Pluri Inc. - Annual Report: 2022 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from [                    ] to [                   ]

Commission file number 001-31392

Registrant’s telephone number 011-972-74-7108600

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant 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 Act).   Yes ☐ No ☒

State the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold, or the average bid and asked prices of such common equity, as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter.

$44,889,164

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the registrant’s classes of common shares, as of the latest practicable date.

32,620,343 as of September 15, 2022

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

None.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Our financial statements are stated in thousands United States Dollars and are prepared in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or U.S. GAAP.

In this annual report, unless otherwise specified, all dollar, amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars.

As used in this annual report, the terms “we”, “us”, “our”, the “Company”, and “Pluri” mean Pluri Inc., and our wholly owned Israeli subsidiary and the wholly owned subsidiary of our Israeli subsidiary in Germany, unless otherwise indicated or required by the context.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or Annual Report, that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by, among other things, the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believes,” “intends,” “plans,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” or “anticipates” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We remind readers that forward-looking statements are merely predictions and therefore inherently subject to uncertainties and other factors and involve known and unknown risks that could cause the actual results, performance, levels of activity, or our achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, levels of activity, or our achievements, or industry results, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements appear in Item 1 – “Business” and Item 7 – “Management’s discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” (especially in the section titled “Outlook”) as well as elsewhere in this Annual Report and include, among other statements, statements regarding the following:

The factors discussed herein, including those risks described in Item 1A. “Risk Factors”, and expressed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, could cause actual results and developments to be materially different from those expressed in or implied by such statements. In addition, historic results of scientific research, clinical and preclinical trials do not guarantee that the conclusions of future research or trials would not suggest different conclusions. Also, historic results referred to in this Annual Report would be interpreted differently in light of additional research, clinical and preclinical trials results. The forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this filing, and except as required by law we undertake no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

PART I

Item 1. Business.

Overview

We are a biotechnology company with an advanced cell-based technology platform. We have developed a unique three-dimensional, or 3D, technology platform for cell expansion with an industrial scale in-house Good Manufacturing Practice, or GMP, cell manufacturing facility. We are utilizing our technology in the field of regenerative medicine and food tech and plan to utilize it in other industries and verticals that have a need for our mass scale and cost-effective cell expansion platform.

We use our advanced cell-based technology platform in the field of regenerative medicine to develop placenta-based cell therapy product candidates for the treatment of inflammatory, muscle injuries and hematologic conditions. Our placental expanded, or PLX, cells are adherent stromal cells that are expanded using our 3D platform.  Our PLX cells can be administered to patients off-the-shelf, without blood or tissue matching or additional manipulation prior to administration. PLX cells are believed to release a range of therapeutic proteins in response to the patient’s condition.

Our operations are focused on the research, development and manufacturing of cells and cell-based products, conducting clinical studies and the business development of cell therapeutics and cell-based technologies, such as our recent collaboration with Tnuva Food Industries – Agricultural Cooperative in Israel Ltd., through its fully owned subsidiary, Tnuva Food-Tech Incubator (2019), Limited Partnership, or Tnuva, to use our technology to establish a cultivated food platform.

We expect to demonstrate a real-world impact and value from our cell-based technology platform, our current PLX pipeline and from other cell-based product candidates that may be developed based on our platform. Our business model for commercialization and revenue generation includes, but is not limited to, licensing deals, joint ventures, partnerships, joint development agreements and direct sale of our products.

We are now completing a multinational Phase III clinical study in muscle recovery following surgery for hip fracture, with sites in the United States, Europe and Israel. In the last year, we have completed a Phase II clinical study in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, or ARDS, associated with COVID-19 and a Phase I clinical study for incomplete recovery following bone marrow transplantation. Additional areas of focus for clinical development include an investigator-led Phase I/II Chronic Graft versus Host Disease, or cGVHD, study in Israel, and an Acute Radiation Syndrome, or ARS, program under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, animal rule. We believe that each of these indications represents a severe unmet medical need.

We were incorporated in Nevada on May 11, 2001. Pluri Inc. has a wholly owned subsidiary, Pluri Biotech Ltd., or the Subsidiary, previously named Pluristem Ltd., which is incorporated under the laws of the State of Israel. In January 2020, the Subsidiary established a wholly owned subsidiary, Pluristem GmbH, which is incorporated under the laws of Germany. In January 2022, the Subsidiary established an additional subsidiary, Plurinuva Ltd., or Plurinuva, which is incorporated under the laws of Israel, which followed the execution of the collaboration agreement with Tnuva .  

On July 26, 2022, we completed our legal entity name change from Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. to Pluri Inc., by merging a wholly-owned subsidiary with and into the Company, with us being the surviving corporation. The name change reflects a broader strategy of leveraging our 3D cell expansion technology to develop innovative cell-based products that can be harnessed for a range of fields beyond medicine, providing solutions for various areas of life. Effective July 26, 2022, our Nasdaq ticker symbol was changed to “PLUR.”

Scientific Background

Cell therapy is an established field within the regenerative medicine area. The characteristics and properties of cells vary as a function of tissue source and growth conditions. The human placenta from which our PLX cells are derived provides an uncontroversial source of non-embryonic, adult cells and represents an innovative approach in the cell therapy field. The different factors that PLX cells release suggest that the cells can be used therapeutically for a variety of ischemic, inflammatory, autoimmune and hematological deficiencies.

PLX cells exhibit low immunogenicity, thus do not require tissue matching prior to administration, which allows the development of ready-to-use / “off-the-shelf” allogeneic products. 

Our Technology

Our PLX cells are adherent stromal cells that are expanded using a proprietary three-dimensional, or 3D, process. This system utilizes a synthetic scaffold to create an artificial 3D environment where placental-derived stromal cells can grow. Our automated proprietary 3D, cGMP approved, process enables the large-scale monitored and controlled production of reproducible, high quality cell products and can manufacture a large number of PLX doses. Additionally, our current manufacturing process, which has scaled up during the years, has demonstrated batch-to-batch consistency, an important manufacturing challenge for biological products.

Our technology platform, a patented and validated state-of-the-art 3D cell expansion system, aims to advance novel cell-based solutions for a range of initiatives, including, but not limited to, pharmaceuticals, climate change, food security and animal welfare. Our method is uniquely accurate, scalable, cost-effective, and consistent from batch to batch. Our technology is currently implemented in the fields of regenerative medicine and food-tech.

Product Candidates

We believe that our technology will continue to fuel medical research and develop pharmaceuticals, while also being used to potentially create novel cell-based solutions for other innovative initiatives—such as food-tech, agri-tech, and biologics. We aim to establish partnerships that leverage our 3D cell-based technology to additional industries that require effective, mass cell production.

Pluri Health

Our primary objective is to be the leading provider of allogeneic placenta-based cell therapy products that are true off-the-shelf products that do not require any matching or additional manipulation prior to administration. Currently, our PLX products are administered intramuscular, or IM, using a standard needle and syringe.

PLX-PAD

Our first product candidate, PLX-PAD, is composed of maternal cells originating from the placenta. PLX-PAD is used in a Phase III multinational clinical study in recovery following surgery for hip fracture.

PLX-PAD is also under clinical development in collaboration with Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) through an investigator-initiated Phase I/II study for the treatment of Steroid-Refractory cGVHD.

PLX-R18

Our second product candidate, PLX-R18, is composed of fetal cells originating from the placenta.

We have completed our first in human Phase I clinical study in incomplete hematopoietic recovery following hematopoietic cell transplantation, or HCT, in the United States and Israel.

Through our collaboration in the United States with the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, and the U.S. Department of Defense, or DoD, we are also developing a solution for ARS following or before exposure to massive radiation via the FDA Animal Rule regulatory pathway.

Modified PLX cells

In the last decade, we developed an allogeneic platform based on cells originated from the fetal and maternal cell from the placenta, and by using this platform we can produce large quantities of high-quality cells in automated and robust manufacturing process suitable for cGMP environment. As a platform technology company, we are currently developing additional product candidates, which are modified or induced PLX cells:

Induced PLX cells: we are using cells from the placenta, induced with cytokines, to transiently alter their secretion profile.

Modified PLX cells using CRISPR, or other gene editing technology: CRISPR is a unique technology which allows precise gene editing of cells. Using this technology, we can initiate the next evolution in cell therapy by allowing the reprograming of cells for specific needs. Our aim is to incorporate the genetic engineering techniques into our cell manufacturing platform in order to develop large scale allogenic engineered PLX products designed for specific indications.

We believe that using the placenta as a unique cell source, combined with our innovative research, development and high-quality manufacturing capabilities, will be the “engine” that drives this platform technology towards the successful development of additional PLX cell therapy products and indications.

Our Clinical Development Product Candidates

Orthopedic Indications. Following FDA and European Medicine Agency, or EMA, clearance, a multinational Phase III study is currently being conducted in the United States, Europe and Israel. The primary endpoint of this study is the Short Physical Performance Battery, or SPPB, a test for lower limb performance and functional status. We completed enrollment of 240 patients and the study was designed to assess the efficacy at six months and a year, as well as safety for up to two years.

On July 13, 2022, we announced topline results from our Phase III study of muscle regeneration following hip fracture surgery. PLX-PAD was demonstrated to be an effective accelerator of muscle strength and regeneration. A significant increase in Hip Abduction Strength (HAS) was observed at week 26 and week 52 for patients treated with PLX-PAD (n=120), in the injured leg (p=0.047, p=0.0022) and uninjured leg (p=0.073, p=0.0046) compared to placebo (n=120). The study did not meet the primary endpoint, which was the SPPB test at week 26. The study will continue to follow up with patients for up to 52 weeks for safety and other efficacy measures.

Our Phase III study protocol and design was based on our phase I/II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study (n=20) to assess the safety and efficacy of IM injections of allogeneic PLX-PAD cells for the regeneration of injured gluteal musculature after total hip replacement had been conducted in Germany under the approval of PEI. In this study, PLX-PAD cells or placebo were administered into the traumatized gluteal muscle during total hip replacement surgery. The study results met its primary efficacy endpoint, change in maximal voluntary isometric contraction force of the gluteal muscle at six months after total hip replacement. Patients treated with PLX-PAD had a significantly greater improvement of maximal voluntary muscle contraction force than the placebo group (p=0.0067). In addition, the study demonstrated that PLX-PAD was safe and well tolerated by patients.

COVID-19 Complicated by ARDS. In May 2020, the FDA cleared our Investigational New Drug Application, or IND, for a Phase II study of our PLX-PAD cells for treatment of severe COVID-19 cases complicated by ARDS and we initiated the study in June 2020. The U.S. study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, parallel-group intended to evaluate the efficacy and safety of IM injections of PLX-PAD for the treatment of severe COVID-19 cases complicated by ARDS. The primary endpoint is the number of ventilator free days, or VFD, from day 1 through day 28 of the study. Secondary efficacy endpoints include all-cause mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU free-days, and hospitalization free-days. Safety and survival follow-up will be conducted until week 52. In addition, the FDA has cleared our Expanded Access Program, or EAP, for the use of our PLX-PAD cells to treat ARDS caused by COVID-19 outside of the Phase II COVID-19 complicated by ARDS study in the United States. The EAP approval was for up to 100 patients.

In August 2020, the PEI cleared our Phase II study in Germany titled, “A Randomized, Controlled, Multicenter, Parallel-Group Phase II Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Intramuscular Injections of PLX PAD for the Treatment of severe COVID-19,” relating to the treatment of patients hospitalized with severe cases of COVID-19 complicated by ARDS. The primary efficacy endpoint of the study is the number of ventilator free days during the 28-days from day one through day 28 of the study. Secondary efficacy endpoints include all-cause mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU free-days, and hospitalization free-days. Safety and survival follow-up will be conducted until week 52. We enrolled patients in Europe and Israel under this protocol.

On July 8, 2021, we announced that we were bringing our COVID-19 complicated by ARDS Phase II studies in the United States, Europe and Israel to clinical readout. The analysis was based on 89 patients enrolled.

On December 27, 2021, we announced topline results for our COVID-19 studies based on 89 patients enrolled. The studies did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint of statistically significant improvement of VFD at 28 days. Taking into consideration the baseline risk factors of the ARDS patients, no differences in the safety profile were observed between PLX-PAD and placebo. The U.S. study was recently completed, and the second study conducted in Europe and Israel is planned for completion during the third calendar quarter of 2022.

