) notification if we significantly affect that product’s safety or effectiveness through subsequent modifications or enhancements.

All of our products have been cleared by the FDA as Class II devices, such as:

The FDC Act requires that medical devices be manufactured in accordance with the FDA’s current QSR regulations which require, among other things, that:

In addition to the requirements described above, the FDC Act requires that:

We and our contract manufacturers are required to manufacture our products in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements set forth in the QSR. The QSR requires a quality system for the design, manufacture, packaging, labeling, storage, installation and servicing of marketed devices, and it includes extensive requirements with respect to quality management and organization, device design, buildings, equipment, purchase and handling of components or services, production and process controls, packaging and labeling controls, device evaluation, distribution, installation, complaint handling, servicing, and record keeping. The FDA evaluates compliance with the QSR through periodic unannounced inspections that may include the manufacturing facilities of our subcontractors. If the FDA believes that we or any of our contract manufacturers, or regulated suppliers, are not in compliance with these requirements, there may be a material adverse effect on our manufacturing operations, effecting our ability to sell.

European Union

The European Union began to harmonize national regulations comprehensively for the control of medical devices in member nations in 1993, when it adopted its Medical Devices Directive 93/42/EEC. The European Union directive applies to both the manufacturer’s quality assurance system and the product’s technical design and discusses the various ways to obtain approval of a device (dependent on device classification), how to properly CE mark a device, and how to place a device on the market.

In 2017, the European Union (EU) adopted the EU Medical Device Regulation (Council Regulations 2017/745) which imposes stricter requirements for the marketing and sale of medical devices, including new quality system and post-market surveillance requirements. The regulation has a three-year implementation period to May 2020 and will replace the existing directives on medical devices in the EU. After May 2020, medical devices marketed in the EU require certification according to these new requirements, except that devices with valid CE certificates, issued pursuant to the Medical Device Directive before May 2020, may be placed on the market until 2024. Complying with this new regulation will require us to incur significant costs and failure to meet the requirements of the regulation could adversely impact our business in the European Union and other countries that utilize or rely on European Union requirements for medical device registrations.

As defined in Medical Devices Directive 93/42/EEC, the regulatory approach necessary to demonstrate to the European Union that the organization has the ability to provide medical devices and related services that consistently meet customer requirements and regulatory requirements applicable to medical devices requires the certification of a full quality management system by a notified body. Initially, we engaged TÜV Rheinland of North America, Inc. (“TÜV Rheinland”) as the notified body to assist us in obtaining certification to ISO 13485/2003 standard, which demonstrates the presence of a quality management system that can be used by an organization for design and development, production, installation and servicing of medical devices and the design, development and provision of related services.

European Union requirements for products are set forth in harmonized European Union standards and include conformity to safety requirements, physical and biological properties, construction and environmental properties, and information supplied by the manufacturer. A company demonstrates conformity to these requirements, with respect to a product, by pre-clinical tests, biocompatibility tests, qualification of products and packaging, risk analysis and well-conducted clinical investigations approved by ethics committees.

Once a manufacturer’s full quality management system is determined to be in compliance with ISO 13485/2003 and other statutory requirements, and the manufacturer’s products conform to harmonized European standards, the notified body will recommend and document such conformity. The manufacturer will receive a CE marking and ISO certifications, and then may place a CE mark on the relevant products. The CE mark, which stands for Conformité Européene, demonstrates compliance with the relevant European Union requirements. Products subject to these provisions that do not bear the CE mark cannot be imported to, or sold or distributed within, the European Union.

Medical Devices sold in Europe/ anticipated to be sold in Europe, shall be examined and classified as:

In July 2003, we received a certification from TÜV Rheinland that our quality management system conforms to the requirements of the European Community. At the same time, TÜV Rheinland approved our use of the CE marking with respect to the design and production of high permeability hemodialyzer products for ESRD therapy. In April 2010, we changed our notified body from TÜV Rheinland to BSI America, Inc. and expanded our scope to include design and development and production of water filters.

Under the License Agreement with Bellco, as discussed above, we granted Bellco a license to manufacture, market and sell the covered products under its own name, label and CE mark in the stated territory. In addition, if requested by us, Bellco will be required to sell the covered products to our distributors in the stated territory.

The following products have been certified by BSI America for CE marking and adherence to ISO13485 standards as Class IIa (Rule 3) medical devices:

Regulatory Authorities in Regions Outside of the United States and the European Union

In November 2007 and May 2011, the Therapeutic Products Directorate of Health Canada, the Canadian health regulatory agency, approved our OLpūr MD220 Hemodiafilter and our DSU, respectively, for marketing in Canada. Other than the Canadian approval of our OLpūr MD220 Hemodiafilter and DSU products, we have not obtained any regulatory approvals to sell any of our products outside of the United States and the European Union and there is no assurance that any such clearance or certification will be issued.

Requirements pertaining to medical devices vary widely from country to country, ranging from no health regulations to detailed submissions such as those required by the FDA. Our manufacturing facilities are subject to audits and have been certified to be ISO 13485:2016 and Medical Device Directive 93/42/EEC, which allows us to sell our products in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Currently we are in the process to seek approval for MDSAP compliance. The Medical Device Single Audit Program (MDSAP) is a program that allows the conduct of a single regulatory audit of a medical device manufacturer’s quality management system that satisfies the requirements of multiple regulatory jurisdictions. Audits are conducted by Auditing Organizations authorized by the participating Regulatory Authorities to audit under MDSAP requirements. The MDSAP is a way that medical device manufacturers can be audited once for compliance with the standard and regulatory requirements of up to five different medical device markets: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan and the United States.

Following the completion of MDSAP, this certification will allow us to sell our products in the United States, Canada, Europe, and other territories around the world, while maintaining our current approvals. The time and cost of obtaining new, and maintaining existing, market authorizations from countries outside of North America, and the requirements for licensing products in these countries may differ significantly from FDA requirements.

