Rubius Therapeutics, Inc. - Annual Report: 2019 (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 December 31, 2019

OR

☐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: 001-38586

RUBIUS THERAPEUTICS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

(617) 679-9600

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

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

 

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

None

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

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 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 is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).   Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant computed by reference to the price of the registrant’s common stock as of June 28, 2019, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately (based on the last reported sale price on the NASDAQ Global Select Market as of such date) was $548.7 million.

As of March 2, 2020 the registrant had 80,321,978 shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share, outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K incorporates by reference certain information from the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for its 2020 annual meeting of shareholders, which the registrant intends to file pursuant to Regulation 14A with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after the registrant’s fiscal year end of December 31, 2019. Except with respect to information specifically incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K, the Proxy Statement is not deemed to be filed as part of this Form 10-K.

 

 

 

Rubius Therapeutics, Inc.

Table of Contents

 

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10‑K contains forward-looking statements, which reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, our operations and financial performance. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Annual Report on Form 10‑K, including statements regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected costs, prospects, plan, objectives of management and expected market growth are forward-looking statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “outlook,” “believes,” “expects,” “potential,” “continues,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “approximately,” “predicts,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates” or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. We believe these factors include but are not limited to those described under “Risk Factors” and include, among other things:

All of our forward-looking statements are as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10‑K only. In each case, actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking information. We can give no assurance that such expectations or forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. An occurrence of or any material adverse change in one or more of the risk factors or risks and uncertainties referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10‑K or included in our other public disclosures or our other periodic reports or other documents or filings filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. Except as required by law, we do not undertake or plan to update or revise any such forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in plans, assumptions, estimates or projections or other circumstances affecting such forward-looking statements occurring after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10‑K, even if such results, changes or circumstances make it clear that any forward-looking information will not be realized. Any public statements or disclosures by us following this Annual Report on Form 10‑K that modify or impact any of the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10‑K will be deemed to modify or supersede such statements in this Annual Report on Form 10‑K.

PART I

Except where the context otherwise requires or where otherwise indicated, the terms “Rubius,” “Rubius Therapeutics,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “our company,” “the company,” and “our business” refer to Rubius Therapeutics, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiary.

Solely for convenience, the trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this annual report are listed without the ®, (sm) and ™ symbols, but we will assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensors to these trademarks, service marks and trade names.

Item 1. Business

Rubius Therapeutics is developing a new class of cellular medicines, called Red Cell Therapeutics™, or RCTs. Built upon the research and findings of Flagship Pioneering’s VentureLabs innovation team along with the discoveries of Professors Harvey Lodish and Hidde Ploegh of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT, we have developed the RED PLATFORM®, a versatile and proprietary cellular therapy platform, which enables us to engineer and culture cellular therapies that are designed to be selective, potent and ready‑to‑use. RCTs are engineered to express biotherapeutic proteins within or on the cell surface and are designed to activate the immune system to attack tumors in cancer and regulate the immune system for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. We believe that the RED PLATFORM could provide beneficial treatments for our lead indications, many of which have few, if any, effective treatments.

We are developing RCT product candidates for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases based on two therapeutic modalities —potent cell‑cell interaction and tolerance induction.

Cancer:  We are developing RCTs to express combinations of co-stimulatory molecules and cytokines on the cell surface to activate and expand different components of the immune system, which we believe will offer the following advantages:

Broad immune stimulation via potent cell‑cell interaction: RCT product candidates are engineered to broadly activate the adaptive and innate immune systems through potent cell-cell interaction to attack and kill tumors, replicating how the immune system naturally functions. Because RCTs are restricted to the vasculature, these product candidates may have limited side effects as observed in our preclinical studies. We believe RCTs have the potential to have broad therapeutic application across a range of solid tumors and hematologic cancers. Our lead

oncology program is RTX-240, which expresses both 4‑1BBL and IL‑15TP, a fusion of IL‑15 and IL‑15 receptor alpha. The Investigational New Drug (IND) application for RTX-240 has been allowed to proceed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and we plan to announce when the first patient is dosed.

Antigen-specific immune activation via cell surface antigen presentation: We are also developing RCT product candidates to express a tumor-associated antigen, a co-stimulatory signal and a cytokine at the same time on the surface of the same cell. These cells are designed to induce a tumor-specific immune response by expanding antigen-specific T cells. RTX-321, our lead artificial antigen presenting cell program (aAPC), expresses an HPV peptide bound to MHC I, 4-1BBL and IL-12 on the cell surface to mimic human T cell-APC interactions. We plan to file an IND for RTX-321 for the treatment of HPV 16-positive tumors by the end of 2020. We plan to follow RTX-321 with a range of programs that could target viral antigens, shared, or over-expressed cancer-associated antigens and personalized neoantigens.

Autoimmune Diseases: We engineer RCTs to express specific autoimmune disease-associated antigens within the cell or on the cell surface to restore immune system function and retrain the body to no longer see these self-antigens as foreign. In addition, we believe our product candidates have the ability to express immune modulating cytokines, enzymes or inhibitory signals, which may have the potential to enhance the tolerogenic effects of RCTs. The resulting restoration or induction of immune tolerance may lead to more effective treatments—potentially even cures—for certain autoimmune diseases. Available therapies for autoimmune diseases have significant limitations because these therapies are required to be administered on a chronic, lifelong basis. Many treatments fail to provide adequate benefit to patients, and many patients’ diseases will eventually progress despite continued therapy. Furthermore, these existing treatments are associated with side effects that include opportunistic infections, lymphoma and, in some cases, severe and even fatal reactions. We believe RCTs can be designed to more specifically modulate complex counter‑regulatory immune responses and enable greater efficacy with lower toxicity, potentially providing treatments for a number of diseases with high unmet need. Specifically, RCTs may provide the following benefit to patients with autoimmune diseases:

Induction of peripheral tolerance: Our preclinical data suggest that RBCs expressing surface-bound antigens may be capable of blocking immune responses to those antigens, potentially inducing tolerance (the ability to prevent responses without a need for ongoing immunotherapy). In preclinical studies in models of central nervous system inflammation and diabetes, we achieved successful modulation of immune responses by expressing antigens on RCTs. We believe our antigen-specific autoimmune RCT product candidates have the potential to be curative therapies for many autoimmune diseases, such as Type 1 diabetes.

Broad and Diverse Pipeline

Rubius Therapeutics is advancing a broad pipeline of RCT™ product candidates. Our current programs are investigating applications across cancer and autoimmune diseases. The IND application for RTX-240, our lead oncology program, has been allowed to proceed by the FDA and we plan to announce when the first patient has been dosed. Additionally, we plan to file an IND for our first aAPC program, RTX-321, by year-end.

Definitions: aAPC—artificial antigen presenting cell; AML—acute myeloid leukemia; HPV+—Human papilloma virus positive; R/R —relapsed/refractory; FPI—first patient in.

Until March 2020, we had been developing RTX-134 for the treatment of phenylketonuria, or PKU. We have discontinued the RTX-134 Phase 1b clinical trial and have deprioritized development of RTX-134 and our other rare disease programs, to focus instead on the development of our oncology and autoimmunity pipeline. See “Business—Rare Diseases” for more information.

Manufacturing

Recognizing the importance of controlling our own manufacturing capabilities to produce consistent and reproducible product at greater scale, we acquired and began renovating a manufacturing facility in Smithfield, RI, in July 2018. As of January 2020, this manufacturing facility is operational. We plan to provide cGMP supply for our upcoming RTX-240 and RTX-321 cancer clinical trials from this site, and have the potential to significantly expand our manufacturing capabilities at this facility. We plan to stage additional investments at this site based on future supply needs.

Separately, in 2018, we entered into a clinical supply agreement with a CMO located in the United States to produce cGMP grade RTX‑134 for our initial clinical trial in PKU. We experienced multiple manufacturing challenges with this CMO that contributed to delays in the RTX-134 Phase 1b clinical trial. Although we were able to manufacture clinical grade RTX-134 for the first time during the third quarter of 2019, continued challenges contributed to further clinical trial delays following the dosing of the first patient in January 2020. In March 2020, we decided to discontinue the RTX-134 Phase1b clinical trial and deprioritized RTX-134 and our other rare disease programs, to primarily focus on the development of our oncology and autoimmunity pipeline.

Seasoned Leadership Team

Since we commenced operations in 2013, we have attracted a talented group of seasoned leaders to execute our strategy. Over the course of 2019 and early 2020, we further strengthened our leadership team by hiring Christina Coughlin, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer, Laurence Turka, M.D., as Chief Scientific Officer, Kris Elverum as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy, Maiken Keson-Brookes as Chief Legal Officer and Greg Whitehead as Chief Quality Officer. Our leadership team has extensive experience in oncology, immunology, and cell therapy drug discovery and development.

Patent Portfolio

We have and continue to build a broad portfolio of patent applications, know how, trade secrets, and other intellectual property that covers both our platform technologies as well as product discoveries, the breadth and depth of which is a strategic asset that could provide us with competitive advantages. As of February 2020, we have 12 issued U.S. patents. Our lead product candidates – RTX-240, RTX-321 and RTX-224 – are covered by three varieties of issued U.S. patent claims: 1) composition of matter; 2) method of treatment; and 3) method of making. We have 32 patent families and more than 150 patent applications worldwide.

Utilizing RBCs to create cellular therapies

RBCs are the most ubiquitous cells in the human body, constituting over 70% of the body’s cells and play a critical role in the delivery of oxygen to tissues. To constantly replenish this population of critical cells, the human body generates approximately 2.5 million RBCs every second. RBCs represent the first example of a transformative cellular therapy as physicians have been transfusing blood to patients since the early 1800s. Today, the focus around cellular therapies has largely been directed toward T cell and other lymphocyte‑based therapies. We believe that RBC‑based therapies will transform the cellular therapy landscape as they may represent the ideal cell type for the creation of versatile, well‑tolerated and ready‑to‑use cellular therapies. We believe such therapies could avoid many of the complications and risks often associated with earlier generation cellular therapies, including the emerging category of T cell-based therapies. These distinct characteristics of RBCs support their potential to serve as the foundation for a cellular therapy:

Our proprietary RED PLATFORM

We are developing a new, potentially transformative class of medicines that leverage the benefits of RBCs to provide cellular therapies to patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases. As RBCs are enucleated, they have generally been considered simple oxygen delivery vehicles, rather than the backbone of a versatile cellular therapy platform. Past attempts at RBC‑based therapies, such as applying hypotonic loading or cell swelling to load an enzyme or protein into RBCs, have had limited therapeutic applications, proven difficult to scale and reduced the in vivo half‑life of the loaded RBCs.

Our discoveries and innovations in genetic engineering and cell culture processes have made it possible to now use RBCs as a foundation for the creation and development of a new class of cellular therapies. By modifying only one of our initial manufacturing steps in which we add a gene or genes to encode biotherapeutic proteins within the cell or on the cell surface of RCTs, we are able to rapidly develop new RCTs designed to treat different diseases. This approach allows for the consistent generation of product candidates and a preclinical evaluation process that we believe has the potential to create a broad range of therapeutics in an efficient manner. Our uniform approach should also enable us to leverage common chemistry, manufacturing and controls, or CMC, and toxicology data packages to shorten development timelines. While the focus of our RED PLATFORM is currently in cancer and autoimmune diseases, we believe the versatility of our platform can be applied to other therapeutic areas.

The RED PLATFORM allows us to generate a wide variety of allogeneic, ready‑to‑use RCT product candidates with a universal and proprietary process through the following steps: (1) obtaining CD34+ hematopoietic precursor cells from the blood of O negative donors; (2) genetic engineering of the cells to express biotherapeutic proteins within the cell or on the cell surface of the RCTs; (3) exposing the cells to media, or nutrients, in a bioreactor to promote further expansion and differentiation until the nucleus is ejected, resulting in a mature reticulocyte that has the characteristics of a normal red blood cell with the biotherapeutic protein(s) of interest added inside or on the cell surface; and (4) formulating, characterizing and storing doses of the resulting RCT product candidate for later administration to patients.

A significant advantage of differentiating the cells into reticulocytes is the ability to separate the genetic modification from the final RCT product candidate through the biological process of enucleation, a property unique to reticulocytes. Enucleation involves the ejection of the nucleus from the cell, and with it, all the DNA it contains, leaving behind an RCT that expresses the protein or proteins that confer the intended therapeutic benefit. We believe this absence of genetic material may reduce the safety risks associated with RCTs as compared with current cellular therapies.

Limitations of previous and current cellular therapies

The field of tissue, cell and regenerative therapy has a long history, starting with blood transfusions in the early 1800s, followed by organ and bone marrow transplants in the middle of the 20th century and later the approval of cellular therapy products ranging from epidermal transplantation for wound care to mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of graft versus host disease and dendritic cells for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Most recently, several biotechnology companies and academic groups have demonstrated that a type of regenerative cell therapy known as chimeric antigen receptor T cells, or CAR‑Ts, where a patient’s own T cells are genetically engineered to recognize and attack specific cancer cells, are capable of powerful and sometimes curative therapeutic effects. In addition, some groups are studying the adoptive transfer and activation of T cell receptor, or TCR, -engineered T cells, and natural killer cells, or NK cells, for treatment of solid and hematologic cancers, while others are attempting to expand and engineer regulatory T cells ex vivo for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

A range of issues have historically limited the use of cellular therapies:

Advantages and versatility of our RED PLATFORM and RCTs

Our discoveries and innovations in genetic engineering and cell culture processes allows us to leverage the inherent benefits of RBCs. We believe our RED PLATFORM and RCTs represent a transformative step in the evolution of cellular therapies as they are designed to confer desirable attributes for a next generation cellular therapy, including the following:

Our strategy

Our vision is to create life-changing, allogeneic cellular therapies for patients with severe diseases. To achieve our vision, we are executing a strategy with the following key elements:

Establish RCTs as a new class of cellular medicines, demonstrating their potential across two initial product categories: cancer and autoimmune diseases. We apply a rigorous and capital‑efficient approach to prioritize our product candidate pipeline, focusing on unmet need, feasibility, speed to proof‑of‑concept, cost to manufacture, validated endpoints and commercial potential. Our IND application for RTX-240 has been allowed to proceed by the FDA. Additionally, we plan to file an IND for RTX-321 by year-end.

Pursue accelerated paths to marketing authorization. We are pursuing indications with high unmet needs that may allow us to pursue accelerated paths to product registration, such as breakthrough therapy designation or RMAT designation by the FDA. Similarly, we expect to pursue accelerated routes to marketing authorization in Europe and other regions.

Build a leading, fully integrated cellular therapy company. We are discovering, developing, manufacturing and may commercialize RCT products within certain product categories. Following potential approval of multiple RCT products in a particular category, we may leverage a dedicated commercial infrastructure to deliver our therapies to patients.

Further strengthen our position as the pioneer of RCTs through continuous platform expansion and improvement. Our proprietary RED PLATFORM allows us to rapidly identify new product candidates and includes a universal manufacturing process for all RCT product candidates. We will continue to invest in enhancing our platform and deepening our expertise in stem cell and red cell biology and optimizing the pharmacology of RCTs with the goal of delivering new therapies targeting additional indications. We plan to leverage our first‑mover advantage in manufacturing RCTs as we scale‑up our proprietary manufacturing platform and fully-owned, operational cGMP manufacturing facility in Smithfield, RI.

Expand patient access to RCTs through strategic partnerships. Given the breadth of therapeutic opportunities for RCTs, we believe entering into select strategic partnerships in a subset of therapeutic areas may provide an attractive avenue for expanding patient access to RCTs. The global reach and operational expertise within certain pharmaceutical companies may complement our growing organization in areas such as clinical development and commercialization.

Maintain a strong culture, continuously attract new talent and build the world’s leading center for red cell biology research and engineering. We are located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the world’s leading hubs for biopharmaceutical innovation, which enables us access to world‑class talent, leading academic investigators and key opinion leaders. We have leveraged our location to attract scientific talent and experienced, innovative leaders and have built a strong culture that is committed to delivering on our vision. In addition, we have assembled a network of scientific advisors with deep expertise in red cell biology, process development and manufacturing as well as clinical experience across the therapeutic areas that we are initially targeting. We will continue to build a team of employees, advisors and collaborators with experience in the discovery, development, manufacture and commercialization of cellular therapies.

Our product candidate pipeline

Rubius Therapeutics is advancing a broad and diverse pipeline of RCT™ product candidates. Our current programs are investigating applications across cancer and autoimmune diseases. Our IND application for RTX-240 has been allowed to proceed by the FDA and we plan to announce when the first patient has been dosed. We plan to submit an IND for RTX-321 by the end of 2020. Our first product candidates were selected based on: potential to address unmet needs; feasibility as determined by our preclinical research and development efforts; potential to rapidly achieve proof‑of‑concept based on validated regulatory endpoints; cost of goods to manufacture; and significant commercial potential.

Cancer

We believe that RCTs will have broad therapeutic applicability across a range of both solid and hematological cancers and are developing a pipeline of RCTs that target T cells, NK cells, dendritic cells, tumor cells, or combinations thereof. Our RCT oncology pipeline is unique in the field of immuno-oncology as our RCTs can target cancer in both a non-specific manner (combining T cell agonists and cytokines on the cell surface) for broad immune system stimulation and in an antigen-specific approach with our artificial antigen-presenting cells to generate an antigen-specific response. We are rapidly advancing one of each to the clinic. In addition to investigating the single-agent activity of each RCT product candidate in the clinic, we plan to evaluate our RCTs in combination with other immuno-oncology agents, as well as standard of care therapy (e.g. chemotherapy or signaling inhibitors).

Our lead oncology product candidate, RTX-240, is designed to broadly stimulate the immune system without antigen specificity. RTX-240 expresses hundreds of thousands of copies of 4‑1BBL and IL‑15TP, a fusion of IL‑15 and IL‑15 receptor alpha, on the cell surface. This combination is synergistic and designed to activate and expand both T cells and NK cells. Our IND application for RTX-240 has been allowed to proceed by the FDA and we plan to announce when the first patient is dosed.

Additionally, we are advancing RCTs that function as artificial antigen presenting cells, or aAPCs, that express a tumor-associated antigen, a co-stimulatory signal and a cytokine at the same time on the same cell. These cells are designed to induce a tumor-specific immune response by expanding antigen-specific T cells. RTX-321, our lead aAPC program, expresses an HPV peptide antigen bound to MHC I, 4-1BBL and IL-12 on the cell surface to mimic human T cell-APC interactions. We plan to file an IND for RTX-321 for the treatment of HPV-positive tumors by the end of 2020.

Broad Immune System Stimulation: RTX-240 and RTX-224 for the treatment of solid tumors

RTX-240 and RTX-224 are designed to broadly stimulate and expand the adaptive and innate immune systems through potent cell-cell interaction to attack and kill tumors, replicating how the immune system naturally functions.

RTX-240 is engineered to express hundreds of thousands of copies of 4‑1BBL and IL‑15TP, a fusion of IL‑15 and IL‑15 receptor alpha, on the cell surface. This combination is synergistic and designed to activate and expand both T cells and NK cells. RTX-224 is engineered to expresses hundreds of thousands of copies of 4‑1BBL and IL‑12. IL-12 drives the activation and proliferation of CD8+ and CD4+ T cells, as well as NK cells. In addition, the IL-12 cytokine is known to drive antigen presentation and inhibit angiogenesis.

We believe that both product candidates provide potentially transformative and differentiated approaches to treating patients with solid or hematological tumors whose disease responds to immunotherapies, including CAR-T, as well as tumors that are or have become resistant or refractory to immunotherapies, including checkpoint inhibitors. We expect to initially study RTX-240 across a range of solid tumor types and in patients with acute myeloid leukemia following a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. We expect to study RTX-224 in patients with a range of solid tumors.

Each of RTX-240 and RTX-224 have been engineered to act as combination therapies that stimulate both the adaptive and innate arms of the immune system. We believe this synergistic activity has the potential to provide the following therapeutic benefits:

Current therapies and their limitations

Checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti‑programmed death receptor‑1 antibodies, or anti‑PD‑1 antibodies, act by inhibiting tumor suppression of the adaptive immune system in cancer patients and have significantly extended survival in multiple solid tumor types, particularly in patients with advanced cancers. The vast potential of checkpoint inhibitors is highlighted by market projections that estimate sales for this class of drugs could reach $50 billion in 2024. Despite the encouraging efficacy of checkpoint inhibition for some patients, overall response rates remain relatively low and range, on average, from 25% to 50%. Unfortunately, even when a patient’s cancer does respond to treatment, the disease often progresses within six to 12 months, depending on the cancer and the therapeutic intervention. Clinicians and biopharmaceutical companies are increasingly evaluating combination therapies to improve response rates and to expand the size of the treatable population.

Preclinical data for RTX-240

RTX-240 expresses 4‑1BBL and IL‑15TP on the cell surface to stimulate an adaptive and innate immune response through dual stimulation of both pathways. 4-1BBL has known costimulatory effects to promote the proliferation and activation of natural killer (NK) cells as well as CD8 and CD4 T lymphocytes. IL-15 may enhance the proliferation and survival of memory CD8 T cells, reduce their activation threshold and promote resistance to the effects of regulatory T cells. IL-15 also enhances proliferation and cytotoxicity of CD56+ NK cells.

4-1BBL, 4-1BB ligand; IL-15TP, trans-presented interleukin-15 (IL-15/IL-15 receptor alpha fusion); NK, natural killer; TCR, T cell receptor; Treg, T regulatory.

Using a Jurkat human T cell line expressing 4-1BB, we observed potent activation of the 4-1BB signaling pathway with RTX-240, as shown in the following chart. Importantly, we showed that the same level of activation was not induced by molar equivalent doses of 4-1BB agonist antibody. As expected, the control RCT, or RTX‑CTRL, was also inactive. We observed that cellular presentation of 4-1BBL in its native conformation on RTX-240 leads to approximately 10-fold higher activation of 4-1BB pathway than with a 4-1BB agonist antibody.

NFkB Activation by RTX-240 in Jurkat Cells

Dugast, et. al., American Association for Cancer Research; Poster #3272, 2019.

Additionally, in preclinical studies, RTX-240 demonstrated synergistic and complementary effects of 4-1BBL and IL-15TP in promoting the expansion and activation of key cells driving innate (NK cells) and adaptive (CD8 memory T cells) immunity. RTX-240 induces potent effects associated with innate and adaptive immune responses in vitro. In RTX-240, the combination of 4-1BBL and IL15TP promotes better expansion of NK and CD8 memory cells than either agent alone, while 4-1BBL drives significant CD8 T cell proliferation, and IL-15TP drives significant NK cell cytotoxicity, as depicted below.

Preclinical Effects of 4-1BBL and IL-15TP in Promoting Expansion and Activation of Key Cells
Driving Innate and Adaptive Immunity

Dugast, et. al., American Association for Cancer Research; Poster #3272, 2019.

Used as a murine surrogate for RTX-240, mRBC-240 reduced lung metastases and increased terminally differentiated NK cell lung infiltration in vivo in a B16F10 model. mRBC-240 treatment significantly reduced the number of lung metastases and increased the numbers of NK cells, including terminally differentiated NK cells, in the lungs of treated mice compared with control mice as depicted below.

CD8 T Cell and NK Cell Proliferation and Functionality

In contrast to systemic treatment with a 4-1BB agonist antibody, mRBC‑240 results in no observed organ toxicity in vivo, likely due to restriction of therapy to the vasculature. Levels of aspartate transaminase, or AST, and alanine transaminase, or ALT, were not significantly elevated following administration of mRBC‑240, as compared to administration of mRBC‑CTRL. In contrast, we observed significant transaminase elevations after administration of α4‑1BB mAb. Liver infiltration with macrophages and CD8+ T cells are considered to promote 4‑1BB agonist-induced liver toxicity. As expected, we observed increased liver infiltration with all of these cell populations following treatment with 4‑1BB agonist antibodies. There was no increased liver infiltration with any of these cell populations following mRBC‑240 treatment.

Lack of Organ Toxicity

4‑1BB agonistic antibodies are believed to cause liver toxicity through a multi‑step process that begins with activation of bone marrow‑derived monocytes, which subsequently infiltrate the liver, activating Kupffer cells and then CD8+ cells [Barthowiak, et. al., Clinical Cancer Research; 24(5) March 1, 2018]. Our data suggest that mRBC-240 does not stimulate the bone marrow derived monocytes, consistent with the hypothesis that activation occurs in the bone marrow, which has limited exposure to mRBC-240.

Our in vivo studies of mRBC-240, administered intravenously, or i.v., in a B16F10 lung metastasis mouse model provide further evidence in support of RTX-240. In this model, tumor cells were injected intravenously to establish metastases in the lung and then mice were treated with mRBC-240 alone or in combination with an anti‑PD‑1 antibody. mRBC-240 administered i.v. as a monotherapy reduced tumor burden in mice compared to those treated with mRBC‑CTRL, mRBC‑4‑1BBL and mRBC‑IL‑15TP (left chart below), thereby indicating the potential synergy that may be achieved by expressing both 4‑1‑BBL and IL‑15TP on the cell surface of mRBC-240. The tumor burden reduction that was observed after administration of α4‑1BB mAb was not significantly different from mRBC-240. However, the observed effect of α4‑1BB mAb was at the same dose level that generated hepatotoxicity in mice. As mRBC-240 did not generate liver toxicity in mice, we believe that mRCT-240, if successfully developed and approved, has the potential to have an improved therapeutic index, or improved risk‑benefit, over agonistic 4‑1BB antibodies in cancer patients. In a separate study mRBC-240 administered i.v. in combination with the anti‑PD‑1 antibody significantly reduced tumor burden in mice compared to those treated with the negative control mRBC‑CTRL, as well as the anti‑PD‑1 antibody alone (right chart below).

Activity of mRBC-240 as Monotherapy and in Combination with Anti-PD-1
in a B16F10 Lung Metastasis Mouse Model

In summary, we have observed that in vivo the combination of 4‑1BBL and IL‑15TP on RTX-240 induces potent expansion and activation of CD8+ T cells, NK cells, and key subsets of these cells. In addition, these RTX-240‑mediated effects were much higher than those obtained with a 4-1BB agonist antibody, suggesting the synergy of the combination on RTX-240 for expanding key cell types from both the adaptive and innate arms of the immune system. This potent activity translated into efficacy of mRBC-240 administered in in vivo cancer models both as a monotherapy and in combination with an anti‑PD‑1 antibody. mRCT-240 did not generate hepatotoxicity in mice while an agonistic 4‑1BB mAb did. As a result, we believe that co‑expression of 4‑1BBL and IL‑15TP on RTX-240, and the sequestration of RTX-240 in the vasculature has the potential to drive potent anti‑tumor activity with an advantageous tolerability profile. We therefore believe that the ability of RTX-240 to stimulate both the innate and adaptive immune systems will translate into therapeutic benefits for patients with solid and hematological cancers.

Clinical development

While checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized cancer treatment, their limitations are becoming increasingly evident. Responses are confined to certain tumor types and only a small portion of patients are cured. Currently, the challenge in immunotherapy is to induce responses in refractory tumors as well as to increase the rate and duration of response. By stimulating both arms of the immune system, RTX-240 could be an ideal combination therapy for checkpoint inhibitors to both improve and extend responses.

We are planning to evaluate RTX-240 as monotherapy and in combination with monoclonal antibody therapy to leverage the antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity aspect of RTX-240 and with an anti-PD1 antibody in solid tumors. Cancers that may be included in the PD-1 combination therapy are small cell lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, bladder cancer, and head and neck cancer among others. The IND application for RTX-240 as monotherapy has been allowed to proceed by the FDA.

The MHC complex is an important nexus in the immune system because it is the way T cells recognize and kill cancer cells but it also blocks the killing function of NK cells. A common means of resistance to checkpoint inhibitors is loss of

MHC expression making the cancer invisible to T cells. As a result, the cancer becomes susceptible to NK cell dependent killing. Future clinical development of RTX-240 may include patient populations which have progressed on checkpoint inhibitor therapy due to loss of MHC expression.

RTX-240 for hematological cancer: relapsing or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, post‑HSCT

Current therapies and their limitations

Acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, is characterized by proliferation of myeloid blasts. They replace the bone marrow so that there is minimal production of platelets, red cells and neutrophils. It is primarily a disease of the elderly with a median age of diagnosis of 68. In 2017, there were more than 20,000 new cases of AML and more than 10,000 deaths caused by AML in the United States.