Recovery Following HCT. This Phase I study of PLX-R18 in HCT was completed in the United States and Israel. The study assessed the safety of PLX-R18 by assessing adverse events, safety labs and vital signs in patients receiving different doses of PLX-R18. One year follow up for all patients was completed in September 2021 and the results of the study were announced on March 23, 2022. PLX-R18 was well-tolerated with a favorable safety profile. Patients treated with PLX-R18 showed a mean increase in all three blood cell types compared to baseline with platelets (p<0.001), hemoglobin (p=0.01) and neutrophils (p=0.15) levels increasing as early as 1 month following PLX-R18 administration and enduring up to 12 months following treatment. Additionally, the number of transfused units decreased from a mean monthly number of 5.09 for platelets and 2.91 for red blood cells at baseline to 0.55 for platelets (p=0.045) and 0 for red blood cells (p=0.0005) at 12 months.

Peripheral and Cardiovascular Diseases. We investigated the use of PLX-PAD cells for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease, or PAD, including IC and CLI. We completed two Phase I safety/dose-escalating clinical studies for CLI, one in the United States and one in Germany. These CLI studies demonstrated that no blood type or human leukocyte antigen matching is required, and that the administration of PLX-PAD cells is safe, even if two doses are administered to a patient on two different occasions. We completed a Phase II study in IC which was conducted in the United States, Germany, South Korea and Israel. A total of 172 patients were treated in this study. IM administration of PLX-PAD cells was concluded to be safe and well tolerated. We completed a pivotal Phase III study of PLX-PAD cells in the treatment of CLI for patients with minor tissue loss (Rutherford Category 5) who are unsuitable for revascularization. This multinational Phase III study was conducted in the United States, Europe and Israel and enrolled 213 patients in total. In December 2020, the independent Data Monitoring Committee, or DMC, issued its recommendation letter following an interim analysis relating to the CLI Phase III study. A clinical dataset was reviewed by the independent DMC for safety and analysis of the primary endpoint of amputation-free survival, defined as time to occurrence of major amputation of the index leg or death. Based on the review, the DMC concluded that the CLI study was unlikely to meet the primary endpoint by the time of the final analysis. Following the DMC’s recommendation, we decided to terminate the CLI study.

ARS. We have conducted several animal studies for the evaluation of PLX-R18 for the treatment of ARS, in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or the NIAID. The NIH funded and conducted a pilot study in non-human primates, or NHPs, to evaluate the therapeutic effect of PLX-R18 on hematological aspects of ARS. In 2017, we announced results of the NHPs pilot study for PLX-R18 as a treatment for ARS. Although study size was not designed to show significance, results showed a trend toward improved survival of PLX-R18 treated animals compared to control, placebo treated animals. The study, conducted and funded by the NIAID, was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of PLX-R18 following IM injection into irradiated and non-irradiated NHPs. Efficacy measures included survival as well as hematological parameters which are affected by exposure to high levels of radiation as may occur in a nuclear accident or attack. These data will help the design of a pivotal study to fulfill the requirements for a Biologics License Application, or BLA, submission under the FDA’s Animal Rule regulatory pathway.

We plan to continue the discussions with the different government agencies with the goal of receiving their support for pivotal studies in NHPs as well as conducting the safety studies required in order to file a BLA for this indication.

In October 2017, we announced that the FDA granted us an orphan drug designation for our PLX-R18 cell therapy for the prevention and treatment of ARS.

In April 2018, we announced that the FDA approved our IND application for PLX-R18 cell therapy in the treatment of ARS. The IND allows us to treat victims who may have been acutely exposed to high dose radiation due to nuclear attack or accident.

In July 2019, we presented positive results from a series of studies of our PLX-R18 cell therapy product conducted by the DoD Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, part of the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. The studies were designed to evaluate PLX-R18 as a potential prophylactic countermeasure against ARS administered prior to radiation exposure. These animal studies demonstrate that PLX-R18, administered 24 hours before radiation exposure, and again 72 hours after exposure, resulted in a significant increase in survival rates, from 4% survival rate in the placebo group to 74% in the treated group. In addition, the data show an increase in recovery of blood lineages and a favorable safety profile. Furthermore, histopathological analysis and hematopoietic progenitor clonogenic assay of tissues collected show a significant increase in bone marrow cell numbers and improved regenerative capability into all blood lineages. 

Steroid-Refractory cGVHD. In September 2017, we signed an agreement with Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) to conduct a Phase I/II clinical study of PLX-PAD cell therapy for the treatment of Steroid-Refractory cGVHD. This study is an investigator-initiated study. As such, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center supports the study and is responsible for its design and implementation. 13 patients have been treated in this study to date.

Regulatory and Clinical Affairs Strategy

Our cell therapy development strategy is to hold open and frequent discussions with regulators at all stages of development from preclinical studies to more advanced regulatory stages. We utilize this strategy in working with the FDA, the EMA, Germany’s PEI as well as other European national competent authorities, the MOH, Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, or PMDA, and also the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, or MFDS, of South Korea.

Our Activities in the Food Tech Sector

On January 5, 2022, we signed definitive collaboration agreements with Tnuva through the Subsidiary. Under the definitive collaboration agreements, or the Joint Venture Agreement, we established a new company, Plurinuva, with the purpose of developing cultivated meat products of all types and kinds. Plurinuva is intended to be engaged in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of technology, know-how and products that will be based on licensed products, or the Licensed Products, relating to the field of cultivated meat, or the Field.

Pursuant to the Joint Venture Agreement, Tnuva entered into a share purchase agreement, or the SPA, with Plurinuva and the Subsidiary, pursuant to which Plurinuva issued on the closing date of the SPA, or the Closing Date, 187,500 ordinary shares, representing 15.79% of its share capital, to Tnuva, as well as a warrant to purchase additional shares of Plurinuva, in consideration of an aggregate of $7.5 million in cash. In addition, pursuant to the SPA, in the event the Company decides to use its technology for the development of cultivated milk or fish products, Tnuva shall also have the right, for a period of seven years following the Closing Date, to participate in the formation of additional separate joint ventures for the development of those products.

The first warrant, or the First Warrant, issued to Tnuva permits Tnuva to purchase up to 125,000 ordinary shares of Plurinuva at an exercise price of $40.00 per share and has a term commencing on the Closing Date and ending at the earlier of (i) six months from the Closing Date, (ii) immediately prior to and subject to the consummation of an initial public offering or acquisition of Plurinuva or (iii) the consummation of a financing round with a non-affiliated investor. In addition, on the six month anniversary of the Closing Date, and provided that the First Warrant has not expired, Plurinuva shall issue to Tnuva a second warrant, or the Second Warrant, which will permit Tnuva to purchase up to a number of ordinary shares of Plurinuva, or the then most senior securities issued by Plurinuva, in consideration for such amount equal to 200% of the remaining balance of the aggregate purchase price of the First Warrant, provided that Tnuva exercises at least 62,500 ordinary shares at a price per share of $40.00, or $2,500,000 in the aggregate, of the First Warrant. The Second Warrant’s exercise price per share equals $76.00. The Second Warrant has a term commencing on the six months anniversary of the Closing Date and ending at the earlier of (i) six months from its issuance, (ii) immediately prior to and subject to the consummation of an initial public offering or acquisition of Plurinuva or (iii) the consummation of a financing round with a non-affiliated investor. On August 23, 2022, the First Warrant was extended for an additional 90-day period, so that the exercise period will end on November 22, 2022.

On February 24, 2022, we announced the closing of the Joint Venture Agreement and the SPA, and on March 8, 2022, we announced the appointment of Eyal Rosenthal as Chief Executive Officer of Plurinuva.

Prior to the Closing Date, the Subsidiary and Plurinuva also executed a technology license agreement, or the License Agreement, and on the Closing Date, the Subsidiary and Plurinuva executed a transitional services agreement, or the Services Agreement. Pursuant to the License Agreement, the Subsidiary granted Plurinuva an exclusive, royalty bearing, perpetual and irrevocable, worldwide, non-transferable (except under specific circumstances specified thereunder), sublicensable license to its technology for the use in the development of the Licensed Products in the Field. In addition, Plurinuva granted the Subsidiary, pursuant to the License Agreement, an exclusive, perpetual and irrevocable, worldwide, sublicensable, royalty-free, license to use, make, exploit and develop the improvements made by Plurinuva to the licensed technology outside of the Field. In consideration for the license, Plurinuva agreed to pay the Subsidiary royalties from its future net sales in the mid-single digits. Pursuant to the terms of the Services Agreement, the Subsidiary shall provide Plurinuva transitional services to support its development efforts, for an initial term of eighteen months, subject to mutual extension for an additional six months.

Pursuant to the SPA, Tnuva and Plurinuva agreed to enter into a commercialization agreement within twelve months pursuant to which Tnuva shall be granted exclusive marketing, distribution and sale rights of the Licensed Products in Israel. Tnuva’s exclusivity in the region will be subject to achieving and maintaining specific milestones. Plurinuva shall retain exclusive worldwide marketing, distribution, and sale rights for the Licensed Products worldwide, except in Israel.

Intellectual Property

We understand that our success will depend, in part, on maintaining our intellectual property, and therefore we are committed to protecting our technology and product candidates with patents and other methods described below.

We are the sole owner of 137 issued patents and approximately 64 pending patent applications in the United States, Europe, China, Japan and Israel, as well as in additional countries worldwide, including countries in the Far East and South America (in calculating the number of issued patents, each European patent validated in multiple jurisdictions was counted as a single patent).

Based on the well-established understanding that the characteristics and therapeutic potential of a cell product are largely determined by the source of the cells and by the methods and conditions used during their culturing, our patent portfolio includes different types of claims that protect the various unique aspects of our technology.

Our multi-national portfolio of patent and patent applications includes the following claims:

Through our experience with adherent stromal cell-based product development, we have developed expertise and know-how in this field and have established procedures for manufacturing clinical-grade PLX cells in our facilities. Certain aspects of our manufacturing process are covered by patents and patent applications. In addition, specific aspects of our technology are retained as know-how and trade secrets that are protected by our confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, contractors, manufacturers and advisors. These agreements generally provide for protection of confidential information, restrictions on the use of materials, and an obligation to assign to us inventions conceived during the course of performing services for us.

The following table sets forth our key patents and patent applications and is not intended to represent an assessment of claims, limitations or scope. In some cases, a jurisdiction is listed as both pending and granted for a single patent family. This is due to pending continuation or divisional applications of the granted case.

The expiration dates of these patents, based on filing dates, range from 2027 to 2041. Actual expiration dates will be determined according to extensions received based on the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (P.L. 98-417), commonly known as the “Hatch-Waxman” Act, which permits extensions of pharmaceutical patents to reflect regulatory delays encountered in obtaining FDA market approval. The Hatch-Waxman Act is based on a U.S. federal law and therefore only relevant to U.S. patents.

There is a risk that our patents will be invalidated, and that our pending patent applications will not result in issued patents. We also cannot be certain that we will not infringe on any patents that may be issued to others. See “Risk Factors - We must further protect and develop our technology and products in order to become a profitable company.”

Our Patent Portfolio 

On January 8, 2022, we entered into a definitive license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceuticals International AG, or Takeda, a company based in Switzerland, which operates in the field of adipose-derived cells, pursuant to which we granted Takeda a global, non-exclusive license to use several of our patents (EP2591789, EP3103463, and 3091071), limited to adipose fat cells only, in the field of therapeutics, in exchange for Takeda ceasing its opposition with regards to said patents and paying us a lump sum of $200,000. The license covers methods for expanding adherent stromal cells and specified second medical uses.

On January 10, 2022, we entered into a definitive license agreement with Novadip Biosciences, or Novadip, a company based in Belgium, which operates in the field of adipose-derived stem cells for cell therapy and cell-free therapy in respect of medical or cosmetic conditions, under which we granted Novadip a global, non-exclusive, royalty free license to use two of our patents (EP2591789, EP3103463), limited to non-placental cells and cell-derived therapies, sub-licensable only to Novadip’s customers.