Reimbursement

In both domestic markets and markets outside of the United States, sales of our ESRD therapy products will depend in part, on the availability of reimbursement from third-party payers. In the United States, ESRD providers are reimbursed through Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers. In countries other than the United States, ESRD providers are also reimbursed through governmental insurers. In countries other than the United States, the pricing and profitability of our products generally will be subject to government controls. Despite the continually expanding influence of the European Union, national healthcare systems in its member nations, including reimbursement decision-making, are neither regulated nor integrated at the European Union level. Each country has its own system, often closely protected by its corresponding national government.

Product Liability and Insurance

The production, marketing and sale of our products have an inherent risk of liability in the event of product failure or claim of harm caused by product operation. We have acquired product liability insurance for our products in the amount of $2 million. A successful claim in excess of our insurance coverage could materially deplete our assets. Moreover, any claim against us could generate negative publicity, which could decrease the demand for our products, our ability to generate revenues and our profitability.

Some of our existing and potential agreements with manufacturers of our products and components of our products do or may require us (1) to obtain product liability insurance or (2) to indemnify manufacturers against liabilities resulting from the sale of our products. If we are not able to maintain adequate product liability insurance, we will be in breach of these agreements, which could materially adversely affect our ability to produce our products. Even if we are able to obtain and maintain product liability insurance, if a successful claim in excess of our insurance coverage is made, then we may have to indemnify some or all of our manufacturers for their losses, which could materially deplete our assets.

Employees

As of December 31, 2020, we employed a total of 27 full-time employees, including 12 employed in sales/marketing/customer support, 8 in general and administrative, and 7 in research and development. None of our employees are currently represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement and we believe that our relations with our employees are good. During 2020, we had limited voluntary turnover and focused on maintaining our workforce throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Going forward, we intend to focus on maintaining our current good relations with our employees and continuing to develop and explore ways to collaborate with our employees and create a well-regarded workplace.

Available Information

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The Exchange Act requires us to file periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. These materials may be obtained electronically by accessing the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Overall Business and Operations

We have a history of operating losses and a significant accumulated deficit, and we may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.

As of December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $132.0 million as a result of historical operating losses. While we believe that the revenues following the launch of our new products will help us achieve profitability, there can be no guarantee of this. We may continue to incur additional losses in the future depending on the timing and marketplace acceptance of our products and as a result of operating expenses being higher than our gross margin from product sales. We began sales of our first product in March 2004, and we may never realize sufficient revenues from the sale of our products or be profitable. Each of the following factors, among others, may influence the timing and extent of our profitability, if any:

The COVID-19 pandemic may continue to adversely impact our sales and revenues.

There is uncertainty with respect to our projections regarding the availability of sufficient cash resources as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic conditions it has caused. During the pandemic, we have seen decreased demand for our hospital filtration products, particularly in emergency pathogen outbreak response. In addition, sales to new customers – including water filtration and pathogen detection products – have been hindered by pandemic-related travel restrictions. Also, our commercial filtration products, which are primarily targeted at the hospitality and food service markets, have seen a decrease in demand, due to the closure of many hotels and restaurants. If these decreases in demand continue and we are unable to achieve our revenue plan, we may cut budgeted expenditures as appropriate to preserve our available capital resources, which could slow our revenue growth plans.

We face significant challenges in obtaining market acceptance of our products, which could adversely affect our potential sales and revenues.

We do not yet have an established market or customer base for our products. Our failure to achieve sufficient market acceptance and sell our products at competitive prices will limit our ability to generate revenue and be profitable. Our water filtration products and technologies may not achieve expected reliability, performance and endurance standards. Our water filtration products and technologies may not achieve market acceptance, including among hospitals, or may not be deemed suitable for other commercial, military, industrial or retail applications. Factors that may affect our ability to achieve acceptance of our water filtration products and technologies in the marketplace include whether such products will be safe for use, whether they will be effective and whether they will be cost-effective.

Further, acceptance of our chronic renal failure therapy products in the marketplace by both potential users, including chronic renal failure patients, and potential purchasers, including nephrologists, dialysis clinics and other health care providers, is uncertain. Market acceptance will require substantial marketing efforts and the expenditure of significant funds by us to inform dialysis patients and nephrologists, dialysis clinics and other health care providers of the benefits of using our products. We may encounter significant clinical and market resistance to our products and our products may never achieve market acceptance. We may not be able to build key relationships with physicians, clinical groups and government agencies, pursue or increase sales opportunities in Europe or elsewhere, or be the first to introduce HDF therapy in the United States. Product orders may be cancelled, patients or customers currently using our products may cease to do so and patients or customers expected to begin using our products may not. Additionally, acceptance in the marketplace will depend on whether we will be able to demonstrate product safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness, whether there are unexpected side effects, complications or other safety issues associated with such products, and whether government or third-party reimbursement for the cost of such products is available at reasonable rates, if at all.

If we are not able to successfully scale-up production of our products, then our sales and revenues will suffer.

In order to commercialize our products, we need to be able to produce them in a cost-effective way on a large scale to meet commercial demand, while maintaining extremely high standards for quality and reliability. The extent to which we fail to successfully commercialize our products will limit our ability to be profitable.

We expect to rely on a limited number of independent manufacturers to produce our products. Our manufacturers’ systems and procedures may not be adequate to support our operations and may not be able to achieve the rapid execution necessary to exploit the market for our products. Our manufacturers could experience manufacturing and control problems as they begin to scale-up our future manufacturing operations, if any, and we may not be able to scale-up manufacturing in a timely manner or at a commercially reasonable cost to enable production in sufficient quantities. If we experience any of these problems with respect to our manufacturers’ initial or future scale-ups of manufacturing operations, then we may not be able to have our products manufactured and delivered in a timely manner. Our products are new and evolving, and our manufacturers may encounter unforeseen difficulties in manufacturing them in commercial quantities or at all.