Standard first‑line AML treatment has been unchanged for over 40 years: a regimen of intensive induction and consolidation therapy. Although most patients respond, the majority relapse over time. Therefore, many younger patients with AML undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplant, or HSCT, which can be curative if the transplant is successful. In 2016, more than 3,500 AML patients underwent allogeneic‑HSCT in the United States and over 6,200 underwent the procedure in Europe.

Recently, additional therapies have been approved for treatment of AML, such as gemtuzumab ozogamicin, CPX‑351, and, for patients with specific mutations, midostaurin and enasidenib. Although these therapies improve response rates and enable more patients to bridge to transplant, overall survival rates remain low.

Clinical development

Disease-induced mechanisms in myeloid malignancies like AML have been noted to negatively affect key properties of NK cells such as their differentiation and cytotoxic potential. The resulting NK cell dysfunction is thought to contribute to disease progression in AML. Further, NK cell function during and after treatment for AML is linked to treatment response and outcome, suggesting that NK cells play a key role in this setting. 

In addition to the general effects of NK cells in the AML setting, the effectiveness of allogeneic HSCT depends on both the killing of residual tumor by high-dose chemotherapy and on graft versus leukemia effects. NK cells are a critical component of the graft versus leukemia effect. After bone marrow ablation and allogeneic transplantation, NK cells are the first lymphocyte population to recover, but their killing and cytokine‑secreting functions are limited when compared to the NK cells of healthy donors. The rate of return and function of NK cells are correlated with treatment outcome post‑allogeneic HSCT, so increasing the number and function of NK cells post‑allogeneic HSCT to stimulate the graft versus leukemia effect has the potential to increase survival in patients receiving allogeneic HSCT for treatment of AML. As discussed above, 4‑1BBL and IL‑15TP induce proliferation and maturation of NK cells, supporting the testing of RTX-240 in both the relapsed or refractory transplant-ineligible population as well as the post‑allogeneic HSCT setting. We expect RTX-240 to have effects in AML under both clinical scenarios.

Initially, we plan to dose escalate RTX-240 in patients with relapsed or refractory AML who are not eligible for an allogeneic transplant to determine the optimal dosing strategy in hematologic malignancies. Assuming initial safety data has been generated, RTX-240 could be evaluated in the post‑allogeneic HSCT setting, using the dose determined in the dose escalation portion of the study.

Preclinical data for RTX-224

RTX-224 has been shown to drive both T cell and NK cell activation and expansion by simultaneously and proximately co-expressing IL-12 and 4-1BBL.

Our in vivo studies of a murine surrogate of RTX-224, mRBC-224, administered subcutaneously in an MC38 colon cancer mouse model provide evidence in support of RTX-224’s immune activation and tumor control. In this model, tumor cells were injected to establish growing tumors and then mice were treated with a control mRBC alone, mRBC-

224 alone, an anti-PD1 antibody in combination with mRBC-CTRL, or with mRBC-224 in combination with an anti‑PD‑1 antibody. mRBC-224 administered as a monotherapy reduced tumor burden in mice compared to those treated with mRBC‑CTRL with or without and anti-PD1 antibody. mRCT-224 administered alone resulted in 5/11 tumor regressions, while mRCT-224 administered in combination with an anti-PD1 antibody resulted in 9/11 tumor regressions. These results are depicted below.

Activity of mRBC-224 in an MC38 Colon Cancer Mouse Model

Dugast, et. al., American Association for Cancer Research; Poster #3256, 2019.

In additional preclinical studies, mRBC-224 demonstrated significant tumor growth inhibition in both lung metastatic and subcutaneous B16F10 models. As shown below mRBC-224 is as effective as the anti-4-1BB antibody 3H3 (left panel below) or more effective (right panel below) without causing toxicity seen by 3H3 alone (change in body weight in graph below titled “Organ Toxicity in Mice”).

Lung Metastasis and Subcutaneous B16F10 Tumor Mouse Model

Dugast, et. al., American Association for Cancer Research; Poster #3256, 2019.

In contrast to systemic recombinant IL-12, mRBC-224 resulted in significantly reduced toxicity likely due to restriction of therapy to the vasculature. Mice treated with mRBC-224 maintained body weight over time, whereas mice administered systemic recombinant IL-12, with or without a 4-1BB agonist antibody, demonstrated significant loss of

body weight versus controls. mRBC-treated mice had no evidence of liver toxicity, which was observed based on no increase in serum alanine transaminase and liver weight, compared to mice treated with systemic recombinant IL-12. The charts below summarize these results.

Organ Toxicity in Mice

Dugast, et. al., American Association for Cancer Research; Poster #3256, 2019.

In summary, 4-1BBL and IL-12 have synergistic and complementary effects in promoting innate and adaptive immunity. We have observed that the combination of 4‑1BBL and IL‑12 induces efficacy in multiple cancer models both as a monotherapy and in combination with an anti‑PD‑1 antibody. In contrast to systemic recombinant IL-12, RTX-224 resulted in significantly reduced toxicity likely due to restriction of therapy to the vasculature. As a result, we believe that co‑expression of 4‑1BBL and IL‑12 on RTX-224, and the sequestration of RTX-224 in the vasculature has the potential to drive potent anti‑tumor activity with an advantageous tolerability profile. We therefore believe that the ability of RTX-224 to stimulate both the innate and adaptive immune systems will translate into therapeutic benefits for patients with solid tumors.

Clinical development

While checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized cancer treatment, their limitations are becoming increasingly evident. Responses are confined to certain tumor types and only a limited portion of patients are cured. Currently, the challenge in immunotherapy is to induce responses in refractory tumors as well as to increase the rate and duration of response. By stimulating both arms of the immune system, RTX-224 could be an ideal combination therapy for checkpoint inhibitors to both improve and extend responses.

IL-12 is known to drive the activation and proliferation of T cells and NK cells and promote antigen presentation on dendritic cells. This antigen presentation may enable us to target formerly non-immunogenic tumors by enhancing their immune signature.

In the future, we are planning to evaluate RTX-224 in solid tumors as monotherapy and in combination with other anti-cancer agents. We also plan to study RTX-224 in patients whose disease has progressed on checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

Antigen-specific immune stimulation: Artificial antigen presenting Red Cell Therapeutic product candidates, RTX-321 for HPV-positive tumors

Current therapies and their limitations

Immuno-oncologists are pursuing multiple approaches to target antigens for the purpose of killing cancer cells. Previously mentioned CAR-T cell therapies are an autologous approach that engineers a patient’s own T cells ex vivo to target a specific antigen, but have thus far demonstrated limited benefit outside of certain hematological malignancies and have had challenges with manufacturing and scale. Other companies are using different therapeutic modalities to try to expand the number of T cells targeting a particular antigen in vivo, such as BioNTech SE using RNA and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. using DNA-based therapy. However, to date, these approaches have had challenges generating sufficient quantity and quality of immune responses against particular antigens, which has limited their efficacy. As a result, there remains a need for more effective therapies that target cancer, or cancer-associated antigens.

Preclinical data for artificial antigen presenting Red Cell Therapeutics and RTX-321

The RED PLATFORM permits us to engineer a variety of proteins in their native state on the cell surface. For aAPCs, we can express signals 1, 2 and 3, which are necessary for the expansion and activation of antigen-specific T cells. We can engineer MHC that presents a tumor‑specific peptide antigen, or signal 1, with a costimulatory protein, such as 4‑1BBL, or signal 2, and a cytokine, such as IL-12, or signal 3. When co-expressed and delivered simultaneously and proximately, signal 1+2 promotes T cell activation/initial proliferation and potentially memory and signal 3 can increase T cell expansion further and support the maintenance of T cell memory. Additionally, the ability to significantly expand and activate a tumor-specific T cell population to kill tumors in vivo shares characteristics with CAR‑T therapies, which administer a tumor-specific T cell population that can expand, sometimes uncontrollably, in the patient. By controlling the RTX‑aAPC dose, we believe that we can more effectively control the expansion of the tumor-specific T cells and potentially the tolerability and effects of the therapy. Current treatment options for refractory and relapsing disease are limited, and we expect to be able to offer patients a potent and highly specific immune stimulation.

RTX-321, our lead artificial antigen presenting cell program, expresses an HPV peptide antigen bound to MHC I,
4-1BBL and IL-12 on the cell surface to mimic human T cell-APC interactions. We plan to file an IND for RTX-321 for the treatment of HPV-positive tumors by the end of 2020.

RTX‑aAPCs Mimic the APC‑T Cell Interaction to Provide Antigen-Specific Cancer Therapies

The figure below schematically depicts the interaction between our artificial antigen-presenting cell (RTX-aAPC) and a T cell. The RTX-aAPC delivers all three signals required for optimal activation of the T cells. Signal 1 is an antigenic peptide presented by an MHC Class I molecule; signal 2 is a costimulatory signal (4-1BBL is used in the examples below); and signal 3 is a cytokine (IL-12 used in the studies below).

As a first step to examine the potential of RTX-aAPCs, we have constructed a murine surrogate, termed mRBC-aAPC which expresses signals 1 and 2 (ovalbumin, or OVA; and 4-1BBL, respectively). We observed that an mRBC-aAPC expressing signals 1 and 2 activates ovalbumin‑specific T cells and potently expands OVA-specific T cells (OT1 cells) with a memory phenotype (CD44+) in vitro compared with control cells expressing signal 1 alone or signal 2 alone.

Activation of Ovalbumin (OVA)‑Specific T Cells with mRBC‑aAPC (OVA)

Zhang, et. al., Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer; Poster #P233, 2019.

We have also observed that when ovalbumin‑specific transgenic T cells (OTI‑T cells) are expanded and activated by mRBC‑aAPC (expressing ovalbumin peptide – OVA – presented by MHC class I plus 4-1BBL) selectively kill ovalbumin‑expressing tumor cells (EG7.OVA cells), while the parental cells that do not express ovalbumin (EL4) are not eliminated.

Activity of OT1‑T Cells Expanded With mRBC‑aAPC (OVA)

Zhang, et. al., American Association for Cancer Research; Poster #3260, 2019.

Furthermore, we have observed in vivo in mice that mRBC‑aAPC (OVA + 4-1BBL) specifically expand and activate OT1 T cells in the spleen and lymph nodes (60- and 30-fold). Importantly, we find that the majority of the OT1 T cells display a central memory phenotype (not shown), which has been found to be a key population driving the effectiveness of T cell-based therapies. In addition, a large proportion of these cells are found to traffic to lymph nodes, which supports their potential to effectively mobilize within the body and to the tumor to support a robust anti‑tumor response. In contrast, the mRBC-CTRL (expressing 4-1BBL without antigen on the cell surface) did not expand or activate OTI‑T cells, thereby indicating that mRBC‑aAPCs mimic the function of antigen presenting cells in vivo. 

mRBC-aAPC (OVA) Increases CD8 OT1 T Cell Numbers in the Spleen and Lymph Nodes

Zhang, et. al., Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer; Poster #P233, 2019.

As noted above, OT1 T cells that are expanded and activated by mRBC‑aAPC (OVA) selectively kill ovalbumin‑expressing tumor cells, or EG7.OVA cells. In the experiment depicted below, mRBC-aAPC (OVA) treatment promoted regressions and increased survival in a mouse tumor model compared to controls. Additionally, the number of antigen-specific cells in tumors and tumor-draining lymph node also increased with mRBC-aAPC (OVA) treatment in this tumor model relative to controls.

 

 

 

 

mRBC‑aAPC (OVA) Promotes Substantial Regressions and Increases Survival
in an EG7.OVA Mouse Tumor Model

 

 

Zhang, et. al., Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer; Poster #P233, 2019.

As additional proof of concept, we engineered mouse red cells with hundreds of thousands of copies of MHC I loaded with the gp100 peptide, a melanoma antigen, 4-1BBL and IL-12 on the cell surface (i.e., signals 1+2+3) and tested these in a B16-F10 melanoma mouse model. These cells (mRBC-gp100-4-1BBL-IL-12) promoted the expansion and effector function of adoptively transferred antigen-specific Pmel T cells, and nearly eliminated lung metastases at the highest dose levels. Also, mRBC-gp100-4-1BBL-IL-12 promoted gp100-specific T cell expansion (Pmel cells) in the circulation, secondary lymphoid organs and lungs. Importantly, mRBC-gp100-4-1BBL-IL-12 not only augmented the functional responses of adoptively transferred Pmel cells, but also induced effector responses in endogenous CD8 T cells, indicating that the mRBC was able to stimulate an immune response in pre-existing cells.

aAPC Targeted Against a Tumor-Associated Melanoma Antigen gp100

Zhang, et. al., Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer; Poster #P233, 2019.

Finally, we observed that our lead product candidate, RTX-321 (HPV+) can activate an HPV-specific TCR transduced T cell line as well as primary human T cells. In the experiment shown below, untransduced primary human T cells or T cells transduced with an HPV-specific T cell receptor were cultured with RCTs that expressed either nothing, signals 2+3 (i.e., no antigen), signals 1+2, or RTX-321. No cell expansion was observed in the absence of antigen. An RCT expressing HPV antigen plus 4-1BBL induced modest expansion of HPV-responsive T cells, but RTX-321 was at least 10-fold more potent.

Zhang, et. al., Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer; Poster #P233, 2019.

Collectively, we believe these preclinical data support the development of RTX-321 for the treatment of HPV 16-positive tumors, including head and neck and cervical cancer. We plan to file in IND for RTX-321 by the end of 2020.

The potential applications of RTX‑aAPCs span both solid and hematological cancers and there are many known tumor antigens common to certain cancers that can be targeted for development. In addition to a program in HPV 16+ tumors, we are exploring the use of shared and personal tumor neoantigens to deliver more accessible and effective treatments than standard vaccines or alternative neoantigen approaches.

Autoimmune diseases

RCT product candidates for the induction of antigen‑specific tolerance

We have generated RCT product candidates that express antigens within the cell, on the cell surface, or as presented by major histocompatibility complex II, and we believe that this represents a powerful antigen‑presenting platform for the potential treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as Type 1 diabetes. In addition, we have the ability to express immune-modulating cytokines, enzymes, or inhibitory signals, which may have the potential to induce tolerance. We believe that if successful, this approach will allow us to address a wide range of autoimmune diseases.

We are currently assessing several tolerance inducing RCT product candidates. We anticipate that our lead product candidate will focus on an indication where treatment effects are easily measurable and proof-of-concept can be demonstrated in an efficient manner.

Current therapies and their limitations

Over the past two decades, considerable progress has been made in the treatment of a range of autoimmune disorders with many patients enjoying an improvement in quality of life as a result. Despite their success, current therapeutic approaches to autoimmune diseases are either generally or specifically immunosuppressive and expose patients to an increased risk of opportunistic infection and hematological cancers, as is the case with JAK inhibitors, anti‑TNF antibodies and anti‑CD20 targeted antibodies. In up to one third of cases, patients with autoimmune diseases fail to respond to treatment, and most responding patients ultimately lose responsiveness over time.

While the triggers of most autoimmune diseases remain unknown, it is generally understood that clinical disease is the result of a loss of tolerance to one’s own cells. The accepted model of disease assumes a genetic susceptibility triggered by an environmental event, which leads to a breakdown of T cell‑mediated immune suppression. In principle, restoration of peripheral tolerance should provide patients with a partial or complete cure.

A range of competitive approaches to peripheral tolerance restoration have been investigated over the last few decades. These include the oral administration and direct injection of a protein or peptide with or without immunosuppression, the creation of peptide bearing nanoparticles and the adoptive transfer of engineered regulatory T cells. Thus far, these approaches have not proven to be successful in late‑stage clinical trials, but the field continues to progress. Direct administration of peptides and nanoparticles suffer biodistribution, stability, presentation and orientation challenges which limit the effectiveness of cell‑cell signaling. To date, adoptive transfer approaches are all autologous and are hampered by some of the same handling and scalability issues that limit the application of other cellular therapies. By contrast, RCT breakdown by antigen presenting cells in the liver is thought to recapitulate the normal process of self / non‑self recognition training that would lead to tolerance induction. When compared with contemporary and historical approaches of tolerance induction, RCTs could represent a clinically meaningful step forward.

Preclinical data

In a commonly used preclinical mouse model of neurodegeneration, the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model, or EAE model, we have observed induction of peripheral tolerance using a murine RCT displaying the model‑specific antigen associated with neuronal demyelination, the MOG 35‑55 peptide. In the experiment depicted below, murine RCT‑MOG, or mRBC‑MOG, and control mouse RBCs were administered to mice at a disease score of 0.5 to1.0. The mRBC‑MOG‑treated animals were brought back to an average disease score of zero, while control animals continued to progress to limited disability. More significantly, as depicted in the second experiment, following treatment with mRBC‑MOG and control mouse RBCs at a disease score of three, indicating that the animals were paralyzed, we observed a remarkable recovery curve following treatment with murine mRBC‑MOG. In effect, mice exhibiting paralysis were made to walk again through tolerance induction via exposure to the peptide MOG on the mouse red cell.

mRBC‑MOG Effect on Mice with Moderate EAE (Left) and Paralyzed EAE Mice (Right)

Upon examination of the histopathology, the difference in the damage to spinal cord tissue between the control and treated mice was notable. In addition, treatment with mRBC‑MOG cells was found to dramatically reduce the infiltration of pathogenic Th1 and Th17 CD4+ cells that have been shown to drive disease progression.

Effect of mRBC‑MOG on Th1 and Th17 Cells in the Spinal Cord in EAE Mice

In further preclinical studies in EAE mice, we observed that mouse RBCs and mRBC‑MOG cells are taken up by antigen presenting cells, such as dendritic cells (DC) and Kupffer cells within the liver, and that mRBC‑MOG upregulates PD‑L1, an immunosuppressive marker, on APCs, while control mouse RBCs do not. The above findings suggest that red blood cell uptake into APCs promotes an immunosuppressive phenotype that then drives the reduction in pathogenic Th1 and Th17 T cells in the spinal cord, thereby providing evidence for the mechanism of action for RCT‑driven tolerance induction.

Effect of mRBC‑MOG in Immunosuppressive on the Phenotype of APCs in EAE Mice

Beyond observations of therapeutic effects in this disease model, we have generated evidence of the development of immunologic memory following treatment with mRBC‑MOG, suggesting the possibility of a cure. Using the EAE animal model, mice were first treated with either mRBC‑MOG or control mouse RBCs on Days 5 and 17. Following a 40‑day washout period after which the administered mouse RBCs were no longer in circulation, the EAE mice were re‑challenged with MOG peptide to re‑stimulate an immune response. We observed a clear improvement in survival between the mRBC‑MOG treated group and the control group, indicating that mRBC‑MOG treated animals maintained immunological memory which protected them from the re‑challenge.

Survival of Previously mRBC‑MOG Treated EAE Mice After a Second MOG Challenge

The ability of antigen‑presenting RBCs to drive tolerance induction in a preclinical model of Type 1 diabetes was recently demonstrated by our collaborators, Professors Hidde Ploegh and Harvey Lodish. In their study, NOD/ShiltJ mice, a strain genetically engineered to develop Type 1 diabetes after 10 to 13 weeks, were either treated with control RBCs or with RBCs that displayed a peptide consisting of the amino acids 9‑23 of insulin B‑chain on the cell surface. All mice receiving control RBCs became hyperglycemic while most mice receiving RBCs displaying the insulin peptide were protected from Type 1 diabetes onset and remained normoglycemic.

Overall, we and our collaborators have generated compelling preclinical evidence in support of applying antigen‑expressing RCT product candidates to induce antigen‑specific tolerance for the treatment of a range of autoimmune diseases.

Autoimmune disease discovery research

Beyond developing RCTs that express one or more antigens for the treatment in antigen‑induced autoimmune diseases, we are exploring the potential to apply RCT product candidates to directly stimulate specific populations of regulatory T cells or delete pathogenic CD4 cells and direct the immune system back to a more tolerogenic state. We have also created RCT constructs that clear lethal doses of TNF‑alpha and botulinum toxin from the bloodstream of mice, suggesting that RCTs may also provide therapeutic benefits to patients suffering from severe inflammatory diseases.

Rare Diseases

Until March 2020, we had been developing RTX-134 for the treatment of PKU. We had also been developing RCT product candidates for the treatment of other rare diseases such as chronic refractory gout and homocystinuria.

The IND for RTX-134 was allowed to proceed by the FDA in March 2019. The first patient was enrolled in the trial in January 2020. RTX-134 administration was well tolerated. While there were no reported adverse events, the results from the first patient were uninterpretable possibly due, in part, to the low dose of cells administered and the sensitivity of the flow cytometry assay used to evaluate cell circulation.

In March 2020, we decided to discontinue the RTX-134 Phase 1b clinical trial and deprioritized RTX-134 and our other rare disease programs, to primarily focus on the development of our oncology and autoimmunity pipeline. Multiple factors contributed to this decision, including unanticipated delays in the RTX-134 Phase 1b clinical trial, primarily due to continued manufacturing challenges at our CMO, the anticipated high cost associated with producing chronic, high-dose therapy for enzyme deficiencies and favorable preclinical data from our oncology pipeline. Future capital investments and improvements in manufacturing efficiency, together with enhancements to the RED PLATFORM®, may enable us to revisit chronic, high-dose rare diseases in the future.

Manufacturing

We have industrialized the production of RCTs by developing and scaling up a manufacturing process by which hematopoietic progenitor cells are expanded, then genetically engineered and subsequently differentiated and matured into enucleated RCTs that express biotherapeutic proteins within the cell or on the cell surface. Our standard RCT manufacturing process includes the following steps:

A single donor is expected to allow us to manufacture up to thousands of doses when we reach full manufacturing capacity. With approximately 7% of the U.S. population having an O negative blood type, we believe that there is ample supply of CD34+ hematopoietic precursor cells needed to produce our RCTs. Additionally, due to the inherent properties

of RBCs, RCTs can be manufactured in large bioreactors using our proprietary cell culture processes, which could result in the cost of goods sold being significantly lower than other cellular therapies.

The FDA has approved our established and compliant manufacturing process capable of producing product candidates for clinical use following the current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP operations. We expect to be able to use the same or similar manufacturing processes for all our future RCT product candidates, which would enable us to bring RCTs into clinical development in an accelerated manner.

Based on our expertise in red cell biology and advice from leading hematologists and blood transfusion experts, we have developed RCT product release criteria to determine the purity, viability, red cell identity and potency of each RCT batch. These release criteria have been reviewed and accepted for clinical use by the FDA.

We manufacture RCTs in bioreactors, which enable us to control critical process parameters and thereby produce consistent RCTs that meet the established product release criteria. We are currently working to further increase yields and plan to scale into larger bioreactors for eventual commercialization. We currently use external suppliers for lentiviral vector production but have developed an internal lentiviral vector production process, which may be used in the future.

In addition to the standard RCT manufacturing process, we have developed alternative proprietary processes for engineering hematopoietic precursor cells and maturing these into RCTs. These processes may be utilized in the production of future RCTs.

Expanding our manufacturing capacity and supply chain

To enable us to produce consistent and reproducible product at greater scale, in July 2018, we acquired and began renovating a 135,000 square foot cGMP manufacturing facility in Smithfield, RI. As of January 2020, this manufacturing facility is operational and is expected to provide cGMP material for clinical supply and commercial product upon regulatory approval. We plan to provide clinical supply for our upcoming RTX-240 and RTX-321 cancer clinical trials from this site. In addition, we have the potential to significantly expand our manufacturing capabilities in Smithfield, RI and plan to stage additional investments based on future supply needs.

Suppliers and contract manufacturing organizations

In 2018, we entered into a clinical supply agreement with a CMO located in the United States to produce cGMP grade RTX‑134 for our initial clinical trial in PKU. We experienced multiple manufacturing challenges with this CMO that contributed to delays in the RTX-134 Phase 1b clinical trial. Although we were able to manufacture clinical grade RTX-134 for the first time during the third quarter of 2019, continued challenges contributed to further clinical trial delays following the dosing of the first patient in January 2020. In March 2020, we decided to discontinue the RTX-134 Phase 1b clinical trial and deprioritized RTX-134 and our other rare disease programs, to primarily focus on the development of our oncology and autoimmunity pipeline.

We have entered into agreements with a supplier of cGMP grade plasmids for lentiviral production as well as a supplier of lentiviral vector. We have secured cGMP lentiviral vector production slots that will provide the initial supply of RTX-240 drug product for the beginning of our planned Phase 1 trials, and we are continually securing additional lentiviral production slots for the additional RCT product candidates that are projected to enter clinical trials.

Intellectual property

We believe the breadth and depth of our intellectual property is a strategic asset that has the potential to provide us with a significant competitive advantage. We strive to protect and enhance the proprietary technology, inventions and improvements that are commercially important to our business, including seeking, maintaining and defending patent rights, whether developed internally or licensed from our collaborators or other third parties. Our policy is to seek to protect our proprietary position by, among other methods, filing patent applications in the United States and in jurisdictions outside of the United States related to our proprietary technology, inventions, improvements and product candidates that are important to the development and implementation of our business. We also rely on trade secrets and

know‑how relating to our proprietary technology and product candidates, continuing innovation and in‑licensing opportunities to develop, strengthen and maintain our proprietary position in the field of engineered red cell therapeutics. We additionally rely on data exclusivity, market exclusivity and patent term extensions when available and plan to seek and rely on regulatory protection afforded through orphan drug designations. Our commercial success may depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other proprietary protection for our technology, inventions and improvements; to preserve the confidentiality of our trade secrets; to maintain our licenses to use intellectual property owned by third parties; to defend and enforce our proprietary rights, including our patents; and to operate without infringing on the valid and enforceable patents and other proprietary rights of third parties.

We believe that we have a strong global intellectual property position and possess substantial know‑how and trade secrets relating to our proprietary product candidates, technology and platform, including related manufacturing processes and technology. As for our product candidates, platform, and the processes we develop and commercialize, in the normal course of business, we pursue, as appropriate, patent protection or trade secret protection relating to compositions, methods of use, treatment of indications, dosing, formulations and methods of manufacturing. As of February 29, 2020, our patent portfolio consists of 32 patent families, including 12 issued U.S. patents, 46 owned or in‑licensed U.S. pending patent applications (including provisional applications), and 109 owned or in‑licensed pending patent applications in jurisdictions outside of the United States (including Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT, applications) that, in many cases, are counterparts to the foregoing U.S. patents and patent applications. Our objective is to continue to expand our portfolio of patents and patent applications in order to protect our product candidates and certain aspects of our RED PLATFORM and our manufacturing processes. Examples of the products and technology areas covered by our intellectual property portfolio are described below.

Disease‑related intellectual property

The disease‑related patent rights in our intellectual property portfolio relate to pathological conditions and disorders and provide coverage for RCT product candidates to specifically address those conditions and the associated disease states. The disease‑related patent applications for our lead programs include those described below. Each of the disease‑related patent rights and applications described below are owned by us and are not licensed from any third party:

RTX-240 and RTX-224 for certain oncology indications

We have developed RTX-240, an RCT product candidate that expresses 4‑1BBL and IL‑15TP (a fusion of the cytokine IL‑15 and IL‑15 receptor alpha), for the treatment of patients suffering from hematological or solid cancers that have lost response to conventional therapies, including anti‑PD‑1 therapies or other immune-oncology therapies, and to prevent the emergence of resistance to checkpoint inhibitors and other immune-oncology therapies. We have developed RTX-224, an RCT product candidate that co‑expresses 4‑1BBL and IL‑12, for the treatment of patients suffering from hematological or solid cancers that have lost response to conventional therapies, have failed to qualify for or respond to or have lost response to immunotherapy, including anti‑PD‑1 therapies or other immune-oncology therapies, and to prevent the emergence of resistance to checkpoint inhibitors and other immune-oncology therapies.

RTX-321, an artificial antigen presenting cell for the treatment of HPV-positive tumors

We have developed RTX-321, an artificial antigen presenting cell RCT, that expresses an HPV peptide antigen bound to MHC I, 4-1BBL and IL-12 on the cell surface to mimic human T cell-APC interactions. RTX-321 is in development for the treatment of HPV-positive tumors.

Additional oncology intellectual property

We own disease‑related patent applications directed to RCTs for use in oncology, including immuno‑oncology. These patent applications relate to RCT compositions that comprise a variety of agents, including anti‑tumor antibodies, tumor starvation enzymes, pro‑apoptotic proteins, costimulatory molecules, immune checkpoint inhibitors, tumor antigens, MHC molecules and numerous combinations thereof. These patent applications also cover the use of RCTs to treat cancer, including lung cancer, melanoma, renal cancer, bladder cancer, gastric cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, colorectal cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia, as well as various relapsed or refractory cancers.

We expect the patent applications in this portfolio, if issued, to expire between 2034 and 2038, without taking into account any patent term adjustments or extensions we may obtain.