In April 2016, the Subsidiary entered into a licensing agreement with TES Holdings Co., Ltd., a venture company derived from the University of Tokyo, to obtain a key patent in Japan to cover the treatment of ischemic diseases with placental cell therapy. This license is subject to future single low-digit royalties from sales of our product for treatment in the field of ischemic diseases in Japan, until expiry of the patent in 2023. This license is in addition to the grant of 13 patents to us by the Japanese Patent Office, which address three dimensional methods for expanding placental and adipose cells, and specified cell therapies produced from placental tissue using these methods and bedside thawing devices.

Research and Development

Foundational Research

Our initial technology, the PluriX™ Bioreactor system, was invented at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, in collaboration with researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science. This technology was acquired by us and has been further significantly developed by our research and development teams over the ensuing years.

Collaborations and Ongoing Research and Development Plans

Charité Agreement

In July 2007, we entered into a five-year collaborative research agreement with the Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies at Charité – University Medicine Berlin, or Charité, which was extended from time to time through June 2027. We and Charité are collaborating on a variety of indications utilizing PLX cells. According to the agreement, we will be the exclusive owner of the technology and any products produced as a result of the collaboration. Charité will receive between 1% to 2% royalties from net sales of new developments that have been achieved during the joint development.

Fukushima Medical University

We signed an MOU for a collaboration with Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima Global Medical Science Center. The purpose of the collaboration is to develop our PLX-R18 cells for the treatment of ARS, and for morbidities following radiotherapy in cancer patients. The collaboration will proceed alongside research supported by the NIH, which is studying PLX-R18 as a potential treatment for the hematologic component of ARS. The MOU for a collaboration with Fukushima will be renewed automatically on a yearly basis. Each party is entitled to terminate the agreement for convenience upon providing the other party 30 days prior notice.

CHA Agreement

On June 26, 2013, we entered into an exclusive out-licensing and commercialization agreement, or the CHA Agreement, with CHA for conducting clinical studies and commercialization of our PLX-PAD product candidate in South Korea in connection with two indications: the treatment of CLI and IC. We will continue to retain rights to our proprietary manufacturing technology and cell-related intellectual property.

The first clinical study that was performed as part of the CHA Agreement was a Phase II study in IC. Upon the first regulatory approval for a PLX product in South Korea, if granted, for the specified indications, we and CHA will establish an equally owned joint venture with the purpose of commercializing PLX cell products in South Korea. Additionally, we will be able to use the data generated by CHA to pursue the development of PLX product candidates outside of South Korea.

The term of the CHA Agreement extends from June 24, 2013 until the later of the expiration, lapse, cancellation, abandonment or invalidation of the last valid patent claim covering the development of the product indications. The CHA Agreement contains customary termination provisions, including in the event that the parties do not reach an agreement upon a development plan for conducting the clinical studies.

Upon termination of the CHA Agreement, the license granted thereunder will terminate, and all rights included therein will revert to us, whereupon we will be free to enter into agreements with any other third parties for the granting of a license in or outside South Korea or to deal in any other manner with such rights as it shall see fit in our sole discretion.

Horizon 2020

The Phase III study of PLX-PAD in CLI was conducted as a collaborative project carried out by an international consortium led by the Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, together with the Company and with the participation of additional third parties.

Our Phase III study of PLX-PAD cell therapy in the treatment of muscle recovery following surgery for hip fracture is a collaborative project carried out by an international consortium led by Charité, together with us and with the participation of additional third parties.

In October 2017, we entered into a collaborative project, the nTRACK, carried out by an international consortium led by Leitat. The aim of this project is to examine gold nano particles labeling of stem cells to enable assessment of cells’ in vivo persistence and distribution in correlation to biological efficacy. Under the project, PLX cells, labeled and non-labeled will be characterized and examined in animal models for muscle injury.

Horizon Europe

On September 6, 2022, we announced that a €7.5 million non-dilutive grant from the European Union’s Horizon program has been awarded to PROTO (Advanced PeRsOnalized Therapies for Osteoarthritis), an international collaboration led by Charité Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies. The goal of the PROTO project is to utilize our PLX-PAD cells in a Phase I/IIa study for the treatment of mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis. Final approval of the grant is subject to completion of the consortium and Horizon Europe grant agreements. The funds from the grant are expected to be allocated between Pluri and other members of the consortium in accordance with budget and work packages which will be determined by the consortium.

The Phase I/IIa study will be carried out by Charité. We, together with an international consortium under the leadership of Professor Tobias Winkler, Principal Investigator, at the Berlin Institute of Health Center of Regenerative Therapies, Julius Wolff Institute and Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery

Indiana University

In April 2018, NIAID awarded a $2.5 million grant to Indiana University to conduct, together with us, studies of our PLX-R18 cell therapy in the treatment of ARS. The goal of this project is to extend the PLX-R18 ARS studies to include examination of survival in pediatric and geriatric populations as well as the ability of PLX-R18 to alleviate delayed effects of radiation in survivors.

Chart Industries

In November 2018, we entered into a license agreement with a subsidiary of Chart Industries, Inc., or Chart, regarding our thawing device for cell-based therapies. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Chart obtained the exclusive rights to manufacture and market the thawing device in all territories worldwide, excluding Greater China, and we are to receive royalties from sales of the product and supply of an agreed upon number of thawing devices. Royalties shall commence on the date of Chart’s first commercial sale of the thawing device.

NASA

In February 2019, we entered a collaboration with NASA’s Ames Research Center to evaluate the potential of our PLX cell therapies in preventing and treating medical conditions caused during space missions.

U.S. Department of Defense

In August 2017, we announced that a pilot study of our PLX-R18 cell therapy was initiated by the DoD. The study examined the effectiveness of PLX-R18 as a treatment for ARS prior to, and within the first 24 hours of exposure to radiation. In July 2019, we presented positive results from a series of studies of our PLX-R18 cell therapy product conducted by the DoD.

RESTORE

We are members of a large-scale research initiative, the RESTORE project which has received funding of €1,000,000 (approximately $1,100,000) from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, to submit a full grant application for the development and advancement of transformative therapeutics. Currently, due to COVID-19, there is no open call for full proposal. The members of the RESTORE project continue to collaborate in attempt to collectively submit the grant application once such call is available.

CRISPR-IL

In June 2020, we announced that we were selected as a member of the CRISPR-IL consortium, a group funded by the IIA. CRISPR-IL brings together the leading experts in life science and computer science from academia, medicine, and industry, to develop Artificial Intelligence, or AI, based end-to-end genome-editing solutions. These next-generation, multi-species genome editing products for human, plant, and animal DNA, have applications in the pharma, agriculture, and aquaculture industries. CRISPR-IL is funded by the IIA with a total budget of approximately $10,000,000 of which, an amount of approximately $480,000 was a direct grant allocated to us, for an initial period of 18 months, with a potential for extension of an additional 18 months, or the Second Period, with additional budget from the IIA.

In October 2021, we received approval for an additional grant of approximately $583,000 from the IIA pursuant to the CRISPR-IL consortium program, for an additional period of eighteen months.

The CRISPR-IL consortium program does not require us to pay royalties to the IIA.

United Arab Emirates-based Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Center

In August 2020, we signed a non-binding MOU with the United Arab Emirates-based Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Center, a specialist healthcare center focused on cell therapy and regenerative medicine. The aim of the collaboration is to capitalize on each party’s respective areas of expertise in cell therapies. The parties have agreed to exchange research results, share samples, join usage of equipment and testing, and other essential activities related to advancing the treatment and research of cell therapies for a broad range of medical conditions.

In-House Clinical Manufacturing

We have the in-house capability to perform clinical cell manufacturing. Our state-of-the-art Good GMP grade manufacturing facility in Haifa has been in use since February 2013 for the main purpose of clinical grade, large-scale manufacturing. The facility’s new automated manufacturing process and products were approved for production of PLX-PAD for clinical use by the FDA, EMA, MFDS, PMDA and the MOH. Our second product, PLX-R18, was cleared by the FDA and the MOH for clinical use. Furthermore, the site was inspected and approved by a European Union qualified person (European accreditation body), approving that the site and production processes meet the current GMP for the purpose of manufacturing clinical grade products.

The site was also inspected and approved by the MOH and we received a cGMP Certification and manufacturer-importer authorization.

We obtain the human placentas used for our research and manufacturing activities from various hospitals in Israel after receiving a written informed consent by the mother and pathogen clearance. Any medical waste related to the use of placentas is treated in compliance with local environmental laws and standards.

We have developed a serum-free formulation to support the manufacturing of cell therapy products. This serum-free formulation was developed using our deep understanding in cell therapy industrial scale production standards, and the quality methods designed to support implementation in Phase III development and marketing. Achieving this significant technological challenge is expected to provide us with large-scale, highly consistent production capacity with operational independency from third party suppliers for standard serum, an expensive and quantity limited product. PLX-R18 is the first product candidate manufactured using the serum-free media.

Government Regulation

The development, manufacturing, and future marketing of our cell therapy product candidates are subject to the laws and regulations of governmental authorities in the United States, Europe and Israel, as well as other countries in which our products may be marketed in the future like Japan, and South Korea. In addition, the manufacturing conditions are specifically inspected by the MOH.

The FDA and the EMA must approve products prior to marketing. Furthermore, various governmental statutes and regulations also govern or influence testing, manufacturing, safety, labeling, storage and record keeping related to such products and their marketing. Governments in other countries have similar requirements for testing and marketing.

The process of obtaining these approvals and the subsequent compliance with appropriate statutes and regulations require the expenditure of substantial time, resources and money. There can be no assurance that our product candidates will ultimately receive marketing approval, or, if approved, will be reimbursed by public and private health insurance.

There are several stages every drug undergoes during its development process. Among these are:

Approval of a drug for clinical studies in humans and approval of marketing are sovereign decisions of states, made by national, or, in case of the European Union, international regulatory competent authorities.

The Regulatory Process in the United States

In the United States, our product candidates are subject to regulation as a biological product under the Public Health Service Act and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The FDA, regulating the approval of clinical studies and marketing applications in the United States, generally requires the following steps prior to approving a new biological product for use either for clinical studies or for commercial sale:

The Regulatory Process in Europe

In the European Union, our investigational cellular products are regulated under the Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product regulation, a regulation specific to cell and tissue products. Additionally, as of January 31, 2022, conducting clinical studies within EMA countries is subject to clinical trials regulation. This European Union regulation requires:

In May 2015, we were selected by the EMA for development of PLX-PAD cells via the EMA Adaptive Pathways Project.

Other Regulations 

In general, the approval procedure varies among countries, and may involve additional preclinical testing and clinical studies. The requirements and time required may differ from those required for FDA or EMA approval. Each country may impose certain procedures and requirements of its own. Most countries other than the United States, the European Union and Japan are willing to consider requests for marketing approval only after the product had been approved for marketing by either the FDA, the EMA or the PMDA. The decision regarding marketing approval is made following the submission of a dossier that is thoroughly assessed and critically addressed.

In Japan, we have completed the required regulatory interactions with the PMDA, prior to the submission of clinical study notification, in the framework of the new regulations for regenerative therapy effective in November 2014, which promote expedited approval for regenerative therapies that are being developed for seriously debilitating/life-threatening indications.

Clinical Studies

Typically, in the United States, as well as in the European Union, clinical development involves a three-phase process, although the phases may overlap. Phase I, clinical studies are conducted in a small number of healthy volunteers, or patients in cases of ethical issues with using healthy volunteers and are designed to provide information about product safety and to evaluate the pattern of drug distribution and metabolism within the body.

Phase II clinical studies are conducted in a homogenous group of patients afflicted with the specific target disease, to explore preliminary efficacy, optimal dosages and confirm the safety profile. In some cases, an initial study is conducted in patients to assess both preliminary efficacy and preliminary safety and patterns of drug metabolism and distribution, in which case it is referred to as a Phase I/II study. Phase III clinical studies are generally large-scale, multi-center, controlled studies conducted with a heterogeneous group of patients afflicted with the target disease, aiming to provide statistically significant support of efficacy, as well as safety and potency. The Phase III studies are considered confirmatory for establishing the efficacy and safety profile of the drug and are critical for approval. In some circumstances, a regulatory agency may require Phase IV, or post-marketing studies in case additional information needs to be collected after the drug is on the market.