If we cannot develop adequate distribution, customer service and technical support networks, then we may not be able to market and distribute our products effectively and/or customers may decide not to order our products. In either case, our sales and revenues will suffer.

Our strategy requires us to distribute our products and provide a significant amount of customer service and maintenance and other technical service. To provide these services, we have begun, and will need to continue, to develop a network of distribution and a staff of employees and independent contractors in each of the areas in which we intend to operate. We cannot assure that we will be able to organize and manage this network on a cost-effective basis. If we cannot effectively organize and manage this network, then it may be difficult for us to distribute our products and to provide competitive service and support to our customers, in which case customers may be unable, or decide not, to order our products and our sales and revenues will suffer.

We have limited experience selling our products to healthcare facilities, and we might be unsuccessful in increasing our sales.

Our business strategy depends in part on our ability to sell our products to hospitals and other healthcare facilities, including dialysis clinics. We have limited experience with respect to sales and marketing. If we are unsuccessful at manufacturing, marketing and selling our products, our operations and potential revenues will be materially adversely affected.

Product liability associated with the production, marketing and sale of our products, and/or the expense of defending against claims of product liability, could materially deplete our assets and generate negative publicity which could impair our reputation.

The production, marketing and sale of kidney dialysis and water-filtration products have inherent risks of liability in the event of product failure or claim of harm caused by product operation. Voluntary recalls could subject us to claims or proceedings by consumers, the FDA or other regulatory authorities which may adversely impact our sales and revenues. Furthermore, even meritless claims of product liability may be costly to defend against. Although we have acquired product liability insurance for our products, we may not be able to maintain or obtain this insurance on acceptable terms or at all. Because we may not be able to obtain insurance that provides us with adequate protection against all potential product liability claims, a successful claim in excess of our insurance coverage could materially deplete our assets. Moreover, even if we are able to obtain adequate insurance, any claim against us could generate negative publicity, which could impair our reputation and adversely affect the demand for our products, our ability to generate sales and our profitability.

Some of the agreements that we may enter into with manufacturers of our products and components of our products may require us to obtain product liability insurance; or to indemnify manufacturers against liabilities resulting from the sale of our products. For example, the agreement with our contract manufacturer (“CM”) requires that we obtain and maintain certain minimum product liability insurance coverage and that we indemnify our CM against certain liabilities arising out of our products that they manufacture, provided they do not arise out of our CM’s breach of the agreement, negligence or willful misconduct. If we are not able to obtain and maintain adequate product liability insurance, then we could be in breach of these agreements, which could materially adversely affect our ability to produce our products and generate revenues. Even if we are able to obtain and maintain product liability insurance, if a successful claim in excess of our insurance coverage is made, then we may have to indemnify some or all of our manufacturers for their losses, which could materially deplete our assets.

We cannot assure you that our products will be safe or that there will not be product-related deaths, serious injuries or product malfunctions. Further, we are required under applicable law to report any circumstances relating to our medically approved products that could result in deaths or serious injuries. These circumstances could trigger recalls, class action lawsuits and other events that could cause us to incur expenses and may also limit our ability to generate revenues from such products.

We cannot assure you that our products will prove to be safe or that there will not be product-related deaths or serious injuries or product malfunctions, which could trigger recalls, class action lawsuits and other events that could cause us to incur significant expenses, limit our ability to market our products and generate revenues from such products or cause us reputational harm. Under the FDC Act, we are required to submit medical device reports (“MDRs”) to the FDA to report device-related deaths, serious injuries and malfunctions of medically approved products that could result in death or serious injury if they were to recur. Depending on their significance, MDRs could trigger events that could cause us to incur expenses and may also limit our ability to generate revenues from such products. Additionally, any of the following could occur:

If any of these events occur, then we could incur significant expenses and it could become more difficult for us to market and sell our products and to generate revenues from sales. Other countries may impose analogous reporting requirements that could cause us to incur expenses and may also limit our ability to generate revenues from sales of our products.

We may face significant risks associated with international operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We expect to manufacture and to market our products globally. Our international operations are subject to a number of risks, including the following:

Any one or more of these factors could increase our costs, reduce our revenues, or disrupt our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Government Regulation

If we violate any provisions of the FDC Act or any other statutes or regulations, then we could be subject to enforcement actions by the FDA or other governmental agencies.

We face a significant compliance burden under the FDC Act and other applicable statutes and regulations which govern the testing, labeling, storage, record keeping, distribution, sale, marketing, advertising and promotion of our medically approved products. If we violate the FDC Act or other regulatory requirements (either with respect to our ultrafilters or otherwise) at any time during or after the product development and/or approval process, we could be subject to enforcement actions by the FDA or other agencies, including:

Any of the above could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We cannot sell our products, including certain modifications thereto, until we obtain the requisite regulatory approvals and clearances in the countries in which we intend to sell our products. If we fail to receive, or experience a significant delay in receiving, such approvals and clearances, then we may not be able to get our products to market and enhance our revenues.

Our business strategy depends in part on our ability to get our products into the market as quickly as possible. We have obtained a Conformité Européene (“CE”) mark, which demonstrates compliance with the relevant European Union requirements and is a regulatory prerequisite for selling our products in the European Union and certain other countries that recognize CE marking (collectively, “European Community”), for our OLpūr MD 220 Hemodiafilter and our DSU. We have not yet obtained a CE mark for any of our other products. We previously received clearance from the FDA to market our OLpūr MD220 Hemodiafilter and OLpūr H2H Module for use with a hemodialysis machine that provides ultrapure dialysate in accordance with current ANSI/AAMI/ISO standards, for the treatment of chronic renal failure patients. We have not begun to broadly market these products and are actively seeking a commercialization partner in the United States.