Autoimmune disease intellectual property

We own disease‑related patent applications directed to RCTs for use in treating autoimmune diseases. These patent applications relate to RCT compositions having autoimmune antigens, anti‑cytokine antibodies, agents for cleaving autoimmune antibodies and numerous combinations thereof. The RCTs covered by these patent applications operate through various mechanisms, including through induction of tolerance to self‑antigens, clearance of autoimmune antibodies from the bloodstream, clearance of cytokines from the bloodstream and inactivation of autoimmune antibodies. The patent applications also cover the use of these RCTs to treat a number of diseases, such as Type 1 diabetes, membranous nephropathy, autoimmune hepatitis, myasthenia gravis, celiac disease and neuromyelitis optica.

We expect the patent applications in this portfolio, if issued, to expire between 2035 and 2038, without taking into account any patent term adjustments or extensions we may obtain.

Cardio‑metabolic disorders intellectual property

We own disease‑related patent applications directed to RCT compositions and their use in treating cardiac disorders and metabolic disorders, including diabetes, obesity heart failure, atherosclerosis and hemophilia. We expect the patent applications in this portfolio, if issued, to expire in 2037, without taking into account any patent term adjustments or extensions we may obtain.

Infectious disease intellectual property

We own disease‑related patent applications directed to RCT compositions and their use in treating infectious diseases, such as a viral infection (e.g., cytomegalovirus or HIV) or a bacterial infection (e.g., bacteremia). We expect the patent

applications in this portfolio, if issued, to expire between 2037 and 2039 without taking into account any patent term adjustments or extensions we may obtain.

Platform‑related intellectual property

In addition to the disease‑related intellectual property, our intellectual property portfolio also includes know‑how and patent applications directed to the RED PLATFORM and other technologies developed internally and exclusively in‑licensed from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, or WIBR, that relate to the engineering and culturing of RCTs. Exemplary platform technologies that are the subject of such patent applications include:

These platform technologies, and our intellectual property protection related thereto, are broadly applicable to our RCT product candidates.

We continually assess and refine our intellectual property strategy as we develop new platform technologies and product candidates. To that end, we are prepared to file additional patent applications if our intellectual property strategy requires such filings, or where we seek to adapt to competition or seize business opportunities. Further, we are prepared to file patent applications, as we consider appropriate under the circumstances, relating to the new technologies that we develop. In addition to filing and prosecuting patent applications in the United States, we often file counterpart patent applications in additional countries where we believe such foreign filing is likely to be beneficial, including but not limited to Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Israel, and Japan.

Individual patent terms extend for varying periods of time, depending upon the date of filing of the patent application, the date of patent issuance and the legal term of patents in the countries in which they are obtained. Generally, patents issued from applications filed in the United States are effective for 20 years from the earliest effective filing date. In addition, in certain instances, a patent term can be extended to recapture a portion of the term effectively lost as a result of the FDA regulatory review period. The restoration period cannot be longer than five years and the total patent term, including the restoration period, must not exceed 14 years following FDA approval. The duration of patents outside of the United States varies in accordance with provisions of applicable local law, but typically is also 20 years from the earliest effective filing date. However, the actual protection afforded by a patent varies on a product‑by‑product basis, from country‑to‑country, and depends upon many factors, including the type of patent, the scope of its coverage, the availability of regulatory‑related extensions, the availability of legal remedies in a particular country and the validity and enforceability of the patent.

Trademark protection

As of February 29, 2020, our trademark portfolio contains approximately 52 registrations and pending applications. For the RUBIUS THERAPEUTICS mark, we have pending applications in the United States, Argentina, and Canada, registrations in Brazil and Hong Kong, and an International Registration designating Australia, China, the E.U., India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, S. Korea, and Switzerland. Under this International Registration, the mark is pending in the E.U., Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, S. Korea, and Switzerland, and registered in Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, and Singapore. In addition, we have a U.S. trademark registration and a pending U.S. application for the RUBIUS mark. For

the RCT mark, we have a pending U.S. application as well as an International Registration designating China, the E.U., India, and Japan. Under this International Registration, the mark is pending in China and Japan, and registered in the E.U. and India. In addition, we have a pending application for this mark in Canada. We also have pending U.S. and Canadian applications for the RED CELL THERAPEUTICS mark as well as an International Registration designating China, India, and Japan. Under this International Registration, the mark is registered in Japan and pending in China and India. We have a U.S. trademark registration for the RED PLATFORM mark, as well as an International Registration designating China, the E.U., India, Japan and Russia. Under this International Registration, the mark is registered in all countries. In addition, we have a pending application for this mark in Canada. We have a pending U.S. application for the REALIZING THE POWER OF RED mark, as well as an International Registration designating Canada, China, the E.U., India, Japan, and Russia. Under this International Registration, the mark is pending in all countries. Finally, we have a pending U.S. application for the RTX mark.

Trade secrets

We may also rely, in some circumstances, on trade secrets to protect our technology and aspects of our platform. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. We seek to protect our technology and product candidates, in part, by entering into confidentiality agreements with those who have access to our confidential information, including our employees, contractors, consultants, collaborators and advisors. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our proprietary technology and processes by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems. Although we have confidence in these individuals, organizations and systems, agreements or security measures may be breached and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or may be independently discovered by competitors. To the extent that our employees, contractors, consultants, collaborators and advisors use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting know‑how and inventions. For this and more comprehensive risks related to our proprietary technology, inventions, improvements and products, please see the section on “Risk factors—Risks related to intellectual property.”

Licenses

In January 2016, we entered into an exclusive license with WIBR that grants us an exclusive, worldwide, sublicensable license under patent rights comprising two patent families to research, develop, make and commercialize products and processes covered by such patent rights for all uses, or the WIBR License. The WIBR License also includes an option for us to exclusively negotiate with WIBR for a license to certain improvement technologies related to the licensed subject matter. The WIBR License was amended in December 2017 to grant us an exclusive license to the commercialization rights under a third patent family jointly owned by WIBR and Tufts University, or Tufts. The WIBR License was amended in July 2018 to grant us an exclusive license to the commercialization rights under a fourth patent family owned by WIBR. As of February 29, 2020, the patent portfolio licensed from WIBR consists of two issued U.S. patents, and a total of 17 pending U.S. and foreign patent applications and issued foreign patents. We expect these WIBR‑licensed patent applications, if issued, to expire between 2034 and 2038, without taking into account any patent term adjustments or extensions that may be obtained.

The patent rights licensed to us under the WIBR License are directed, in part, to the in vitro production of RBCs and the use of the enzyme sortase to conjugate a protein of interest to the cell surface. We have certain diligence obligations under the WIBR License, which include using commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize any products under the patents and achieving certain milestones as further described in the WIBR License. Additionally, under certain circumstances, we may in the future be obligated to negotiate in good faith field‑limited, non‑exclusive sublicenses to allow third parties to exploit the patent rights licensed to us under the WIBR License to develop and commercialize products that are not competitive with our products or product candidates.

WIBR retains the right with respect to all four patent families licensed to us to (i) practice the patent rights licensed under the agreement for research, teaching and educational purposes, including sponsored research and collaboration, and (ii) grant non‑exclusive licenses to academic and not‑for‑profit research institutes to practice under the patent rights for research, teaching and educational purposes (excluding sponsored research), while Tufts retains such rights only with respect to the patent family that it co‑owns. Pursuant to a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency agreement

between WIBR and a global biopharmaceutical company, the biopharmaceutical company funded research resulting in one of the licensed patent families and WIBR granted the right to retain a worldwide, irrevocable, non‑exclusive, royalty‑free right to use this patent family for research and development purposes. In addition, under the WIBR agreement, the U.S. federal government retains a royalty‑free, non‑exclusive, non‑transferable license to practice any government‑funded invention claimed in the patent rights, as set forth in 35 U.S.C. §§ 201‑211 and Executive Order 12591.

As partial consideration for the license, we issued 366,667 shares of our common stock to WIBR. In addition, we paid WIBR an upfront payment and are required to pay annual license maintenance fees, creditable against royalties and milestone payments. We are obligated to pay to WIBR low single‑digit royalties based on annual net sales by us, our affiliates and our sublicensees of licensed products and licensed services that are covered by a valid claim of the licensed patent rights at the time and in the country of sale. On a country‑by‑country basis, upon expiration of the last valid claim of the licensed patent rights covering such licensed product or licensed service in such country, our license becomes royalty‑free, perpetual and irrevocable with respect to such country. Based on the progress we make in the advancement of products covered by the licensed patent rights, we are required to make aggregate milestone payments of up to $1.6 million upon the achievement of specified preclinical, clinical and regulatory milestones. In addition, we are required to pay to WIBR a percentage of the non‑royalty payments that we receive from sublicensees of the patent rights licensed to us by WIBR. This percentage varies from low single digits to low double digits and will be based upon the clinical stage of the product at the time of the sublicense.

Under the WIBR License, WIBR controls the prosecution and maintenance of the patent rights licensed to us and we have the right to review and comment on such prosecution and maintenance. We have the first right to enforce the patent rights licensed to us against third party infringers. We may terminate the WIBR License for convenience upon three months prior written notice to WIBR. WIBR may terminate the WIBR License upon written notice to us if we, along with our affiliates and sublicensees, cease to carry on business related to the WIBR License for more than six months. WIBR may terminate the WIBR License for our material breach that remains uncured for sixty days after receiving notice thereof, if we fail to pay amounts due under the agreement within thirty days after receiving notice of such failure, or if we challenge the validity or enforceability of any of the licensed patent rights.

Competition

In addition to the product specific competitors that are described for each of the initial targets we are pursuing, we have identified three companies that are leveraging the RBC as a platform. Erytech Pharma SA is using hypotonic enzyme loading to create products for use in cancer and immunology. The company has completed a successful Phase 3 program in acute lymphoblastic leukemia, recently failed a Phase 2 trial in acute myeloid leukemia, and completed a successful Phase 2 program in pancreatic cancer. We believe that there are fundamental challenges with hypotonic loading including:

There are two other companies that rely on loading of mature RBCs: EryDel SpA is in late-stage development of dexamethasone loaded red blood cells for the treatment of ataxia telangiectasia and has declared a number of pre-clinical programs; and SQZ Biotechnologies is pursuing applications in cancer, enzyme replacement therapy and immune tolerance using a variety of cell-based approaches, including red cells. 

Outside of RBC based competition, there are a number of companies competing in our target therapeutic areas. Within oncology, multiple large and small companies are developing novel immune stimulatory agents, such as NantCell, Inc., which is developing an IL-15 cytokine, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, which is developing a 4-1BB ligand.

Finally, many companies are developing therapies to generate antigen-specific immune responses against HPV positive cancers, such as BioNTech SE using RNA and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. using DNA-based therapy.

In addition to the companies described above, we anticipate competing with the largest biopharmaceutical companies in the world, such as Novartis AG, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Amgen, Inc., F. Hoffman‑La Roche AG (Roche), Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer, Inc.

Government regulation

Government authorities in the United States at the federal, state and local level and in other countries regulate, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, quality control, approval, labeling, packaging, storage, record‑keeping, promotion, advertising, distribution, post‑approval monitoring and reporting, marketing and export and import of drug and biological products, such as RTX‑240 and RTX-321, and any future product candidates. Generally, before a new drug or biologic can be marketed, considerable data demonstrating its quality, safety and efficacy must be obtained, organized into a format specific for each regulatory authority, submitted for review and approved by the regulatory authority.

U.S. biological product development

In the United States, the FDA regulates biological products under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, the Public Health Service Act, or PHSA, and regulations thereunder. Biologics are also subject to other federal, state and local statutes and regulations. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and the subsequent compliance with appropriate federal, state and local statutes and regulations requires the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources. Failure to comply with the applicable U.S. requirements at any time during the product development process, approval process or post‑market may subject an applicant to administrative or judicial sanctions. These sanctions could include, among other actions, the FDA’s refusal to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, a clinical hold, untitled or warning letters, product recalls or market withdrawals, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, restitution, disgorgement and civil or criminal penalties. Any agency or judicial enforcement action could have a material adverse effect on us.

The FDA categorizes human cell‑ or tissue‑based products as either minimally manipulated or more than minimally manipulated, and has determined that more than minimally manipulated products must be approved by the FDA through the biologics license application, or BLA, process before they may be legally marketed in the United States. The process required by the FDA before a biologic may be marketed in the United States generally involves the following:

The preclinical and clinical testing and approval process requires substantial time, effort and financial resources, and we cannot be certain that any approvals for RTX-240 and RTX-321 and any future product candidates will be granted on a timely basis, or at all.

Preclinical studies and IND

Preclinical studies include laboratory evaluation of product chemistry and formulation, as well as in vitro and animal studies to assess safety and in some cases to establish a rationale for therapeutic use. The conduct of preclinical studies is subject to federal regulations and requirements, including GLP regulations for safety and toxicology studies.

An IND is a request for authorization from the FDA to administer an investigational product to humans and must become effective before human clinical trials may begin. An IND sponsor must submit the results of the preclinical tests, together with manufacturing information, analytical data, any available clinical data or literature and plans for clinical studies, among other things, to the FDA as part of an IND. An IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless the FDA raises concerns or questions related to one or more proposed clinical trials and places the trial on clinical hold before such time. In such a case, the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns before the clinical trial can begin. If the FDA’s concerns are not resolved, submission of an IND may not result in the FDA allowing clinical trials to commence.

Clinical trials

The clinical stage of development involves the administration of the investigational product to healthy volunteers or patients under the supervision of qualified investigators, generally physicians not employed by or under the trial sponsor’s control, in accordance with GCP requirements, which include the requirement that all research subjects provide their informed consent for their participation in any clinical trial. Clinical trials are conducted under protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the clinical trial, dosing procedures, subject selection and exclusion criteria and the parameters to be used to monitor subject safety and assess efficacy. Each protocol, and any subsequent amendments to the protocol, must be submitted to the FDA as part of the IND. Each clinical trial of investigational cell and gene therapies must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) for each clinical site. IBCs were established under the National Institute of Health (NIH) Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules to provide local review and oversight of nearly all forms of research utilizing recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules. In its review, the IBC assesses biosafety issues, specifically, safety practices and containment procedures, related to the investigational product and clinical study. Compliance with the NIH Guidelines is mandatory for investigators at institutions receiving NIH funds for research involving recombinant DNA, however many companies and other institutions not otherwise subject to the NIH Guidelines voluntarily follow them. Such trials remain subject to FDA and other clinical trial regulations, and only after FDA, IBC, and other relevant approvals are in place can these protocols proceed. Furthermore, each clinical trial must be reviewed and approved by an IRB for each institution at which the clinical trial will be conducted to ensure that the risks to individuals participating in the clinical trials are minimized and are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits. The IRB also approves the informed consent form that must be provided to each clinical trial subject or his or her legal representative, and must monitor the clinical trial until completed. There also are requirements governing the reporting of ongoing clinical trials and completed clinical trial results to public registries.

A sponsor who wishes to conduct a clinical trial outside of the United States may, but need not, obtain FDA authorization to conduct the clinical trial under an IND. If a foreign clinical trial is not conducted under an IND, the sponsor may submit data from the clinical trial to the FDA in support of a BLA or NDA. The FDA will accept a

well‑designed and well‑conducted foreign clinical trial not conducted under an IND if the trial was conducted in accordance with GCP requirements, and the FDA is able to validate the data through an onsite inspection if deemed necessary.

Clinical trials generally are conducted in three sequential phases, known as Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3, and may overlap.

Post‑approval trials, sometimes referred to as Phase 4 clinical trials, may be conducted after initial marketing approval. These trials are used to gain additional experience from the treatment of patients in the intended therapeutic indication. In certain instances, the FDA may mandate the performance of Phase 4 clinical trials as a condition of approval of a BLA.

Progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials, among other information, must be submitted at least annually to the FDA and written IND safety reports must be submitted to the FDA and the investigators for serious and unexpected suspected adverse events, findings from other studies or animal or in vitro testing that suggest a significant risk for human subjects and any clinically important increase in the rate of a serious suspected adverse reaction over that listed in the protocol or investigator brochure.

Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials may not be completed successfully within any specified period, if at all. The FDA or the sponsor may suspend or terminate a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the research subjects or patients are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Similarly, an IRB can suspend or terminate approval of a clinical trial at its institution if the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the IRB’s requirements or if the drug or biologic has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients. Additionally, some clinical trials are overseen by an independent group of qualified experts organized by the clinical trial sponsor, known as a data safety monitoring board or committee. This group provides authorization for whether a trial may move forward at designated check points based on access to certain data from the trial. Concurrent with clinical trials, companies usually complete additional animal studies and also must develop additional information about the chemistry and physical characteristics of the drug or biologic as well as finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with cGMP requirements. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the product and companies must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality and purity of the final product, among other things. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that the product candidates do not undergo unacceptable deterioration over their shelf life.

BLA and FDA review process

Following completion of the clinical trials, data are analyzed to assess whether the investigational product is safe and effective for the proposed indicated use or uses. The results of preclinical studies and clinical trials are then submitted to the FDA as part of a BLA, a request for approval to market the biological product for one or more specified indications, along with proposed labeling, chemistry and manufacturing information to ensure product quality and other relevant data. The application may include both negative and ambiguous results of preclinical studies and clinical trials, as well

as positive findings. Data may come from company‑sponsored clinical trials intended to test the safety and efficacy of a product’s use or from a number of alternative sources, including studies initiated by investigators. To support marketing approval, the data submitted must be sufficient in quality and quantity to establish the safety and efficacy of the investigational product to the satisfaction of the FDA. FDA approval of a BLA must be obtained before a biologic may be marketed in the United States.

Under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, as amended, each BLA must be accompanied by a user fee. The FDA adjusts the PDUFA user fees on an annual basis. According to the FDA’s fee schedule, effective through December 31, 2020, the user fee for an application requiring clinical data, such as a BLA or NDA, is $2,942,965. The sponsor of an approved BLA is also subject to an annual prescription drug program fee, which for fiscal year 2020 is $332,424. Fee waivers or reductions are available in certain circumstances, including a waiver of the application fee for the first application filed by a small business. Additionally, no user fees are assessed on BLAs for products designated as orphan drugs, unless the product also includes a non‑orphan indication.

The FDA reviews all submitted BLAs before it accepts them for filing, and may request additional information rather than accepting the BLA for filing. The FDA must make a decision on accepting a BLA for filing within 60 days of receipt. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an in‑depth review of the BLA. Under the goals and policies agreed to by the FDA under PDUFA, the FDA has ten months, from the filing date, in which to complete its initial review of an original BLA and respond to the applicant, and six months from the filing date of an original BLA designated for priority review. The FDA does not always meet its PDUFA goal dates for standard and priority BLAs, and the review process is often extended by the FDA requests for additional information or clarification.

Before approving a BLA, the FDA will conduct a pre‑approval inspection of the manufacturing facilities for the new product to determine whether they comply with cGMP requirements and, if applicable, cGTP requirements. These are FDA regulations that govern the methods used in, and the facilities and controls used for, the manufacture of human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue based products, or HCT/Ps, which are human cells or tissue intended for implantation, transplant, infusion, or transfer into a human recipient. The primary intent of the cGTP requirements is to ensure that cell and tissue-based products are manufactured in a manner designed to prevent the introduction, transmission and spread of communicable disease. FDA regulations also require tissue establishments to register and list their products with the FDA and, when applicable, to evaluate donors through screening and testing. The FDA will not approve the product unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities are in compliance with cGMP and cGTP requirements and adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. The FDA also may audit data from clinical trials to ensure compliance with GCP requirements. Additionally, the FDA may refer applications for novel products or products which present difficult questions of safety or efficacy to an advisory committee, typically a panel that includes clinicians and other experts, for review, evaluation and a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions, if any. The FDA is not bound by recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations when making decisions on approval. The FDA likely will reanalyze the clinical trial data as part of the review process, which could result in extensive discussions between the FDA and the applicant during the process.

After the FDA evaluates a BLA, it will issue an approval letter or a Complete Response Letter, or CRL. An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the drug or biologic with specific prescribing information for specific indications. A CRL indicates that the review cycle of the application is complete and the application will not be approved in its present form. A CRL usually describes all of the specific deficiencies in the BLA identified by the FDA. The CRL may require additional clinical data, additional pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial(s) or other significant and time‑consuming requirements related to clinical trials, preclinical studies or manufacturing. If a CRL is issued, the applicant may either resubmit the BLA, addressing all of the deficiencies identified in the letter, or withdraw the application. Even if such data and information are submitted, the FDA may decide that the BLA does not satisfy the criteria for approval. Data obtained from clinical trials are not always conclusive and the FDA may interpret data differently than we interpret the same data.

If regulatory approval of a product is granted, such approval will be granted for particular indications and may entail limitations on the indicated uses for which such product may be marketed. For example, the FDA may approve the BLA with a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, to ensure the benefits of the product outweigh its risks. A

REMS is a safety strategy to manage a known or potential serious risk associated with a medicine and to enable patients to have continued access to such medicines by managing their safe use, and could include medication guides, physician communication plans or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. The FDA also may condition approval on, among other things, changes to proposed labeling or the development of adequate controls and specifications. Once approved, the FDA may withdraw the product approval if compliance with pre‑ and post‑marketing requirements is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the marketplace. The FDA may require one or more Phase 4 post‑market studies or surveillance to further assess and monitor the product’s safety and effectiveness after commercialization, and may limit further marketing of the product based on the results of these post‑marketing studies. In addition, new government requirements, including those resulting from new legislation, may be established, or the FDA’s policies may change, which could impact the timeline for regulatory approval or otherwise impact ongoing development programs.

Orphan drug designation

Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan drug designation to a biological product intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or more than 200,000 individuals in the United States and for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making the product available in the United States for this type of disease or condition will be recovered from sales of the product.

Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting a BLA. After the FDA grants orphan drug designation, the identity of the therapeutic agent and its potential orphan use are disclosed publicly by the FDA. Orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in or shorten the duration of the regulatory review and approval process.

If a product that has orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease or condition for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications to market the same drug for the same indication for seven years from the date of such approval, except in limited circumstances. A product will not be considered the “same drug” if it is clinically superior to a product that has orphan drug exclusivity. Moreover, competitors may receive approval of either a different product for the same indication or the same product for a different indication, but which could be used off‑label in the orphan indication. Orphan drug exclusivity also could block the approval of one of our products for seven years if a competitor obtains approval before we do for the same product, as defined by the FDA, for the same indication we are seeking approval, or if our product is determined to be contained within the scope of the competitor’s product for the same indication or disease. If one of our products designated as an orphan drug receives marketing approval for an indication broader than that which is designated, it may not be entitled to orphan drug exclusivity.

Expedited development and review programs

The FDA has several programs that are intended to expedite or facilitate the process for reviewing new drugs and biologics that meet certain criteria. Specifically, new biologics are eligible for fast track designation if they are intended to treat a serious or life‑threatening condition and preclinical or clinical data demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for the condition. Fast track designation applies to both the product and the specific indication for which it is being studied. The sponsor can request the FDA to designate the product for fast track status any time before receiving BLA approval, but ideally no later than the pre‑BLA meeting.

Any product submitted to the FDA for marketing, including under a fast track program, may be eligible for other types of FDA programs intended to expedite development and review, such as priority review and accelerated approval. Any product is eligible for priority review if it treats a serious or life‑threatening condition and, if approved, would provide a significant improvement in safety and effectiveness compared to available therapies. The FDA will attempt to direct additional resources to the evaluation of an application for a new drug or biologic designated for priority review in an effort to facilitate the review.

A product may also be eligible for accelerated approval if it treats a serious or life‑threatening condition and generally provides a meaningful advantage over available therapies. In addition, it must demonstrate an effect on a surrogate

endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit or on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than irreversible morbidity or mortality, or IMM, that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on IMM or other clinical benefit. As a condition of approval, the FDA may require that a sponsor of a drug or biologic receiving accelerated approval perform adequate and well‑controlled post‑marketing clinical trials. If the FDA concludes that a drug or biologic shown to be effective can be safely used only if distribution or use is restricted, it will require such post‑marketing restrictions, as it deems necessary to assure safe use of the product.

Additionally, a drug or biologic may be eligible for designation as a breakthrough therapy if the product is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, to treat a serious or life‑threatening condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the product may demonstrate substantial improvement over currently approved therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints. The benefits of breakthrough therapy designation include the same benefits as fast track designation, plus intensive interaction and guidance from the FDA. The breakthrough therapy designation is a distinct status from both accelerated approval and priority review, but these can also be granted to the same product candidate if the relevant criteria are met. The FDA must take certain actions, such as holding timely meetings and providing advice, intended to expedite the development and review of an application for approval of a breakthrough therapy. All requests for breakthrough therapy designation will be reviewed within 60 days of receipt, and the FDA will either grant or deny the request.

Fast track designation, priority review, accelerated approval and breakthrough therapy designation do not change the standards for approval, but may expedite the development or approval process.

Regenerative medicine advanced therapy designation

As part of the 21st Century Cures Act, Congress amended the FDCA to create an accelerated approval pathway for certain regenerative medicine therapies, which include cell therapies, therapeutic tissue engineering products, human cell and tissue products, and combination products using any such therapies or products. Regenerative medicine therapies do not include those human cells, tissues and cellular and tissue-based products regulated solely under section 361 of the Public Health Service Act and 21 CFR Part 1271. The program is intended to facilitate efficient development and expedite review of RMATs, which are intended to treat, modify, reverse, or cure a serious or life‑threatening disease or condition.

A sponsor may request that the FDA designate a drug as an RMAT concurrently with or at any time after submission of an IND. The FDA has 60 calendar days to determine whether the drug meets the criteria, including whether there is preliminary clinical evidence indicating that the product has the potential to address unmet medical needs for a serious or life‑threatening disease or condition. The FDA generally expects preliminary clinical evidence to be obtained from clinical investigations specifically conducted to assess the effects of the therapy on a serious condition, which could include well‑designed retrospective studies or clinical case series, as appropriate, but the RMAT designation does not require evidence to indicate that the drug may offer a substantial improvement over existing therapies. Advantages of RMAT designation include all of the benefits of the fast track and breakthrough therapy designation programs, including early interactions with the FDA. In addition, a product that receives RMAT designation may be eligible for priority review, and the FDA may grant accelerated approval to products that have RMAT designation based on (1) previously agreed‑upon surrogate or intermediate endpoints that are reasonably likely to predict long‑term clinical benefit; or (2) reliance upon data obtained from a meaningful number of sites, including through expansion to additional sites, as appropriate. Another benefit of RMAT designation is that may enable to the sponsor to meet post‑approval requirements beyond the completion of traditional confirmatory clinical trials. The FDA has indicated that post‑approval requirements for RMATs receiving accelerated approval can potentially be met through:

Pediatric information

Under the Pediatric Research Equity Act, or PREA, certain BLAs and certain supplements to a BLA must contain data to assess the safety and efficacy of the drug for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product is safe and effective. The FDA may grant deferrals for submission of pediatric data or full or partial waivers. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act amended the FDCA to require that a sponsor who is planning to submit a marketing application for a drug that includes a new active ingredient, new indication, new dosage form, new dosing regimen or new route of administration submit an initial Pediatric Study Plan, or PSP, within 60 days of an end‑of‑Phase 2 meeting or, if there is no such meeting, as early as practicable before the initiation of the Phase 3 or Phase 2/3 trial. The initial PSP must include an outline of the pediatric trial or trials that the sponsor plans to conduct, including trial objectives and design, age groups, relevant endpoints and statistical approach, or a justification for not including such detailed information, and any request for a deferral of pediatric assessments or a full or partial waiver of the requirement to provide data from pediatric studies along with supporting information. The FDA and the sponsor must reach an agreement on the PSP. A sponsor can submit amendments to an agreed‑upon initial PSP at any time if changes to the pediatric plan need to be considered based on data collected from preclinical studies, early‑phase clinical trials and/or other clinical development programs.

Post‑marketing requirements

Following approval of a new product, the manufacturer and the approved product are subject to continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, monitoring and record‑keeping activities, reporting of adverse experiences, complying with promotion and advertising requirements, which include restrictions on promoting drugs for unapproved uses or patient populations (known as “off‑label use”) and limitations on industry‑sponsored scientific and educational activities. Although physicians may prescribe legally available drugs for off‑label uses, manufacturers may not market or promote such uses. Prescription drug promotional materials must be submitted to the FDA in conjunction with their first use. Further, if there are any modifications to the drug or biologic, including changes in indications, labeling or manufacturing processes or facilities, the applicant may be required to submit and obtain FDA approval of a new BLA or BLA supplement, which may require the development of additional data or preclinical studies and clinical trials.