During all phases of clinical development, regulatory agencies require extensive monitoring and auditing of all clinical activities, clinical data and clinical study sites investigators to minimize risks and ensure high quality and integrity of the collected data. The sponsor of a clinical study is required to submit an annual safety report to the relevant regulatory agencies, in which serious adverse events are reported, and also to submit in an expedited manner any individual serious adverse events that are suspected to be related to the tested drug and are unexpected with its use. An agency may, at its discretion, re-evaluate, alter, suspend, or terminate the clinical study based upon the data that have been accumulated to that point and its assessment of the risk/benefit ratio to the patient.

Employees

As of June 30, 2022, we employed a total of 154 full-time employees and 5 part-time employees, of whom, 128 full-time employees and 5 part-time employees are engaged in research and development, manufacturing and clinical development.

As of August 30, 2022, we employed a total of 129 full-time employees and 6 part-time employees, of whom, 102 full-time employees and 6 part-time employees are engaged in research and development, manufacturing and clinical development.

The reduction in the number of our employees was part of an efficiency and cost reduction plan we initiated in June 2022.

Competition

Our legacy product candidates have focused on the regenerative medicine field. The regenerative medicine field is characterized by intense competition, as global and local pharma players are becoming more engaged in the cell therapy field based on the advancements made in clinical studies and due to the favorable regenerative medicine legislation in certain regions. We face competition from both allogeneic and autologous cell therapy companies, academic, commercial and research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, biopharmaceutical companies, and governmental agencies. Some of the clinical indications we currently have under development are also being investigated in preclinical and clinical programs by others.

While there are hundreds of companies in the regenerative medicine space globally, there are multiple participants in the cell therapy field based in the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, and Australia such as Athersys Inc., Celularity Inc., Tigenix NV (acquired by Takeda), SanBio Inc. and Mesoblast Ltd. Among other things, we expect to compete based upon our intellectual property portfolio, our in-house manufacturing efficiencies and capabilities, and the efficacy of our products. Our ability to compete successfully will depend on our continued ability to attract and retain experienced and skilled executives, scientific and clinical development personnel, to identify and develop viable cellular therapeutic candidates, and exploit these products commercially. Given the magnitude of the potential opportunity for cell therapy, we expect competition in this area to intensify.

More recently, through our collaboration with Tnuva and the establishment of Plurinuva, we have begun to utilize our technology in the food tech field. Competitors in the cultivated meat domain include both producers of consumer-end-products, as well as those developing inputs for the production process. Plurinuva competes with companies that include Upside Foods, Future Meat, GOOD Meat, Mosa Meat, Aleph Farms, and Gourmey.

We believe that our ability to compete in the food tech field will derive from our experienced team, our unique 3D technology platform, and our industrial scale in-house GMP, cell manufacturing facility, together with our partner, Tnuva, which has vast experience in the food business.

Impact of COVID-19

In managing our ongoing global clinical studies, as well as our daily operations, in the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, we are taking all necessary precautions for the safety and well-being of patients, healthcare providers involved in our studies, and our employees. We are continuing our operational and manufacturing activities, subject to the directives of the MOH, with a dedicated team on site at our facilities. In addition, the majority of our employees have been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 and we are using remote work technologies that enable the mitigation of office staff while allowing other activities to be conducted without the need for a physical presence in our facilities, if necessary. The COVID-19 global pandemic caused delays in enrollment of some of our clinical studies. In addition, we are following the FDA and EMA guidelines regarding the management of clinical studies during COVID-19. However, the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic is constantly evolving, and we may experience further impacts on our daily operations, including the need for employees to potentially self-isolate based on potential exposure to the virus, difficulties for our employees in travelling abroad, and delays in our ongoing research work with various hospitals and academic institutions.

Available Information

Additional information about us is contained on our Internet website at www.pluri-biotech.com. Information on our website is not incorporated by reference into this report. Under the “SEC Filings” and “Financial Information” sections, under the “Investors & Media” section of our website, we make available free of charge our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Our reports filed with the SEC are also made available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. The following Corporate Governance documents are also posted on our website: Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, Anti Bribery and Corruption and Anti Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Compliance Policy, Trading Policy and the Charters for each of the Committees of our Board of Directors, or the Board.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the following information about these risks, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report before making an investment decision. Our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected as a result of any of the following risks. The value of our securities could decline as a result of any of these risks. You could lose all or part of your investment in our securities. Some of the statements in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” are forward-looking statements. The following risk factors are not the only risk factors facing our Company. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Summary of Risk Factors

Our business is subject to a number of risks, including risks that may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These risks are discussed more fully below and include, but are not limited to, risks related to:

Risk Related to Our Business

We may need to raise additional financing to support the research, development and manufacturing of our cell based products in the future, but we cannot be sure we will be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us when needed. If we are unable to obtain additional financing to meet our needs, our operations may be adversely affected or terminated.

It is highly likely that we will need to raise significant additional capital in the future. Although we were successful in raising capital in the past, our current financial resources are limited, and may not be sufficient to finance our operations until we become profitable, if that ever happens.

It is likely that we will need to raise additional funds in the future in order to satisfy our working capital and capital expenditure requirements. Therefore, we are dependent on our ability to sell our common shares for funds, receive grants, enter into collaborations and licensing deals or to otherwise raise capital. Any sale of our common shares in the future could result in dilution to existing shareholders and could adversely affect the market price of our common shares. 

Also, we may not be able to raise additional capital in the future to support the development and commercialization of our products, which could result in the loss of some or all of one’s investment in our common shares.

Our likelihood of profitability depends on our ability to license and/or develop and commercialize our products based on our technology, which is currently in the development stage. If we are unable to complete the development and commercialization of our cell-based products successfully, or are unable to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, our likelihood of profitability will be limited severely.

We are engaged in the business of developing cell-based products. We have not realized a profit from our operations to date and there is little likelihood that we will realize any profits in the short or medium term. Any profitability in the future from our business will be dependent upon successful commercialization of our cell-based products and/or licensing of our products, which will require additional research and development.

If our cell therapy product candidates do not prove to be safe and effective in clinical trials, we will not obtain the required regulatory approvals. If we fail to obtain such approvals, we may not generate sufficient revenues to continue our business operations.

Even after granting regulatory approval, the FDA, the EMA, and regulatory agencies in other countries continue to regulate marketed products, manufacturers and manufacturing facilities, which may create additional regulatory barriers and burdens. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, manufacturer or facility, may result in restrictions on the product or manufacturer, including a withdrawal of the product from the market.

We have not generated significant or consistent revenues to date, which raises doubts with respect to our ability to generate revenues in the future.

We have a limited operating history in our business of commercializing cell production technology and we have not generate any material revenues to date. It is not clear when we will generate revenues or whether we will generate revenues in the future. We cannot give assurances that we will be able to generate any significant revenues or income in the future. There is no assurance that we will ever be profitable.

Because most of our officers and directors are located in non-U.S. jurisdictions, you may have no effective recourse against the management for misconduct and may not be able to enforce judgment and civil liabilities against our officers, directors, experts and agents.

Most of our directors and officers are nationals and/or residents of countries other than the United States, and all or a substantial portion of their assets are located outside the United States.

As a result, it may be difficult to enforce within the United States any judgments obtained against our officers or directors, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any U.S. state.

While we may seek partners for licensing deals, joint ventures, partnerships, and direct sale of our products in various industries, there is no guarantee we will be successful in doing so.

To date, we have focused our efforts primarily in the regenerative medicine field, but we may seek partners for licensing deals, joint ventures, partnerships, and direct sale of our products or use of our technology in various industries. Licensing deals, joint ventures and partnerships in new fields involve numerous risks, including the potential integration of our technology and products in various new ways, which may or may not be successful. Such projects may require significant funds, time and attention of management and other key personnel. In addition, as we do not have experience in areas outside of the regenerative medicine field, we may lack the personnel to properly lead such initiatives. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in finding the relevant partners to fund and market the cell based products.

Risks Related to Development, Clinical studies, and Regulatory Approval of Our Product Candidates

If we are not able to conduct our clinical trials properly and on schedule, marketing approval by FDA, EMA, MOH and other regulatory authorities may be delayed or denied.

The completion of our future clinical trials may be delayed or terminated for many reasons, such as:

Our development costs may increase if we have material delays in a clinical trials, or if we are required to modify, suspend, terminate or repeat a clinical trial. If we are unable to conduct our clinical trials properly and on schedule, marketing approval may be delayed or denied by the FDA, EMA, MOH and other regulatory authorities.

The results of our clinical trials may not support our product candidates’ claims or any additional claims we may seek for our product candidates and our clinical trials may result in the discovery of adverse side effects.

Even if any clinical trial that we need to undertake is completed as planned, or if interim results from existing clinical trials are released, we cannot be certain that such results will support our product candidates claims or any new indications that we may seek for our products or that the FDA or foreign authorities will agree with our conclusions regarding the results of those trials. The clinical trial process may fail to demonstrate that our products or a product candidate is safe and effective for the proposed indicated use, which could cause us to stop seeking additional clearances or approvals for our product candidates. Any delay or termination of our clinical trials will delay the filing of our regulatory submissions and, ultimately, our ability to commercialize a product candidate. It is also possible that patients enrolled in clinical trials will experience adverse side effects that are not currently part of the product candidate’s profile.

Favorable results from compassionate use treatment or initial interim results from a clinical trial do not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful and success in early-stage clinical trials does not ensure success in later-stage clinical trials.

PLX cells have been administered as part of compassionate use treatments, which permit the administration of the PLX cells outside of clinical trials. No assurance can be given that any positive results are attributable to the PLX cells, or that administration of PLX cells to other patients will have positive results. Compassionate use is a term that is used to refer to the use of an investigational drug outside of a clinical trial to treat a patient with a serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition who has no comparable or satisfactory alternative treatment options. Regulators often allow compassionate use on a case-by-case basis for an individual patient or for defined groups of patients with similar treatment needs.

Success in early clinical trials does not ensure that later clinical trials will be successful, and initial results from a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. While results from treating patients through compassionate use have in certain cases been successful, we cannot be assured that further trials will ultimately be successful. Results of further clinical trials may be disappointing.

Even if early-stage clinical trials are successful, we may need to conduct additional clinical trials for product candidates with patients receiving the drug for longer periods before we are able to seek approvals to market and sell these product candidates from the FDA and regulatory authorities outside the United States. Even if we are able to obtain approval for our product candidates through an accelerated approval review program, we may still be required to conduct clinical trials after such an approval. If we are not successful in commercializing any of our lead product candidates, or are significantly delayed in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

Our product development programs are based on novel technologies and are inherently risky.

We are subject to the risks of failure inherent in the development of products based on new technologies. The novel nature of our therapeutics creates significant challenges in regard to product development and optimization, manufacturing, government regulation, third party reimbursement and market acceptance. For example, the FDA, the EMA and other countries’ regulatory authorities have relatively limited experience with cell therapies. Very few cell therapy products have been approved by regulatory authorities to date for commercial sale, and the pathway to regulatory approval for our cell therapy product candidates may accordingly be more complex and lengthier. As a result, the development and commercialization pathway for our therapies may be subject to increased uncertainty, as compared to the pathway for new conventional drugs.

Our cell therapy drug candidates represent new classes of therapy that the marketplace may not understand or accept.

Even if we successfully develop and obtain regulatory approval for our cell therapy candidates, the market may not understand or accept them. We are developing cell therapy product candidates that represent novel treatments and will compete with a number of more conventional products and therapies manufactured and marketed by others, including major pharmaceutical companies. The degree of market acceptance of any of our developed and potential products will depend on a number of factors, including:

If the health care community does not accept our potential products for any of the foregoing reasons, or for any other reason, it could affect our sales, having a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Interim, “top-line,” and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available or as additional analyses are conducted, and as the data are subject to audit and verification procedures, which could result in material changes in the final data.

From time to time, we may publish interim, “top-line,” or preliminary data from our clinical studies. Interim data from clinical trials that we may complete are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and more patient data become available. Preliminary or “top-line” data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary data we previously published. As a result, interim and preliminary data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Material adverse changes between preliminary, “top-line,” or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects.

Risks Related to Our Food-Tech Business

Plurinuva has a limited operating history in the field of cultivated meat to date and its prospects will be dependent on its ability to meet a number of challenges.