We cannot ensure that any existing products that have not yet been approved, or any new products developed by us in the future, will be approved for marketing. The clearance and/or approval processes can be lengthy and uncertain, and each requires substantial commitments of our financial resources and our management’s time and effort. We may not be able to obtain further CE marking or regulatory approval for any of our existing or new products in a timely manner or at all. Even if we do obtain regulatory approval, approval may be only for limited uses with specific classes of patients, processes or other devices. Our failure to obtain, or delays in obtaining, the necessary regulatory clearance and/or approvals would prevent us from selling our affected products in the applicable regions. If we cannot sell some of our products in such regions, or if we are delayed in selling while waiting for the necessary clearance and/or approvals, our ability to generate revenues from these products will be limited.

Over time, we intend to market our products globally. Requirements pertaining to the sale of our products vary widely from country to country. It may be very expensive and difficult for us to meet the requirements for the sale of our products in many countries. As a result, we may not be able to obtain the required approvals in a timely manner, if at all. If we cannot sell our products in a particular region, then the size of our potential market could be reduced, which would limit our potential sales and revenues.

Significant additional governmental regulation could subject us to unanticipated delays that would adversely affect our sales and revenues.

Our business strategy depends in part on our ability to get our products into the market as quickly as possible. Additional laws and regulations, or changes to existing laws and regulations that are applicable to our business may be enacted or promulgated, and the interpretation, application or enforcement of the existing laws and regulations may change. We cannot predict the nature of any future laws, regulations, interpretations, applications or enforcements or the specific effects any of these might have on our business. Any future laws, regulations, interpretations, applications or enforcements could delay or prevent regulatory approval or clearance of our products and our ability to market our products. Moreover, changes that result in our failure to comply with the requirements of applicable laws and regulations could result in enforcement actions by the FDA and/or other agencies, all of which could impair our ability to have manufactured and to sell the affected products.

If we are not able to maintain sufficient quality controls, then the approval or clearance of our products by the European Union, the FDA or other relevant authorities could be withdrawn, delayed or denied and our sales and revenues will suffer.

Approval or clearance of our products could be withdrawn, delayed or denied by the European Union, the FDA and the relevant authorities of other countries if our manufacturing facilities do not comply with their respective manufacturing requirements. The European Union imposes requirements on quality control systems of manufacturers, which are inspected and certified on a periodic basis and may be subject to additional unannounced inspections. Failure by our manufacturers to comply with these requirements could prevent us from marketing our products in the European Community. The FDA also imposes requirements through quality system requirements regulations, which include requirements for good manufacturing practices. Failure by our manufacturers to comply with these requirements could prevent us from obtaining FDA pre-clearance or approval of our products and from marketing such products in the United States. Although the manufacturing facilities and processes that we use to manufacture our OLpūr MD HDF filter series have been inspected and certified by a worldwide testing and certification agency (also referred to as a notified body) that performs conformity assessments to European Union requirements for medical devices, they have not been inspected by the FDA. A “notified body” is a group accredited and monitored by governmental agencies that inspects manufacturing facilities and quality control systems at regular intervals and is authorized to carry out unannounced inspections. We cannot be sure that any of the facilities or processes we use will comply or continue to comply with their respective requirements on a timely basis or at all, which could delay or prevent our obtaining the approvals we need to market our products in the European Community and the United States.

To market our products in the European Community, the United States and other countries, where approved, manufacturers of such products must continue to comply or ensure compliance with the relevant manufacturing requirements. Although we cannot control the manufacturers of our products, we may need to expend time, resources and effort in product manufacturing and quality control to assist with their continued compliance with these requirements. If violations of applicable requirements are noted during periodic inspections of the manufacturing facilities of our manufacturers, then we may not be able to continue to market the products manufactured in such facilities and our revenues may be materially adversely affected.

Clinical studies that may be required for our products are costly and time-consuming, and their outcome is uncertain.

Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any of our products, other than those for which we have already received marketing approval in the United States and elsewhere, we must demonstrate through clinical studies that our products are safe and effective.

For products other than those for which we have already received marketing approval, if we do not prove in clinical trials that our products are safe and effective, we will not obtain marketing approvals from the applicable regulatory authorities. In particular, one or more of our products may not exhibit the expected medical benefits, may cause harmful side effects, may not be effective in treating dialysis patients, or may have other unexpected characteristics that preclude regulatory approval for any or all indications of use or limit commercial use if approved. The length of time necessary to complete clinical trials varies significantly and is difficult to predict. Factors that can cause delay or termination of our clinical trials include:

Even if we obtain positive results from clinical studies for our products, we may not achieve the same success in future studies of such products. Data obtained from clinical studies is susceptible to varying interpretations that could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. In addition, we may encounter delays or rejections based upon changes in regulatory policy for device approval during the period of product development and regulatory review of each submitted new device application. Moreover, regulatory approval may entail limitations on the indicated uses of the device. Failure to obtain requisite governmental approvals or failure to obtain approvals of the scope requested will delay or preclude our licensees or marketing partners from marketing our products or limit the commercial use of such products and will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, some or all of the clinical trials we undertake may not demonstrate sufficient safety and efficacy to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals, which could prevent or delay the creation of marketable products. Our product development costs will increase if we have delays in testing or approvals, if we need to perform more, larger or different clinical trials than planned or if our trials are not successful. Delays in our clinical trials may harm our financial results and the commercial prospects for our products. Additionally, we may be unable to complete our clinical trials if we are unable to obtain additional capital.

Risks Related to our Intellectual Property

Protecting our intellectual property in our technology through patents may be costly and ineffective. If we are not able to adequately secure or enforce protection of our intellectual property, then we may not be able to compete effectively and we may not be profitable.

Our future success depends in part on our ability to protect the intellectual property for our technology through patents. We will only be able to protect our products and methods from unauthorized use by third parties to the extent that our products and methods are covered by valid and enforceable patents or are effectively maintained as trade secrets. Our 12 granted U.S. patents will expire at various times from 2021 to 2040, assuming they are properly maintained.