The FDA may also place other conditions on approvals including the requirement for a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, to assure the safe use of the product. If the FDA concludes a REMS is needed, the sponsor of the BLA must submit a proposed REMS. The FDA will not approve the BLA without an approved REMS, if required. A REMS could include medication guides, physician communication plans or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. Any of these limitations on approval or marketing could restrict the commercial promotion, distribution, prescription or dispensing of products. Product approvals may be withdrawn for non‑compliance with regulatory standards or if problems occur following initial marketing.

FDA regulations require that biological products be manufactured in specific approved facilities and in accordance with cGMP regulations and, in some cases, cGTP regulations. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the production of clinical and commercial quantities of our products in accordance with cGMP and cGTP regulations. These manufacturers must comply with cGMP and cGTP regulations that require, among other things, quality control and quality assurance, the maintenance of records and documentation and the obligation to investigate and correct any deviations from cGMP or cGTP. Manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacture and distribution of approved drugs or biologics are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and certain state agencies for compliance with cGMP and, if applicable, cGTP requirements and other laws. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain cGMP and cGTP compliance. Other post‑approval requirements applicable to biological products, include reporting of cGMP deviations that may affect the identity,

potency, purity and overall safety of a distributed product, record‑keeping requirements, reporting of adverse effects, reporting updated safety and efficacy information, and complying with electronic record and signature requirements.

After a BLA is approved, the product also may be subject to official lot release. As part of the manufacturing process, the manufacturer is required to perform certain tests on each lot of the product before it is released for distribution. If the product is subject to official release by the FDA, the manufacturer submits samples of each lot of product to the FDA together with a release protocol showing a summary of the history of manufacture of the lot and the results of all of the manufacturer’s tests performed on the lot. The FDA also may perform certain confirmatory tests on lots of some products, such as viral vaccines, before releasing the lots for distribution by the manufacturer. In addition, the FDA conducts laboratory research related to the regulatory standards on the safety, purity, potency, and effectiveness of biological products.

To help reduce the increased risk of the introduction of adventitious agents, the PHS Act emphasizes the importance of manufacturing controls for products whose attributes cannot be precisely defined. The PHS Act also provides authority to the FDA to immediately suspend biologics licenses in situations where there exists a danger to public health, to prepare or procure products in the event of shortages and critical public health needs, and to authorize the creation and enforcement of regulations to prevent the introduction or spread of communicable diseases within the United States.

Discovery of previously unknown problems or the failure to comply with the applicable regulatory requirements may result in restrictions on the marketing of a product or withdrawal of the product from the market as well as possible civil or criminal sanctions. Failure to comply with the applicable U.S. requirements at any time during the product development process, approval process or after approval, may subject an applicant or manufacturer to administrative or judicial civil or criminal sanctions and adverse publicity. FDA sanctions could include refusal to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, clinical hold, warning or untitled letters, product recalls, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, mandated corrective advertising or communications with doctors, debarment, restitution, disgorgement of profits, or civil or criminal penalties. Any agency or judicial enforcement action could have a material adverse effect on us.

Biological product manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacture and distribution of approved biological products are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and certain state agencies for compliance with cGMP and, if applicable, cGTP requirements and other laws. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money, and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain cGMP compliance. Discovery of problems with a product after approval may result in restrictions on a product, manufacturer, or holder of an approved BLA, including withdrawal of the product from the market. In addition, changes to the manufacturing process or facility generally require prior FDA approval before being implemented and other types of changes to the approved product, such as adding new indications and additional labeling claims, are also subject to further FDA review and approval.

U.S. patent term restoration and marketing exclusivity

Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of FDA approval of RTX-240 and RTX-321 and any future product candidates, some of our U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, commonly referred to as the Hatch‑Waxman Amendments. The Hatch‑Waxman Amendments permit restoration of the patent term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during product development and FDA regulatory review process. Patent‑term restoration, however, cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the product’s approval date. The patent‑term restoration period is generally one‑half the time between the effective date of an IND and the submission date of a BLA plus the time between the submission date of a BLA and the approval of that application, except that the review period is reduced by any time during which the applicant failed to exercise due diligence. Only one patent applicable to an approved product is eligible for the extension and the application for the extension must be submitted prior to the expiration of the patent. The United States Patent and Trademark Office, in consultation with the FDA, reviews and approves the application for any patent term extension or restoration. In the future, we may apply for restoration of patent term for our currently owned or licensed patents to add patent life beyond its current expiration date, depending on the expected length of the clinical trials and other factors involved in the filing of the relevant BLA.

An abbreviated approval pathway for biological products shown to be similar to, or interchangeable with, an FDA‑licensed reference biological product was created by the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, or the ACA. This amendment to the PHSA, in part, attempts to minimize duplicative testing. Bio similarity, which requires that the biological product be highly similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components and that there be no clinically meaningful differences between the product and the reference product in terms of safety, purity and potency, can be shown through analytical studies, animal studies and a clinical trial or trials. Interchangeability requires that a biological product be biosimilar to the reference product and that the product can be expected to produce the same clinical results as the reference product in any given patient and, for products administered multiple times to an individual, that the product and the reference product may be alternated or switched after one has been previously administered without increasing safety risks or risks of diminished efficacy relative to exclusive use of the reference biological product without such alternation or switch. Complexities associated with the larger, and often more complex, structure of biological products as compared to small molecule drugs, as well as the processes by which such products are manufactured, pose significant hurdles to implementation that are still being worked out by the FDA.

A reference biological product is granted four- and twelve-year exclusivity periods from the time of first licensure of the product. The FDA will not accept an application for a biosimilar or interchangeable product based on the reference biological product until four years after the date of first licensure of the reference product, and the FDA will not approve an application for a biosimilar or interchangeable product based on the reference biological product until twelve years after the date of first licensure of the reference product. “First licensure” typically means the initial date the particular product at issue was licensed in the United States. Date of first licensure does not include the date of licensure of (and a new period of exclusivity is not available for) a biological product if the licensure is for a supplement for the biological product or for a subsequent application by the same sponsor or manufacturer of the biological product (or licensor, predecessor in interest, or other related entity) for a change (not including a modification to the structure of the biological product) that results in a new indication, route of administration, dosing schedule, dosage form, delivery system, delivery device or strength, or for a modification to the structure of the biological product that does not result in a change in safety, purity or potency. Therefore, one must determine whether a new product includes a modification to the structure of a previously licensed product that results in a change in safety, purity or potency to assess whether the licensure of the new product is a first licensure that triggers its own period of exclusivity. Whether a subsequent application, if approved, warrants exclusivity as the “first licensure” of a biological product is determined on a case‑by‑case basis with data submitted by the sponsor.

Pediatric exclusivity is another type of regulatory market exclusivity in the United States. Pediatric exclusivity, if granted, adds six months to existing regulatory exclusivity periods. This six‑month exclusivity may be granted based on the voluntary completion of a pediatric trial in accordance with an FDA‑issued “Written Request” for such a trial.

European Union drug development

In the E.U., our future products also may be subject to extensive regulatory requirements. As in the United States, medicinal products can be marketed only if a marketing authorization from the competent regulatory agencies has been obtained.

Similar to the United States, the various phases of preclinical and clinical research in the E.U. are subject to significant regulatory controls. Although the E.U. Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC has sought to harmonize the E.U. clinical trials regulatory framework, setting out common rules for the control and authorization of clinical trials in the E.U., the E.U. Member States have transposed and applied the provisions of the Directive differently. This has led to significant variations in the member state regimes. Under the current regime, before a clinical trial can be initiated it must be approved in each of the E.U. countries where the trial is to be conducted by two distinct bodies: the National Competent Authority, or NCA, and one or more Ethics Committees, or ECs.

The E.U. clinical trials legislation currently is undergoing a transition process mainly aimed at harmonizing and streamlining clinical trial authorization, simplifying adverse event reporting procedures, improving the supervision of

clinical trials and increasing their transparency. Recently enacted Clinical Trials Regulation E.U. No 536/2014 ensures that the rules for conducting clinical trials in the E.U. will be identical.

European Union drug marketing

Much like the Anti‑Kickback Statute prohibition in the United States discussed below, the provision of benefits or advantages to physicians to induce or encourage the prescription, recommendation, endorsement, purchase, supply, order or use of medicinal products is also prohibited in the European Union. The provision of benefits or advantages to physicians is governed by the national anti‑bribery laws of E.U. Member States, such as the UK Bribery Act 2010. Infringement of these laws could result in substantial fines and imprisonment.

Payments made to physicians in certain E.U. Member States must be publicly disclosed. Moreover, agreements with physicians often must be the subject of prior notification and approval by the physician’s employer, his or her competent professional organization and the regulatory authorities of the individual E.U. Member States. These requirements are provided in the national laws, industry codes or professional codes of conduct, applicable in the E.U. Member States. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in reputational risk, public reprimands, administrative penalties, fines or imprisonment.

European Union drug review and approval

In the European Economic Area, or EEA, which is comprised of all 28 E.U. Member States (except Croatia) and also Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, medicinal products can only be commercialized after obtaining a Marketing Authorization, or MA. There are two types of marketing authorizations.

Under the above described procedures, before granting the MA, the EMA or the competent authorities of the Member States of the EEA make an assessment of the risk‑benefit balance of the product on the basis of scientific criteria concerning its quality, safety and efficacy.

European Union new chemical entity exclusivity

In the E.U., new chemical entities, sometimes referred to as new active substances, qualify for eight years of data exclusivity upon marketing authorization and an additional two years of market exclusivity. The data exclusivity, if granted, prevents regulatory authorities in the E.U. from referencing the innovator’s data to assess a generic application for eight years, after which generic marketing authorization can be submitted, and the innovator’s data may be referenced, but not approved for two years. The overall ten‑year period will be extended to a maximum of 11 years if, during the first eight years of those ten years, the marketing authorization holder obtains an authorization for one or more new therapeutic indications which, during the scientific evaluation prior to their authorization, are determined to bring a significant clinical benefit in comparison with currently approved therapies.

European Union orphan drug designation and exclusivity

In the E.U., the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products grants orphan drug designation to promote the development of products that are intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of life‑threatening or chronically debilitating conditions affecting not more than 5 in 10,000 persons in the E.U. community (or where it is unlikely that the development of the medicine would generate sufficient return to justify the investment) and for which no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment has been authorized (or, if a method exists, the product would be a significant benefit to those affected).

In the E.U., orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as reduction of fees or fee waivers and ten years of market exclusivity is granted following medicinal product approval. This period may be reduced to six years if the orphan drug designation criteria are no longer met, including where it is shown that the product is sufficiently profitable not to justify maintenance of market exclusivity. Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting an application for marketing approval. Orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process.

European data collection

The collection, use, storage, disclosure, transfer, or other processing of personal data, including personal health data, in the E.U. is governed by, as of May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR. The GDPR imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data out of the European Economic Area, or the EEA, to the United States. Failure to comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Directive, the GDPR, and the related national data protection laws of the E.U. Member States may result in fines and other administrative penalties. The GDPR introduces new data protection requirements in the E.U. and substantial fines for breaches of the data protection rules. The GDPR regulations may impose additional responsibility and liability in relation to personal data that we process and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance with the new data protection rules. This may be onerous and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. For more information related to GDPR, please see “Risk Factors—Risks related to government regulation—European data collection is governed by restrictive regulations governing the use, processing, and cross-border transfer of personal information.”

Rest of the world regulation

For other countries outside of the E.U. and the United States, the requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary from country to country. Additionally, the clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with GCP requirements and the applicable regulatory requirements and the ethical principles that have their origin in the Declaration of Helsinki.

If we fail to comply with applicable foreign regulatory requirements, we may be subject to, among other things, fines, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, product recalls, seizure of products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecution.

Additional laws and regulations governing international operations

If we further expand our operations outside of the United States, we must dedicate additional resources to comply with numerous laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we plan to operate. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with certain accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations.

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

Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non‑U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. If we expand our presence outside of the United States, it will require us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing, or selling certain products and product candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs.

The failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may result in substantial civil and criminal penalties and suspension or debarment from government contracting. The Securities and Exchange Commission also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of the FCPA’s accounting provisions.

Coverage and reimbursement

Successful commercialization of new drug and biologic products depends in part on the extent to which reimbursement for those drug and biologic products will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers and other organizations. These bodies decide which drug and biologic products they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. The availability and extent of reimbursement by governmental and private payors is essential for most patients to be able to afford a drug or biologic product. Sales of drug and biologic products depend substantially, both domestically and abroad, on the extent to which the costs of these products are paid for by health maintenance, managed care, pharmacy benefit and similar healthcare management organizations, or reimbursed by government health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third‑party payors.

In the United States, the important decisions about reimbursement for new drug and biologic products are made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, as well as major health insurers. CMS decides whether and to what extent a new product will be covered and reimbursed under Medicare, and private payors tend to follow CMS to a substantial degree. However, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for drug and biologic products exists among third‑party payors and coverage and reimbursement levels for drug and biologic products can differ significantly from payor to payor.

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, also called the Medicare Modernization Act, or the MMA, established the Medicare Part D program to provide a voluntary prescription drug and biologic benefit to Medicare beneficiaries. Under Part D, Medicare beneficiaries may enroll in prescription drug plans offered by private entities that provide coverage of outpatient prescription drugs and biologics. Unlike Medicare Parts A and B, Part D coverage is not standardized. Part D prescription drug plan sponsors are not required to pay for all covered Part D drugs and biologics, and each drug plan can develop its own formulary that identifies which drugs and biologics it will cover, and at what tier or level. However, Part D prescription drug formularies must include products within each therapeutic

category and class of covered Part D drugs, though not necessarily all the drugs and biologics in each category or class. Any formulary used by a Part D prescription drug plan must be developed and reviewed by a pharmacy and therapeutic committee. Government payment for some of the costs of prescription drugs and biologics may increase demand for products for which we obtain marketing approval. Any negotiated prices for any of our products covered by a Part D prescription drug plan will likely be lower than the prices we might otherwise obtain. Moreover, while the MMA applies only to drug benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, private payors often follow Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own payment rates. Any reduction in payment that results from the MMA may result in a similar reduction in payments from non‑governmental payors.

For a drug or biologic product to receive federal reimbursement under the Medicaid or Medicare Part B programs or to be sold directly to U.S. government agencies, the manufacturer must extend discounts to entities eligible to participate in the 340B drug pricing program. The required 340B discount on a given product is calculated based on the average manufacturer price, or AMP, and Medicaid rebate amounts reported by the manufacturer. As of 2010, the ACA expanded the types of entities eligible to receive discounted 340B pricing, although under the current state of the law these newly eligible entities (with the exception of children’s hospitals) will not be eligible to receive discounted 340B pricing on orphan drugs. As 340B drug pricing is determined based on AMP and Medicaid rebate data, the revisions to the Medicaid rebate formula and AMP definition described above could cause the required 340B discount to increase. Further, on December 27, 2018, the District Court for the District of Columbia invalidated a recent reimbursement formula change instituted by CMS under the 340B program. The HHS appealed the lower court’s decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 15, 2019. Pending review, it is unclear how this decision could affect covered hospitals who might purchase our products in the future, and affect the rates we may charge such facilities for our approved products. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides funding for the federal government to compare the effectiveness of different treatments for the same illness. The plan for the research was published in 2012 by HHS, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Institutes for Health, and periodic reports on the status of the research and related expenditures are made to Congress. Although the results of the comparative effectiveness studies are not intended to mandate coverage policies for public or private payors, it is not clear what effect, if any, the research will have on the sales of our product candidates. It is also possible that comparative effectiveness research demonstrating benefits in a competitor’s drug could adversely affect the sales of our product candidates. If third‑party payors do not consider our products to be cost‑effective compared to other available therapies, they may not cover our products after approval as a benefit under their plans or, if they do, the level of payment may not be sufficient to allow us to sell our drugs on a profitable basis.

These current laws and state and federal healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and otherwise affect the prices we may obtain for any product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval or the frequency with which any such product candidate is prescribed or used.

Outside of the United States, the pricing of pharmaceutical products is subject to governmental control as part of national health systems in many countries. In general, the prices of drug and biologic products under such systems are substantially lower than in the United States. Other countries allow companies to fix their own prices for drug and biologic products, but monitor and control company profits. Efforts to control prices and utilization of pharmaceutical products and medical devices will likely continue as countries attempt to manage healthcare expenditures. Accordingly, in markets outside the United States the reimbursement for our products may be reduced compared with the United States.

Other healthcare laws

Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any products for which we obtain marketing approval. Arrangements with third party payors, healthcare providers and physicians may expose a pharmaceutical or biologics manufacturer to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations. In the United States, these laws include, without limitation, state and federal anti‑kickback, false claims, physician transparency and patient data privacy and security laws and regulations, including but not limited to those described below:

Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. Efforts to ensure that business arrangements comply with applicable healthcare laws involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental and enforcement authorities will conclude that our business practices do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law interpreting applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, monetary fines, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, integrity and oversight agreements to resolve allegations of non‑compliance, contractual damages, reputational harm, individual imprisonment, diminished profits and future earnings, and curtailment of operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business. In addition, commercialization of any of our products outside the United States will also likely be subject to foreign equivalents of the healthcare laws mentioned above, among other foreign laws.

Current and future healthcare reform legislation

In both the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the healthcare system. In particular, in 2010 the ACA was enacted, which, among other things, increased the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by most manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, extended the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to utilization of prescriptions of individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations, subjected manufacturers to new annual fees and taxes for certain branded prescription drugs, and provided incentives to programs that increase the federal government’s comparative effectiveness research.

Since its enactment, there have been numerous judicial, administrative, executive, and legislative challenges to certain aspects of the ACA, and we expect there will be additional challenges and amendments to the ACA in the future. Various portions of the ACA are currently undergoing legal and constitutional challenges in the Fifth Circuit Court and the United States Supreme Court; the Trump Administration has issued various Executive Orders which eliminated cost sharing subsidies and various provisions that would impose a fiscal burden on states or a cost, fee, tax, penalty or regulatory burden on individuals, healthcare providers, health insurers, or manufacturers of pharmaceuticals or medical devices; and Congress has introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at significantly revising or repealing the ACA. It is unclear whether the ACA will be overturned, repealed, replaced, or further amended. We cannot predict what affect further changes to the ACA would have on our business.

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 also amends the ACA, effective January 1, 2019, by increasing the point‑of‑sale discount that is owed by pharmaceutical manufacturers who participate in Medicare Part D and closing the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly referred to as the “donut hole,” which will shift costs for name brand drugs away from Part D participants back to the manufacturers, which could have a negative effect on our profits in the event any of our products receive FDA approval and CMS reimbursement. Similarly, CMS recently proposed regulations that would give states greater flexibility in setting benchmarks for insurers in the individual and small group marketplaces, which may have the effect of relaxing the essential health benefits required under the ACA for plans sold through such marketplaces. Additionally, CMS has finalized a rule that would amend the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit regulations to reduce out of pocket costs for plan enrollees and allow Medicare plans to negotiate lower rates for certain drugs. Among other things, the proposed rule changes would allow Medicare Advantage plans to use pre-authorization, or PA, and step therapy, or ST, for six protected classes of drugs, with certain exceptions, permit plans to implement PA and ST in Medicare Part B drugs, change the definition of "negotiated prices," and add a definition of "price concession" to the regulations. It is unclear whether these proposed changes we be accepted, and if so, what effect such changes will have on our business.

In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. In August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, created measures for spending reductions by Congress. A Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with recommending a targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, was unable to reach required goals, thereby triggering the legislation’s automatic reduction to several government programs. This includes aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect in 2013, and, due to subsequent legislative amendments, will remain in effect through 2029 unless additional Congressional action is taken. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 further reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. Legislative and regulatory proposals, and enactment of laws, at the foreign, federal and state levels, directed at containing or lowering the cost of healthcare, will continue into the future.

Other Regulations

We are subject to numerous foreign, federal, state and local environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes. In addition, our leasing and operation of real property may subject us to liability pursuant to certain U.S. environmental laws and regulations, under which current or previous owners or operators of real property and entities that disposed or arranged for the disposal of hazardous substances may be held strictly, jointly and severally liable for the cost of investigating or remediating contamination caused by hazardous substance releases, even if they did not know of and were not responsible for the releases.

Employees

As of February 29, 2020, we had 223 full‑time employees and 186 of our employees are engaged in research and development activities. None of our employees are represented by labor unions or covered by collective bargaining agreements. We consider our employee relations to be positive.

Facilities

Our corporate headquarters is located in approximately 85,000 square feet of office and laboratory space at 399 Binney Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The lease term for approximately 48,000 square feet expires in January 2027 and the lease term for the remaining 37,000 square feet expires in August 2028.

We own a 135,000 square foot clinical manufacturing facility located in Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Legal proceedings

We are not currently a party to any material legal proceedings.

Corporate Information

Rubius was incorporated in April 2013 as VL26, Inc. under the laws of the State of Delaware. In January 2015, the Company changed its name to Rubius Therapeutics, Inc. Our principal executive office is located at 399 Binney Street, 3rd Floor, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and our telephone number is (617) 679-9600. Our website address is www.rubiustx.com. Our website and the information contained on, or that can be accessed through, the website will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and are not considered part of, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to purchase our common stock.

On July 20, 2018, we completed our initial public offering, or IPO, pursuant to which we issued and sold 12,055,450 shares of common stock, inclusive of 1,572,450 shares pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. We received proceeds of $254.3 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs.

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of: (i) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of the IPO, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700.0 million as of the prior June 30th, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

Financial Information and Segments

The financial information required under this Item 1 is incorporated herein by reference to the section of this Annual Report titled “Part II—Item 8—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data. The company manages its operations as a single segment for the purposes of assessing performance and making operating decisions. The company is developing red cell therapeutics for the treatment of patients with severe diseases. All of the company’s tangible assets are held in the United States. See Note 2 to our consolidated audited financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. For financial information regarding our business, see “Part II—Item 7—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our consolidated audited financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Available Information

Our Internet address is www.rubiustx.com. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, including exhibits, proxy and information statements and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a), 14, and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, are available through the “Investors and Media” portion of our website free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Information on our website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or any of our other securities filings unless specifically incorporated herein by reference. Our filings with the SEC may be accessed through the SEC’s Interactive Data Electronic Applications system at http://www.sec.gov. All statements made in any of our securities filings, including all forward-looking statements or information, are made as of the date of the document in which the statement is included, and we do not assume or undertake any obligation to update any of those statements or documents unless we are required to do so by law.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

 

Our business is subject to numerous risks. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations,” and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The occurrence of any of the events or developments described below could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In such an event, the market price of our common stock could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations.

 

Risks related to our business, technology and industry

 

We have incurred net losses in every year since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur net losses in the future.

 

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. Investment in biopharmaceutical product development is highly speculative because it entails substantial upfront capital expenditures and significant risk that any potential product candidate will fail to demonstrate adequate effect or an acceptable safety profile, gain regulatory approval and become commercially viable. We have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales to date, and we continue to incur significant research and development and other expenses related to our ongoing operations. As a result, we are not profitable and have incurred losses in each period since our inception in 2013. For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, we reported net losses of $163.5 million, $89.2 million and $43.8 million, respectively. As December 31, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $312.7 million. We expect to continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect these losses to increase as we continue our research and development of, and seek regulatory approvals for, our product candidates. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if, and as, we:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To become and remain profitable, we or any potential future collaborator must develop and eventually commercialize products with significant market potential at an adequate profit margin after cost of goods sold and other expenses. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, including completing preclinical studies and clinical trials, obtaining marketing approval for product candidates, obtaining adequate reimbursement for product candidates, manufacturing, marketing and selling products for which we may obtain marketing approval and satisfying any post-marketing requirements. We may never succeed in any or all of these activities and, even if we do, we may never generate revenue that is significant or large enough to achieve profitability. If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, maintain our research and development efforts, expand our business or continue our operations. A decline in the value of our company also could cause our stockholders to lose all or part of their investment.

 

Even if we succeed in commercializing one or more of our product candidates, we will continue to incur substantial research and development and other expenditures to develop and market additional product candidates. We may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other unknown factors that may adversely affect our business. The size of our future net losses will depend, in part, on the rate of future growth of our expenses and our ability to generate revenue. Our prior losses and expected future losses have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ equity and working capital.

 

We will require additional capital to fund our operations and if we fail to obtain necessary financing, we will not be able to complete the development and commercialization of our product candidates.

 

Our operations have consumed substantial amounts of cash since inception. We expect to continue to spend substantial amounts to conduct further research and development and preclinical or nonclinical testing and studies and clinical trials of our current and future programs, to build a supply chain, including through operating our own manufacturing facility, to seek regulatory approvals for our product candidates and to launch and commercialize any products for which we receive regulatory approval, including potentially building our own commercial organization. As of December 31, 2019, we had $283.3 million of cash, cash equivalents and investments. Based on our current operating plan, we believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents and investments, will enable us to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements, and debt service payments into 2022. However, our future capital requirements and the period for which our existing resources will support our operations may vary significantly from what we expect, and we will in any event require additional capital in order to complete clinical development of any of our current programs. Our monthly spending levels will vary based on new and ongoing development and corporate activities. Because the length of time and activities associated with development of our product candidates is highly uncertain, we are unable to estimate the actual funds we will require for development and any approved marketing and commercialization activities. Our future funding requirements, both near and long-term, will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We cannot be certain that additional funding will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Until we can generate sufficient product or royalty revenue to finance our cash requirements, which we may never do, we expect to finance our future cash needs through a combination of public or private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations, strategic alliances, licensing arrangements and other marketing or distribution arrangements. If we raise additional funds through public or private equity offerings, the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect our stockholders’ rights. Further, to the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for common stock, our stockholders’ ownership interest will be diluted. If we raise additional capital through additional debt financing, we would be subject to fixed payment obligations and may be subject to covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. If we raise additional capital through marketing and distribution arrangements or other collaborations, strategic alliances or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish certain valuable rights to our product candidates, technologies, future revenue streams or research programs or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. We also could be required to seek collaborators for one or more of our current or future product candidates at an earlier stage than otherwise would be desirable or relinquish our rights to product candidates or technologies that we otherwise would seek to develop or commercialize ourselves. If we are unable to raise additional capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of one or more of our products or product candidates or one or more of our other research and development initiatives. Any of the above events could significantly harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations and cause the price of our common stock to decline.

 

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or product candidates.

 

We may seek additional capital through a combination of public and private equity offerings, debt financings, strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, our stockholders’ ownership interest will be diluted and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect their rights as a stockholder. The incurrence of additional indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could involve certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. If we raise additional funds through strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies or product candidates or grant licenses on terms unfavorable to us.

 

We have an effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (Registration No. 333-232955), or the S-3 Registration Statement, on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, pursuant to which we may, from time to time, sell up to an aggregate of $450 million (as of December 31, 2019) of our common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, warrants or units. Future sales of securities under the S-3 Registration Statement could result in dilution of our stockholders and could have a negative impact on our stock price.

 

The terms of our debt facility place restrictions on our operating and financial flexibility, and failure to comply with covenants or to satisfy certain conditions of the agreement governing the debt facility may result in acceleration of our repayment obligations and foreclosure on our pledged assets, which could significantly harm our liquidity, financial condition, operating results, business and prospects and cause the price of our common stock to decline.

 

In December 2018, we entered into a loan and security agreement, or the Loan Agreement, with Solar Capital Ltd. as collateral agent for the lenders party thereto, or the Collateral Agent, that is secured by a lien covering substantially all of our assets, excluding intellectual property, but including proceeds from the sale, license, or disposition of our intellectual property, under which, as of December 31, 2019, we have borrowed $50.0 million. The third tranche will be available to us through June 30, 2020, subject to the satisfaction of certain financial covenants.

 

The Loan Agreement requires us to comply with a number of covenants (affirmative and negative), including restrictive covenants that limit our ability to: incur additional indebtedness; encumber the collateral securing the loan; acquire, own or make investments; repurchase or redeem any class of stock or other equity interest; declare or pay any cash dividend or make a cash distribution on any class of stock or other equity interest; transfer a material portion of our assets; acquire other businesses; and merge or consolidate with or into any other organization or otherwise suffer a change in control, in each case subject to exceptions.

 

If we default under the facility, the lenders may accelerate all of our repayment obligations and, if we are unable to access funds to meet those obligations or to renegotiate our agreement, the lenders could take control of our pledged assets and we may need to immediately cease operations. If we were to renegotiate our agreement under such circumstances, the terms may be significantly less favorable to us. If we were liquidated, the lender’s right to repayment would be senior to the rights of our stockholders to receive any proceeds from the liquidation. Any declaration of the Collateral Agent of an event of default could significantly harm our liquidity, financial condition, operating results, business, and prospects and cause the price of our common stock to decline.