Plurinuva’s business prospects are difficult to predict due to its lack of operational history in the new and emerging food tech field, and its success will be dependent on its ability to meet a number of challenges. Because it has a limited operating history in the field of cultivated meat and it is in the early stages of development, Plurinuva may not be able to evaluate its future prospects accurately. Plurinuva's prospects will be primarily dependent on its ability to successfully develop industrial scale cultivated meat technologies and processes, and market these to its potential customers. If Plurinuva is not able to successfully meet these challenges, its prospects, business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

In addition, Plurinuva will be subject to changing laws, rules and regulations in the Israeli, United States, Asia Pacific, the European Union and other jurisdictions relating to the food tech industry. Such laws and regulations may negatively impact its ability to expand its business and pursue business opportunities. Plurinuva may also incur significant expenses to comply with the laws, regulations and other obligations that will apply to it.

Plurinuva is primarily focused on utilizing its technology for the development of cultivated meat , and it has limited data on the performance of our and its technologies in the field of cultivated meat to date.

Plurinuva does not currently have any products or technologies approved for sale and it is still in the early stages of development. To date, Plurinuva has limited data on the ability of our and its technologies to successfully manufacture cultivated meat, towards which they have devoted substantial resources to date. Plurinuva’s current technologies are, in large part, based on our technologies and intellectual property. We may not be successful in developing its technologies in a manner sufficient to support its expected scale-ups and future growth, or at all.  Plurinuva expects that a substantial portion of its efforts and expenditures over the next few years will be devoted to the development of technologies designed to enable Plurinuva to market industrial-scale cultivated meat manufacturing processes.  Plurinuva cannot guarantee that it will be successful in developing these technologies, based on its current roadmap , or at all. If Plurinuva is able to successfully develop its cultivated meat technologies, it cannot ensure that it will obtain regulatory approval or that, following approval, upon commercialization its technologies will achieve market acceptance.  Any such delay or failure could materially and adversely affect Plurinuva's financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Risk Related to Commercialization of Our Product Candidates

We may not successfully establish new collaborations, joint ventures or licensing arrangements, which could adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates.

One of the elements of our business strategy is to license our technology to other companies. Our business strategy includes development and in-house manufacturing of innovative new cell- based products and solutions powered by our 3D cell expansion technology platforms and establishing joint ventures and partnerships that leverage our cell expansion technology and cell-based product portfolio to expand product pipelines and meet cell-based manufacturing needs for a variety of industries. To date, we have a strategic partnership with Tnuva to use our technology to establish a cultivated food platform ,with CHA for both the IC and CLI indications in Korea and with Chart for the thawing device. Notwithstanding, we may not be able to further establish or maintain such licensing and collaboration arrangements necessary to develop and commercialize our product candidates.

Even if we are able to maintain or establish licensing or collaboration arrangements, these arrangements may not be on favorable terms and may contain provisions that will restrict our ability to develop, test and market our product candidates. Any failure to maintain or establish licensing or collaboration arrangements on favorable terms could adversely affect our business prospects, financial condition, or ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates.

Our agreements with our collaborators and licensees may have provisions that give rise to disputes regarding the rights and obligations of the parties. These and other possible disagreements could lead to termination of the agreement or delays in collaborative research, development, supply, or commercialization of certain product candidates, or could require or result in litigation or arbitration. Moreover, disagreements could arise with our collaborators over rights to intellectual property or our rights to share in any of the future revenues of products developed by our collaborators. These kinds of disagreements could result in costly and time-consuming litigation. Any such conflicts with our collaborators could reduce our ability to obtain future collaboration agreements and could have a negative impact on our relationship with existing collaborators.

The market for our cell therapy products will be heavily dependent on third party reimbursement policies.

Our ability to successfully commercialize our cell therapy product candidates will depend on the extent to which government healthcare programs, as well as private health insurers, health maintenance organizations and other third-party payers will pay for our products and related treatments.

Reimbursement by third party payers depends on a number of factors, including the payer’s determination that use of the product is safe and effective, not experimental, or investigational, medically necessary, appropriate for the specific patient and cost-effective. Reimbursement in the United States or foreign countries may not be available or maintained for any of our product candidates. If we do not obtain approvals for adequate third-party reimbursements, we may not be able to establish or maintain price levels sufficient to realize an appropriate return on our investment in product development. Any limits on reimbursement from third party payers may reduce the demand for, or negatively affect the price of, our products. The lack of reimbursement for these procedures by insurance payers has negatively affected the market for our products in this indication in the past.

Managing and reducing health care costs has been a general concern of federal and state governments in the United States and of foreign governments. In addition, third party payers are increasingly challenging the price and cost-effectiveness of medical products and services, and many limit reimbursement for newly approved health care products. In particular, third-party payers may limit the indications for which they will reimburse patients who use any products that we may develop. Cost control initiatives could decrease the price for products that we may develop, which would result in lower product revenues to us.

Risk Related to Intellectual Property

Our success depends in large part on our ability to develop and protect our technology and our cell therapy products. If our patents and proprietary rights agreements do not provide sufficient protection for our technology and our cell therapy products, our business and competitive position will suffer.

Our success will also depend in part on our ability to develop our technology and commercialize cell therapy products without infringing the proprietary rights of others. We have not conducted full freedom of use patent searches and no assurance can be given that patents do not exist or could not be filed which would have an adverse effect on our ability to develop our technology or maintain our competitive position with respect to our potential cell therapy products. If our technology components, devices, designs, products, processes or other subject matter are claimed under other existing United States or foreign patents or are otherwise protected by third party proprietary rights, we may be subject to infringement actions. In such event, we may challenge the validity of such patents or other proprietary rights, or we may be required to obtain licenses from such companies in order to develop, manufacture or market our technology or products. There can be no assurances that we would be able to obtain such licenses or that such licenses, if available, could be obtained on commercially reasonable terms. Furthermore, the failure to either develop a commercially viable alternative or obtain such licenses could result in delays in marketing our proposed products or the inability to proceed with the development, manufacture or sale of products requiring such licenses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we are required to defend ourselves against charges of patent infringement or to protect our proprietary rights against third parties, substantial costs will be incurred regardless of whether we are successful. Such proceedings are typically protracted with no certainty of success. An adverse outcome could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties and force us to curtail or cease our development of our technology and the commercialization our potential cell therapy products.

We have built the ability to manufacture clinical grade adherent stromal cells in-house. Through our experience with adherent stromal cell-based product development, we have developed expertise and know-how in this field. To protect these expertise and know-how, our policies require confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, contractors, manufacturers and advisors. These agreements generally provide for protection of confidential information, restrictions on the use of materials and assignment of inventions conceived during the course of performance for us. These agreements might not effectively prevent disclosure of our confidential information.

Third parties may initiate legal proceedings alleging that we are infringing their intellectual property rights, the outcome of which would be uncertain and could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our commercial success depends upon our ability and the ability of our collaborators to develop, manufacture, market and sell our product candidates and use our proprietary technologies without infringing the proprietary rights of third parties. We have yet to conduct comprehensive freedom-to-operate searches to determine whether our proposed business activities or use of certain of the patent rights owned by us would infringe patents issued to third parties. We may become party to, or threatened with, future adversarial proceedings or litigation regarding intellectual property rights with respect to our products and technology, including interference proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Third parties may assert infringement claims against us based on existing patents or patents that may be granted in the future. If we are found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to continue developing and marketing our products and technology. However, we may not be able to obtain any required license on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

Even if we were able to obtain a license, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. We could be forced, including by court order, to cease commercializing the infringing technology or product. In addition, we could be found liable for monetary damages. A finding of infringement could prevent us from commercializing our product candidates or force us to cease some of our business operations, which could materially harm our business. For example, we are aware of issued third party patents directed to placental stem cells and their use for therapy and in treating various diseases. We may need to seek a license for one or more of these patents. No assurances can be given that such a license will be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Claims that we have misappropriated the confidential information or trade secrets of third parties could have a similar negative impact on our business.

Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common shares. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to adequately conduct such litigation or proceedings. Some of our competitors are able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace.

The patent approval process is complex, and we cannot be sure that our pending patent applications or future patent applications will be approved.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our and any future licensors’ patent rights are highly uncertain. Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products. Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our patents or narrow the scope of our patent protection. The laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States and we may not be able to obtain meaningful patent protection for any of our commercial products either in or outside the United States.

No assurance can be given that the scope of any patent protection granted will exclude competitors or provide us with competitive advantages, that any of the patents that have been or may be issued to us will be held valid if subsequently challenged, or that other parties will not claim rights to or ownership of our patents or other proprietary rights that we hold. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that others have not developed or will not develop similar products, duplicate any of our technology or products or design around any patents that have been or may be issued to us or any future licensors. Since patent applications in the United States and in Europe are not publicly disclosed until patents are issued, there can be no assurance that others did not first file applications for products covered by our pending patent applications, nor can we be certain that we will not infringe any patents that may be issued to others.

Risk Related to Our Common Shares

The price of our common shares may fluctuate significantly.

The market for our common shares may fluctuate significantly. A number of events and factors may have an adverse impact on the market price of our common shares, such as:

In addition, a global pandemic, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and a market downturn in general and/or in the biopharmaceutical sector in particular, may adversely affect the market price of our securities, which may not necessarily reflect the actual or perceived value of our Company.

We could fail to maintain the listing of our common shares on Nasdaq, which could seriously harm the liquidity of our shares and our ability to raise capital or complete a strategic transaction.

The Nasdaq Stock Market has established continued listing requirements, including a requirement to maintain a minimum closing bid price of at least $1.00 per share. If a company trades for 30 consecutive business days below such minimum closing bid price, it will receive a deficiency notice from Nasdaq. Assuming it is in compliance with the other continued listing requirements, Nasdaq would provide such company a period of 180 calendar days in which to regain compliance by maintaining a closing bid price at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten consecutive business days. If we are not able to regain compliance, there is a risk that our common shares may be delisted from Nasdaq.

As of the date of this filing, our common shares are trading below $1.00 per share. If the closing bid price of our common shares continues trading below $1.00 per share for an aggregate of 30 consecutive business days, we will receive a deficiency notice from Nasdaq. If, in such circumstance, we are not able to regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement within 180 days, our common shares will be subject to a delisting action by Nasdaq.

A delisting from Nasdaq would likely result in a reduction in some or all of the following, each of which could have a material adverse effect on shareholders:

Future sales of our common shares may cause dilution.

Future sales of our common shares, or the perception that such sales may occur, could cause immediate dilution and adversely affect the market price of our common shares. If we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, the percentage ownership of our existing shareholders may be reduced, and accordingly these shareholders may experience substantial dilution. We may also issue equity securities that provide for rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our common shares. Given our need for cash and that equity raising is the most common type of fundraising for companies like ours, the risk of dilution is particularly significant for shareholders of our company.

Risks Related to Foreign Exchange Rates

We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

A significant portion of our business is conducted outside the United States. Therefore, we are exposed to currency exchange fluctuations in other currencies such as the NIS and the Euro. A significant portion of our expenses in Israel are paid in NIS, and we have also received €20 million pursuant to the EIB Finance Agreement, that bears 4% annual interest. All of these factors subject us to the risks of foreign currency fluctuations. Our primary expenses paid in NIS are employee salaries, and lease payments on our facilities. From time to time, we may apply a hedging strategy by using options and forward contracts to protect ourselves against some of the risks of currency exchange fluctuations and we are actively monitoring the exchange rate differences of the NIS, Euro and U.S. Dollar; however, we are still exposed to potential losses from currency exchange fluctuation.

Our cash may be subject to a risk of loss, and we may be exposed to fluctuations in interest rates.

Our assets include a significant component of cash and cash equivalents and bank deposits.  We adhere to an investment policy set by our investment committee which aims to preserve our financial assets, maintain adequate liquidity and maximize returns. We believe that our cash is held in institutions whose credit risk is minimal and that the value and liquidity of our deposits are accurately reflected in our consolidated financial statements as of June 30, 2022. Currently, we hold most of our cash assets in bank deposits. However, nearly all of our cash and bank deposits are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the FDIC, or similar governmental deposit insurance outside the United States. Therefore, our cash and any bank deposits that we now hold or may acquire in the future may be subject to risks, including the risk of loss or of reduced value or liquidity, particularly in light of the increased volatility and worldwide pressures in the financial and banking sectors.

Other Risks

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, or any other pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease, may materially and adversely affect our business and operations.