The protection provided by our patents, and patent applications if issued, may not be broad enough to prevent competitors from introducing similar products into the market. Our patents, if challenged or if we attempt to enforce them, may not necessarily be upheld by the courts of any jurisdiction. Numerous publications may have been disclosed by, and numerous patents may have been issued to, our competitors and others relating to methods and devices for dialysis of which we are not aware and additional patents relating to methods and devices for dialysis may be issued to our competitors and others in the future. If any of those publications or patents conflict with our patent rights, or cover our products, then any or all of our patent applications could be rejected and any or all of our granted patents could be invalidated, either of which could materially adversely affect our competitive position.

Litigation and other proceedings relating to patent matters, whether initiated by us or a third party, can be expensive and time-consuming, regardless of whether the outcome is favorable to us, and may require the diversion of substantial financial, managerial and other resources. An adverse outcome could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties or require us to cease any related development, product sales or commercialization activities. In addition, if patents that contain dominating or conflicting claims have been or are subsequently issued to others and the claims of these patents are ultimately determined to be valid, then we may be required to obtain licenses under patents of others in order to develop, manufacture, use, import and/or sell our products. We may not be able to obtain licenses under any of these patents on terms acceptable to us, if at all. If we do not obtain these licenses, we could encounter delays in, or be prevented entirely from using, importing, developing, manufacturing, offering or selling any products or practicing any methods, or delivering any services requiring such licenses.

If we file for or obtain additional patents in foreign countries, we will be subject to laws and procedures that differ from those in the United States. Such differences could create additional uncertainty about the level and extent of our patent protection. Moreover, patent protection in foreign countries may be different from patent protection under U.S. laws and may not be as favorable to us. Many non-U.S. jurisdictions, for example, prohibit patent claims covering methods of medical treatment of humans, although this prohibition may not include devices used for such treatment.

If we are not able to secure and enforce protection of our trade secrets through enforcement of our confidentiality and non-competition agreements, then our competitors may gain access to our trade secrets, we may not be able to compete effectively, and we may not be profitable. Such protection may be costly and ineffective.

We attempt to protect our trade secrets, including the processes, concepts, ideas and documentation associated with our technologies, through the use of confidentiality agreements and non-competition agreements with our current employees and with other parties to whom we have divulged such trade secrets. If these employees or other parties breach our confidentiality agreements and non-competition agreements, or if these agreements are not sufficient to protect our technology or are found to be unenforceable, then our competitors could acquire and use information that we consider to be our trade secrets and we may not be able to compete effectively. Policing unauthorized use of our trade secrets is difficult and expensive and, in the event we further expand our operations, the laws of other countries may not adequately protect our trade secrets.

Risks Related to Owning Our Common Stock

Our common stock could be further diluted as a result of the issuance of additional shares of common stock, warrants or options.

In the past we have issued common stock and warrants in order to raise money. We have also issued stock options and restricted stock as compensation for services and incentive compensation for our employees, directors and consultants. We have shares of common stock reserved for issuance upon the exercise of certain of these securities and may increase the shares reserved for these purposes in the future. Our issuance of additional common stock, options and warrants could affect the rights of our stockholders, could reduce the market price of our common stock, or could obligate us to issue additional shares of common stock.

Market sales of large amounts of our common stock, or the potential for those sales even if they do not actually occur, may have the effect of depressing the market price of our common stock, the supply of common stock available for resale could be increased which could stimulate trading activity and cause the market price of our common stock to drop, even if our business is doing well. Furthermore, the issuance of any additional shares of our common stock or securities convertible into our common stock could be substantially dilutive to holders of our common stock if they do not invest in future offerings.

The prices at which shares of the common stock trade have been and will likely continue to be volatile.

During the two years ended December 31, 2020, our common stock has traded at prices ranging from a high of $11.69 to a low of $3.69 per share. Due to the lack of an active trading market for our common stock, we expect the prices at which our common stock might trade to continue to be highly volatile. The expected volatile price of our stock will make it difficult for investors to predict the value of an investment in our common stock, to sell shares at a profit at any given time, or to plan purchases and sales in advance. A variety of other factors might also affect the market price of our common stock. These include, but are not limited to:

We are not able to control many of these factors, and we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our financial results will not necessarily be indicative of our future performance.

We have never paid dividends and do not intend to pay cash dividends.

We have never paid dividends on our common stock and currently do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future. Consequently, any returns on an investment in our common stock in the foreseeable future will have to come from an increase in the value of the stock itself. As noted above, the lack of an active trading market for our common stock will make it difficult to value and sell our common stock. While our dividend policy will be based on the operating results and capital needs of our business, we anticipate that all earnings, if any, will be retained to finance our future operations.

Several provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our fourth amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, and our second amended and restated bylaws could discourage, delay or prevent a merger or acquisition, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Several provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our fourth amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, and our second amended and restated bylaws could discourage, delay or prevent a merger or acquisition that stockholders may consider favorable, and the market price of our common stock could be reduced as a result. These provisions include:

As a smaller reporting company with little or no name recognition and with several risks and uncertainties that could impair our business operations, we are not likely to generate widespread interest in our common stock. Without widespread interest in our common stock, our common stock price may be highly volatile and an investment in our common stock could decline in value.

Unlike many companies with publicly traded securities, we have little or no name recognition in the investment community. We are a relatively new company and very few investors are familiar with either our company or our products. We do not have an active trading market in our common stock, and one might never develop, or if it does develop, might not continue.

Additionally, the market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to many factors, many of which are beyond our control. Risks and uncertainties, including those described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section could impair our business operations or otherwise cause our operating results or prospects to be below expectations of investors and market analysts, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

As a result, investors in our common stock may not be able to resell their shares at or above their purchase price and could lose all of their investment.