 

We may incur additional indebtedness in the future. The debt instruments governing such indebtedness may contain provisions that are as, or more, restrictive than the provisions governing our existing indebtedness under the Loan Agreement. If we are unable to repay, refinance or restructure our indebtedness when payment is due, the lenders could proceed against the collateral or force us into bankruptcy or liquidation.

 

We have a limited operating history, which may make it difficult to evaluate our technology and product development capabilities and predict our future performance.

 

We are early in our development efforts and we plan to initiate our first oncology clinical trial for our lead oncology product candidate, RTX-240. We were formed in 2013, have no products approved for commercial sale and have not generated any revenue from product sales. Our ability to generate product revenue or profits, which we do not expect will occur for many years, if ever, will depend on the successful development and eventual commercialization of our product candidates, which may never occur. We may never be able to develop or commercialize a marketable product.

 

All of our programs require additional preclinical research and development, clinical development, regulatory approval in multiple jurisdictions, obtaining manufacturing supply, capacity and expertise, building of a commercial organization, substantial investment and significant marketing efforts before we generate any revenue from product sales. Other programs of ours require additional discovery research and then preclinical development. In addition, our product candidates must be approved for marketing by the FDA or certain other health regulatory agencies, including the EMA, before we may commercialize any product.

 

Our limited operating history, particularly in light of the rapidly evolving cellular therapeutics field, may make it difficult to evaluate our technology and industry and predict our future performance. Our short history as an operating company makes any assessment of our future success or viability subject to significant uncertainty. We will encounter risks and difficulties frequently experienced by early-stage companies in rapidly evolving fields. If we do not address these risks successfully, our business will suffer. Similarly, we expect that our financial condition and operating results will fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond

our control. As a result, our shareholders should not rely upon the results of any quarterly or annual period as an indicator of future operating performance.

 

In addition, as an early-stage company, we have encountered unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown circumstances, including most recently in connection with the discontinuation of our Phase 1b clinical trial for RTX-134. As we advance our product candidates, we will need to transition from a company with a research focus to a company capable of supporting clinical development and if successful, commercial activities. We may not be successful in such a transition.

 

Our business is highly dependent on the success of our initial product candidates targeting cancer and autoimmune diseases. All of our product candidates will require significant additional nonclinical and clinical development before we can seek regulatory approval for and launch a product commercially.

 

Our business and future success depends on our ability to obtain regulatory approval of and then successfully launch and commercialize our initial product candidates targeting cancer and autoimmune diseases, including RTX-240, RTX-321 and others that may be selected from our preclinical programs. Our Investigational New Drug application, or IND, for RTX-240 was allowed to proceed by the FDA. We plan to file an IND for RTX-321, our first antigen-presenting cell program, by the end of 2020. However, we may experience delays or setbacks in advancing these product candidates. In particular, RTX-240, as our next planned clinical program, may experience preliminary complications surrounding trial execution, such as complexities surrounding trial design and establishing trial protocols, clinical site initiation, patient recruitment and enrollment, quality and supply of clinical doses, safety issues, or a lack of clinically relevant activity. For example, we encountered manufacturing and enrollment challenges in connection with our Phase 1b clinical trial for our discontinued product candidate, RTX-134.

 

All of our product candidates are in the early stages of development and will require additional nonclinical and clinical development, regulatory review and approval in multiple jurisdictions, substantial investment, access to sufficient commercial manufacturing capacity and significant marketing efforts before we can generate any revenue from product sales. In addition, because RTX-240 is our most advanced current product candidate, if RTX-240 encounters safety, efficacy, supply or manufacturing problems, developmental delays, regulatory or commercialization issues or other problems, our development plans and business would be significantly harmed.

 

The successful development of cellular therapeutics, such as our RCTs, is highly uncertain.

 

Successful development of cellular therapeutics, such as our RCTs, is highly uncertain and is dependent on numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control. Cellular therapeutics that appear promising in the early phases of development may fail to reach the market for several reasons, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The length of time necessary to complete clinical trials and to submit an application for marketing approval for a final decision by a regulatory authority may be difficult to predict for cellular therapies, in large part because of the limited regulatory history.

 

Even if we are successful in obtaining market approval, commercial success of any approved products will also depend in large part on the availability of insurance coverage and adequate reimbursement from third-party payors, including government payors, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and managed care organizations, which may be affected by existing and future healthcare reform measures designed to reduce the cost of healthcare. Third-party payors may limit the definition of the target treatment population to one smaller than that implied in the label granted by regulatory authorities, and could require us to conduct additional studies, including post-marketing studies related to the cost-effectiveness of a product, to qualify for reimbursement, which could be costly and divert our resources. If government and other healthcare payors were not to provide adequate insurance coverage and reimbursement levels for one any of our products once approved, market acceptance and commercial success would be reduced.

 

In addition, if any of our products are approved for marketing, we will be subject to significant regulatory obligations regarding the submission of safety and other post-marketing information and reports and registration, and will need to continue to comply (or ensure that our third-party providers comply) with current good manufacturing practices, or cGMPs, and good clinical practices, or GCPs, for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval. In addition, there is always the risk that we or a regulatory authority might identify previously unknown problems with a product post-approval, such as adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency. Compliance with these requirements is costly and any failure to comply or other issues with our product candidates’ post-approval could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our RCT product candidates are based on a new technology, which makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of development and of subsequently obtaining regulatory approval, if at all.

 

Our RCT technology is relatively new and no products based on genetically engineered red cells have been approved to date in the United States or the European Union. As such it is difficult to accurately predict the developmental challenges we may incur for our product candidates as they proceed through product discovery or identification, preclinical studies and clinical trials. In addition, because we have not completed clinical trials, we have not yet been able to assess safety in humans, and there may be short-term or long-term effects from treatment with any product candidates that we develop that we cannot predict at this time. Also, animal models may not exist for some of the diseases we choose to pursue in our programs. Furthermore, cellular therapies, such as our RCT product candidates, have a limited circulating time in animals as they are recognized as foreign by the host animal and therefore cleared by the complement-mediated reticuloendothelial system, which limits the safety and toxicology assessments that we can conduct in preclinical species. As a result of these factors, it is more difficult for us to predict the time and cost of product candidate development, and we cannot predict whether the application of our RED PLATFORM, or any similar or competitive cellular technologies, will result in the identification, development, and regulatory approval of any products. There can be no assurance that any development problems we experience in the future related to our RED PLATFORM or any of our research programs will not cause significant delays or unanticipated costs, or that such development problems can be solved. Any of these factors may prevent us from completing our preclinical studies or any clinical trials that we may initiate or commercializing any product candidates we may develop on a timely or profitable basis, if at all.

 

The clinical trial requirements of the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities and the criteria these regulators use to determine the safety and efficacy of a product candidate vary substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty and intended use and market of the product candidate. No products based on genetically engineered red cells have been approved to date by regulators. As a result, the regulatory approval process for product candidates such as ours is uncertain and may be more expensive and take longer than the approval process for product candidates based on other, better known or more extensively studied technologies. It is difficult to determine how long it will take or how much it

will cost to obtain regulatory approvals for our product candidates in either the United States or the European Union or other regions of the world or how long it will take to commercialize our product candidates. Delay or failure to obtain, or unexpected costs in obtaining, the regulatory approval necessary to bring a potential product candidate to market could decrease our ability to generate sufficient product revenue, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be harmed.

We may expend our resources to pursue a particular product candidate or indication and forgo the opportunity to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may ultimately be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.

Because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we intend to focus on developing product candidates for specific indications that we identify as most likely to succeed, in terms of both their potential for regulatory approval and commercialization. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates, as we have recently done for RTX-134, or for other indications that may prove to have greater commercial potential.

Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial drugs or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and product candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable product candidates. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to the product candidate.

The FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities may implement additional regulations or restrictions on the development and commercialization of our product candidates, which may be difficult to predict.

The FDA, the EMA and regulatory authorities in other countries have each expressed interest in further regulating biotechnology products, such as cellular therapies. Agencies at both the federal and state level in the United States, as well as the U.S. Congressional committees and other governments or governing agencies, have also expressed interest in further regulating the biotechnology industry. Such action may delay or prevent commercialization of some or all of our product candidates. Adverse developments in clinical trials of cellular therapy products conducted by others may cause the FDA or other oversight bodies to change the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates. Similarly, the EMA governs the development of cellular therapies in the European Union and may issue new guidelines concerning the development and marketing authorization for cellular therapy products and require that we comply with these new guidelines. These regulatory review agencies and committees and the new requirements or guidelines they promulgate may lengthen the regulatory review process, require us to perform additional studies or trials, increase our development costs, lead to changes in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of our product candidates or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. As we advance our product candidates, we will be required to consult with these regulatory agencies and comply with applicable requirements and guidelines. If we fail to do so, we may be required to delay or discontinue development of such product candidates. These additional processes may result in a review and approval process that is longer than we otherwise would have expected. Regulatory authorities in different jurisdictions do not always agree on required nonclinical or clinical data or other requirements for product development and approval and may provide contradictory guidance, thus potentially further complicating or delaying product development or approval. Delays as a result of an increased or lengthier regulatory approval process or further restrictions on the development of our product candidates can be costly and could negatively impact our ability to complete clinical trials and commercialize our current and future product candidates in a timely manner, if at all.

Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process, with an uncertain outcome. We may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of any product candidates.

To obtain the requisite regulatory approvals to commercialize any product candidates, we must demonstrate through extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our products are safe and effective in humans. Clinical testing is expensive, difficult to design and implement and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. We may be unable to establish clinical endpoints that applicable regulatory authorities would consider

clinically meaningful, and a clinical trial can fail at any stage of testing. The outcome of nonclinical studies and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials, and interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. Differences in trial design between early-stage clinical trials and later-stage clinical trials make it difficult to extrapolate the results of earlier clinical trials to later clinical trials. Moreover, nonclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in nonclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval of their products.

Successful completion of clinical trials is a prerequisite to submitting a BLA to the FDA, a Marketing Authorization Application, or MAA, to the EMA, and similar marketing applications to comparable foreign regulatory authorities, for each product candidate and, consequently, the ultimate approval and commercial marketing of any product candidates. We do not know whether any of our clinical trials will begin or be completed on schedule, if at all.

We may experience delays in completing our preclinical or nonclinical testing and studies and initiating or completing clinical trials. We also may experience numerous unforeseen events during, or as a result of, any future clinical trials that we could conduct that could delay or prevent our ability to receive marketing approval or commercialize our product candidates, including:

We could also encounter delays if a clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted, or the FDA or other regulatory authorities, or recommended for suspension or termination by the Data Safety Monitoring Board, or DSMB, for such trial. A suspension or termination may be imposed due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a product or treatment, failure to establish or achieve clinically meaningful trial endpoints, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. Many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates. Further, the FDA or other regulatory authorities may disagree with our clinical trial design and our interpretation of data from clinical trials, or may change the requirements for approval even after they have reviewed and commented on the design for our clinical trials.

Additionally, some of the clinical trials we conduct may be open-label in study design and may be conducted at a limited number of clinical sites on a limited number of patients. An “open-label” clinical trial is one where both the patient and investigator know whether the patient is receiving the investigational product candidate or either an existing approved drug or placebo. Most typically, open-label clinical trials test only the investigational product candidate and sometimes may do so at different dose levels. Open-label clinical trials are subject to various limitations that may exaggerate any therapeutic effect as patients in open-label clinical trials are aware when they are receiving treatment. Open-label clinical trials may be subject to a “patient bias” where patients perceive their symptoms to have improved merely due to their awareness of receiving an experimental treatment. Moreover, patients selected for early clinical studies often include the most severe sufferers and their symptoms may have been bound to improve notwithstanding the new treatment. In addition, open-label clinical trials may be subject to an “investigator bias” where those assessing and reviewing the physiological outcomes of the clinical trials are aware of which patients have received treatment and may interpret the information of the treated group more favorably given this knowledge. Given that our planned study of RTX-240 includes an open-label dosing design, the results from this clinical trial may not be predictive of future clinical trial results with this or other product candidates for which we conduct an open-label clinical trial when studied in a controlled environment with a placebo or active control.

Our product development costs will increase if we experience delays in clinical testing or marketing approvals. We do not know whether any of our preclinical or nonclinical testing and studies or clinical trials will begin as planned, will need to be restructured or will be completed on schedule, or at all. Significant preclinical or nonclinical testing and studies or clinical trial delays also could shorten any periods during which we may have the exclusive right to commercialize our product candidates and may allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do, potentially impairing our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and harming our business and results of operations. Any delays in our nonclinical or future clinical development programs may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

 

Preclinical development is uncertain. Our preclinical programs may experience delays or may never advance to clinical trials, which would adversely affect our ability to obtain regulatory approvals or commercialize these programs on a timely basis or at all, which would have an adverse effect on our business.

 

All but one of our current product candidates are still in the preclinical stage, and their risk of failure is high. Before we can commence clinical trials for a product candidate, we must complete extensive preclinical testing and studies that

support our planned INDs in the United States, or similar applications in other jurisdictions. We cannot be certain of the timely completion or outcome of our preclinical testing and studies and cannot predict if the FDA or other regulatory authorities will accept our proposed clinical programs or if the outcome of our preclinical testing and studies will ultimately support the further development of our programs. As a result, we cannot be sure that we will be able to submit INDs or similar applications for our preclinical programs on the timelines we expect, if at all, and we cannot be sure that submission of INDs or similar applications will result in the FDA or other regulatory authorities allowing clinical trials to begin.

 

Our planned clinical trials or those of our future collaborators may reveal significant adverse events not seen in our preclinical or nonclinical studies and may result in a safety profile that could inhibit regulatory approval or market acceptance of any of our product candidates.

 

Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of any products, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive preclinical studies and clinical trials that our product candidates are both safe and effective for use in each target indication. Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process. The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials. In addition, initial success in clinical trials may not be indicative of results obtained when such trials are completed. There is typically an extremely high rate of attrition from the failure of product candidates proceeding through clinical trials. Our RCTs are produced from O negative donor blood stem cells and we believe can therefore be used as allogeneic therapies in approximately 95% of patients. However, following repeated dosing some patients may develop antibodies to blood antigens on our RCTs. These antibodies could reduce the efficacy of our RCTs or result in undesirable side effects. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials also may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy profile despite having progressed through nonclinical studies and initial clinical trials. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or unacceptable safety issues, notwithstanding promising results in earlier trials. Most product candidates that commence clinical trials are never approved as products and there can be no assurance that any of our current or future clinical trials will ultimately be successful or support further clinical development of any of our product candidates.

 

We intend to develop RTX-240 and RTX-321, and may develop future product candidates, alone and in combination with one or more cancer therapies. The uncertainty resulting from the use of our product candidates in combination with other cancer therapies may make it difficult to accurately predict side effects in future clinical trials.

 

If significant adverse events or other side effects are observed in any of our current or future clinical trials, we may have difficulty recruiting patients to our clinical trials, patients may drop out of our trials, or we may be required to abandon the trials or our development efforts of one or more product candidates altogether. Although our RCTs are designed to be enucleated, a small percentage may retain a nucleus, which could result in unexpected or undesirable side effects. We, the FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities, or an IRB may suspend clinical trials of a product candidate at any time for various reasons, including a belief that subjects in such trials are being exposed to unacceptable health risks or adverse side effects. Some potential therapeutics developed in the biotechnology industry that initially showed therapeutic promise in early-stage trials have later been found to cause side effects that prevented their further development. Even if the side effects do not preclude the drug from obtaining or maintaining marketing approval, undesirable side effects may inhibit market acceptance of the approved product due to its tolerability versus other therapies. Any of these developments could materially harm our business, financial condition and prospects.

Positive results from early preclinical studies of our product candidates are not necessarily predictive of the results of later preclinical studies and any future clinical trials of our product candidates. If we cannot replicate the positive results from our earlier preclinical studies of our product candidates in our later preclinical studies and future clinical trials, we may be unable to successfully develop, obtain regulatory for and commercialize our product candidates.

Any positive results from our preclinical studies of our product candidates may not necessarily be predictive of the results from required later preclinical studies and clinical trials. Similarly, even if we are able to complete our planned preclinical studies or any future clinical trials of our product candidates according to our current development timeline,

the positive results from such preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates may not be replicated in subsequent preclinical studies or clinical trial results.

 

Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials after achieving positive results in early-stage development and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. These setbacks have been caused by, among other things, preclinical and other nonclinical findings made while clinical trials were underway, or safety or efficacy observations made in preclinical studies and clinical trials, including previously unreported adverse events. Moreover, preclinical, nonclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses and many companies that believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials nonetheless failed to obtain FDA or EMA approval.

 

If we encounter difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials, our clinical development activities could be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.

 

We may experience difficulties in patient enrollment in our clinical trials for a variety of reasons. The timely completion of clinical trials in accordance with their protocols depends, among other things, on our ability to enroll a sufficient number of patients who remain in the study until its conclusion. The enrollment of patients depends on many factors, including:

In addition, our clinical trials will compete with other clinical trials for product candidates that are in the same therapeutic areas as our product candidates, and this competition will reduce the number and types of patients available to us, because some patients who might have opted to enroll in our trials may instead opt to enroll in a trial being conducted by one of our competitors. Since the number of qualified clinical investigators is limited, we expect to conduct some of our clinical trials at the same clinical trial sites that some of our competitors use, which will reduce the

number of patients who are available for our clinical trials in such clinical trial site. Moreover, because our product candidates represent a departure from more commonly used methods for our targeted therapeutic areas, potential patients and their doctors may be inclined to use conventional or newly launched competitive therapies, rather than enroll patients in any future clinical trial.

 

Delays in patient enrollment may result in increased costs or may affect the timing or outcome of the planned clinical trials, which could prevent completion of these trials and adversely affect our ability to advance the development of our product candidates.

 

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 and are subject to audit and verification procedures that 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 trials. 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. Adverse differences between preliminary or interim data and final data could significantly harm our business prospects.

 

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

 

We are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes. Our research and development activities involve the use of biological and hazardous materials and produce hazardous waste products. We generally contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and wastes. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury from these materials, which could cause an interruption of our commercialization efforts, research and development efforts and business operations, environmental damage resulting in costly clean-up and liabilities under applicable laws and regulations governing the use, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and specified waste products. Although we believe that the safety procedures utilized by our third-party manufacturers for handling and disposing of these materials generally comply with the standards prescribed by these laws and regulations, we cannot guarantee that this is the case or eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials. In such an event, we may be held liable for any resulting damages and such liability could exceed our resources and state or federal or other applicable authorities may curtail our use of certain materials and/or interrupt our business operations. Furthermore, environmental laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent. We cannot predict the impact of such changes and cannot be certain of our future compliance. In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These current or future laws and regulations may impair our research, development or production efforts. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations also may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.

 

Although we maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees resulting from the use of hazardous materials or other work-related injuries, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. We do not carry specific biological waste or hazardous waste insurance coverage, workers compensation or property and casualty and general liability insurance policies that include coverage for damages and fines arising from biological or hazardous waste exposure or contamination.

 

If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates.

 

We face an inherent risk of product liability as a result of testing our product candidates in clinical trials and will face an even greater risk if we commercialize any products. For example, we may be sued if our product candidates cause or are perceived to cause injury or are found to be otherwise unsuitable during clinical trials, manufacturing, marketing or sale.

Any such product liability claims may include allegations of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, a failure to warn of dangers inherent in the product, negligence, strict liability or a breach of warranties. Claims could also be asserted under state consumer protection acts. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates. Even successful defense would require significant financial and management resources. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our inability to obtain sufficient product liability insurance at an acceptable cost to protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of products we develop, alone or with collaborators. If and when coverage is secured, our insurance policies may also have various exclusions, and we may be subject to a product liability claim for which we have no coverage. We may have to pay any amounts awarded by a court or negotiated in a settlement that exceed our coverage limitations or that are not covered by our insurance, and we may not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient capital to pay such amounts. Even if our agreements with any future corporate collaborators entitle us to indemnification against losses, such indemnification may not be available or adequate should any claim arise.

 

The market opportunities for our product candidates may be limited to those patients who are ineligible for or have failed prior treatments and may be small, and our estimates of the prevalence of our target patient populations may be inaccurate.

 

Cancer and autoimmune therapies are sometimes characterized as first-line, second-line, third-line and even fourth-line, and the FDA often approves new therapies initially only for last-line use. Initial approvals for new cancer and autoimmune therapies are often restricted to later lines of therapy, and in the case of cancer specifically, for patients with advanced or metastatic disease. This will limit the number of patients who may be eligible for such new therapies, which may include our product candidates.

 

Our projections of both the number of people who have the diseases we are targeting, as well as the subset of people with these diseases in a position to receive our therapies, if approved, are based on our beliefs and estimates. These

estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including scientific literature, input from key opinion leaders, patient foundations, or secondary market research databases, and may prove to be incorrect. For example, the number of new products in development for the diseases we are targeting continues to grow, and it is conceivable that patients will have multiple treatment options in the future. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of these diseases. The number of patients may turn out to be lower than expected. Additionally, the potentially addressable patient population for our product candidates may be limited or may not be amenable to treatment with our product candidates. Furthermore, regulators and payors may further narrow the therapy-accessible treatment population. Even if we obtain significant market share for our product candidates, because certain of the potential target populations are small, we may never achieve profitability without obtaining regulatory approval for additional indications.

 

We expect to develop RTX-240 and RTX-321, and potentially future product candidates, alone and in combination with other therapies, and safety or supply issues with combination-use products may delay or prevent development and approval of our product candidates.

 

We intend to develop RTX-240 and RTX-321, and likely other product candidates, alone and in combination with one or more cancer therapies, both approved and unapproved. Even if any product candidate we develop were to receive marketing approval or be commercialized for use in combination with other existing therapies, we would continue to be subject to the risks that the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside of the United States could revoke approval of the therapy used in combination with our product candidate or that safety, efficacy, manufacturing or supply issues could arise with these existing therapies. Combination therapies are commonly used for the treatment of cancer, and we would be subject to similar risks if we develop any of our product candidates for use in combination with other drugs or for indications other than cancer. Similarly, if the therapies we use in combination with our product candidates are replaced as the standard of care for the indications we choose for any of our product candidates, the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside of the United States may require us to conduct additional clinical trials. The occurrence of any of these risks could result in our own products, if approved, being removed from the market or being less successful commercially.

 

We may also evaluate RTX-240 and RTX-321 or any other future product candidates in combination with one or more cancer therapies that have not yet been approved for marketing by the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside of the United States. We will not be able to market and sell RTX-240, RTX-321 or any product candidate we develop in combination with any such unapproved cancer therapies that do not ultimately obtain marketing approval. The regulations prohibiting the promotion of products for unapproved uses are complex and subject to substantial interpretation by the FDA and other government agencies. In addition, there are additional risks similar to the ones described for our products currently in development and clinical trials that result from the fact that such cancer therapies are unapproved, such as the potential for serious adverse effects, delay in their clinical trials and lack of FDA approval.

 

If the FDA or similar regulatory authorities outside of the United States do not approve these other drugs or revoke their approval of, or if safety, efficacy, manufacturing, or supply issues arise with, the drugs we choose to evaluate in combination with RTX-240, RTX-321 or any product candidate we develop, we may be unable to obtain approval of or market RTX-240, RTX-321 or any product candidate we develop.

 

Cellular therapies are a novel approach and negative perception of any product candidates that we develop could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business or obtain regulatory approvals for such product candidates.

 

Cellular therapies in general, and RCTs in particular, remain novel and unproven therapies, with no genetically engineered red cell therapy approved to date in the United States or the European Union. RCTs may not gain the acceptance of the public or the medical community. For example, CAR-Ts and other cellular therapies have in some cases caused severe side effects and even mortality and their broader use may therefore be limited. Although our RCTs are fundamentally different than these earlier cellular therapies, they may be viewed in the same vein, limiting their market acceptance. Further, with respect to our RTX-240 and RTX-321 programs, the use of potent T cell and NK cell stimulation as a potential treatment for solid or hematological cancers is a recent scientific development and may not become broadly accepted by physicians, patients, hospitals, cancer treatment centers and others in the medical community.

 

Our success will depend upon physicians who specialize in the treatment of diseases targeted by our product candidates prescribing treatments that involve the use of our product candidates in lieu of, or in addition to, existing treatments with which they are more familiar and for which greater clinical data may be available. Adverse events in clinical trials of our product candidates or in clinical trials of others developing similar products and the resulting publicity, as well as any other adverse events in the field of cellular therapies, could result in a decrease in demand for any product that we may develop. In addition, responses by the U.S., state or foreign governments to negative public perception or ethical concerns may result in new legislation or regulations that could limit our ability to develop or commercialize any product candidates, obtain or maintain regulatory approval or otherwise achieve profitability. More restrictive statutory regimes, government regulations or negative public opinion would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects and may delay or impair the development and commercialization of our product candidates or demand for any products we may develop.

 

We face significant competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and our operating results will suffer if we fail to compete effectively.

 

The biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by intense competition and rapid innovation. Our competitors may be able to develop other compounds, drugs, cellular or gene therapies that are able to achieve similar or better results. Our potential competitors include major multinational pharmaceutical companies, established biotechnology companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies and universities and other research institutions. Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and other resources, such as larger research and development staff, experienced marketing and manufacturing organizations and well-established sales forces. Smaller or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies. Established pharmaceutical companies may also invest heavily to accelerate discovery and development of novel therapeutics or to in-license novel therapeutics that could make the product candidates that we develop obsolete. Mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries may result in even more resources being concentrated in our competitors. Competition may increase further as a result of advances in the commercial applicability of technologies and greater availability of capital for investment in these industries. Our competitors, either alone or with collaborative partners, may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing on an exclusive basis drug, biologic, cellular or gene therapy products that are more effective, safer, more easily commercialized or less costly than our product candidates or may develop proprietary technologies or secure patent protection that we may need for the development of our technologies and products. We believe the key competitive factors that will affect the development and commercial success of our product candidates are efficacy, safety, tolerability, reliability, convenience of use, price and reimbursement.

 

We anticipate competing with the largest biopharmaceutical companies in the world, as well as a broad range of smaller biotechnology companies which are all currently conducting research in cellular therapies, either alone or in partnerships with other parties, and all of which have or may have greater financial and human resources than we currently have. In addition to these fully integrated biopharmaceutical companies, we also compete with those companies whose products target the same indications as our product candidates. Many third parties compete with us in developing various approaches to cancer and autoimmune therapies. They include pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, academic institutions and other research organizations. Any treatments developed by our competitors could be superior to our RCT product candidates. It is possible that these competitors will succeed in developing technologies that are more effective than our RCTs or that would render our cancer targeted RCTs obsolete or noncompetitive. We anticipate that we will face increased competition in the future as additional companies enter our market and scientific developments surrounding other cancer and autoimmune therapies continue to accelerate.

 

There are at least three companies leveraging red blood cells to develop therapeutics for cancer and/or immune tolerance. Erytech Pharma SA is using hypotonic enzyme loading to create products for use in cancer and immunology. EryDel SpA is in late-stage development of dexamethasone loaded red blood cells for the treatment of ataxia telangiectasia and has declared a number of pre-clinical programs. Finally, SQZ Biotechnologies is pursuing applications in cancer, enzyme replacement therapy and immune tolerance using a variety of cell-based approaches, including red cells.

 

Outside of RBC based competition, there are a number of companies competing in our target therapeutic areas. Within oncology, multiple large and small companies are developing novel immune stimulatory agents, such as NantCell, Inc., which is developing an IL-15 cytokine, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, which is developing a 4-1BB ligand. Finally, many companies are developing therapies to generate antigen-specific immune responses against HPV positive cancers, such as BioNTech SE using RNA and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. using DNA-based therapy.  

 

Even if we obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates, the availability and price of our competitors’ products could limit the demand and the price we are able to charge for our product candidates. We may not be able to implement our business plan if the acceptance of our product candidates is inhibited by price competition or the reluctance of physicians to switch from existing methods of treatment to our product candidates, or if physicians switch to other new drug or biologic products or choose to reserve our product candidates for use in limited circumstances.

 

Even if a product candidate we develop receives marketing approval, it may fail to achieve the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors and others in the medical community necessary for commercial success.

 

If any product candidate we develop receives marketing approval, whether as a single agent or in combination with other therapies, it may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors, and others in the medical community. For example, other cancer treatments like chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy are well established in the medical community, and doctors may continue to rely on these therapies. If the product candidates we develop do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenues and we may not become profitable. The degree of market acceptance of any product candidate, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will need to grow the size of our organization, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth.

As of February 29, 2020, we had 223 full-time employees. As our research, development, manufacturing and commercialization plans and strategies develop over time, we expect to need additional managerial, operational, sales, marketing, financial and other personnel. Future growth would impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including:

 

 

 

 

Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidates will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively manage any future growth, and our management may also have to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from day-to-day activities in order to devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities.

 

We currently rely, and for the foreseeable future will continue to rely, in substantial part on certain organizations, advisors and consultants to provide certain services, including many aspects of regulatory affairs, clinical management and manufacturing. There can be no assurance that the services of these organizations, advisors and consultants will continue to be available to us on a timely basis when needed, or that we can find qualified replacements. In addition, if we are unable to effectively manage our outsourced activities or if the quality or accuracy of the services provided by consultants is compromised for any reason, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval of our product candidates or otherwise advance our business. There can be no assurance that we will be able to manage our existing consultants or find other competent outside contractors and consultants on economically reasonable terms, or at all.

 

If we are not able to effectively expand our organization by hiring new employees and expanding our groups of consultants and contractors, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to further develop and commercialize our product candidates and, accordingly, may not achieve our research, development and commercialization goals.

 

If we lose key management personnel, or if we fail to recruit additional highly skilled personnel, our ability to identify and develop new or next generation product candidates will be impaired, could result in loss of markets or market share and could make us less competitive.

 

Our ability to compete in the highly competitive biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified managerial, scientific and medical personnel. We are highly dependent on our management, scientific and medical personnel, including David R. Epstein, our Chairman, Pablo J. Cagnoni, our Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Oh, our Chief Financial Officer, Christina Coughlin, our Chief Medical Officer, Laurence Turka, our Chief Scientific Officer and Spencer Fisk, our Senior Vice President of Manufacturing. The loss of the services of any of our executive officers, other key employees, and other scientific and medical advisors, and our inability to find suitable replacements could result in delays in product development and harm our business.

 

We conduct our operations at our facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Smithfield, Rhode Island. The New England region is headquarters to many other biopharmaceutical companies and many academic and research institutions. Competition for skilled personnel in our market is intense and may limit our ability to hire and retain highly qualified personnel on acceptable terms or at all.

 

To induce valuable employees to remain at our company, in addition to salary and cash incentives, we have provided restricted stock and stock options that vest over time. The value to employees of stock options that vest over time may be significantly affected by movements in our stock price that are beyond our control and may at any time be insufficient to counteract more lucrative offers from other companies. Despite our efforts to retain valuable employees, members of our management, scientific and development teams may terminate their employment with us on short notice. Employment of our key employees is at-will, which means that any of our employees could leave our employment at any time, with or without notice. We do not maintain “key man” insurance policies on the lives of these individuals or the lives of any of our other employees. Our success also depends on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled junior, mid-level and senior managers as well as junior, mid-level and senior scientific and medical personnel.

 

Business disruptions could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

 

Our operations, and those of our CROs, contract manufacturing organizations, or CMOs, and other contractors and consultants, could be subject to earthquakes, power shortages, telecommunications failures, water shortages, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, extreme weather conditions, medical epidemics, including the recent 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, and other natural or man-made disasters or business interruptions, for which we are predominantly self-insured. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses. We rely on third-party manufacturers to produce and process our product candidates on a patient by patient basis. Our ability to obtain clinical supplies of our product candidates could be disrupted if the operations of these suppliers are affected by a man-made or natural disaster or other business interruption.

 

Regulators globally are also imposing greater monetary fines for privacy violations. For example, in 2016, the European Union adopted a new regulation governing data practices and privacy called the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which became effective on May 25, 2018. The GDPR applies to any company that collects and uses personal data in connection with offering goods or services to individuals in the European Union or the monitoring of their behavior. Non-compliance with the GDPR may result in monetary penalties of up to €20 million or 4% of worldwide revenue, whichever is higher. The GDPR and other changes in laws or regulations associated with the enhanced protection of certain types of personal data, such as healthcare data or other sensitive information, could greatly increase the cost of providing our product candidates, if approved, or even prevent us from offering our product candidates, if approved, in certain jurisdictions.

 

Our internal computer systems, or those used by our CROs, CMOs or other contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches.

 

Despite the implementation of security measures, our internal computer systems and those of our future CROs, CMOs and other contractors and consultants are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses and unauthorized access. While we have not experienced any such material system failure or security breach to date, if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it 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. Likewise, we currently rely on third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates and to conduct clinical trials, and similar events relating to their computer systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business. 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.

 

Our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners and vendors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements.

 

We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other illegal activity by our employees, independent contractors, consultants, commercial partners and vendors. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless and/or negligent conduct that fails to comply with the laws of the FDA and other similar foreign regulatory bodies, provide true, complete and accurate information to the FDA and other similar foreign regulatory bodies, comply with manufacturing standards we have established, comply with healthcare fraud and abuse laws in the United States and similar foreign fraudulent misconduct laws, or report financial information or data accurately or to disclose unauthorized activities to us. If we obtain FDA approval of any of our product candidates and begin commercializing those products in the United States, our potential exposure under such laws will increase significantly, and our costs associated with compliance with such laws are also likely to increase. These laws may impact, among other things, our current activities with principal investigators and research patients, as well as proposed and future sales, marketing and education programs.

 

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

 

Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of pharmaceutical products. Arrangements with third-party payors and customers can expose pharmaceutical manufactures to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the federal False Claims Act, which may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which such companies sell, market and distribute pharmaceutical products. In particular, the promotion, sales and marketing of healthcare items and services, as well as certain business arrangements in the healthcare industry, are subject to extensive laws designed to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, structuring and commission(s), certain customer incentive programs and other business arrangements generally. Activities subject to these laws also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of patient recruitment for clinical trials. The applicable federal, state and foreign healthcare laws and regulations laws that may affect our ability to operate include, but are not limited to:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The distribution of pharmaceutical products is subject to additional requirements and regulations, including extensive record-keeping, licensing, storage and security requirements intended to prevent the unauthorized sale of pharmaceutical products.

The scope and enforcement of each of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform, especially in light of the lack of applicable precedent and regulations. Federal and state enforcement bodies have recently increased their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry. Ensuring business arrangements comply with applicable healthcare laws, as well as responding to possible investigations by government authorities, can be time- and resource-consuming and can divert a company’s attention from the business.

On January 31, 2019, the HHS and HHS Office of Inspector General proposed an amendment to one of the existing Anti-Kickback safe harbors (42 C.F.R. 1001.952(h)) which would prohibit certain pharmaceutical manufacturers from

offering rebates to pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, in the Medicare Part D and Medicaid managed care programs. The proposed amendment would remove protection for "discounts" from Anti-Kickback enforcement action, and would include criminal and civil penalties for knowingly and willfully offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving remuneration to induce or reward the referral of business reimbursable under federal health care programs. At the same time, HHS also proposed to create a new safe harbor to protect point-of-sale discounts that drug manufacturers provide directly to patients, and adds another safe harbor to protect certain administrative fees paid by manufacturers to PBMs. If this proposal is adopted, in whole or in part, it could affect the pricing and reimbursement for any products for which we receive approval in the future.

 

The failure to comply with any of these laws or regulatory requirements subjects entities to possible legal or regulatory action. Depending on the circumstances, failure to meet applicable regulatory requirements can result in civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, possible exclusion from participation in federal and state funded healthcare programs, contractual damages and the curtailment or restricting of our operations, as well as additional reporting obligations and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws. Any action for violation of these laws, even if successfully defended, could cause a pharmaceutical manufacturer to incur significant legal expenses and divert management’s attention from the operation of the business. Prohibitions or restrictions on sales or withdrawal of future marketed products could materially affect business in an adverse way.

 

We have adopted a code of business conduct and ethics, but it is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent inappropriate conduct may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements will comply with applicable healthcare laws may involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental and enforcement authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law interpreting applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, monetary fines, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, individual imprisonment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, and curtailment of our operations, as well as additional reporting obligations and oversight if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or other agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations. In addition, the approval and commercialization of any of our product candidates outside the United States will also likely subject us to foreign equivalents of the healthcare laws mentioned above, among other foreign laws.

 

We may not be successful in our efforts to identify additional product candidates. Due to our limited resources and access to capital, we must prioritize development of certain product candidates, which may prove to be wrong and may adversely affect our business.

 

Although we intend to explore other therapeutic opportunities, in addition to the product candidates that we are currently developing, we may fail to identify viable new product candidates for clinical development for a number of reasons. If we fail to identify additional potential product candidates, our business could be materially harmed.

 

Research programs to pursue the development of our existing and planned product candidates for additional indications and to identify new product candidates and disease targets require substantial technical, financial and human resources whether or not they are ultimately successful. Our research programs may initially show promise in identifying potential indications and/or product candidates, yet fail to yield results for clinical development for a number of reasons, including:

 

 

 

Because we have limited financial and human resources, we intend to initially focus on research programs and product candidates for a limited set of indications. As a result, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that later prove to have greater commercial potential or a greater likelihood of success. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities.

 

Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we will ever be able to identify additional therapeutic opportunities for our product candidates or to develop suitable potential product candidates through internal research programs, which could materially adversely affect our future growth and prospects. We may focus our efforts and resources on potential product candidates or other potential programs that ultimately prove to be unsuccessful.

 

If we fail to develop additional product candidates, our commercial opportunity will be limited.

 

Developing and obtaining regulatory approval for and commercializing any additional product candidates we identify will require substantial additional funding beyond the net proceeds from our IPO completed in July 2018 and is prone to the risks of failure inherent in medical product development. We cannot provide you any assurance that we will be able to successfully advance additional product candidates, if any, through the development process.

 

Even if we receive FDA approval to market additional product candidates for the treatment of the diseases we target, we cannot assure our stockholders that any such product candidates will be successfully commercialized, widely accepted in the marketplace or more effective than other commercially available alternatives. If we are unable to successfully develop and commercialize additional product candidates, our commercial opportunity will be limited. Moreover, a failure in obtaining regulatory approval of additional product candidates may have a negative effect on the approval process of other product candidates of ours or result in losing approval of any approved product candidate.

 

A variety of risks associated with marketing our product candidates internationally could materially adversely affect our business.

 

We plan to seek regulatory approval of our product candidates outside of the United States and, accordingly, we expect that we will be subject to additional risks related to operating in foreign countries if we obtain the necessary approvals, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These and other risks associated with our international operations may materially adversely affect our ability to attain or maintain profitable operations.

 

Business disruptions, including from the recent coronavirus outbreak, could seriously harm our future revenue and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

 

Our operations, and those of our contractors, consultants and collaborators, could be subject to earthquakes, power shortages, telecommunications failures, water shortages, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, extreme weather conditions, medical epidemics and other natural or man-made disasters or business interruptions. For example, the ongoing coronavirus outbreak emanating from China at the beginning of 2020 has resulted in increased travel restrictions and the shutdown or delay of business activities in the region. To the extent our suppliers or business partners are unable to comply with their obligations under our agreements with them or they are otherwise unable to complete or are delayed in completing activities in China due to the coronavirus outbreak, our ability to advance development in the United States may become impaired. Global travel restrictions and shutdowns in business operations in China, and potentially elsewhere, as a result of the outbreak may also limit our ability to pursue our business development strategy with potential collaborators. The occurrence of any of these business disruptions could seriously harm our operations and financial condition and increase our costs and expenses.

 

We currently have no marketing and sales organization and have no experience in marketing products. If we are unable to establish marketing and sales capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell our product candidates, we may not be able to generate product revenue.

 

We currently have no sales, marketing or distribution capabilities and have no experience in marketing products. We may develop an in-house marketing organization and sales force, which will require significant capital expenditures, management resources and time. In the event we develop and deploy these capabilities, we will have to compete with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to recruit, hire, train and retain marketing and sales personnel.

 

In addition to establishing internal sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, we may pursue collaborative arrangements regarding the sales and marketing of our products, however, there can be no assurance that we will be able to establish or maintain such collaborative arrangements, or if we are able to do so, that they will have effective sales forces. Any revenue we receive will depend upon the efforts of such third parties, which may not be successful. We may have little or no control over the marketing and sales efforts of such third parties and our revenue from product sales may be lower than if we had commercialized our product candidates ourselves. We also face competition in our search for third parties to assist us with the sales and marketing efforts of our product candidates.

 

There can be no assurance that we will be able to develop in-house sales and distribution capabilities or establish or maintain relationships with third-party collaborators to commercialize any product in the United States or overseas.

 

Comprehensive tax reform legislation could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

 

On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or the TCJA, that significantly reforms the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code. The TCJA, among other things, contains significant changes to corporate taxation, including reduction of the corporate tax rate from a top marginal tax rate of 35% to a flat rate of 21%, limitation of the tax deduction for interest expense to 30% of adjusted earnings (except for

certain small businesses), limitation of the deduction for net operating losses to 80% of annual taxable income and elimination of net operating loss carrybacks and modifying or repealing many business deductions and credits (including reducing the business tax credit for certain clinical testing expenses incurred in the testing of certain drugs for rare diseases or conditions generally referred to as “orphan drugs”). We continue to examine the impact this tax reform legislation may have on our business. However, the effect of the TCJA on our business, whether adverse or favorable, is uncertain and may not become evident for some period of time.

 

Our ability to use net operating losses and research and development credits to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

 

As of December 31, 2019, we had U.S. federal and state net operating loss, or NOL, carryforwards of $222.9 million and $227.0 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future taxable income. The federal NOLs include $37.2 million which expire at various dates through 2037 and $185.7 million which carryforward indefinitely. The state NOLs expire at various dates through 2039. As of December 31, 2019, we also had U.S. federal and state research and development tax credit carryforwards of $9.5 million and $5.1 million, respectively, which may be available to offset future tax liabilities and begin to expire in 2034 and 2026, respectively. In addition, in general, under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code and corresponding provisions of state law, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards or tax credits, or NOLs or credits, to offset future taxable income or taxes. For these purposes, an ownership change generally occurs where the aggregate stock ownership of one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who owns at least 5% of a corporation’s stock increases its ownership by more than 50 percentage points over its lowest ownership percentage within a specified testing period. Our existing NOLs or credits may be subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes, including in connection with our recent private placements, IPO and other transactions. In addition, future changes in our stock ownership, many of which are outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code and our ability to utilize NOLs or credits may be impaired. Our NOLs or credits may also be impaired under state law. Accordingly, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of our NOLs or credits. Furthermore, our ability to utilize our NOLs or credits is conditioned upon our attaining profitability and generating U. S. federal and state taxable income. As described above under “Risk factors—Risks related to our business, technology and industry,” we have incurred significant net losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future; and therefore, we do not know whether or when we will generate the U.S. federal or state taxable income necessary to utilize our NOLs or credits that are subject to limitation by Sections 382 and 383 of the Code. The reduction of the corporate tax rate under the TCJA caused a reduction in the economic benefit of our net operating loss carryforwards and other deferred tax assets available to us. Under the TCJA, net operating loss carryforwards generated after December 31, 2017 will not be subject to expiration.

 

Unstable market and economic conditions may have serious adverse consequences on our business, financial condition and stock price.

 

As widely reported, global credit and financial markets have experienced extreme volatility and disruptions in the past several years, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates and uncertainty about economic stability. There can be no assurance that deterioration in credit and financial markets and confidence in economic conditions will not occur. For example, since the beginning of January 2020, the coronavirus outbreak has caused disruption in the financial markets both globally and in the United States. Given the inter-connectivity of the global economy, pandemic disease and health events have the potential to negatively impact economic activities in many countries, including the United States. The spread of the coronavirus to the United States, could have a negative material impact on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations of the Company.

 

In addition, our general business strategy may be adversely affected by any such economic downturn, volatile business environment or continued unpredictable and unstable market conditions. If the current equity and credit markets deteriorate, or do not improve, it may make any necessary debt or equity financing more difficult, more costly, and more dilutive. Failure to secure any necessary financing in a timely manner and on favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our growth strategy, financial performance and stock price and could require us to delay or abandon clinical development plans. In addition, there is a risk that one or more of our current service providers, manufacturers

and other partners may not survive these difficult economic times, which could directly affect our ability to attain our operating goals on schedule and on budget.

On June 23, 2016, the electorate in the United Kingdom voted in favor of leaving the European Union, commonly referred to as Brexit. Thereafter, on March 29, 2017, the country formally notified the European Union of its intention to withdraw pursuant to Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. The United Kingdom formally left the European Union on January 31, 2020. A transition period began on February 1, 2020, during which European Union pharmaceutical law remains applicable to the United Kingdom. This transition period is due to end on December 31, 2020. Since the regulatory framework for pharmaceutical products in the United Kingdom covering quality, safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products, clinical trials, marketing authorization, commercial sales and distribution of pharmaceutical products is derived from European Union directives and regulations, Brexit could materially impact the future regulatory regime which applies to drugs and the approval of drug candidates in the United Kingdom. It remains to be seen how, if at all, Brexit will impact regulatory requirements for product candidates and products in the United Kingdom. Given the lack of comparable precedent, it is unclear what financial, trade and legal implications the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, especially in the case of a “hard” Brexit, would have and how such withdrawal would affect us. The long-term impact of Brexit, including on our business and our industry, will depend on the terms that are negotiated in relation to the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the European Union, and we are closely monitoring the Brexit developments in order to determine, quantify and proactively address changes as they become clear.

For example, Brexit result in the United Kingdom or the European Union significantly altering its regulations affecting the clearance or approval of our drug candidates that are developed in the United Kingdom. Any new regulations could add time and expense to the conduct of our business, as well as the process by which our drug candidates receive regulatory approval in the United Kingdom, the European Union and elsewhere. In addition, the announcement of Brexit and the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union have had and may continue to have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets, and may significantly reduce global market liquidity and restrict the ability of key market participants to operate in certain financial markets. Any of these effects of Brexit, among others, could adversely affect our business, our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition.

 

As of December 31, 2019, we had cash, cash equivalents and investments of $283.3 million. While we are not aware of any downgrades, material losses, or other significant deterioration in the fair value of our cash equivalents and investments since December 31, 2019, no assurance can be given that further deterioration of the global credit and financial markets would not negatively impact our current portfolio of cash equivalents or our ability to meet our financing objectives. Furthermore, our stock price may decline due in part to the volatility of the stock market and the general economic downturn.

 

Risks related to government regulation

 

We are early in our development efforts. If we are unable to advance our product candidates into and through clinical development, obtain regulatory approval and ultimately commercialize our product candidates or experience significant delays in doing so, our business will be materially harmed.

 

We are early in our development efforts. The IND for RTX-240 has been allowed to proceed by the FDA; all of our other product candidates are still in preclinical development. We have invested substantially all of our efforts and financial resources in the identification and preclinical development of RCTs, including the development of our initial product candidates - RTX-240 and RTX-321. Our ability to generate product revenues, which we do not expect will occur for many years, if ever, will depend on the successful development and eventual commercialization of our product candidates, which may never occur. We currently generate no revenue from sales of any products, and we may never be able to develop or commercialize a marketable product. In addition, certain of our product candidate development programs contemplate the development of companion diagnostics, which are assays or tests to identify an appropriate patient population. Companion diagnostics are subject to regulation as medical devices and must themselves be

approved for marketing by the FDA or certain other foreign regulatory agencies before we may commercialize our products. The success of our product candidates will depend on several factors, including the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we do not achieve one or more of these factors in a timely manner or at all, we could experience significant delays or an inability to successfully commercialize our product candidates, which would materially harm our business. If we do not receive regulatory approvals for our product candidates, we may not be able to continue our operations.

 

We may rely on third parties to conduct investigator-sponsored clinical trials of our product candidates. Any failure by a third party to meet its obligations with respect to the clinical development of our product candidates may delay or impair our ability to obtain regulatory approval for other product candidates.

 

We may rely on academic and private non-academic institutions to conduct and sponsor clinical trials relating to our product candidates. We will not control the design or conduct of the investigator-sponsored trials, and it is possible that the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities will not view these investigator-sponsored trials as providing adequate support for future clinical trials, whether controlled by us or third parties, for any one or more reasons, including elements of the design or execution of the trials or safety concerns or other trial results.

 

Such arrangements will likely provide us certain information rights with respect to the investigator-sponsored trials, including access to and the ability to use and reference the data, including for our own regulatory filings, resulting from the investigator-sponsored trials. However, we would not have control over the timing and reporting of the data from investigator-sponsored trials, nor would we own the data from the investigator-sponsored trials. If we are unable to confirm or replicate the results from the investigator-sponsored trials or if negative results are obtained, we would likely be further delayed or prevented from advancing further clinical development of our product candidates. Further, if investigators or institutions breach their obligations with respect to the clinical development of our product candidates,

or if the data proves to be inadequate compared to the first-hand knowledge we might have gained had the investigator-sponsored trials been sponsored and conducted by us, then our ability to design and conduct any future clinical trials ourselves may be adversely affected.

 

Additionally, the FDA or non-U.S. regulatory authorities may disagree with the sufficiency of our right of reference to the preclinical, manufacturing or clinical data generated by these investigator-sponsored trials, or our interpretation of preclinical, manufacturing or clinical data from these investigator-sponsored trials. If so, the FDA or other non-U.S. regulatory authorities may require us to obtain and submit additional preclinical, manufacturing, or clinical data before we may initiate our planned trials and/or may not accept such additional data as adequate to initiate our planned trials.

 

Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in other jurisdictions.

 

Obtaining and maintaining regulatory approval of our product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain regulatory approval in any other jurisdiction, while a failure or delay in obtaining regulatory approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the regulatory approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA grants marketing approval of a product candidate, comparable regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions must also approve the manufacturing, marketing and promotion of the product candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional nonclinical studies or clinical trials as clinical trials conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for our products is also subject to approval.

 

We may also submit marketing applications in other countries. Regulatory authorities in jurisdictions outside of the United States have requirements for approval of product candidates with which we must comply prior to marketing in those jurisdictions. Obtaining foreign regulatory approvals and compliance with foreign regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets and/or receive applicable marketing approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed.

 

If we are not able to obtain, or if there are delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals for our product candidates, we will not be able to commercialize, or will be delayed in commercializing, our product candidates, and our ability to generate revenue will be materially impaired.

 

Our product candidates and the activities associated with their development and commercialization, including their design, testing, manufacture, safety, efficacy, recordkeeping, labeling, storage, approval, advertising, promotion, sale, distribution, import and export are subject to comprehensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the United States and by comparable authorities in other countries. Before we can commercialize any of our product candidates, we must obtain marketing approval. We have not received approval to market any of our product candidates from regulatory authorities in any jurisdiction and it is possible that none of our product candidates or any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval. We, as a company, have no experience in filing and supporting the applications necessary to gain regulatory approvals and expect to rely on third-party CROs and/or regulatory consultants to assist us in this process. Securing regulatory approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical and clinical data and supporting information to the various regulatory authorities for each therapeutic indication to establish the drug candidate’s safety and efficacy. Securing regulatory approval also requires the submission of information about the drug manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the relevant regulatory authority. Our product candidates may not be effective, may be only moderately effective or may prove to have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that may preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use.

 

The process of obtaining regulatory approvals, both in the United States and abroad, is expensive, may take many years if additional clinical trials are required, if approval is obtained at all, and can vary substantially based upon a variety of factors, including the type, complexity and novelty of the product candidates involved. Changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment of additional statutes or regulations, or changes in regulatory review for each submitted IND, Premarket Approval, or PMA, BLA or equivalent application types, may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application. The FDA and comparable authorities in other countries have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data are insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other studies. Our product candidates could be delayed in receiving, or fail to receive, regulatory approval for many reasons, including the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of the large number of drugs in development, only a small percentage successfully complete the FDA or foreign regulatory approval processes and are commercialized. The lengthy approval process as well as the unpredictability of future clinical trial results may result in our failing to obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates, which would significantly harm our business, results of operations and prospects.

We expect the novel nature of our product candidates to create further challenges in obtaining regulatory approval. As a result, our ability to develop product candidates and obtain regulatory approval may be significantly impacted.

For example, the general approach for FDA approval of a new biologic or drug is for sponsors to seek licensure or approval based on dispositive data from well-controlled, Phase 3 clinical trials of the relevant product candidate in the relevant patient population. Phase 3 clinical trials typically involve hundreds of patients, have significant costs and take years to complete. We believe that we may be able to utilize the FDA’s accelerated approval program for our product candidates given the limited alternatives for treatments for certain cancer and autoimmune diseases, but the FDA may not agree with our plans.

The FDA may also require a panel of experts, referred to as an Advisory Committee, to deliberate on the adequacy of the safety and efficacy data to support approval. The opinion of the Advisory Committee, although not binding, may have a significant impact on our ability to obtain approval of any product candidates that we develop based on the completed clinical trials.

Moreover, approval of genetic or biomarker diagnostic tests may be necessary in order to advance some of our product candidates to clinical trials or potential commercialization, and regulatory agencies may require the development and approval of such tests. Accordingly, the regulatory approval pathway for such product candidates may be uncertain, complex, expensive and lengthy, and approval may not be obtained.

 

In addition, even if we were to obtain approval, regulatory authorities may approve any of our product candidates for fewer or more limited indications than we request, may not approve the price we intend to charge for our products, may grant approval contingent on the performance of costly post-marketing clinical trials, or may approve a product candidate with a label that does not include the labeling claims necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of that product candidate. Any of the foregoing scenarios could materially harm the commercial prospects for our product candidates.

 

If we experience delays in obtaining approval or if we fail to obtain approval of our product candidates, the commercial prospects for our product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate revenues will be materially impaired.

 

Our product candidates may cause undesirable side effects that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit the commercial profile of an approved label, or result in significant negative consequences following marketing approval, if any.

 

Potential undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us to interrupt, delay or halt preclinical studies or could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or other regulatory authorities. As is the case with many treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases, it is likely that there may be side effects associated with their use. Results of our trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of these or other side effects. In such an event, our trials could be suspended or terminated and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. The treatment-related side effects could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.

 

Further, clinical trials by their nature utilize a sample of the potential patient population. With a limited number of patients and limited duration of exposure, rare and severe side effects of our product candidates may only be uncovered with a significantly larger number of patients exposed to the product candidate. If our product candidates receive marketing approval and we or others identify undesirable side effects caused by such product candidates (or any other similar drugs) after such approval, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We believe that any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the affected product candidates and could substantially increase the costs of commercializing our product candidates, if approved, and significantly impact our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates and generate revenues.

 

Breakthrough Therapy Designation, Fast Track Designation or Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designation by the FDA, even if granted for any of our product candidates, may not lead to a faster development, regulatory review or approval process, and it does not increase the likelihood that any of our product candidates will receive marketing approval in the United States.

 

We may seek a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for some of our product candidates. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a therapy that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other therapies, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the therapy may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. For therapies that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the FDA and the sponsor of the trial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Therapies designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA may also be eligible for priority review and accelerated approval. Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if we believe one of our product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to therapies considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of our product candidates qualify as breakthrough therapies, the FDA may later decide that such product candidates no longer meet the conditions for qualification.

 

We may seek Fast Track Designation for some of our product candidates. If a therapy is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition and the therapy demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for this condition, the therapy sponsor may apply for Fast Track Designation. The FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant this designation, so even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for this designation; we cannot assure our stockholders that the FDA would decide to grant it. Even if we do receive Fast Track Designation, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may withdraw Fast Track Designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from our clinical development program. Fast Track Designation alone does not guarantee qualification for the FDA’s priority review procedures.

We may seek Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy, or RMAT, designation for one or more of our product candidates. In 2017, the FDA established the RMAT designation as part of its implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act to expedite review of any drug that meets the following criteria: it qualifies as a RMAT, which is defined as a cell therapy, therapeutic tissue engineering product, human cell and tissue product, or any combination product using such therapies or products, with limited exceptions; it is intended to treat, modify, reverse, or cure a serious or life-threatening disease or condition; and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug has the potential to address unmet medical needs for such a disease or condition. Like Breakthrough Therapy Designation, RMAT designation provides potential benefits that include more frequent meetings with the FDA to discuss the development plan for the product candidate, and eligibility for rolling review and priority review. Products granted RMAT designation may also be eligible for accelerated approval on the basis of a surrogate or intermediate endpoint reasonably likely to predict long-term clinical benefit, or reliance upon data obtained from a meaningful number of sites, including through expansion to additional sites. RMAT-designated products that receive accelerated approval may, as appropriate, fulfill their post-approval requirements through the submission of clinical evidence, clinical trials, patient registries, or other sources of real world evidence, such as electronic health records; through the collection of larger confirmatory data sets; or via post-approval monitoring of all patients treated with such therapy prior to approval of the therapy. There is no assurance that we will

be able to obtain RMAT designation for any of our product candidates. RMAT designation does not change the FDA’s standards for product approval, and there is no assurance that such designation will result in expedited review or approval or that the approved indication will not be narrower than the indication covered by the designation. Additionally, RMAT designation can be revoked if the criteria for eligibility cease to be met as clinical data emerges.

We may seek priority review designation for one or more of our other product candidates, but we might not receive such designation, and even if we do, such designation may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process.

 

If the FDA determines that a product candidate offers a treatment for a serious condition and, if approved, the product would provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness, the FDA may designate the product candidate for priority review. A priority review designation means that the goal for the FDA to review an application is six months, rather than the standard review period of ten months. We may request priority review for our product candidates. The FDA has broad discretion with respect to whether or not to grant priority review status to a product candidate, so even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for such designation or status, the FDA may decide not to grant it. Moreover, a priority review designation does not necessarily result in expedited development or regulatory review or approval process or necessarily confer any advantage with respect to approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. Receiving priority review from the FDA does not guarantee approval within the six-month review cycle or at all.

Our product candidates may face competition from biosimilars approved through an abbreviated regulatory pathway.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, or collectively the ACA, includes a subtitle called the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, or BPCIA, which created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA-approved reference biological product. Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first approved by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first approved. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a BLA for the competing product containing the sponsor’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity, and potency of the other company’s product. The law is complex and is still being interpreted and implemented by the FDA. As a result, its ultimate impact, implementation, and meaning are subject to uncertainty.

We believe that any of our product candidates approved as a biological product under a BLA should qualify for the 12-year period of exclusivity. However, there is a risk that this exclusivity could be shortened due to congressional action or otherwise, or that the FDA will not consider our investigational medicines to be reference products for competing products, potentially creating the opportunity for generic competition sooner than anticipated. Other aspects of the BPCIA, some of which may impact the BPCIA exclusivity provisions, have also been the subject of recent litigation. Moreover, the extent to which a biosimilar, once approved, will be substituted for any one of our reference products in a way that is similar to traditional generic substitution for non-biological products is not yet clear, and will depend on a number of marketplace and regulatory factors that are still developing.

 

We may fail to obtain and maintain orphan drug designations from the FDA for our current and future product candidates, as applicable.

 

Our strategy includes filing for orphan drug designation where available for our product candidates. Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan drug designation to a drug or biologic intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is defined as one occurring in a patient population of fewer than 200,000 in the United States, or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug or biologic will be recovered from sales in the United States. In the United States, orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives, such as opportunities for grant funding toward clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers. In addition, if a product that has orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which

means that the FDA may not approve any other applications, including a full new drug application, or NDA, or BLA, to market the same drug or biologic for the same indication for seven years, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan drug exclusivity or where the original manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient product quantity.

 

In addition, exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be limited if we seek approval for an indication broader than the orphan-designated indication or may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if we are unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the orphan-designated disease or condition. Further, even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs with different active moieties may receive and be approved for the same condition, and only the first applicant to receive approval will receive the benefits of marketing exclusivity. Even after an orphan-designated product is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve a later drug with the same active moiety for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is clinically superior if it is shown to be safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. Orphan drug designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug, nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. In addition, while we may seek orphan drug designation for our product candidates, we may never receive such designations.

 

Even if we receive regulatory approval of any product candidates or therapies, we will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates.

 

If any of our product candidates are approved, they will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record-keeping, export, import, conduct of post-marketing studies and submission of safety, efficacy and other post-market information, including both federal and state requirements in the United States and requirements of comparable foreign regulatory authorities. In addition, we will be subject to continued compliance with cGMP and GCP requirements for any clinical trials that we conduct post-approval.

 

Manufacturers and manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA, and comparable foreign regulatory authority requirements, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP regulations. As such, we and our contract manufacturers will be subject to continual review and inspections to assess compliance with cGMP and adherence to commitments made in any BLA, other marketing application, and previous responses to inspection observations. Accordingly, we and others with whom we work must continue to expend time, money, and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production and quality control.

 

Any regulatory approvals that we receive for our product candidates may be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product candidate. The FDA may also require a risk evaluation and mitigation strategies, or REMS, program as a condition of approval of our product candidates, which could entail requirements for long-term patient follow-up, a medication guide, physician communication plans or additional elements to ensure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. In addition, if the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority approves our product candidates, we will have to comply with requirements including submissions of safety and other post-marketing information and reports and registration.

 

The FDA may impose consent decrees or withdraw approval if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with our product candidates, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with our third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information; imposition of post-market studies or clinical trials to

assess new safety risks; or imposition of distribution restrictions or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FDA strictly regulates marketing, labeling, advertising, and promotion of products that are placed on the market. Products may be promoted only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses of an approved product, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant liability and regulatory enforcement actions.

 

The policies of the FDA and of other regulatory authorities may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained which would adversely affect our business, prospects and ability to achieve or sustain profitability.

 

We also cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative or executive action, either in the United States or abroad. For example, certain policies of the current administration in the United States may impact our business and industry. Namely, the current administration has taken several executive actions, including the issuance of a number of executive orders, that could impose significant burdens on, or otherwise materially delay, the FDA’s ability to engage in routine regulatory and oversight activities, such as implementing statutes through rulemaking, issuance of guidance and review and approval of marketing applications. It is difficult to predict how these executive actions, including any executive orders, will be implemented, and the extent to which they will impact the FDA’s ability to exercise its regulatory authority. If these executive actions impose constraints on the FDA’s ability to engage in oversight and implementation activities in the normal course, our business may be negatively impacted.

 

Healthcare insurance coverage and reimbursement may be limited or unavailable in certain market segments for our product candidates, if approved, which could make it difficult for us to sell any product candidates or therapies profitably.

 

The success of our product candidates, if approved, depends on the availability of adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors. In addition, because our product candidates represent new approaches to the treatment of the diseases they target, we cannot be sure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for, or accurately estimate the potential revenue from, our product candidates or assure that coverage and reimbursement will be available for any product that we may develop.

 

Patients who are provided medical treatment for their conditions generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with their treatment. Adequate coverage and reimbursement from governmental healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and commercial payors are critical to new product acceptance.

 

Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which drugs and treatments they will cover and the amount of reimbursement. Coverage and reimbursement by a

third-party payor may depend upon a number of factors, including the third-party payor’s determination that use of a product is:

 

a covered benefit under its health plan;

 

safe, effective and medically necessary;

 

appropriate for the specific patient;

 

cost-effective; and

 

neither experimental nor investigational.

 

In the United States, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for products exists among third-party payors. As a result, obtaining coverage and reimbursement approval of a product from a government or other third-party payor is a time-consuming and costly process that could require us to provide to each payor supporting scientific, clinical and cost-effectiveness data for the use of our products on a payor-by-payor basis, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be obtained. Even if we obtain coverage for a given product, the resulting reimbursement payment rates might not be adequate for us to achieve or sustain profitability or may require co-payments that patients find unacceptably high, which may adversely impact physicians’ willingness to prescribe and treat. Further, even if one payor provides coverage for a given product, other payors may not provide coverage for that product. Additionally, third-party payors may not cover, or provide adequate reimbursement for, long-term follow-up evaluations required following the use of product candidates. Patients are unlikely to use our product candidates unless coverage is provided and reimbursement is adequate to cover a significant portion of the cost of our product candidates. Because our product candidates may have a higher cost of goods than conventional therapies, and may require long-term follow-up evaluations, the risk that coverage and reimbursement rates may be inadequate for us to achieve profitability may be greater. There is significant uncertainty related to insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products. It is difficult to predict at this time what third-party payors will decide with respect to the coverage and reimbursement for our product candidates.

 

Payment methodologies may be subject to changes in healthcare legislation and regulatory initiatives. For example, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 required that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the agency responsible for administering the Medicare program, or CMS, reduce the Medicare clinical laboratory fee schedule by 2% in 2013, which served as a base for 2014 and subsequent years. In addition, effective January 1, 2014, CMS also began bundling the Medicare payments for certain laboratory tests ordered while a patient received services in a hospital outpatient setting. Additional state and federal healthcare reform measures are expected to be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in reduced demand for certain pharmaceutical products or additional pricing pressures.

 

Moreover, increasing efforts by governmental and third-party payors in the United States and abroad to cap or reduce healthcare costs may cause such organizations to limit both coverage and the level of reimbursement for newly approved products and, as a result, they may not cover or provide adequate payment for our product candidates. There has been increasing legislative and enforcement interest in the United States with respect to specialty drug pricing practices. Specifically, there have been several recent U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under Medicare, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for drugs. For example, in October 2017, California became the first state to pass legislation requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to announce planned drug price increases. While this legislation does not directly affect drug prices, it puts further pressure on pharmaceutical manufacturers in setting prices. At least one state, Oregon, has recently passed a similar law, requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to disclose cost components, and other states are likely to follow. Additionally, the Trump administration recently released a “Blueprint”, or plan, to reduce the cost of drugs. The Trump administrations’ Blueprint contains certain measures that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is already working to implement. For example, on December 18, 2019, the FDA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that, if finalized, would allow for the importation of certain prescription drugs from

Canada. While the current proposal excludes biological products, this proposal could be expanded or additional proposals that reach biological products could be introduced. In December 2019, the FDA also issued a draft guidance document outlining a potential pathway for manufacturers to obtain an additional National Drug Code, or NDC, for an FDA-approved drug that was originally intended to be marketed in a foreign country and that was authorized for sale in that foreign country. The regulatory and market implications of the notice of proposed rulemaking and draft guidance are unknown at this time. At the state level, legislatures are increasingly passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of any of our product candidates due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations, cost containment initiatives and additional legislative changes.

 

Ongoing healthcare legislative and regulatory reform measures may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

 

Changes in regulations, statutes or the interpretation of existing regulations could impact our business in the future by requiring, for example: (i) changes to our manufacturing arrangements; (ii) additions or modifications to product labeling; (iii) the recall or discontinuation of our products; or (iv) additional record-keeping requirements. If any such changes were to be imposed, they could adversely affect the operation of our business.

 

Our ability to commercialize any products successfully, if approved, also will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and reimbursement for these products and related treatments will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers and other organizations. In the United States, there have been and continue to be a number of legislative initiatives to contain healthcare costs. For example, in March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or the ACA, was passed, which substantially changes the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers, and significantly impacts the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. The ACA, among other things, subjects biological products to potential competition by lower-cost biosimilars, addresses a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected, increases the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and extends the rebate program to individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations, establishes annual fees and taxes on manufacturers of certain branded prescription drugs, and creates a new Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program, in which manufacturers must agree to offer 70% (increased pursuant to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, effective as of 2019) point-of-sale discounts off negotiated prices of applicable brand drugs to eligible beneficiaries during their coverage gap period, as a condition for the manufacturer’s outpatient drugs to be covered under Medicare Part D.

 

Since its enactment, there have been numerous judicial, administrative, executive and legislative challenges to certain aspects of the ACA, and we expect there will be additional challenges and amendments to the ACA in the future. Various portions of the ACA are currently undergoing legal and constitutional challenges in the Fifth Circuit Court and the United States Supreme Court; the Trump Administration has issued various Executive Orders which eliminated cost sharing subsidies and various provisions that would impose a fiscal burden on states or a cost, fee, tax, penalty or regulatory burden on individuals, healthcare providers, health insurers, or manufacturers of pharmaceuticals or medical devices; and Congress has introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at significantly revising or repealing the ACA. It is unclear whether the ACA will be overturned, repealed, replaced or further amended. We cannot predict what effect further changes to the ACA would have on our business.

 

Other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. In August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, created measures for spending reductions by Congress. A Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with recommending a targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, was unable to reach required goals, thereby triggering the legislation’s automatic reduction to several government programs. This includes aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers up to 2% per fiscal year, and, due to subsequent legislative amendments, will remain in effect through 2029 unless additional Congressional action is taken. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, or ATRA, among other things, reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals, imaging centers and cancer treatment

centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years.

 

On May 30, 2018, the Right to Try Act was signed into law. The law, among other things, provides a federal framework for certain patients to access certain investigational new drug products that have completed a Phase I clinical trial and that are undergoing investigation for FDA approval. Under certain circumstances, eligible patients can seek treatment without enrolling in clinical trials and without obtaining FDA permission under the FDA expanded access program. There is no obligation for a drug manufacturer to make its drug products available to eligible patients as a result of the Right to Try Act, but the manufacturer must develop an internal policy and respond to patient requests according to that policy. We expect that additional foreign, federal and state healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that federal and state governments will pay for healthcare products and services, which could result in limited coverage and reimbursement and reduced demand for our products, once approved, or additional pricing pressures.

 

In May 2019, CMS issued a final rule to allow Medicare Advantage Plans the option of using step therapy, a type of prior authorization, for Part B drugs beginning January 1, 2020. This final rule codified CMS’s policy change that was effective January 1, 2019.

 

These laws, and future state and federal healthcare reform measures may be adopted in the future, any of which may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and otherwise affect the prices we may obtain for any of our product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval or the frequency with which any such product candidate is prescribed or used.

 

European Union drug marketing and reimbursement regulations may materially affect our ability to market and receive coverage for our products in the European member states.

 

We intend to seek approval to market our product candidates in both the United States and in selected foreign jurisdictions. If we obtain approval in one or more foreign jurisdictions for our product candidates, we will be subject to rules and regulations in those jurisdictions. In some foreign countries, particularly those in the European Union, the pricing of pharmaceutical products is subject to governmental control and other market regulations which could put pressure on the pricing and usage of our product candidates. In these countries, pricing negotiations with governmental authorities can take considerable time after obtaining marketing approval of a product candidate. In addition, market acceptance and sales of our product candidates will depend significantly on the availability of adequate coverage and reimbursement from third-party payors for our product candidates and may be affected by existing and future healthcare reform measures.

 

Much like the Anti-Kickback Statute prohibition in the United States, the provision of benefits or advantages to physicians to induce or encourage the prescription, recommendation, endorsement, purchase, supply, order or use of medicinal products is also prohibited in the European Union. The provision of benefits or advantages to physicians is governed by the national anti-bribery laws of European Union Member States, such as the UK Bribery Act 2010. Infringement of these laws could result in substantial fines and imprisonment.

 

Payments made to physicians in certain European Union Member States must be publicly disclosed. Moreover, agreements with physicians often must be the subject of prior notification and approval by the physician’s employer, his or her competent professional organization and/or the regulatory authorities of the individual European Union Member States. These requirements are provided in the national laws, industry codes or professional codes of conduct, applicable in the European Union Member States. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in reputational risk, public reprimands, administrative penalties, fines or imprisonment.

 

In addition, in most foreign countries, including the European Economic Area, the proposed pricing for a drug must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. The requirements governing drug pricing and reimbursement vary widely from country to country. For example, the European Union provides options for its member states to restrict the range of medicinal products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement and to control the prices of medicinal products for human use. Reference pricing used by various European Union member states and parallel

distribution, or arbitrage between low-priced and high-priced member states, can further reduce prices. A member state may approve a specific price for the medicinal product or it may instead adopt a system of direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the medicinal product on the market. In some countries, we may be required to conduct a clinical trial or other studies that compare the cost-effectiveness of any of our product candidates to other available therapies in order to obtain or maintain reimbursement or pricing approval. There can be no assurance that any country that has price controls or reimbursement limitations for pharmaceutical products will allow favorable reimbursement and pricing arrangements for any of our products. Historically, products launched in the European Union do not follow price structures of the United States and generally prices tend to be significantly lower. Publication of discounts by third-party payors or authorities may lead to further pressure on the prices or reimbursement levels within the country of publication and other countries. If pricing is set at unsatisfactory levels or if reimbursement of our products is unavailable or limited in scope or amount, our revenues from sales by us or our strategic partners and the potential profitability of any of our product candidates in those countries would be negatively affected.

 

Data collection in Europe and some U.S. states is governed by restrictive regulations governing the use, processing, and cross-border transfer of personal information.

 

The collection, use, storage, disclosure, transfer of other processing of personal data, including personal health data in the European Union, or EU, is governed by the GDPR as of May 25, 2018.

 

The GDPR imposes a broad range of strict requirements on companies subject to the GDPR, such as including requirements relating to having legal bases for processing personal information relating to identifiable individuals and transferring such information outside the European Economic Area, or the EEA, including to the United States, providing details to those individuals regarding the processing of their personal information, implementing safeguards to keep personal information secure, having data processing agreements with third parties who process personal information, providing information to individuals regarding data processing activities, responding to individuals’ requests to exercise their rights in respect of their personal information, obtaining consent of the individuals to whom the personal data relates, reporting security breaches involving personal data to the competent national data protection authority and affected individuals, appointing data protection officers, conducting data protection impact assessments, and record-keeping. The GDPR also imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data to countries outside the EEA, including the United States. It substantially increases the penalties to which we could be subject in the event of any non-compliance, including fines of up to 10 million Euros or up to 2% of our total worldwide annual turnover for certain comparatively minor offenses, or up to 20 million Euros or up to 4% of our total worldwide annual turnover for more serious offenses. The GDPR also confers a private right of action on data subjects and consumer associations to lodge complaints with supervisory authorities, seek judicial remedies, and obtain compensation for damages resulting from violations of the GDPR. In addition, the GDPR includes restrictions on cross-border data transfers. Given the new law, we face uncertainty as to the exact interpretation of the new requirements, and we may be unsuccessful in implementing all measures required by data protection authorities or courts in interpretation of the new law. Further, the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU, often referred to as Brexit, has created uncertainty with regard to data protection regulation in the United Kingdom. In particular, it is unclear how data transfers to and from the United Kingdom will be regulated now that the United Kingdom has left the EU.

National laws of member states of the EU are in the process of being adapted to the requirements under the GDPR, thereby implementing national laws which may partially deviate from the GDPR and impose different obligations from country to country, so that we do not expect to operate in a uniform legal landscape in the EU. Also, in the field of handling genetic data, the GDPR specifically allows national laws to impose additional and more specific requirements or restrictions, and European laws have historically differed quite substantially in this field, leading to additional uncertainty.

If we begin conducting trials in the EEA, we must also ensure that we maintain adequate safeguards to enable the transfer of personal data outside of the EEA, in particular to the United States in compliance with European data protection laws including the GDPR. We expect that we will continue to face uncertainty as to whether our efforts to comply with our obligations under European privacy laws will be sufficient. If we are investigated by a European data protection authority, we may face fines and other penalties. Any such investigation or charges by European data protection authorities could have a negative effect on our existing business and on our ability to attract and retain new clients or pharmaceutical

partners. We may also experience hesitancy, reluctance, or refusal by European or multi-national clients or pharmaceutical partners to continue to use our products and solutions due to the potential risk exposure as a result of the current (and, in particular, future) data protection obligations imposed on them by certain data protection authorities in interpretation of current law, including the GDPR. Such clients or pharmaceutical partners may also view any alternative approaches to compliance as being too costly, too burdensome, too legally uncertain, or otherwise objectionable and therefore decide not to do business with us. Any of the foregoing could materially harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

 

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

 

If we expand our operations outside of the United States, we must dedicate additional resources to comply with numerous laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we plan to operate. The FCPA prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with certain accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations.

 

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

 

Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non-U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. If we expand our presence outside of the United States, it will require us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing, or selling certain products and product candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs.

 

The failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may result in substantial civil and criminal penalties and suspension or debarment from government contracting. The SEC also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of the FCPA’s accounting provisions.

 

We are subject to certain U.S. and foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions, and other trade laws and regulations. We can face serious consequences for violations.

 

Among other matters, U.S. and foreign anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, export control, sanctions, and other trade laws and regulations, which are collectively referred to as Trade Laws, prohibit companies and their employees, agents, clinical research organizations, legal counsel, accountants, consultants, contractors, and other partners from authorizing, promising, offering, providing, soliciting, or receiving directly or indirectly, corrupt or improper payments or anything else of value to or from recipients in the public or private sector. Violations of Trade Laws can result in substantial criminal fines and civil penalties, imprisonment, the loss of trade privileges, debarment, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm, and other consequences. We have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or government-affiliated hospitals, universities, and other organizations. We also expect our non-U.S. activities to increase in time. We plan to engage third parties for clinical trials and/or to obtain necessary permits, licenses, patent registrations, and other regulatory approvals and we can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our personnel, agents, or partners, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have prior knowledge of such activities.

 

Inadequate funding for the FDA, the SEC and other government agencies could hinder their ability to hire and retain key leadership and other personnel, prevent new products and services from being developed or commercialized in a timely manner or otherwise prevent those agencies from performing normal business functions on which the operation of our business may rely, which could negatively impact our business.

 

The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. Average review times at the agency have fluctuated in recent years as a result. In addition, government funding of the SEC and other government agencies on which our operations may rely, including those that fund research and development activities, is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable.

Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, including most recently from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the SEC, have had to furlough critical FDA, SEC and other government employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

Risks related to our intellectual property

 

If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for any product candidates we develop or for our RED PLATFORM, our competitors could develop and commercialize products or technology similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize any product candidates we may develop, and our technology may be adversely affected.

 

Our success depends in large part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States and other countries with respect to our product candidates, RED PLATFORM and other technologies we may develop. We seek to protect our proprietary position by in-licensing intellectual property and filing patent applications in the United States and abroad relating to our product candidates and RED PLATFORM, as well as other technologies that are important to our business. Given that the development of our technology and product candidates is at an early stage, our intellectual property portfolio with respect to certain aspects of our technology and product candidates is also at an early stage. For example, although we own an issued composition of matter patent related to RTX-134 and an issued composition of matter patent related to RTX-240 and RTX-321, there can be no assurance that we will secure issued patents for additional product candidates. We have filed or intend to file patent applications directed to the composition of matter of our product candidates and various processes of our RED PLATFORM; however, there can be no assurance that any such patent applications will issue as granted patents. Furthermore, in some cases, we have only filed provisional patent applications on certain aspects of our technology and product candidates and each of these provisional patent applications is not eligible to become an issued patent until, among other things, we file a non-provisional patent application within 12 months of the filing date of the applicable provisional patent application. Any failure to file a non-provisional patent application within this timeline could cause us to lose the ability to obtain patent protection for the inventions disclosed in the associated provisional patent applications.

 

Composition of matter patents for biological and pharmaceutical products are generally considered to be the strongest form of intellectual property protection for those types of products, as such patents provide protection without regard to any method of use. Although we have secured an issued United States composition of matter patent related to RTX-134 and an issued composition of matter patent related to RTX-240 and RTX-321, we cannot be certain that the claims in our pending patent applications covering the composition of matter of all of our product candidates will be considered patentable by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or the USPTO, or by patent offices in foreign countries, or that the claims in any of our issued patents will be considered valid and enforceable by courts in the United States or foreign countries. Furthermore, in some cases, we may not be able to obtain issued claims covering compositions of matter relating to our product candidates and RED PLATFORM, as well as other technologies that are important to our business, and instead may need to rely on filing patent applications with claims covering a method of use and/or method

of manufacture. Method of use patents protect the use of a product for the specified method. This type of patent does not prevent a competitor from making and marketing a product that is identical to our product for an indication that is outside the scope of the patented method. Moreover, even if competitors do not actively promote their products for our targeted indications, physicians may prescribe these products “off-label” for those uses that are covered by our method of use patents. Although off-label prescriptions may infringe or contribute to the infringement of method of use patents, the practice is common and such infringement is difficult to prevent or prosecute. There can be no assurance that any such patent applications will issue as granted patents, and even if they do issue, such patent claims may be insufficient to prevent third parties, such as our competitors, from utilizing our technology. Any failure to obtain or maintain patent protection with respect to our product candidates and RED PLATFORM could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

 

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions for which legal principles remain unsolved. The patent applications that we own or in-license may fail to result in issued patents with claims that cover our product candidates in the United States or in other foreign countries. There is no assurance that all potentially relevant prior art relating to our patents and patents applications has been found, which can invalidate a patent or prevent a patent from issuing from a pending patent application. Even if patents to successfully issue, and even if such patents cover our product candidates, third parties may challenge their validity, enforceability, or scope, which may result in such patents being narrowed, found unenforceable or invalidated. Furthermore, even if they are unchallenged, our patents and patent applications may not adequately protect our intellectual property, provide exclusivity for our product candidates, or prevent others from designing around our claims. Any of these outcomes could impair our ability to prevent competition from third parties, which may have an adverse impact on our business.

 

We intend to rely on patent rights and the status of our product candidates, if approved, as products eligible for exclusivity under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA). If we are unable to obtain or maintain exclusivity from the combination of these approaches, we may not be able to compete effectively in our markets.

 

We rely or will rely upon a combination of patents, trade secret protection, and confidentiality agreements to protect the intellectual property related to our technologies and product candidates. Our success depends in large part on our and our licensors’ ability to obtain regulatory exclusivity and maintain patent and other intellectual property protection in the United States and in other countries with respect to our proprietary technology and products.

 

Even if we cannot obtain and maintain effective protection of exclusivity from our regulatory efforts and intellectual property rights, including patent protection, data exclusivity or orphan drug exclusivity, for our product candidates, we believe that our product candidates will be protected by exclusivity that prevents approval of a biosimilar in the United States for a period of twelve years from the time the product to which it claims similarity was first approved. However, the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, Title VII, Subtitle A of the Patent Protection and Affordable Care Act , Pub.L.No.111-148, 124 Stat.119, Sections 7001-02 signed into law March 23, 2010, and codified in 42 U.S.C. §262 (the BCPIA), created an elaborate and complex patent dispute resolution mechanism for biosimilars that could prevent us from launching our product candidates in the United States or could substantially delay such launches. Current biosimilars litigation are addressing certain requirements of the BPCIA which is creating uncertainty over how certain terms of the BPCIA should be construed and this presents uncertainty for both the biologics innovator and biosimilar party. The BPCIA mechanism required for biosimilar applicants may pose greater risk that patent infringement litigation will disrupt our activities and add increased expenses as well as divert management’s attention. If a biosimilar version of one of our product candidates were approved in the United States, it could have a negative effect on our business.

 

If any of our owned or in-licensed patent applications do not issue as patents in any jurisdiction, we may not be able to compete effectively.

 

Changes in either the patent laws or their interpretation in the United States and other countries may diminish our ability to protect our inventions, obtain, maintain, and enforce our intellectual property rights and, more generally, could affect the value of our intellectual property or narrow the scope of our owned and licensed patents. With respect to our patent

portfolio, as of February 29, 2020, most of the patent rights that we own or in-license are currently pending patent applications, except that we own seven issued U.S. patents and we have in-licensed one U.S. patent. With respect to both in-licensed and owned intellectual property, we cannot predict whether the patent applications we and our licensors are currently pursuing will issue as patents in any particular jurisdiction or whether the claims of any issued patents will provide sufficient protection from competitors or other third parties.

 

The patent prosecution process is expensive, time-consuming, and complex, and we may not be able to file, prosecute, maintain, enforce, or license all necessary or desirable patents and patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output in time to obtain patent protection. Although we enter into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to confidential or patentable aspects of our research and development output, such as our employees, corporate collaborators, outside scientific collaborators, contract research organizations, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors and other third parties, any of these parties may breach such agreements and disclose such output before a patent application is filed, thereby jeopardizing our ability to seek patent protection. In addition, our ability to obtain and maintain valid and enforceable patents depends on whether the differences between our inventions and the prior art allow our inventions to be patentable over the prior art. Furthermore, publications of discoveries in the scientific literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, and patent applications in the United States and other jurisdictions are typically not published until 18 months after filing, or in some cases not at all. Therefore, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors were the first to make the inventions claimed in any of our owned or licensed patents or pending patent applications, or that we or our licensors were the first to file for patent protection of such inventions.

 

If the scope of any patent protection we obtain is not sufficiently broad, or if we lose any of our patent protection, our ability to prevent our competitors from commercializing similar or identical technology and product candidates would be adversely affected.

 

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions, and has been the subject of much litigation in recent years. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability, and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our owned or in-licensed pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our product candidates, RED PLATFORM technology, or other technologies or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and product candidates.

 

No consistent policy regarding the scope of claims allowable in patents in the biotechnology field has emerged in the United States. The patent situation outside of the United States is even more uncertain. Changes in either the patent laws or their interpretation in the United States and other countries may diminish our ability to protect our inventions and enforce our intellectual property rights, and more generally could affect the value of our intellectual property. In particular, our ability to stop third parties from making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing products that infringe our intellectual property will depend in part on our success in obtaining and enforcing patent claims that cover our technology, inventions and improvements. With respect to both licensed and company-owned intellectual property, we cannot be sure that patents will be granted with respect to any of our pending patent applications or with respect to any patent applications filed by us in the future, nor can we be sure that any of our existing patents or any patents that may be granted to us in the future will be commercially useful in protecting our products and the methods used to manufacture those products. Moreover, even our issued patents do not guarantee us the right to practice our technology in relation to the commercialization of our products. The area of patent and other intellectual property rights in biotechnology is an evolving one with many risks and uncertainties, and third parties may have blocking patents that could be used to prevent us from commercializing our patented product candidates and practicing our proprietary technology. Our issued patent and those that may issue in the future may be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented, which could limit our ability to stop competitors from marketing related products or limit the length of the term of patent protection that we may have for our product candidates. In addition, the rights granted under any issued patents may not provide us with protection or competitive advantages against competitors with similar technology. Furthermore, our competitors may independently develop similar technologies. For these reasons, we may have competition for our product candidates. Moreover, because of the extensive time required for development, testing and regulatory review of a potential product, it is possible that, before any particular product candidate can be commercialized, any related patent may expire or remain in force for only a short period following commercialization, thereby reducing any advantage of the patent.

Moreover, the coverage claimed in a patent application can be significantly reduced before the patent is issued, and its scope can be reinterpreted after issuance. Even if patent applications we own or license issue as patents, they may not issue in a form that will provide us with any meaningful protection, prevent competitors or other third parties from competing with us, or otherwise provide us with any competitive advantage. Any patents that we own or in-license may be challenged, narrowed, circumvented, or invalidated by third parties. Consequently, we do not know whether our product candidates, RED PLATFORM technologies or other technologies will be protectable or remain protected by valid and enforceable patents. Our competitors or other third parties may be able to circumvent our patents by developing similar or alternative technologies or products in a non-infringing manner which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

 

The issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity, or enforceability, and patents that we own or license may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the U.S. and abroad. We or our licensors may be subject to a third party preissuance submission of prior art to the USPTO or to foreign patent authorities or become involved in opposition, derivation, revocation, reexamination, post-grant and inter partes review, or interference proceedings or other similar proceedings challenging our owned or licensed patent rights. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, or invalidate or render unenforceable, our owned or in-licensed patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize our product candidates, RED PLATFORM technologies or other technologies and compete directly with us, without payment to us, or result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. Moreover, we, or one of our licensors, may have to participate in interference proceedings declared by the USPTO to determine priority of invention or in post-grant challenge proceedings, such as oppositions in a foreign patent office, that challenge our or our licensor’s priority of invention or other features of patentability with respect to our owned or in-licensed patents and patent applications. Such challenges may result in loss of patent rights, loss of exclusivity, or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated, or held unenforceable, which could limit our ability to stop others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our product candidates, RED PLATFORM and other technologies. Such proceedings also may result in substantial cost and require significant time from our scientists and management, even if the eventual outcome is favorable to us.

 

In addition, given the amount of time required for the development, testing, and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such product candidates might expire before or shortly after such product candidates are commercialized. As a result, our intellectual property may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.

 

We may in the future co-own patent rights relating to future product candidates and our RED PLATFORM with third parties. Some of our in-licensed patent rights are, and may in the future be, co-owned with third parties. In addition, our licensors may co-own the patent rights we in-license with other third parties with whom we do not have a direct relationship. Our exclusive rights to certain of these patent rights are dependent, in part, on inter-institutional or other operating agreements between the joint owners of such patent rights, who are not parties to our license agreements. For example, under our license agreement with the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, or WIBR, as amended (or the WIBR License) we license certain patents rights co-owned by WIBR and Tufts University, or Tufts. Our rights to Tufts’ interest in such patent rights depends on an inter-institutional agreement between WIBR and Tufts, pursuant to which WIBR controls the licensing of such patent rights. If our licensors do not have exclusive control of the grant of licenses under any such third-party co-owners’ interest in such patent rights or we are otherwise unable to secure such exclusive rights, such co-owners may be able to license their rights to other third parties, including our competitors, and our competitors could market competing products and technology. In addition, we may need the cooperation of any such co-owners of our patent rights in order to enforce such patent rights against third parties, and such cooperation may not be provided to us. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial conditions, results of operations, and prospects.

 

Our rights to develop and commercialize our product candidates and RED PLATFORM are subject, in part, to the terms and conditions of licenses granted to us by others.

 

We rely upon licenses to certain patent rights and proprietary technology from third parties that are important or necessary to the development of our product candidates and RED PLATFORM. For example, under the WIBR License,

WIBR grants us an exclusive, worldwide, sublicensable license under four patent families to research, develop, make, and commercialize products and processes covered by such patent rights for all uses. The portfolio of patent rights licensed to us under the WIBR License is directed, in part, to the in vitro production of red blood cells, including the use of the enzyme sortase to conjugate a protein of interest to the cell surface. Patent rights that we in-license may be subject to a reservation of rights by one or more third parties. For example, our in-licensed patent rights from WIBR under the WIBR License were funded in part by the U.S. government. As a result, the U.S. government may have certain rights to such intellectual property. Furthermore, pursuant to a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Agreement between WIBR and a global biopharmaceutical company, the biopharmaceutical company funded research resulting in one of the patent families licensed to us under the WIBR License and retained a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free right to use the inventions and technologies covered by this patent family for research and development purposes. WIBR also retains the right with respect to all four patent families licensed to us to (i) to practice the patent rights licensed under the agreement for research, teaching and educational purposes, including sponsored research and collaboration, and (ii) to grant non-exclusive licenses to academic and not-for-profit research institutes to practice under the patent rights for research, teaching and educational purposes (excluding sponsored research), while Tufts retains such rights only with respect to the patent family that it co-owns.

 

In addition, subject to the terms of any such license agreements, we do not have the right to control the preparation, filing, prosecution and maintenance, and we may not have the right to control the enforcement, and defense of patents and patent applications covering the technology that we license from third parties. For example, under the WIBR License, WIBR controls prosecution of the patent rights licensed to us, and we control enforcement of the patent rights. We cannot be certain that our in-licensed patent applications (and any patents issuing therefrom) that are controlled by our licensors will be prepared, filed, prosecuted, maintained, enforced, and defended in a manner consistent with the best interests of our business. If our licensors fail to prosecute, maintain, enforce, and defend such patents rights, or lose rights to those patent applications (or any patents issuing therefrom), the rights we have licensed may be reduced or eliminated, our right to develop and commercialize any of our product candidates and RED PLATFORM technologies that are subject of such licensed rights could be adversely affected, and we may not be able to prevent competitors from making, using and selling competing products. Moreover, we cannot be certain that such activities by our licensors have been or will be conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations or will result in valid and enforceable patents or other intellectual property rights. In addition, even where we have the right to control patent prosecution of patents and patent applications we have licensed to and from third parties, we may still be adversely affected or prejudiced by actions or inactions of our licensees, our licensors and their counsel that took place prior to the date upon which we assumed control over patent prosecution. Finally, subject to the terms of any such license agreements, the licensor may be able to terminate the license without our consent. For example, under the WIBR License, WIBR may terminate the WIBR License upon written notice to us if we, along with our affiliates and sublicensees, cease to carry on business related to the WIBR License for more than six months. WIBR may also terminate the WIBR License for our material breach that remains uncured for sixty days after receiving notice thereof, if we fail to pay amounts due under the agreement within thirty days after receiving notice of such failure, or if we challenge the validity or enforceability of any of the licensed patent rights.

 

Some intellectual property may have been discovered through government funded programs and thus may be subject to federal regulations such as “march-in” rights, certain reporting requirements and a preference for U.S.-based companies. Compliance with such regulations may limit our exclusive rights, and limit our ability to contract with non-U.S. manufacturers.

 

Our in licensed patent rights from WIBR under the WIBR License were funded in part by the U.S. government and are therefore subject to certain federal regulations. When new technologies are developed with U.S. government funding, the U.S. government generally obtains certain rights in any resulting patents, including a non-exclusive license authorizing the U.S. government to use the invention or to have others use the invention on its behalf. The U.S. government’s rights may also permit it to disclose the funded inventions and technology to third parties and to exercise march-in rights to use or allow third parties to use the technology we have licensed that was developed using U.S. government funding. The U.S. government may exercise its march-in rights if it determines that action is necessary because we fail to achieve practical application of the government-funded technology, or because action is necessary to alleviate health or safety needs, to meet requirements of federal regulations, or to give preference to U.S. industry. In addition, our rights in such inventions may be subject to certain requirements to manufacture products embodying such inventions in the United

States in certain circumstances and if this requirement is not waived. Any exercise by the U.S. government of such rights or by any third party of its reserved rights could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

 

If we fail to comply with our obligations in the agreements under which we license intellectual property rights from third parties or otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our licensors, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.

 

The WIBR License imposes, and we expect our future license agreements will impose, various development, diligence, commercialization, and other obligations on us in order to maintain the licenses. In spite of our efforts, WIBR or a future licensor might conclude that we have materially breached our obligations under such license agreements and seek to terminate the license agreements, thereby removing or limiting our ability to develop and commercialize products and technology covered by these license agreements. If these in-licenses are terminated, or if the underlying patent rights licensed thereunder fail to provide the intended exclusivity, competitors or other third parties would have the freedom to seek regulatory approval of, and to market, products identical to ours and we may be required to cease our development and commercialization of certain of our product candidates or of our current RED PLATFORM technologies. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial conditions, results of operations, and prospects.

 

Moreover, disputes may arise regarding intellectual property subject to a licensing agreement, including:

 

the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues;

 

the extent to which our technology and processes infringe on intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement;

 

the sublicensing of patent and other rights under our collaborative development relationships;

 

our diligence obligations under the license agreement and what activities satisfy those diligence obligations;

 

the inventorship and ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by our licensors and us and our partners;

 

whether and the extent to which inventors are able to contest the assignment of their rights to our licensors; and

 

the priority of invention of patented technology.

 

The agreements under which we currently license intellectual property or technology from third parties are complex, and certain provisions in such agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could narrow what we believe to be the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology, or increase what we believe to be our financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. Moreover, if disputes over intellectual property that we have licensed prevent or impair our ability to maintain our current licensing arrangements on commercially acceptable terms, we may be unable to continue to utilize our RED PLATFORM or successfully develop and commercialize the affected product candidates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions, results of operations, and prospects.

 

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights throughout the world.

 

Filing, prosecuting, and defending patents on our product candidates, RED PLATFORM technologies and other technologies in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from practicing our inventions in all countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use

our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our products, and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.

 

Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents, trade secrets, and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology products, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our intellectual property and proprietary rights generally. Proceedings to enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly, could put our patent applications at risk of not issuing, and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.

 

Many countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties. In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of such patent. If we or any of our licensors is forced to grant a license to third parties with respect to any patents relevant to our business, our competitive position may be impaired, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects may be adversely affected.

 

Our inability to protect our intellectual property or failure to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of data or other sensitive company information, by cyber-attack or other event, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

Our success and competitive position are dependent in part upon our proprietary intellectual property. We rely on a combination of patents and trade secrets to protect our proprietary intellectual property, and we expect to continue to do so. Although we seek to protect our proprietary rights through a variety of means, we cannot guarantee that the protective steps we have taken are adequate to protect these rights. Patents issued to or licensed by us in the past or in the future may be challenged and held invalid. In addition, as our patents expire, we may be unsuccessful in extending their protection through patent term extensions. The expiration of, or the failure to maintain or extend our patents, could have a material adverse effect on us.

 

We also rely on confidentiality agreements with certain employees, consultants, and other third parties to protect, in part, trade secrets and other proprietary information. These agreements could be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for such a breach. In addition, others could independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information or gain access to our trade secrets or proprietary information.

 

Our intellectual property, other proprietary technology, and other sensitive company information is dependent on sophisticated information technology systems and is potentially vulnerable to cyber-attack, loss, damage, destruction from system malfunction, computer viruses, loss of data privacy, or misappropriation or misuse of it by those with permitted access, and other events. While we have invested to protect our intellectual property and other information, and continue to upgrade and enhance our systems to keep pace with continuing changes in information processing technology, there can be no assurance that our precautionary measures will prevent breakdowns, breaches, cyber-attacks, or other events. Such events could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, financial condition, or results of operations.

 

Obtaining and maintaining our patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment, and other requirements imposed by government patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non-compliance with these requirements.

 

Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees, and various other government fees on patents and applications will be due to be paid to the USPTO and various government patent agencies outside of the United States over the lifetime of our owned or licensed patents and applications. In certain circumstances, we rely on our licensing partners to pay these fees due to U.S. and non-U.S. patent agencies. The USPTO and various non-U.S. government agencies require compliance with several procedural, documentary, fee payment, and other similar provisions during the patent application process. We are also dependent on our licensors to take the necessary action to comply with these requirements with respect to our licensed intellectual property. In some cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules. There are situations, however, in which non-compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in a partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. In such an event, potential competitors might be able to enter the market with similar or identical products or technology, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

 

Changes in U.S. patent law could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our products.

 

Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents. Assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, prior to March 2013, in the United States, the first to invent the claimed invention was entitled to the patent, while outside the United States, the first to file a patent application was entitled to the patent. After March 2013, under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the America Invents Act, enacted in September 2011, the United States transitioned to a first inventor to file system in which, assuming that other requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application will be entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether a third party was the first to invent the claimed invention. A third party that files a patent application in the USPTO after March 2013, but before us could therefore be awarded a patent covering an invention of ours even if we had made the invention before it was made by such third party. This will require us to be cognizant going forward of the time from invention to filing of a patent application. Since patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time after filing or until issuance, we cannot be certain that we or our licensors were the first to either (i) file any patent application related to our product candidates, RED PLATFORM or other technologies or (ii) invent any of the inventions claimed in our or our licensor’s patents or patent applications.

 

The America Invents Act also includes a number of significant changes that affect the way patent applications will be prosecuted and also may affect patent litigation. These include allowing third party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent by USPTO administered post-grant proceedings, including post-grant review, inter partes review, and derivation proceedings. Because of a lower evidentiary standard in USPTO proceedings compared to the evidentiary standard in United States federal courts necessary to invalidate a patent claim, a third party could potentially provide evidence in a USPTO proceeding sufficient for the USPTO to hold a claim invalid even though the same evidence would be insufficient to invalidate the claim if first presented in a district court action. Accordingly, a third party may attempt to use the USPTO procedures to invalidate our patent claims that would not have been invalidated if first challenged by the third party as a defendant in a district court action. Therefore, the America Invents Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our owned or in-licensed patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our owned or in-licensed issued patents, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

 

In addition, the patent positions of companies in the development and commercialization of biologics and pharmaceuticals are particularly uncertain. Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. This combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the validity and enforceability of patents, once obtained.

Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that could have a material adverse effect on our existing patent portfolio and our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property in the future.

 

Issued patents covering our product candidates, and any patents that may issue covering our RED PLATFORM technologies and other technologies, could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court or before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad.

 

If we or one of our licensors initiated legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent covering our product candidates, RED PLATFORM technologies or other technologies, the defendant could counterclaim that such patent is invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness or non-enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld relevant information from the USPTO, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. Third parties may raise claims challenging the validity or enforceability of our owned or in-licensed patents before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include re-examination, post-grant review, inter partes review, interference proceedings, derivation proceedings, and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions (e.g., opposition proceedings). Such proceedings could result in the revocation of, cancellation of, or amendment to our patents in such a way that they no longer cover our product candidates, RED PLATFORM technologies, or other technologies. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art, of which we or our licensing partners and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. If a third party were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on our product candidates, RED PLATFORM or other technologies. Such a loss of patent protection would have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

 

If we do not obtain patent term extension and/or data exclusivity for any product candidates we may develop, our business may be materially harmed.

 

Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of any FDA marketing approval of any product candidates we may develop, one or more of our owned or in-licensed U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Hatch-Waxman Act. The Hatch-Waxman Act permits a patent term extension of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. A patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent may be extended and only those claims covering the approved drug, a method for using it, or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. Similar extensions as compensation for patent term lost during regulatory review processes are also available in certain foreign countries and territories, such as in Europe under a Supplementary Patent Certificate. However, we may not be granted an extension in the United States and/or foreign countries and territories because of, for example, failing to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, failing to apply within applicable deadlines, failing to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents, or otherwise failing to satisfy applicable requirements. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is shorter than what we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially harmed.

 

We may be subject to claims challenging the inventorship of our patents and other intellectual property.

 

We or our licensors may be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an interest in our owned or in-licensed patent rights, trade secrets, or other intellectual property as an inventor or co-inventor. For example, we or our licensors may have inventorship disputes arise from conflicting obligations of employees, consultants or others who are involved in developing our product candidates, RED PLATFORM or other technologies. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or our licensors’ ownership of our owned or in-licensed patent rights, trade secrets or other intellectual property. If we or our licensors fail

in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights, such as exclusive ownership of, or right to use, intellectual property that is important to our product candidates, RED PLATFORM and other technologies. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management and other employees. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

 

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position would be harmed.

 

In addition to seeking patents for our product candidates, RED PLATFORM and other technologies, we also rely on trade secrets and confidentiality agreements to protect our unpatented know-how, technology, and other proprietary information and to maintain our competitive position. Trade secrets and know-how can be difficult to protect. We expect our trade secrets and know-how to over time be disseminated within the industry through independent development, the publication of journal articles describing the methodology, and the movement of personnel from academic to industry scientific positions.

 

We currently, and may continue in the future continue to, rely on third parties to assist us in developing and manufacturing our product candidates. Accordingly, we must, at times, share know-how and trade secrets, including those related to our RED PLATFORM, with them. We may in the future also enter into research and development collaborations with third parties that may require us to share know-how and trade secrets under the terms of our research and development partnerships or similar agreements. We seek to protect our know-how, trade secrets and other proprietary technology, in part, by entering into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, and including in our vendor and service agreements terms protecting our confidential information, know-how and trade secrets, with parties who have access to such information, such as our employees, scientific collaborators, contract research organizations, contract manufacturers, consultants, advisors and other third parties. We also enter into confidentiality and invention or patent assignment agreements with our employees and consultants as well as train our employees not to bring or use proprietary information or technology from former employers to us or in their work, and we remind former employees when they leave their employment of their confidentiality obligations. However, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party that may have or have had access to our trade secrets or proprietary technology and processes. We also seek to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of our data and other confidential information by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems.

 

Despite our efforts, any of the aforementioned parties may breach the agreements and disclose our proprietary information, including our trade secrets, or there may be a lapses or failures in our physical and electronic security systems which lead to our proprietary information being disclosed, and we may not be able to obtain adequate remedies in the event of any such breaches. Monitoring unauthorized uses and disclosures is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary technologies will be effective. If any of our scientific advisors, employees, contractors and consultants who are parties to these agreements breaches or violates the terms of any of these agreements, we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach or violation, and we could lose our trade secrets as a result. Moreover, if confidential information that is licensed or disclosed to us by our partners, collaborators, or others is inadvertently disclosed or subject to a breach or violation, we may be exposed to liability to the owner of that confidential information. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. In addition, some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we would have no right to prevent them from using that technology or information to compete with us. If any of our trade secrets were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, our competitive position would be materially and adversely harmed.

 

We may not be successful in obtaining, through acquisitions, in-licenses or otherwise, necessary rights to our product candidates, RED PLATFORM technologies or other technologies.

 

We currently have rights to certain intellectual property, through licenses from third parties, to develop our product candidates and RED PLATFORM technologies. Some pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, and academic institutions are competing with us in the field of cellular therapeutics and red cell technologies and may have patents and have filed and are likely filing patent applications potentially relevant to our business. In order to avoid infringing these third-party patents, we may find it necessary or prudent to obtain licenses to such patents from such third party intellectual property holders. We may also require licenses from third parties for certain technologies that we are evaluating for use with our current or future product candidates. However, we may be unable to secure such licenses or otherwise acquire or in-license any compositions, methods of use, processes, or other intellectual property rights from third parties that we identify as necessary for our current or future product candidates and our RED PLATFORM at a reasonable cost or on reasonable terms, if at all. The licensing or acquisition of third party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and several more established companies may pursue strategies to license or acquire third party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive or necessary. These established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, capital resources and greater clinical development and commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. We also may be unable to license or acquire third party intellectual property rights on terms that would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment or at all.

 

If we are unable to successfully obtain rights to required third party intellectual property rights or maintain the existing intellectual property rights we have, we may be required to expend significant time and resources to redesign our technology, product candidates, or the methods for manufacturing them or to develop or license replacement technology, all of which may not be feasible on a technical or commercial basis. If we are unable to do so, we may be unable to develop or commercialize the affected product candidates or continue to utilize our existing RED PLATFORM technology, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects significantly.

 

We may be subject to claims that our employees, consultants, or advisors have wrongfully used or disclosed alleged trade secrets of their current or former employers or claims asserting ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property.

 

Many of our employees, consultants, and advisors are currently or were previously employed at universities or other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including our licensors, competitors and potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees, consultants, and advisors do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these individuals have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such individual’s current or former employer. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management.

 

In addition, while it is our policy to require our employees and contractors who may be involved in the conception or development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who, in fact, conceives or develops intellectual property that we regard as our own. The assignment of intellectual property rights may not be self-executing, or the assignment agreements may be breached, and we may be forced to bring claims against third parties, or defend claims that they may bring against us, to determine the ownership of what we regard as our intellectual property. Such claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

 

Third-party claims of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or other violation against us, our licensors or our collaborators may prevent or delay the development and commercialization of our product candidates, RED PLATFORM and other technologies.

 

The field of cellular therapeutics is competitive and dynamic. Due to the focused research and development that is taking place by several companies, including us and our competitors, in this field, the intellectual property landscape is in flux,

and it may remain uncertain in the future. As such, there may be significant intellectual property related litigation and proceedings relating to our owned and in-licensed, and other third party, intellectual property and proprietary rights in the future.

 

Our commercial success depends in part on our, our licensors’ and our collaborators’ ability to avoid infringing, misappropriating and otherwise violating the patents and other intellectual property rights of third parties. There is a substantial amount of complex litigation involving patents and other intellectual property rights in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as administrative proceedings for challenging patents, including interference, derivation and reexamination proceedings before the USPTO or oppositions and other comparable proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. As discussed above, recently, due to changes in U.S. law referred to as patent reform, new procedures including inter partes review and post-grant review have been implemented. As stated above, this reform adds uncertainty to the possibility of challenge to our patents in the future.

 

Numerous U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending patent applications owned by third parties exist relating to red cell technologies and therapeutic proteins, including enzymes, and in the fields in which we are developing our product candidates. As the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that our product candidates, RED PLATFORM technologies and other technologies may give rise to claims of infringement of the patent rights of others. We cannot assure you that our product candidates, RED PLATFORM technologies and other technologies that we have developed, are developing or may develop in the future will not infringe existing or future patents owned by third parties. We may not be aware of patents that have already been issued and that a third party, for example, a competitor in the fields in which we are developing our product candidates, RED PLATFORM and other technologies might assert are infringed by our current or future product candidates, RED PLATFORM or other technologies, including claims to compositions, formulations, methods of manufacture or methods of use or treatment that cover our product candidates, RED PLATFORM or other technologies.

 

It is also possible that patents owned by third parties of which we are aware, but which we do not believe are relevant to our product candidates, RED PLATFORM or other technologies, could be found to be infringed by our product candidates, RED PLATFORM or other technologies. In addition, because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending patent applications that may later result in issued patents that our product candidates, RED PLATFORM or other technologies may infringe. We cannot provide any assurances that third-party patents do not exist which might be enforced against our current technology, including our RED PLATFORM technologies, manufacturing methods, product candidates, or future methods or products resulting in either an injunction prohibiting our manufacture or future sales, or, with respect to our future sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties and/or other forms of compensation to third parties, which could be significant.

 

Third parties may have patents or obtain patents in the future and claim that the manufacture, use or sale of our product candidates, RED PLATFORM or other technologies infringes upon these patents. We are aware of an issued patent outside the United States that is directed to erythrocytes that comprise exogeneous polypeptides. While we believe that we have reasonable defenses against a claim of infringement, including that certain claims in this patent are invalid, there can be no assurance that we will prevail in any such action by the holder of the patent. In the event that any third party claims that we infringe their patents or that we are otherwise employing their proprietary technology without authorization and initiates litigation against us, even if we believe such claims are without merit, a court of competent jurisdiction could hold that such patents are valid, enforceable and infringed by our product candidates, RED PLATFORM or other technologies. In this case, the holders of such patents may be able to block our ability to commercialize the applicable product candidate or technology unless we obtain a license under the applicable patents, or until such patents expire or are finally determined to be held invalid or unenforceable. Such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we are able to obtain a license, the license would likely obligate us to pay license fees or royalties or both, and the rights granted to us might be non-exclusive, which could result in our competitors gaining access to the same intellectual property. If we are unable to obtain a necessary license to a third-party patent on commercially reasonable terms, we may be unable to commercialize our product candidates, RED PLATFORM, or other technologies, or such commercialization efforts may be significantly delayed, which could in turn significantly harm our business.

 

Defense of infringement claims, regardless of their merit, would involve substantial litigation expense and would be a substantial diversion of management and other employee resources from our business, and may impact our reputation. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may be enjoined from further developing or commercializing our infringing product candidates, RED PLATFORM, or other technologies. In addition, we may have to pay substantial damages, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees for willful infringement, obtain one or more licenses from third parties, pay royalties and/or redesign our infringing product candidates or technologies, which may be impossible or require substantial time and monetary expenditure. In that event, we would be unable to further develop and commercialize our product candidates, RED PLATFORM, or other technologies, which could harm our business significantly.

 

Engaging in litigation to defend against third parties alleging that we have infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated their patents or other intellectual property rights is very expensive, particularly for a company of our size, and time-consuming. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of litigation or administrative proceedings more effectively than we can because of greater financial resources. Patent litigation and other proceedings may also absorb significant management time. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings against us could impair our ability to compete in the marketplace. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

 

We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time-consuming, and unsuccessful.

 

Competitors may infringe our patents or the patents of our licensing partners, or we may be required to defend against claims of infringement. In addition, our patents or the patents of our licensing partners also may become involved in inventorship, priority or validity disputes. To counter or defend against such claims can be expensive and time-consuming. In an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent owned or in-licensed by us is invalid or unenforceable, the other party’s use of our patented technology falls under the safe harbor to patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. §271(e)(1), or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our owned and in-licensed patents do not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our owned or in-licensed patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. Even if we establish infringement, the court may decide not to grant an injunction against further infringing activity and instead award only monetary damages, which may or may not be an adequate remedy. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation.

 

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 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 stock. 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 conduct such litigation or proceedings adequately. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. 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.

 

If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.

 

Our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names, which we need to build name recognition among potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. At times, competitors or other third parties may adopt trade names or trademarks similar to ours, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to market confusion. If we assert trademark infringement claims, a

court may determine that the marks we have asserted are invalid or unenforceable, or that the party against whom we have asserted trademark infringement has superior rights to the marks in question. In this case, we could ultimately be forced to cease use of such trademarks. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names. Over the long term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights related to trademarks, trade secrets, domain names, copyrights or other intellectual property may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

 

Intellectual property rights do not necessarily address all potential threats.

 

The degree of future protection afforded by our intellectual property rights is uncertain because intellectual property rights have limitations and may not adequately protect our business or permit us to maintain our competitive advantage. For example:

 

others may be able to make products that are similar to our product candidates or utilize similar technology but that are not covered by the claims of the patents that we license or may own;

 

we, or our current or future licensors or collaborators, might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by the issued patent or pending patent application that we license or own now or in the future;

 

we, or our current or future licensors or collaborators, might not have been the first to file patent applications covering certain of our or their inventions;

 

others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies without infringing our owned or licensed intellectual property rights;

 

it is possible that our current or future pending owned or licensed patent applications will not lead to issued patents;

 

issued patents that we hold rights to may be held invalid or unenforceable, including as a result of legal challenges by our competitors or other third parties;

 

our competitors or other third parties might conduct research and development activities in countries where we do not have patent rights and then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive products for sale in our major commercial markets;

 

we may not develop additional proprietary technologies that are patentable;

 

the patents of others may harm our business; and

 

we may choose not to file a patent in order to maintain certain trade secrets or know-how, and a third party may subsequently file a patent covering such intellectual property.

 

Should any of these events occur, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.