COVID-19 has had and continues to have a significant impact, both direct and indirect, on businesses and commerce, as worker shortages have occurred; supply chains have been disrupted; facilities and production have been suspended; and demand for certain goods and services, such as medical services and supplies, has spiked, while demand for other goods and services, such as travel, has fallen. We are actively monitoring any developments regarding the pandemic, and we are taking any necessary measures to respond to the situation in cooperation with the various stakeholders.

COVID-19 infection of our workforce could result in a temporary disruption in our business activities, including manufacturing and other functions. Based on guidelines provided by the Israeli Government, we have increased as much as possible the capacity and arrangement for employees to work remotely, and although the vast majority of our employees have been vaccinated and we have adopted hybrid working models to minimize exposure, we cannot guaranty that there will be no infection and spread of the virus among our employees and staff.

The COVID-19 pandemic is also affecting the United States, Israel and global economies and has affected, and may continue to affect, the conduct of our clinical trials and may in the future affect our operations and those of third parties on which we rely, including by causing disruptions in our raw material supply. In that regard, to date we have experienced delays in enrolling patients in our various studies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic may affect the operations of the FDA and other health authorities, which could result in delays of reviews and approvals, including with respect to our Phase III clinical trial related to muscle recovery following surgery for hip fracture. The evolving COVID-19 pandemic has already impacted, and may continue to, directly or indirectly impact the pace of enrollment in our clinical trials as patients may avoid or may not be able to travel to healthcare facilities and physicians’ offices unless due to a health emergency and clinical trial staff may not be able to physically arrive to the clinical sites. Additionally, such facilities and offices have been and may continue to be required to focus limited resources on non-clinical trial matters, including treatment of COVID-19 patients, thereby decreasing availability, in whole or in part, for clinical trial services. Additionally, the stock market has been unusually volatile during the COVID-19 outbreak and such volatility may continue. To date, during certain periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, our share price fluctuated significantly, and such fluctuation may continue to occur.

The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. We do not yet know the full extent of potential delays or impacts on our business, financing or clinical trial activities, or on healthcare systems or the global economy as a whole if the pandemic continues for an extended period of time or significantly worsens. However, these effects could have a material impact on our liquidity, capital resources, operations and business and those of the third parties on which we rely.

Since we received grants from the IIA, we are subject to on-going restrictions.

We have received royalty-bearing grants from the IIA, for research and development programs that meet specified criteria. The terms of the IIA’s grants limit our ability to transfer know-how developed under an approved research and development program outside of Israel, regardless of whether the royalties are fully paid. Any non-Israeli citizen, resident or entity that, among other things, becomes a holder of 5% or more of our share capital or voting rights, is entitled to appoint one or more of our directors or our Chief Executive Officer, or CEO, serves as a director of our Company or as our CEO is generally required to notify the same to the IIA and to undertake to observe the law governing the grant programs of the IIA, the principal restrictions of which are the transferability limits described above. For more information, see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources.”

Recent increasing global inflation may adversely affect our business results.

The increasing inflation could affect our ability to purchase materials needed to support our research and operational activities, which in turn could result in higher burn rate and a higher end price of our future products. As a result, we may not be able to effectively develop our product candidates or cultivated meat products. If we are not able to successfully manage any increases in inflation, our prospects, business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Since we have signed the EIB Finance Agreement, we agreed to guaranty the loan as well as agreed to limitations that require us to notify the EIB, and in some cases obtain their approval, before we engage with other banks for additional sources of funding or with potential partners for certain strategic activities.

The EIB Finance Agreement contains certain limitations that we must adhere to such as the use of proceeds received from the EIB, the disposal of assets, substantive changes in the nature of our business, our potential execution of mergers and acquisitions, changes in our holding structure, distributions of future potential dividends and our engaging with other banks and financing entities for other loans.

Our principal research and development and manufacturing facilities are located in Israel and the unstable military and political conditions of Israel may cause interruption or suspension of our business operations without warning.

Our principal research and development and manufacturing facilities are located in Israel. As a result, we are directly influenced by the political, economic and military conditions affecting Israel. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, a number of armed conflicts have taken place between Israel and its Arab neighbors. During June 2021, July and August 2014 and November 2012, Israel was engaged in an armed conflict with a militia group and political party which controls the Gaza Strip, and during the summer of 2006, Israel was engaged in an armed conflict with Hezbollah, a Lebanese Islamist Shiite militia group and political party. These conflicts involved missile strikes against civilian targets in various parts of Israel, including areas in which our employees and some of our consultants are located, and negatively affected business conditions in Israel. We cannot predict if or when armed conflict will take place and the duration of each conflict.

Furthermore, certain of our employees may be obligated to perform annual reserve duty in the Israel Defense Forces and are subject to being called up for active military duty at any time. All Israeli male citizens who have served in the army are required to perform reserve duty until they are between 40 and 49 years old, depending upon the nature of their military service.

In addition, Israeli-based companies and companies doing business with Israel, have been the subject of an economic boycott by members of the Arab League and certain other predominantly Muslim countries since Israel’s establishment. Although Israel has entered into various agreements with certain Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority, and various declarations have been signed in connection with efforts to resolve some of the economic and political problems in the Middle East, we cannot predict whether or in what manner these problems will be resolved. Wars and acts of terrorism have resulted in significant damage to the Israeli economy, including reducing the level of foreign and local investment.

Risk Related to Our Industry

The trend towards consolidation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may adversely affect us.

There is a trend towards consolidation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. This consolidation trend may result in the remaining companies having greater financial resources and technical discovery capabilities, thus intensifying competition in these industries. This trend may also result in fewer potential collaborators or licensees for our therapeutic product candidates. Also, if a consolidating company is already doing business with our competitors, we may lose existing licensees or collaborators as a result of such consolidation. This trend may adversely affect our ability to enter into license agreements or agreements for the development and commercialization of our product candidates, and as a result may materially harm our business.

If we do not keep pace with our competitors and with technological and market changes, our technology and products may become obsolete, and our business may suffer.

The cellular therapeutics industry, of which we are a part, is very competitive and is subject to technological changes that can be rapid and intense. We have faced, and will continue to face, intense competition from biotechnology, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, academic and research institutions and governmental agencies engaged in cellular therapeutic and drug discovery activities or funding, both in the United States and internationally. Some of these competitors are pursuing the development of cellular therapeutics, drugs and other therapies that target the same diseases and conditions that we target in our clinical and pre-clinical programs.

Some of our competitors have greater resources, more product candidates and have developed product candidates and processes that directly compete with our products. Our competitors may have developed, or could develop in the future, new products that compete with our products or even render our products obsolete.

Potential product liability claims could adversely affect our future earnings and financial condition.

We face an inherent business risk of exposure to product liability claims in the event that the use of our products results in adverse effects. We may not be able to maintain adequate levels of insurance for these liabilities at reasonable cost and/or reasonable terms. Excessive insurance costs or uninsured claims would add to our future operating expenses and adversely affect our financial condition.

Risk Related to Our Dependence on Third Parties

We are dependent upon third party suppliers for raw materials needed to manufacture PLX; if any of these third parties fails or is unable to perform in a timely manner, our ability to manufacture and deliver will be compromised.

In addition to the placenta used in the clinical manufacturing process of PLX, we require certain raw materials. These items must be manufactured and supplied to us in sufficient quantities and in compliance with current GMP. To meet these requirements, we have entered into supply agreements with firms that manufacture these raw materials to current GMP standards. Our requirements for these items are expected to increase if and when we transition to the manufacture of commercial quantities of our cell-based drug candidates.

In addition, as we proceed with our clinical trial efforts, we must be able to continuously demonstrate to the FDA, EMA and other regulatory authorities that we can manufacture our cell therapy product candidates with consistent characteristics. Accordingly, we are materially dependent on these suppliers for supply of current GMP-grade materials of consistent quality. Our ability to complete ongoing clinical trials may be negatively affected in the event that we are forced to seek and validate a replacement source for any of these critical materials.

We intend to decrease our dependency in third party suppliers for raw materials. To that effect we have developed a serum-free formulation which is expected to support the manufacturing of cell therapy products. This serum-free formulation was developed using our deep understanding in cell therapy industrial scale production standards, and the quality methods designed to support implementation in Phase III development and marketing. Achieving this significant technological challenge is expected to provide us with large-scale, highly consistent production with operational independency from third party suppliers for standard serum, an expensive and quantity limited product. There can be no guarantee that we will successfully implement the use of our serum-free formulation to support the manufacturing of cell therapy products or any other future product candidates, if any, that we seek to produce using such formulation, or that such implementation of the serum-free formulation will decrease our dependency on third party suppliers for raw materials.

We rely and will continue to rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval of or commercialize our product candidates.

We depend and will depend upon independent investigators and collaborators, such as universities, medical institutions, CROs, vendors and strategic partners to conduct our pre-clinical and clinical trials under agreements with us. We negotiate budgets and contracts with CROs, vendors and study sites which may result in delays to our development timelines and increased costs. We rely heavily on these third parties over the course of our clinical trials, and we control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies is conducted in accordance with applicable protocol, legal, regulatory and scientific standards, and our reliance on third parties does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and these third parties are required to comply with current good clinical practices, or cGCPs, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for product candidates in clinical development.

Regulatory authorities enforce these cGCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of these third parties fail to comply with applicable cGCP regulations, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications. We cannot assure that, upon inspection, such regulatory authorities will determine that any of our clinical trials comply with the cGCP regulations. In addition, any Phase III clinical trials which we may conduct must be conducted with biologic product produced under cGMP and may require a large number of test patients. Biologic products for commercial purposes must also be produced under cGMP. Our failure or any failure by these third parties to comply with these regulations or to recruit a sufficient number of patients may require us to repeat clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process. Moreover, our business may be implicated if any of these third parties violates federal or state fraud and abuse or false claims laws and regulations or healthcare privacy and security laws and regulations.

Any third parties conducting our clinical trials are not and will not be our employees and, except for remedies available to us under our agreements with such third parties, which in some instances may be limited, we cannot control whether or not they devote sufficient time and resources to our ongoing pre-clinical, clinical and nonclinical programs. These third parties may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials or other drug development activities, which could affect their performance on our behalf. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if they declare bankruptcy or if they need to be replaced for whatever reason or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated and we may not be able to complete development of, obtain regulatory approval of or successfully commercialize our product candidates. As a result, our financial results and the commercial prospects for our product candidates would be harmed, our costs could increase and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed. Switching or adding third parties to conduct our clinical trials involves substantial cost and requires extensive management time and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition period when a new third party commences work. As a result, delays occur, which can materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines.

A cybersecurity incident, other technology disruptions or failure to comply with laws and regulations relating to privacy and the protection of data relating to individuals could negatively impact our business and our reputation.

We rely on and utilize services provided by third parties in connection with our clinical trials, which services involve the collection, use, storage and analysis of personal health information. While we receive assurances from these vendors that their services are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, and other applicable privacy laws, there can be no assurance that such third parties will comply with applicable laws or regulations. Non-compliance by such vendors may result in liability for us which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions and results of operations.

During November 2021, we experienced a cybersecurity incident in which one or more third parties were able to impersonate one of our vendors by using a falsified email domain account and asked to make a payment to a false bank account. As a result of this incident, the third parties managed to extract a sum of approximately $616,000 from us. Following the incident, we hired the services of a cybersecurity investigation firm to fully access the incident and notified the appropriate government authorities, including the banks involved in the transaction. During February 2022, with the assistance of local and global law enforcement agencies, we were able to recover an amount of approximately $412,000 from the false bank account. Together with the reimbursement received from our insurance company, we were able to recover the full amount lost.

The cybersecurity incident has not had any material effect on our ability to meet our financial obligations, including our ability to carry out our operations and business activities, and our investigation has confirmed that, other than the funds referenced above, none of our information or data was stolen or damaged. Nonetheless, despite the implementation of security measures, including the steps we have taken following the November 2021 cybersecurity incident, our internal computer systems and those of our current and future CROs and other contractors and consultants may not prevent future incidents of a similar nature or other cyber-attacks. We are constantly exploring new and advanced security protection measures to prevent future cybersecurity incidents.

Future security breaches or any material system failure events could result in a material disruption of our development programs and our business operations. For example, the loss of clinical trial data from completed or future clinical trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the further development and commercialization of our product candidates could be delayed.