Securities class action litigation is often brought against public companies following periods of volatility in the market price of such company’s securities. We may become subject to this type of litigation in the future. Litigation of this type could be extremely expensive and divert management’s attention and resources from running our company.

Our directors, executive officers and Wexford Capital LP (“Wexford”) control a significant portion of our stock and, if they choose to vote together, could have sufficient voting power to control the vote on substantially all corporate matters.

As of March 1, 2021, Wexford, our largest stockholder, beneficially owned approximately 38% of our outstanding common stock. Collectively, Wexford, our directors and our executive officers beneficially owned approximately 44% of our outstanding common stock. As a result of this ownership, Wexford has the ability to exert significant influence over our policies and affairs, including the election of directors. Wexford, whether acting alone or acting with other stockholders, could have the power to elect all of our directors and to control the vote on substantially all other corporate matters without the approval of other stockholders. Furthermore, such concentration of voting power could enable Wexford, whether acting alone or acting with other stockholders, to delay or prevent another party from taking control of our company even where such change of control transaction might be desirable to other stockholders. The interests of Wexford in any matter put before the stockholders may differ from those of any other stockholder.

Future sales of our common stock could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

The market price of our common stock could decline due to sales of a large number of shares in the market, including sales of shares by Wexford or any other large stockholder, or the perception that such sales could occur. These sales could also make it more difficult or impossible for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and price that we deem appropriate to raise funds through future offerings of common stock. Future sales of our common stock by stockholders could depress the market price of our common stock.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Not required.

Item 2. Properties

Our U.S. facilities are located at 380 Lackawanna Place, South Orange, New Jersey 07079; 3221 Polaris Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89102; and 1015 Telegraph Street, Unit B, Reno, Nevada 89502. We use these facilities to house our corporate headquarters, research, manufacturing, and distribution facilities.

Our office in Europe is currently located at Ulysses House, Foley Street, Dublin, Ireland.

We believe our current facilities will be adequate to meet our needs. We do not own any real property for use in our operation or otherwise.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

There are no currently pending legal proceedings and, as far as we are aware, no governmental authority is contemplating any proceeding to which we are a party or to which any of our properties is subject.

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

Common Stock Information

Our common stock is quoted on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “NEPH”. Our common stock commenced trading on August 14, 2019.

As of December 31, 2020, there were approximately 53 holders of record and approximately 1,800 beneficial holders of our common stock.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

Except as previously reported in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K, we have not sold any equity securities during the year ended December 31, 2020 that were not registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Issuer Repurchases of Equity Securities

There were no repurchases of our common stock during the fourth quarter of 2020.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

See Part III, Item 12, under the heading “Equity Compensation Plan Information,” which is incorporated by reference herein.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

Not required for smaller reporting companies.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion includes forward-looking statements about our business, financial condition and results of operations including discussions about management’s expectations for our business. These statements represent projections, beliefs and expectations based on current circumstances and conditions and in light of recent events and trends, and these statements should not be construed either as assurances of performances or as promises of a given course of action. Instead, various known and unknown factors are likely to cause our actual performance and management’s actions to vary, and the results of these variances may be both material and adverse. A list of the known material factors that may cause our results to vary, or may cause management to deviate from its current plans and expectations, is included in Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following discussion should also be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplemental Data,” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Business Overview

We are a commercial-stage company that develops and sells high performance water solutions to the medical and commercial markets.

In medical markets, we sell water filtration products and waterborne pathogen detection products. Our medical water filters, mostly classified as ultrafilters, are used primarily by hospitals for the prevention of infection from waterborne pathogens, such as legionella and pseudomonas, and in dialysis centers for the removal of biological contaminants from water and bicarbonate concentrate. Because our ultrafilters capture contaminants as small as 0.005 microns in size, they minimize exposure to a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and endotoxins.

In commercial markets, we manufacture and sell water filters that improve the taste and odor of water and reduce biofilm, bacteria, and scale build-up in downstream equipment. Marketed under both the Nephros and AETHER brands, our products are marketed primarily to the food service, hospitality, convenience store, and health care markets.

Our pathogen detection systems are portable, near real-time systems designed to provide actionable data for infection control teams, biomedical engineers in dialysis clinics, and water quality teams in building management organizations.

We also have a subsidiary, Specialty Renal Products, Inc. (“SRP”), a development-stage medical device company, focused primarily on developing hemodiafiltration (“HDF”) technology. SRP is developing a second-generation of the Nephros OLpūr H2H Hemodiafiltration System, the FDA 510(k)-cleared medical device that enables nephrologists to provide HDF treatment to patients with end stage renal disease (“ESRD”).

We were founded in 1997 by healthcare professionals affiliated with Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital to develop and commercialize an alternative method to hemodialysis. We have extended our filtration technologies to meet the demand for liquid purification in other areas, in particular, water purification.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

We are subject to recently issued accounting standards, accounting guidance and disclosure requirements. For a description of these new accounting standards, see “Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,” to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires application of management’s subjective judgments, often requiring estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain and may change in subsequent periods. Our actual results may differ substantially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in “Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,” to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we believe that the following accounting policies require the application of significant judgments and estimates.

Revenue Recognition

Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”) 606 prescribes a five-step model for recognizing revenue, which includes (i) identifying contracts with customers; (ii) identifying performance obligations; (iii) determining the transaction price; (iv) allocating the transaction price; and (v) recognizing revenue.

We recognize revenue related to product sales when product is shipped via external logistics provider and the other criteria of ASC 606 are met. Product revenue is recorded net of returns and allowances. In addition to product revenue, we recognize revenue related to license, royalty and other agreements in accordance with the five-step model in ASC 606.

Stock-Based Compensation

The fair value of stock options is recognized as stock-based compensation expense in net loss. We calculate employee stock-based compensation expense in accordance with ASC 718. The fair value of our stock option awards is estimated using a Black-Scholes option valuation model. This model requires the input of highly subjective assumptions including expected stock price volatility and the estimated life of each award. The fair value of stock-based awards is amortized over the vesting period of the award. For stock awards that vest based on performance conditions (e.g., achievement of certain milestones), expense is recognized when it is probable that the condition will be met.

Warrants

We account for stock warrants as either equity instruments or derivative liabilities depending on the specific terms of the warrant agreement.

Accounts Receivable

We provide credit terms to our customers in connection with purchases of our products. We periodically review customer account activity in order to assess the adequacy of the allowances provided for potential collection issues and returns. Factors considered include economic conditions, each customer’s payment and return history and credit worthiness. Adjustments, if any, are made to reserve balances following the completion of these reviews to reflect our best estimate of potential losses.

Inventory Reserves

Our inventory reserve requirements are based on various factors including product expiration date and estimates for the future sales of the product. If estimated sales levels do not materialize, we will reevaluate our assumptions for inventory reserve requirements.

Accrued Expenses

We are required to estimate accrued expenses as part of our process of preparing financial statements. This process involves identifying services that have been performed on our behalf, the level of service performed, and the associated cost incurred for such service as of each balance sheet date in our consolidated financial statements. Examples of areas in which subjective judgments may be required include costs associated with services provided by contract organizations for the preclinical development of our products, the manufacturing of clinical materials, and clinical trials, as well as legal and accounting services provided by professional organizations. In connection with such service fees, our estimates are primarily affected by our understanding of the status and timing of services provided relative to the actual levels of services incurred by such service providers. The majority of our service providers invoice us monthly in arrears for services performed. In the event that we do not identify certain costs, which have begun to be incurred, or we under- or over-estimate the level of services performed or the costs of such services, our reported expenses for such period would be too low or too high. The date on which certain services commence, the level of services performed on or before a given date and the cost of such services are often determined based on subjective judgments. We make these judgments based upon the facts and circumstances known to us in accordance with GAAP.

Noncontrolling Interest

We present the noncontrolling interest in SRP held by outside stockholders as stockholders’ equity on the accompanying consolidated balance sheet, as the noncontrolling interest is redeemable only upon the occurrence of events that are solely within our control.

Segment Reporting

We have three reportable segments: Water Filtration, Pathogen Detection and Renal Products. The Water Filtration segment primarily develops and sells high performance water purification filters. The Pathogen Detection segment develops and sells portable, real-time water testing systems designed to provide actionable data on waterborne pathogens in approximately one hour. The Renal Products segment is focused on the development of medical device products for patients with renal disease, including a 2^nd generation hemodiafiltration system for the treatment of patients with ESRD.

Our chief operating decision maker evaluates the financial performance of our segments based on revenues, gross margin (where applicable), research and development expenses, and sales, general, and administrative expenses. The accounting policies for our segments are the same as those described in “Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,” to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Results of Operations

Fluctuations in Operating Results

Our results of operations have fluctuated significantly from period to period in the past and are likely to continue to do so in the future. We anticipate that our annual results of operations will be impacted for the foreseeable future by several factors, including the progress and timing of expenditures related to our research and development efforts, marketing expenses related to product launches, timing of regulatory approval of our various products and market acceptance of our products. Due to these fluctuations, we believe that the period-to-period comparisons of our operating results are not a good indication of our future performance.

Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020 Compared to the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2019

The following table sets forth our summarized, consolidated results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands except percentages):

Net Revenues

Total net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020 were $8.5 million compared to $10.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease of $1.8 million, or 17%, was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, which negatively impacted revenues, primarily with respect to new accounts, the hospitality and food service market, and our emergency response business. We believe, however, that our operating results also reflect underlying business strengths, especially within our install base. For example, recurring revenue from existing customers increased 24% from 2019 to 2020. In addition, customer retention rates remained high in 2020, averaging 89%, measured quarterly.

Cost of Goods Sold

Cost of goods sold was $3.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $4.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease of $0.6 million, or 14%, was due to $0.7 million in decreased direct product costs as a result of decreased revenue, partially offset by increases of $0.1 million in inventory reserves for expiring items and physical count inventory adjustments.

Gross Margin

Gross margin was approximately 57% for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to approximately 59% for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease of approximately 2 percentage points is primarily due to increases of $0.1 million in inventory reserves for expiring items and physical count inventory adjustments.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses were $2.8 and $3.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. This decrease of $0.3 million, or 11%, was driven by decreases in headcount expenses including stock-based compensation expense, partially offset by increases expenditures in filter research and development.

Depreciation and Amortization Expense

Depreciation and amortization expenses were $0.2 million for each of the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $6.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $6.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, representing an increase of $0.4 million or 7%. The increase was due to several factors, including increased headcount-related expenses of $0.9 million, partially offset by a decrease in travel and marketing related expenses of $0.3 million as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and a decrease in stock-based compensation expense of $0.2 million.

Change in Fair Value of Contingent Consideration

Change in fair value of contingent consideration of $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 was due to settlement of the contingent consideration liability. Change in fair value of contingent consideration of $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 was due to lower-than-planned revenue performance of commercial filtration products.

Interest Expense

Interest expense was $0.1 million and $0.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and is primarily related to interest on our secured note payable, interest on our secured revolving credit facility that was terminated on May 26, 2020 and accretion of contingent consideration.

Interest Income

Interest income was approximately $11,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020. There was no interest income for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Other Expense, net

Other expense was approximately $152,000 and $54,000 for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, as a result of losses on foreign currency transactions.

Income Tax Benefit

There was no income tax benefit recognized in the year ended December 31, 2020. In the year ended December 31, 2019, income tax benefit of $0.2 million was recorded due to the sale of net operating loss and research and development credit carryforwards under the New Jersey Economic Development Authority Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program.

Water Filtration

The following table sets forth results of operations for the Water Filtration segment for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands except percentages):

Net Revenues

Total net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020 were $8.5 million compared to $10.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease of $1.8 million, or 17%, was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, which negatively impacted revenues, primarily with respect to new accounts, the hospitality and food service market, and our emergency response business. We believe, however, that our operating results also reflect underlying business strengths, especially within our install base. For example, recurring revenue from existing customers increased 24% from 2019 to 2020. In addition, customer retention rates remained high in 2020, averaging 89%, measured quarterly.

Cost of Goods Sold

Cost of goods sold was $3.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $4.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease of $0.6 million, or 15%, was due to $0.7 million in decreased direct product costs as a result of decreased revenue, partially offset by increases of $0.1 million in inventory reserves for expiring items and physical count inventory adjustments.

Gross Margin

Gross margin was approximately 57% for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to approximately 59% for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease of approximately 2 percentage points is primarily due to increases of $0.1 million in inventory reserves for expiring items and physical count inventory adjustments.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses were $1.2 and $1.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. This increase of $0.1 million, or 11%, was driven by increases in expenditures in filter research and development, partially offset by decreases in headcount expenses including stock-based compensation expense.

Depreciation and Amortization Expense

Depreciation and amortization expenses were $0.2 million for each of the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $5.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $6.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, representing a decrease of $0.2 million, or 3%. The decrease was primarily due to decreased stock-based compensation expense of $0.2 million and a decrease in travel-related and marketing expenses of $0.3 million as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, partially offset by an increase in professional expenses of $0.2 million.

Change in Fair Value of Contingent Consideration

Change in fair value of contingent consideration of $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 was due to settlement of the contingent consideration liability. Change in fair value of contingent consideration of $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 was due to lower-than-planned revenue performance of commercial filtration products.

Pathogen Detection

The following table sets forth results of operations for the Pathogen Detection segment for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands except percentages):

Net Revenues

Total net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020 were approximately $29,000. Our pathogen detection products were launched during the year ended December 31, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted our ability to gain revenue traction.

Cost of Goods Sold

Cost of goods sold was approximately $16,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Gross Margin

Gross margin was approximately 45% for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses were $0.3 million and $0.6 million, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 and were due to the sales efforts that began during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Renal Products

The following table sets forth results of operations for the Renal Products segment for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 (in thousands except percentages):

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses were $1.3 million and $1.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, a decrease of $0.1 million due to decreased investment in the second-generation HDF product.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $0.3 million and $0.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, an increase of $0.1 million primarily due to an increased investment in operational management.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2020.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The following table summarizes our liquidity and capital resources as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 and is intended to supplement the more detailed discussion that follows. The amounts stated are expressed in thousands.

We operate under an Investment, Risk Management and Accounting Policy adopted by our Board of Directors. Such policy limits the types of instruments or securities in which we may invest our excess funds: U.S. Treasury Securities; Certificates of Deposit issued by money center banks; Money Funds by money center banks; Repurchase Agreements; and Eurodollar Certificates of Deposit issued by money center banks. This policy provides that our primary objectives for investments are the preservation of principal and achieving sufficient liquidity to meet our forecasted cash requirements. In addition, provided that such primary objectives are met, we may seek to achieve the maximum yield available under such constraints.

At December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $132.0 million, and we expect to incur additional operating losses from operations until such time, if ever, that we are able to increase product sales and/or licensing revenue to achieve profitability.

Based on cash that is available for our operations and projections of our future operations, we believe that our cash balances will be sufficient to fund our current operating plan through at least the next 12 months from the date of issuance of the consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Additionally, our operating plans are designed to help control operating costs, to increase revenue and to raise additional capital until such time as we generate sufficient cash flows from operations. If there were a decrease in the demand for our products due to either economic or competitive conditions, or we are unable to achieve our plan, there could be a significant reduction in liquidity due to our possible inability to cut costs sufficiently.

Our future liquidity sources and requirements will depend on many factors, including:

We expect to put our current capital resources to the following uses:

Net cash used in operating activities was $6.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $2.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, an increase of $4.6 million. The increase of $4.6 million is due primarily to increased expenditures on inventory, which were incurred in the first half of fiscal year 2020 to reduce the risk of possible supply chain interruptions early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and a decrease in revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019.

Net cash used in investing activities was $0.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 due to equipment purchases.

Net cash used in investing activities was approximately $151,000 for the year ended December 31, 2019 due to a working capital adjustment of approximately $137,000 related to the Aether Acquisition and an equipment purchase of approximately $14,000.

Net cash provided by financing activities of $11.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 resulted from net proceeds from the issuance of common stock of $11.5 million, proceeds from a PPP loan of $0.5 million and proceeds from the exercise of warrants and stock options of $0.2 million, partially offset by net payments on our secured revolving credit facility of $0.6 million, payments on our secured note payable of $0.2 million and payment of contingent consideration related to the Aether Acquisition of $0.1 million.

Net cash provided by financing activities of $2.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 resulted from net proceeds from the issuance of common stock of $2.0 million and proceeds from the exercise of warrants and stock options of $0.8 million, partially offset by net payments on our secured revolving credit facility of $0.4 million, payments on our secured note payable of $0.2 million and payment of contingent consideration related to the Aether Acquisition of $0.1 million.

Contractual Obligations and Commercial Commitments

The following table summarizes our approximate minimum contractual obligations and commercial commitments as of December 31, 2020 (in thousands):

¹ Reflects minimum purchase commitments pursuant to our License and Supply agreement with Medica.

² In addition to lease obligations for office space, these obligations include a lease for various office equipment which expires in 2023 and an automobile lease which expires in 2021.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Not required for smaller reporting companies.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of

Nephros, Inc.

South Orange, New Jersey

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Nephros, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the two year period ended December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the consolidated financial statements). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the two year period ended December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

Critical audit matters are matters arising from the current-period audit of the consolidated financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the Audit Committee and that (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. We determined that there are no critical audit matters.

NEPHROS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

NEPHROS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

NEPHROS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(In thousands, except share amounts)