In addition, we are subject to laws, rules and regulations in the Israeli, United States, the European Union and other jurisdictions relating to the collection, use and security of personal information and data. Such data privacy laws, regulations and other obligations may require us to change our business practices and may negatively impact our ability to expand our business and pursue business opportunities. We may incur significant expenses to comply with the laws, regulations and other obligations that apply to us. Additionally, the privacy- and data protection-related laws, rules and regulations applicable to us are subject to significant change. Several jurisdictions have passed new laws and regulations in this area, and other jurisdictions are considering imposing additional restrictions. Privacy- and data protection-related laws and regulations also may be interpreted and enforced inconsistently over time and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Any actual or perceived inability to comply with applicable privacy or data protection laws, regulations, or other obligations could result in significant cost and liability, litigation or governmental investigations, damage our reputation, and adversely affect our business.

Unsuccessful compliance with certain European privacy regulations could have an adverse effect on our business and reputation.

The collection and use of personal health data in the European Union is governed by the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. This directive imposes several requirements relating to the consent of the individuals to whom the personal data relates, the information provided to the individuals, notification of data processing obligations to the competent national data protection authorities and the security and confidentiality of the personal data. The GPDR also extends the geographical scope of European Union data protection law to non-European Union entities under certain conditions, tightens existing European Union data protection principles and creates new obligations for companies and new rights for individuals. Failure to comply with the requirements of the GDPR and the related national data protection laws of the European Union Member States may result in fines and other administrative penalties. There may be circumstances under which a failure to comply with GDPR, or the exercise of individual rights under the GDPR, would limit our ability to utilize clinical trial data collected on certain subjects. The GDPR regulations impose additional responsibility and liability in relation to personal data that we process, and we intend to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance with these and/or new data protection rules.

Changes to these European privacy regulations and unsuccessful compliance may be onerous and adversely affect our business, financial condition, prospects, results of operations and reputation.

We may be exposed to liabilities under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and any determination that we violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, or FCPA, and other laws that prohibit U.S. companies or their agents and employees from providing anything of value to a foreign official or political party for the purposes of influencing any act or decision of these individuals in their official capacity to help obtain or retain business, direct business to any person or corporate entity or obtain any unfair advantage. We have operations and agreements with third parties. Our international activities create the risk of unauthorized and illegal payments or offers of payments by our employees or consultants, even though they may not always be subject to our control. We discourage these practices by our employees and consultants. However, our existing safeguards and any future improvements may prove to be less than effective, and our employees or consultants, may engage in conduct for which we might be held responsible for Any failure by us to adopt appropriate compliance procedures and ensure that our employees and consultants comply with the FCPA and applicable laws and regulations in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial penalties or restrictions on our ability to conduct business in certain foreign jurisdictions.

Violations of the FCPA may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could negatively affect our business, operating results, and financial condition. In addition, the U.S. government may seek to hold our Company liable for successor liability FCPA violations committed by companies in which we invest or that we acquire.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

Not Applicable.

Item 2. Properties.

Our principal executive, manufacturing and research and development offices are located at MATAM Advanced Technology Park, Building No. 5, Haifa, Israel, where we occupy approximately 4,389 square meters. Our gross monthly rent payment for these leased facilities as of July 2022 was 291,000 NIS (approximately $89,000). For Fiscal Year 2022, we recognized a net expense (rent expenses after deducting deferred participation payments from MATAM) in the amount of $921,000, according to the implementation of Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-02, “Leases.”

We believe that the current space we have is adequate to meet our current and foreseeable future needs.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

None.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

PART II

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

Our common shares are traded on the Nasdaq Global Market and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the symbol “PLUR”.

As of September 15, 2022, there were 50 holders of record, and 32,620,343 of our common shares were issued and outstanding.

American Stock Transfer and Trust Company, LLC is the registrar and transfer agent for our common shares. Their address is 6201 15th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11219, telephone: (718) 921-8300, (800) 937-5449.

Item 6. [Reserved]

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

We are a biotechnology company with an advanced cell-based technology platform. We have developed a unique three-dimensional, or 3D, technology platform for cell expansion with an industrial scale in-house GMP cell manufacturing facility. We are utilizing our technology in the field of regenerative medicine and food tech and plan to utilize it in other industries and verticals that have a need for our mass scale and cost-effective cell expansion platform.

We use our advanced cell-based technology platform in the field of regenerative medicine to develop placenta-based cell therapy product candidates for the treatment of inflammatory, muscle injuries and hematologic conditions. Our PLX cells are adherent stromal cells that are expanded using our 3D platform.  Our PLX cells can be administered to patients off-the-shelf, without blood or tissue matching or additional manipulation prior to administration. PLX cells are believed to release a range of therapeutic proteins in response to the patient’s condition.

Our operations are focused on the research, development and manufacturing of cells and cell-based products, conducting clinical studies and the business development of cell therapeutics and cell-based technologies, such as our recent collaboration with Tnuva Food Industries – Agricultural Cooperative in Israel Ltd., through its fully owned subsidiary, Tnuva, to use our technology to establish a cultivated food platform.

We expect to demonstrate a real-world impact and value from our cell-based technology platform, our current PLX pipeline and from other cell-based product candidates that may be developed based on our platform. Our business model for commercialization and revenue generation includes, but is not limited to, licensing deals, joint ventures, partnerships, joint development agreements and direct sale of our products.

We are now completing a multinational Phase III clinical study in muscle recovery following surgery for hip fracture, with sites in the United States, Europe and Israel. In the last year, we have completed a Phase II clinical study in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, or ARDS, associated with COVID-19 and a Phase I clinical study for incomplete recovery following bone marrow transplantation. Additional areas of focus for clinical development include an investigator-led Phase I/II Chronic Graft versus Host Disease, or cGVHD, study in Israel, and an Acute Radiation Syndrome, or ARS, program under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, animal rule. We believe that each of these indications represents a severe unmet medical need.

We were incorporated in Nevada on May 11, 2001. Pluri Inc. has a wholly owned subsidiary, Pluri Biotech Ltd., or the Subsidiary, previously named Pluristem Ltd., which is incorporated under the laws of the State of Israel. In January 2020, the Subsidiary established a wholly owned subsidiary, Pluristem GmbH, which is incorporated under the laws of Germany. In January 2022, the Subsidiary established an additional subsidiary, Plurinuva Ltd., or Plurinuva, which is incorporated under the laws of Israel, which followed the execution of the collaboration agreement with Tnuva .  

On July 26, 2022, we completed our legal entity name change from Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. to Pluri Inc., by merging a wholly-owned subsidiary with and into the Company, with us being the surviving corporation. The name change reflects a broader strategy of leveraging our 3D cell expansion technology to develop innovative cell-based products that can be harnessed for a range of fields beyond medicine, providing solutions for various areas of life. Effective July 26, 2022, our Nasdaq ticker symbol was changed to “PLUR.”

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS – YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2022 COMPARED TO YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2021.

Revenues

Revenues for the year ended June 30, 2022 were $234,000, compared to no revenues for the year ended June 30, 2021. The revenues in the year ended June 30, 2022 were related to the revenue derived from our license agreement with Takeda and the sale of our PLX cells for research use.

Research and Development, Net

Research and development, net (costs less participation and grants by the IIA, Horizon 2020 and other parties) decreased by 19% from $30,066,000 for the year ended June 30, 2021, to $24,377,000 for the year ended June 30, 2022. The decrease is mainly attributed to a decrease in clinical study expenses following the termination of our CLI study, end of enrollment of our Phase II studies of ARDS associated with COVID-19, and end of enrollment in our Phase III hip study, as well as a decrease in share-based compensation expenses related to restricted share units, or RSUs, granted to employees and consultants. The decrease was partially offset by an increase in materials purchased to support our manufacturing plans, increased payroll expenses related to payroll adjustments and exchange rate fluctuations, and an increase in building lease costs following the extension of our lease contract.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses decreased by 15% from $20,557,000 for the year ended June 30, 2021, to $17,450,000 for the year ended June 30, 2022. The decrease is mainly attributed to a decrease in share-based compensation expenses related to market based vesting conditioned RSUs granted to our CEO and Chairman, partially offset by an increase in share-based compensation expenses related to the allocation of shares of Plurinuva to our CEO, CFO and Chairman pursuant to their employment or consulting agreement (see also notes 1e and 9b1 to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report) and increased payroll expenses related to new employees, payroll adjustments and exchange rate fluctuations.

Total Financial Income, Net

Financial income, net decreased from $758,000 for the year ended June 30, 2021 to $219,000 for the year ended June 30, 2022. This decrease is mainly attributable to an increase in interest expenses related to the EIB loan provided to us in June 2021 pursuant to the EIB Finance Agreement and losses from hedging transactions due to strength of the U.S Dollar against the Euro, partially offset by exchange rate income on lease liability due to the strength of the U.S Dollar against the NIS and exchange rates adjustments relating to the EIB loan.

Net Loss for the Year

Net loss decreased from $49,865,000 for the year ended June 30, 2021 to $41,374,000 for the year ended June 30, 2022. The decrease was mainly due to a decrease in research and development expenses, net, and a decrease in general and administrative expenses for the reasons mentioned above. We had a net loss attributed to our non-controlling interest in Plurinuva for the year ended June 30, 2022 of $132,000.

Loss per share for the year ended June 30, 2022 was $1.28, as compared to $1.77 loss per share for the year ended June 30, 2021. The change in the loss per share was mainly as a result of a decrease in the loss for the year, partially offset by an increase in our weighted average number of shares due to the issuance of additional shares during Fiscal Year 2022.

The increase in weighted average common shares outstanding reflects the issuance of additional shares upon settlement of RSUs issued to directors, employees and consultants.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of June 30, 2022, our total current assets were $57,747,000 and our total current liabilities were $6,829,000. On June 30, 2022, we had a working capital surplus of $50,918,000 and an accumulated deficit of $371,263,000.

As of June 30, 2021, our total current assets were $67,371,000 and our total current liabilities were $11,517,000. On June 30, 2021, we had a working capital surplus of $55,854,000 and an accumulated deficit of $330,021,000.

Our cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash as of June 30, 2022, amounted to $10,779,000, which reflects a decrease of $21,059,000 from the $31,838,000 reported as of June 30, 2021. Our bank deposits as of June 30, 2022, amounted to $45,244,000 compared to $56,978,000 as of June 30, 2021. Our cash equivalents and restricted cash decreased in the year ended June 30, 2022 for the reasons presented below.

Our cash used in operating activities was $36,501,000 during the year ended June 30, 2022, and $30,910,000 during the year ended June 30, 2021. Cash used in operating activities in the year ended June 30, 2022, and in the year ended on June 30, 2021 primarily consisted of payments to subcontractors, suppliers, and professional services providers related to our ongoing clinical studies and payments of salaries to our employees, offset by participation of the IIA, Horizon 2020 or other third parties.

Cash provided by investing activities was $11,783,000 during the year ended June 30, 2022, as opposed to cash used for investing activities of $7,265,000 during the year ended June 30, 2021. Cash provided by investing activities in the year ended June 30, 2022 consisted primarily of the withdrawal of $23,269,000 of long-term deposits, partially offset by cash investment in short-term deposits of $11,206,000 and payments of $280,000 related to investments in property and equipment. Cash used for investing activities in the year ended June 30, 2021, consisted primarily of cash used for investment in long-term deposits of $10,953,000 and payments of $373,000 related to investments in property and equipment, partially offset by the withdrawal of $4,061,000 of short-term deposits.

Financing activities provided cash in the amount of $7,500,000 during the year ended June 30, 2022, and $61,402,000 during the year ended June 30, 2021. The cash provided in the year ended June 30, 2022, from financing activities is related to net proceeds of $7,500,000 received from an investment by Tnuva in Plurinuva. The cash provided in the year ended June 30, 2021 from financing activities is related to: (1) net proceeds of $36,589,000 from our registered direct offering which closed in February 2021 and common share issuances made under the Open Market Sale Agreement^SM, or the ATM Agreement, that we entered into with Jefferies LLC, or Jefferies, on July 16, 2020, (2) proceeds of $24,449,000 received from the EIB pursuant to the EIB Finance Agreement, and (3) net proceeds of $364,000 from the exercise of outstanding warrants.

On July 16, 2020, we entered into the ATM Agreement with Jefferies, pursuant to which we may issue and sell shares of our common shares having an aggregate offering price of up to $75,000,000 from time to time through Jefferies. Upon entering into the ATM Agreement, we filed a new shelf registration statement on Form S-3, which was declared effective by the SEC on July 23, 2020. During the year ended June 30, 2021, we sold 1,045,097 of our common shares under the ATM Agreement at an average price of $8.50 per share for aggregate net proceeds of approximately $8,506,000, net of issuance expenses of $380,000. During the year ended June 30, 2022, we did not sell of our any common shares under the ATM Agreement. 

In the year ended June 30, 2021, warrants to purchase up to 51,999 shares from our April 2019 firm commitment public offering were exercised by investors at an exercise price of $7.00 per share, resulting in the issuance of 51,999 common shares for net proceeds of approximately $364,000. During the year ended June 30, 2022, no warrants to purchase shares were exercised.

On February 2, 2021, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with several institutional investors, or the Investors, pursuant to which we sold, in a registered direct offering, directly to the Investors, 4,761,905 common shares, for gross proceeds of $30,000,000. The aggregate net proceeds were approximately $28,077,000, net of issuance expenses of approximately $1,923,000.

In April 2020, we and our subsidiaries, Pluristem Ltd. and Pluristem GmbH, executed the EIB Finance Agreement for funding of up to €50 million in the aggregate, payable in three tranches. The proceeds from the EIB Finance Agreement are intended to support our research and development in the European Union to further advance our regenerative cell therapy platform, and to bring the products in our pipeline to market. The proceeds from the EIB Finance Agreement are expected to be deployed in three tranches, subject to the achievement of certain clinical, regulatory and scaling up milestones. We do not expect to receive additional funds pursuant to the EIB Finance Agreement.

During June 2021, we received the first tranche in the amount of €20 million pursuant to the EIB Finance Agreement. The amount received is due to be repaid on June 1, 2026 and bears annual interest of 4% to be paid together with the principal of the loan. As of June 30, 2022, the interest accrued was in the amount of €865,000. In addition to the interest payable to the EIB, the EIB is also entitled to royalty payments, pro-rated to the amount disbursed from the EIB loan, on our consolidated revenues beginning in the fiscal year 2024 up to and including its fiscal year 2030, in an amount equal to up to 2.3% of our consolidated revenues below $350 million, 1.2% of our consolidated revenues between $350 million and $500 million and 0.2% of our consolidated revenues exceeding $500 million.

Non-dilutive grants

During the year ended June 30, 2022, we did not receive any cash grants from the European Union research and development consortiums relating to the Horizon 2020 program, as opposed to approximately $239,000 received in cash during the year ended June 30, 2021.

According to the IIA grant terms, we are required to pay royalties at a rate of 3% on sales of products and services derived from technology developed using this and other IIA grants until 100% of the dollar-linked grants amount plus interest are repaid. In the absence of such sales, no payment is required. During the year ended June 30, 2022, no royalties were paid to the IIA. Through June 30, 2022, total grants obtained from the IIA aggregated to approximately $27,743,000 and total royalties paid and accrued amounted to $169,000.

The IIA may impose certain conditions on any arrangement under which the IIA permits the Company to transfer technology or development out of Israel or outsource manufacturing out of Israel. While the grant is given to the Company over a certain period of time (usually a year), the requirements and restrictions under the Israeli Law for the Encouragement of Industrial Research and Development, 1984 continue and do not have a set expiration period, except for the royalties, which requirement to pay them expires after payment in full.

In June 2020, we announced that we were selected as a member of the CRISPR-IL consortium, a group funded by the IIA. CRISPR-IL brings together the leading experts in life science and computer science from academia, medicine, and industry, to develop AI based end-to-end genome-editing solutions. CRISPR-IL is funded by the IIA with a total budget of approximately $10,000,000 of which, an amount of approximately $480,000 was a direct grant allocated to us, for an initial period of 18 months. During October 2021, we received an approval for an additional grant of approximately $583,000 from the IIA pursuant to the CRISPR-IL consortium program, for an additional period of eighteen months. The CRISPR-IL consortium program does not include any obligation to pay royalties.

As of June 30, 2022 and 2021, we received total grants of approximately $694,000 and $401,000 in cash from the IIA pursuant to the CRISPR-IL consortium program, respectively.

In July 2017, we were awarded the Smart Money grant of approximately $229,000 from Israel’s Ministry of Economy. The Israeli government granted us budget resources to advance our product candidate towards marketing in China-Hong Kong markets. The Smart Money program ended on April 2022. As of June 30, 2022, we received total grants of approximately $179,000 in cash from Israel’s Ministry of Economy for the Smart Money program.

In August 2016, our CLI program in the European Union was awarded a €7,600,000 non-royalty bearing grant. The grant is part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program. The Phase III study of PLX-PAD in CLI will be a collaborative project carried out by an international consortium led by the Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies together with the Company and with participation of additional third parties. The grant covered a significant portion of the CLI program costs. An amount of €1,900,000 is a direct grant allocated to us, and the Company also had cost savings resulting from grant amounts allocated to the other consortium members. In July 2017, the consortium amended the consortium agreement, pursuant to which the original grant allocation was amended such that we will receive an additional direct grant of €1,177,000. The additional direct grant was allocated to us from the total amount of the original grant. As of June 30, 2022, we received a total of €2,615,000 (approximately $2,946,000) and we expect to receive an additional €461,000 (approximately $479,000).

In September 2017, our Phase III study of PLX-PAD cell therapy in the treatment of muscle injury following surgery for hip fracture was awarded a €7,400,000 grant, as part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program. This Phase III study was a collaborative project carried out by an international consortium led by Charité, together with us, and with participation of additional third parties. The grant covered a significant portion of the project costs. An amount of € 2,550,000 is a direct grant allocated to us for manufacturing and other costs, and we also expect to have a direct benefit from cost savings resulting from grant amounts allocated to the other consortium members. As of June 30, 2022, we received a total of €2,166,000 (approximately $2,540,000) and we expect to receive an additional €382,000 (approximately $397,000).

In October 2017, the nTRACK, a collaborative project carried out by an international consortium led by Leitat was awarded a €6,800,000 non-royalty bearing grant. An amount of €500,000 is a direct grant allocated to us. We also expect to benefit from cost savings resulting from grant amounts allocated to the other consortium members. As of June 30, 2022, we received a total of €414,000 (approximately $473,000) and we expect to receive an additional €73,000 (approximately $76,000).

Outlook

We have accumulated a deficit of $371,263,000 since our inception in May 2001. We do not expect to generate any significant revenues from sales of products in the next twelve months. We expect to generate revenues, from the sale of licenses to use our technology or products, but in the short and medium terms will unlikely exceed our costs of operations.

We may be required to obtain additional liquidity resources in order to support the commercialization of our products and technology and maintain our research and development and clinical study activities.

We are continually looking for sources of funding, including non-diluting sources such as collaboration with other companies via licensing agreements, the IIA grants, the European Union grant and other research grants, and sales of our common shares.

We believe that we have sufficient cash to fund our operations for at least the next twelve months.

Application of Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our significant accounting policies are more fully described in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements appearing in this Annual Report. We believe that the accounting policies below are critical for one to fully understand and evaluate our financial condition and results of operations.

The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our financial statements, which we prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, as well as the reported revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate such estimates and judgments, including those described in greater detail below. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other factors that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Share-Based Compensation

Share-based compensation is considered a critical accounting policy due to the significant expenses of RSUs which were granted to our employees, directors and consultants. In Fiscal Year 2022, we recorded share-based compensation expenses related to options, restricted shares and RSUs in the amount of $8,909,000.

In accordance with ASC 718, “Compensation-Stock Compensation”, or ASC 718, RSUs granted to employees and directors are measured at their fair value on the grant date. All RSUs granted in fiscal years 2022 and 2021 were granted for no consideration; therefore, their fair value was equal to the share price at the date of grant unless the RSUs include a market-based condition in which case the fair value RSUs at the date of grant was calculated using the Monte Carlo model. The RSUs granted in Fiscal Year 2022 to non-employee consultants were measured at their fair value on the grant date in accordance with ASU No. 2018-07 - “Compensation—Share Compensation”.

The fair value of shares of Plurinuva granted to CEO, CFO and Chairman (see details in Item 11 below) was calculated using the Monte Carlo model, and fair value of the options of Plurinuva granted to employees and officers were calculated using the Black Scholes model.

The value of the portion of the award that is ultimately expected to vest is recognized as an expense over the requisite service periods in our consolidated statements of operations. We have graded vesting based on the accelerated method over the requisite service period of each of the awards. The expected pre-vesting forfeiture rate affects the number of the shares. Based on our historical experience, the pre-vesting forfeiture rate per grant is 16% for the shares granted to employees and 0% for the shares granted to our directors and officers and non-employee consultants.

Research and Development Expenses, Net

We expect our research and development expenses to remain our primary expense in the near future as we continue to develop our product candidates. Our research and development expenses consist primarily of clinical study expenses, consultant and subcontractor expenses, payroll and related expenses, lab material expenses, share-based compensation expenses, rent and maintenance expenses. The following table provides a breakdown of the related costs for fiscal years 2021 and 2022 (in thousands of dollars):

We invest heavily in research and development. Research and development expenses, net, were our major operating expenses, representing 59% of the total operating expenses for each of our fiscal years 2022 and 2021, respectively. We expect that in the upcoming years our research and development expenses, net, will continue to be our major operating expense.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

Not applicable.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

Our financial statements are stated in thousands United States dollars and are prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

The following audited consolidated financial statements are filed as part of this Annual Report:

PLURI INC. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

As of June 30, 2022

U.S. DOLLARS IN THOUSANDS

INDEX

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the board of directors and shareholders of Pluri Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Pluri Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of June 30, 2022 and 2021, and the related consolidated statements of operations, of changes in shareholders’ equity and of cash flows for the years then ended, including 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 June 30, 2022 and 2021, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the years then ended 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 of these consolidated financial statements 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

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Kesselman & Kesselman, Building 25, MATAM, P.O BOX 15084 Haifa, 3190500, Israel,
Telephone: +972 -4- 8605000, Fax: +972 -4- 8605001, www.pwc.com/il

Establishment of Plurinuva

As described in Note 1d to the consolidated financial statements, on February 24, 2022, the Company established Plurinuva together with Tnuva for the purpose of developing cultured meat products. Tnuva invested in Plurinuva $7.5 million for ordinary shares and warrants to purchase ordinary shares. The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the establishment of Plurinuva is a critical audit matter are (i) the audit efforts to determine such a transaction was properly accounted for by the Company; and (ii) involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge.

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included, among others, reading the agreements, public filings and the Company's minutes from meetings of the Board of Directors. We inquired executive officers, key members and legal counsel of the Company, and the Audit Committee regarding the transaction. We researched accounting alternatives to evaluate the Company's accounting approach. We involved a valuation professional, with specialized skills and knowledge, who assisted in evaluating the valuation methodology which was included in the accounting analysis for the transaction. We analyzed the impacts of the transaction on the Company's financial statements. In addition, we evaluated the overall sufficiency of audit evidence obtained over the establishment of Plurinuva.

Haifa, Israel

September 21, 2022

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2021.

Kesselman & Kesselman, Building 25, MATAM, P.O BOX 15084 Haifa, 3190500, Israel,
Telephone: +972 -4- 8605000, Fax: +972 -4- 8605001, www.pwc.com/il

PLURI INC. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

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

PLURI INC. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements

PLURI INC. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

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

PLURI INC. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

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

PLURI INC. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

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

PLURI INC. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

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

PLURI INC. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

NOTE 1: - GENERAL

As of June 30, 2022, the Company’s cash position (cash and cash equivalents, short-term bank deposits, long-term bank deposits, restricted cash and restricted bank deposits) totaled $56,657. The Company plans to continue to finance its operations from its current resources, by entering into licensing or other commercial agreements, from grants to support its research and development activities, and from sales of its equity securities and from the proceeds received from the loan previously provided by the European Investment Bank (the “EIB”, see also note 7). The Company’s management believes that its current resources, together with its existing operating plan, are sufficient for the Company to meet its obligations as they come due at least for a period of twelve months from the date of the issuance of these consolidated financial statements. There is no assurance, however, that the Company will be able to obtain an adequate level of financial resources that are required for the long-term development and commercialization of its products.

PLURI INC. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES