Societal CDMO, Inc. - Annual Report: 2017 (Form 10-K)

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017

For the transition period from                      to                     

Commission File Number: 001-36329

Recro Pharma, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(484) 395-2470

(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 and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted 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 and post such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ☐

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

     Emerging growth company            ☒

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  ☒

On the last business day of the most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value (based on the closing sale price of its common stock on that date) of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $111.6 million.

As of March 1, 2018, there were 19,156,851 shares of common stock outstanding, par value $0.01 per share.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K incorporates certain information by reference from the registrant’s proxy statement for the 2018 annual meeting of shareholders to be filed no later than 120 days after the end of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Index

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents incorporated by reference herein contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K or the documents incorporated by reference herein regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward- looking statements contain these identifying words.

The forward-looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents incorporated herein by reference include, among other things, statements about:

We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. We have included important factors in the cautionary statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, particularly under “Risk Factors,” that we believe could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that we make. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures, collaborations or investments we may make.

You should read this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents that we incorporate by reference herein completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Solely for convenience, tradenames referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K appear without the ® symbol, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or that

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the applicable owner will not assert its rights, to these tradenames. All trademarks, service marks and tradenames included or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners, including, without limitation, the NanoCrystal® mark owned by Alkermes and/or its affiliates.

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PART I

Overview

We are a specialty pharmaceutical company that operates through two business divisions: an Acute Care division and a revenue-generating contract development and manufacturing, or CDMO division, through which we operate a revenue generating manufacturing facility in Gainesville, Georgia. We believe that we can bring valuable therapeutic options for patients, prescribers and payers, such as our lead product candidate, injectable meloxicam, to the hospital and related acute care markets. We believe we can create value for our shareholders through the development, registration and commercialization of injectable meloxicam and our other pipeline product candidates, as well as through the ongoing contributions of our cash-flow positive CDMO division. In addition to our pipeline, we continue to evaluate acquisition and in-licensing opportunities.

Acute Care

Our Acute Care division is primarily focused on developing and commercializing innovative products for hospital and related acute care settings. Our lead product candidate is a proprietary injectable form of meloxicam, a long-acting preferential COX-2 inhibitor. IV meloxicam has successfully completed three Phase III clinical trials, including two pivotal efficacy trials, a large double-blind Phase III safety trial and other safety studies for the management of moderate to severe pain. Overall, the total new drug application, or NDA, program included over 1,400 patients. In late July 2017, we submitted a NDA to the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for IV meloxicam 30mg for the management of moderate to severe pain. The FDA has accepted the NDA for review and set a date for decision on the NDA under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, of May 26, 2018. We believe that IV meloxicam compares favorably to competitive therapies in onset of pain relief, duration of pain relief, extent of pain relief and time to peak analgesic effect as well as that it has been well tolerated. We believe injectable meloxicam, as a non-opioid product, will overcome many of the issues associated with commonly prescribed opioid therapeutics, including respiratory depression, excessive nausea and vomiting, constipation, as well having no addiction potential while maintaining analgesic, or pain relieving, effects. We are pursuing a Section 505(b)(2) regulatory strategy for IV meloxicam.

Our pipeline also includes other early-stage product candidates, including Dex-IN, a proprietary intranasal formulation of dexmedetomidine, or Dex, an alpha-2 adrenergic agonist that we are evaluating for use in treatment of peri-procedural pain, and two novel neuromuscular blocking agents, or NMBs, and a related proprietary chemical reversal agent.

Pipeline

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CDMO

Our CDMO division leverages formulation expertise to develop and manufacture pharmaceutical products using proprietary delivery technologies for commercial partners who commercialize or plan to commercialize these products. These collaborations result in revenue streams including manufacturing, royalties, profit sharing, and research and development, which support continued operations for our CDMO division and have contributed excess cash flow to be used for research and development in our Acute Care division. We operate a 97,000 square foot, DEA-licensed manufacturing facility in Gainesville, Georgia and we currently manufacture the following key products with our commercial partners: Ritalin LA^®, Focalin XR^®, Verelan PM^®, Verelan SR^®, Verapamil PM, Verapamil SR and Zohydro ER^®, as well as supporting development stage products.

Our Strategy

We believe that we can bring valuable therapeutic options for patients, prescribers and payers, such as injectable meloxicam, to the hospital and acute care markets. We believe we can create value for our shareholders through the development, registration and commercialization of injectable meloxicam and our other pipeline product candidates as well as through the ongoing contributions of our cash-flow positive CDMO division. In addition to our pipeline, we evaluate acquisition and in-licensing opportunities, especially those that can contribute additional revenue and cash flow. Our near-term goals include:

Complete regulatory approval of IV meloxicam. Our key 2018 goal is to receive FDA approval of IV meloxicam for the management of moderate to severe pain. In late July 2017, we submitted a NDA to the FDA for IV meloxicam 30mg for the management of moderate to severe pain. The FDA has accepted the NDA for review and set a PDUFA date of May 26, 2018.

Expand data supporting benefits of IV meloxicam.  We are currently evaluating IV meloxicam in a number of programs including a Phase IIIb program that includes clinical trials in colorectal surgery patients and orthopedic surgery patients. We anticipate completing the Phase IIIb program by approximately the end of 2018.

Commercialize IV meloxicam in the United States independently or with third-parties. We believe IV meloxicam targets a group of specialists which would allow for successful marketing and commercialization by a company of our size. Assuming approval, we are currently preparing for a U.S. commercial launch of IV meloxicam and are establishing sales management, marketing and reimbursement functions to commercialize IV meloxicam in the United States.

Enter into strategic partnerships to maximize the potential of IV meloxicam and other product candidates outside of the United States. We intend to pursue strategic collaborations with other pharmaceutical companies to develop and commercialize IV meloxicam outside of the United States. We believe that our development expertise and unique product candidates make us an attractive partner to potential strategic collaborators.

Leverage our development experience to progress our other pipeline product candidates. Our early-stage product pipeline includes proprietary product candidates for peri-procedural pain and for use in anesthesia (neuromuscular blocking and reversal). Our goal is to leverage our drug development expertise to develop these product candidates for use in hospital and acute care settings.

Expand our contract development and manufacturing business (CDMO). We are focused on the growth of our CDMO services. We intend to seek additional product and related development partnerships through ongoing business development efforts, as well as possibly through expansion of our proprietary drug delivery technologies, and current and new manufacturing service offerings.

Acute Care

Our Acute Care division is primarily focused on developing innovative products for hospital and related acute care settings.

Our Lead Product Candidate - IV Meloxicam

Meloxicam is a long-acting, preferential COX-2 inhibitor that possesses analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activities. Our proprietary injectable form of the drug, which utilizes NanoCrystal® technology, increases overall drug solubility which provides a faster onset of action of meloxicam and provides a rapid treatment of acute pain which lasts for approximately 24 hours.

Post-Operative Pain Market

Based upon information from the National Center for Health Statistics, it is estimated that there are over 100 million surgeries performed in the United States each year. Of these surgeries, we believe at least 50 million procedures require post-operative pain medication. Additionally, despite efforts to improve the provision of perioperative analgesia, the proportion of patients reporting moderate to severe pain after surgery has remained constant over the past decade.

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While opioids provide effective analgesia for post-operative pain, their use is increasingly limited due to the known side effects of nausea, vomiting, constipation, respiratory depression, the development of tolerance and the potential for impact on addiction, misuse and abuse. Due to the potential for abuse, opioids are regulated as controlled substances and are listed on Schedule II and III by the DEA. According to a January 2016 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, overdose deaths from prescription painkillers (defined to mean opioid or narcotic pain relievers) have increased significantly over the past 14 years and emergency department visits involved with misusing or abusing prescription opioid painkillers increased 153% between 2004 and 2011. In the acute care setting, and according to the Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert on the Safe Use of Opioids in Hospitals, opioid analgesics rank among the drugs most frequently associated with adverse drug events. As a result of the addictive potential and side effects, pain sufferers tend to limit their use of opioids, resulting in as many as 40% of post-operative patients reporting inadequate pain relief. This can reduce the quality of life for individuals and, according to an August 2012 article in the Journal of Pain, creates an economic burden estimated to be at least $560 to $635 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity.

Efforts to improve pain control with multimodal analgesia are being recommended by many medical societies as a way to decrease opioid-related morbidity and mortality. Multimodal analgesia, or MMA, refers to the use of two or more drugs or nonpharmacologic interventions with differing mechanisms. Its use has been demonstrated to limit the amount of opioids consumed and provide more effective pain control than opioids alone. Effective MMA may further lessen the cost burden and personal toll of opioid-centric regimens. According to an April 2013 article in Pharmacotherapy, opioid-related adverse events negatively impact patients and the healthcare system and cause a 55% longer length of hospital stay, 47% higher cost of care, 36% higher 30-day readmission rates and a 3.4% higher risk of inpatient mortality.

We believe that IV meloxicam offers an attractive alternative for relief of moderate to severe pain without the risks associated with opioids. We also believe it can be an important part of an MMA approach for patients in the post-operative setting. Accordingly, we believe that physicians, hospitals and third-party payers, including Medicare and Medicaid, are quite interested in new non-opioid pain therapies that provide effective post-operative pain relief without the adverse issues associated with opioids.

IV Meloxicam Advantages

We believe IV meloxicam has a number of advantages over existing analgesics, including the following:

Does not cause respiratory depression. Meloxicam does not cause respiratory depression. Besides the addictive nature of opioids, we believe that medical practitioners are highly concerned with respiratory depression, which is a well-documented side effect of opioid use (all opioids, including morphine, fentanyl and oxycodone). Respiratory depression, which is defined by inadequate ventilation leading to increased carbon dioxide levels and respiratory acidosis, is an established outcome of opioid use and requires significant patient monitoring in the acute care setting. One of the more concerning adverse effects of chronic opioid use, for which tolerance does not develop, is respiratory depression during sleep, which can be life threatening. IV meloxicam has demonstrated through multiple clinical trials and patient use that it does not cause respiratory depression.

Not a controlled substance. Meloxicam is not an opioid and not a controlled substance. Opioid therapeutics are currently controlled by the DEA under the Controlled Substances Act. Under this act, opioids have been scheduled based on their potential for abuse and/or addiction. For those opioids placed in Schedule II, federal law prohibits the refilling of prescriptions, thus requiring patients to request, and physicians to write, additional prescriptions for each refill. Examples of Schedule II opioids include morphine, fentanyl, sufentanil, hydrocodone and oxycodone.

Onset of pain relief. IV meloxicam results in rapid onset of pain relief as early as 10 minutes after administration.

Duration of pain relief. IV meloxicam has demonstrated the potential to be an effective analgesic for up to 24 hours after a single dose in clinical trials. IV forms of ketorolac, ibuprofen and acetaminophen provide effective pain relief up to four to six hours, resulting in the need for four to six doses per day.

Time to peak analgesic effect. Clinical data has demonstrated that IV meloxicam reaches peak analgesic effect within approximately 40 minutes of administration.

Administration. We believe that IV meloxicam has an administration advantage in terms of being administered by bolus injection, whereas ibuprofen and acetaminophen can take up to 15 to 30 minutes to infuse.

GI Tolerability. Unlike opioids, the mechanism of action of meloxicam provides analgesic activity with limited impact on gastrointestinal motility thus limiting the common unwanted side effects of opioids, referred to as Opioid Induced Bowel Dysfunction, or OIBD. OIBD comprises several symptoms including constipation, anorexia, nausea and vomiting, gastroesophageal reflux, delayed digestion, abdominal pain, flatulence, bloating, hard stool, straining during bowel movement and incomplete evacuation.

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Reduction of Opioid Consumption. Reducing opioid use inside and outside the hospital is becoming more of a priority for physicians and hospital administrators.  IV meloxicam has demonstrated the potential to relieve serious pain while reducing overall opioid consumption.  IV meloxicam also demonstrated a potential greater reduction in opioid use in patients over 65 years old with mild renal impairment in clinical trials.

Commercial Strategy

If IV meloxicam is approved by the FDA, we believe that it may have a positive value proposition based on our current clinical data.  Based on our market research, a new analgesic would be perceived to have a strong value proposition if it can: (1) reduce opioid consumption, (2) allow ambulatory surgical centers to perform more complex procedures and discharge patients on the same day, and (3) allow hospitals to safely speed up patient discharge, reduce inpatient admission and/or length of stay.  

If IV meloxicam is approved by the FDA, we are hoping to generate early commercial experience with IV meloxicam at settings that have lower barriers to new product adoption and have an appetite for use of newer therapies.  To accomplish this goal, we believe it is important to educate surgeons (e.g., orthopedic, colorectal and general) and anesthesiologists that practice at multiple settings of care within the acute care market, including ambulatory surgical centers, or ASCs, hospital outpatient departments, and hospitals (often referred to as the “hospital inpatient setting”).  We believe that ASCs may have lower barriers to adoption and be willing to consider newer therapies during our launch phase, based on our market research in this sector.  We also believe early success in commercializing IV meloxicam with ASC’s could lead to increased adoption of IV meloxicam in hospital outpatient settings, and ultimately hospital inpatient settings.  

Overall, we plan to initially target approximately 1,500 hospitals and associated hospital outpatient departments, or HOPDs, and 600 ASCs, which together represent approximately 12.6 million patients across all settings of care.  If IV meloxicam is approved by the FDA, we will complete the process of building a sales force and we plan to initially launch with approximately 50 representatives. In addition, we have medical, account-based and reimbursement teams. We believe this focused approach will help educate health care professionals, support formulary review processes and generate early adoption after launch with surgeons and anesthesiologists. We expect to reach full deployment of the sales organization in 2019, assuming FDA approval by our PDUFA date, at which time we expect to have a sales force of approximately 100 sales representatives who would market IV meloxicam to health care professionals at our called-on institutions.

Clinical Development

Multiple clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics and analgesic effect of IV meloxicam. Based on the results of these trials, we believe IV meloxicam has the potential to be a potent analgesic used in the management of moderate to severe pain. IV meloxicam has successfully completed two pivotal Phase III clinical trials, a large double-blind Phase III safety trial as well as four Phase II trials and additional pharmacokinetics/safety studies. Overall, we enrolled a total of approximately 1,400 patients in our Phase II/III programs. At the end of July 2017, we submitted a NDA to the FDA for IV meloxicam 30mg for the management of moderate to severe pain. The FDA has accepted the NDA for review and set a PDUFA date of May 26, 2018. In addition, we are currently evaluating IV meloxicam in usage and pharmacoeconomic Phase IIIb clinical trials in colorectal surgery patients and orthopedic surgery patients.

Per the Pediatric Study Plan Agreement with FDA, two clinical trials will be conducted in the pediatric population. These trials will be initiated following NDA approval of IV meloxicam and after appropriate regulatory and institutional review board, or IRB, review.

Phase IIIb Clinical Trials

We are currently evaluating IV meloxicam in a Phase IIIb program that includes clinical trials in colorectal surgery patients and orthopedic surgery patients to assess opioid consumption, pain intensity and length of hospital stay with associated pharmacoeconomic parameters.  We anticipate completing the Phase IIIb program in 2018.

Phase III Clinical Trials

Study REC-15-016

In this pivotal clinical trial, evaluating pain relief over a 48-hour period in a hard tissue, post-operative pain model (bunionectomy), IV meloxicam achieved the primary endpoint of a statistically significant difference in Summed Pain Intensity Difference, or SPID, over the first 48 hours, or SPID48, compared to placebo. This was a Phase III, randomized, multicenter, multi-dose, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating IV meloxicam in the management of post-operative pain following bunionectomy surgery. Two hundred and one patients who met the eligibility criteria were randomized to receive either IV meloxicam (30 mg) or placebo once daily for up to three days. Following the beginning of treatment, patients remained under observation for 48 hours at study centers. Patients were

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followed for 28 days after the initial dose of study medication. There was an oral opioid rescue treatment available to all patients, if required. The primary objective of the trial was to evaluate pain relief over a 48-hour period of IV meloxicam when administered as a bolus injection.

The primary efficacy endpoint of the trial was SPID48, utilizing a windowed 2-hour last observation carried forward, or W2LOCF, analysis method. Secondary efficacy endpoints included use of opioid rescue medication, SPIDs over various time intervals, and patient global assessment, or PGA, of pain control. The IV meloxicam treatment arm demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in SPID48 (p=0.0034) compared to the placebo arm (Figure 1).

Figure 1: SPID48

The study also achieved the majority of secondary endpoints, including statistically significant differences in SPID6 (p=0.0153), SPID12 (p=0.0053), SPID24 (p=0.0084), SPID24-48 (p=0.0050), time to first use of rescue medication (p=0.0076), and several other rescue use and pain relief metrics during the first 48 hours, compared to placebo. Times to Perceptible and Meaningful Pain Relief, % Subjects with >50% Improvement within 6 Hours, and PGA of Pain Control at 24 hours were not significantly different between treatment groups.

The safety results demonstrated that IV meloxicam was well tolerated with no serious adverse events, or SAEs, or bleeding events in the IV meloxicam-treated patients. The most common adverse events, or AEs, occurring in at least 3% of IV meloxicam-treated patients, were nausea, headache, pruritus, constipation, vomiting, dizziness, flushing and somnolence, and the incidence of these AEs was generally comparable to the placebo group. The IV meloxicam-treated patients experienced injection site pain and injection site erythema at a rate comparable to placebo. The majority of treatment emergent AEs, or TEAEs, were mild in nature and there were no discontinuations due to AEs. There were no meaningful differences between treatment groups in vital signs, electrocardiogram, or ECGs, or clinical lab assessments.

Study REC-15-015

In the second of our two Phase III pivotal clinical trials, evaluating pain relief over a 24-hour period in a soft tissue, post-operative pain model (abdominoplasty), IV meloxicam achieved the primary endpoint of a statistically significant difference in SPID over the first 24 hours, or SPID24, compared to placebo. This was a Phase III, randomized, multicenter, multi-dose, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating IV meloxicam in the management of post-operative pain following abdominoplasty surgery. Two hundred nineteen patients who met the eligibility criteria were randomized to receive either IV meloxicam (30 mg) or placebo once daily for up to three days. Following the beginning of treatment, patients remained under observation for 48 hours at study centers. Patients were followed for 28 days after the initial dose of study medication. There was an oral opioid rescue treatment available to all patients, if required. The primary objective of the trial was to evaluate pain relief over a 24-hour period of IV meloxicam when administered as a bolus injection (over 15-30 seconds).

The primary efficacy endpoint of the trial was SPID24 (0-24), utilizing a W2LOCF analysis method. Secondary efficacy endpoints included use of opioid rescue medication, SPIDs over various time intervals, time to pain relief and PGA of pain control. The IV meloxicam treatment arm demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in SPID24 (p=0.0145) compared to the placebo arm (Figure 2).

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Figure 2: SPID24

The study also achieved statistical significance for 10 of the secondary endpoints, including statistically significant differences in SPID12 (p=0.0434), time to perceptible pain relief (p=0.0050), subjects with ≥30% improvement at 24 hours (p=0.0178), number of times patients required rescue in the first 24 hours after randomization (p=0.0275), as well as number of times rescued from 24 to 48 hours (p=0.0009), and several other pain relief metrics, compared to placebo.

SPID6, Times to Meaningful Pain Relief and First Rescue, Number of Subjects rescued 0-24 and 0-48 hours, % Subjects with ≥30 and ≥50% Improvement within 6 Hours and ≥50% within 24 hours, and PGA of Pain Control at 24 hours were not significantly different between treatment groups.

The safety results demonstrated that IV meloxicam was well tolerated with no difference in SAEs related to bleeding for IV meloxicam treated patients versus placebo (1 each). There were two additional SAEs observed in the placebo group. The most common (at least 3% in the IV meloxicam group) AEs were nausea, headache, vomiting, and dizziness. The incidence of these events was lower than those observed in the placebo group. The majority of AEs were mild in nature and one patient in the placebo group discontinued treatment due to an adverse event of post-procedural bleeding. There were no meaningful differences between treatment groups in vital signs, ECGs or clinical lab assessments.

Safety Study

IV meloxicam has also successfully completed a double-blinded, randomized Phase III safety study evaluating IV meloxicam (30mg bolus injection) or placebo following major surgery. The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of IV meloxicam 30mg vs. placebo through Day 28 following treatment. The clinical trial demonstrated that the adverse event profile of IV meloxicam 30mg was consistent with previously completed clinical trials, and was similar to placebo reported events.

This was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III clinical trial and included patients who had undergone major elective surgical procedures which were expected to result in hospitalization for at least 24-48 hours. Major surgical procedures included total hip and knee replacements, spinal, GI, hernia repair, and gynecologic surgeries, as well as a range of other surgeries. Patient demographics were balanced across treatment groups and included 40% male patients and about 23% of patients who were over age 65. Unlike the pivotal efficacy trials, minimum pain scores were not required for treatment. Sites were permitted to use opioids and other pain management modes according to their “standard of care” and meloxicam or placebo was added to this regimen in a randomized, double-blind manner. Patients were randomized in a 3:1 ratio to receive either IV meloxicam 30mg or IV placebo daily for up to 7 doses. A total of 721 patients received at least one dose of study medication.

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The most common (≥3%) AEs observed in the IV meloxicam 30mg treatment group (n=538) are listed in the table below:

In patients age 65 and over, the percentage of patients reporting at least one AE was approximately 7% less in the IV meloxicam 30mg treatment arm compared to the placebo arm. The total occurrence of patients with at least one SAE was observed to be lower in the IV meloxicam 30mg group, 2.6%, than in the placebo group, 5.5%. In this safety study only two SAE events were listed as possibly related to study treatment. Both of these SAEs occurred in one placebo treated patient. No deaths were reported in either treatment group. Approximately 3% of patients in each study group discontinued.

There were no meaningful clinical differences between treatment groups in vital signs, ECGs, clinical lab assessments and surgeon satisfaction with wound healing. Overall there was low incidence of clinically significant wound healing abnormalities, as scored by the primary investigator, in both treatment groups (~2%). The meloxicam group had 4/538 patients with more than one attribute scored “clinically significant”, while in placebo, 1/183 patients were scored “clinically significant” for only one attribute.

In addition, mean opioid consumption for the total population was lower in the IV meloxicam 30mg group compared with placebo at all evaluated intervals; Hour 0-24, Hour 24-48, Hour 48-72 and Hour 0-72 intervals, or the full treatment period. There was also a significant increase in time to first use of opioids in the IV meloxicam 30mg treatment arm, compared to placebo.  Mean opioid consumption in the IV meloxicam group was lower than the placebo group at all evaluated intervals in the subgroups of Orthopedic Surgeries, Total Knee Replacements, and subjects >65 years with Mild Renal Impairment, as depicted in the table below.

*reaching statistical significance (p<0.05)

**reaching statistical significance (p<0.01)

Our Other Pipeline Candidates

While our current priority is the commercialization of IV meloxicam after approval, our pipeline also includes other earlier stage product candidates, including Dex-IN, intermediate and short-acting NMBs, and accompanying reversal agents, along with other product candidates that we may choose to develop for use in hospital or related settings.  

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NMBs

Neuromuscular blocking agents are used as muscle paralyzing agents to facilitate intubation and surgery. We are developing an intermediate-acting NMB, RP1000, an ultrashort-acting NMB, RP2000, and a reversal agent specific to our NMBs.  The table below summarizes the predicted onset and duration of activity for each NMB based on currently available data, as well as the development status of each NMB:

In animal models, the proprietary reversal agent acts quickly by chemical reaction to reverse the neuromuscular blockade. We believe that the NMBs and reversal agent can reduce the time required for induction of anesthesia and the time needed to recover from NMB dosing post-procedure, while potentially enhancing patient safety and resulting in cost savings for the hospital or other provider. RP1000, the intermediate-acting NMB, as well as the reversal agent are subject to a clinical hold imposed by the FDA due to need for additional toxicity data at higher dose exposures, which we are working with the FDA to advance clinical development.  

We have a worldwide, exclusive license to the NMBs and the related reversal agent from Cornell University.  

Dex-IN

Dex (dexmedetomidine) is a selective alpha-2 adrenergic agonist that has demonstrated sedative, analgesic and anxiolytic properties. Dex has an extensive commercial history of safe IV use. We have formulated Dex-IN, a proprietary intranasal formulation of Dex, at a significantly lower dose (approximately as low as 1/10^th) than the currently recommended IV dosage levels used for clinical sedation. Based upon our lower dose, we have seen minimal sedation to date in our clinical trials while still demonstrating an analgesic effect.

We are exploring Dex-IN in peri-procedural pain. If approved, Dex-IN would also be the first approved peri-procedural pain product in its class of drugs.

CDMO Division

Through our contract development and manufacturing, CDMO, division, we leverage its formulation and development expertise to develop and manufacture pharmaceutical products using proprietary delivery technologies for commercial partners who commercialize or plan to commercialize these products. Our manufacturing and development capabilities include formulation, product development from formulation through commercial manufacturing, and specialized capabilities for solid oral dosage forms, extended release and controlled substance manufacturing. In a typical collaboration, we work with our commercial partners to develop product candidates, or new formulations of existing product candidates, and may license certain intellectual property to such commercial partners. We also typically exclusively manufacture and supply clinical and commercial supplies of these proprietary products and product candidates. These collaborations may result in revenue streams including from manufacturing, royalties, profit sharing, and research and development, which support continued operations for our CDMO division as well as provide free cash flow to support research and development of proprietary product candidates in our Acute Care division.

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The table below details the key products developed and/or manufactured with our key commercial partners:

In addition to these key products, we also develop and manufacture other development stage products. The manufacture of these products for clinical trials and commercial use is subject to cGMPs and other regulatory agency regulations. We own and operate a 97,000 square foot, DEA-licensed manufacturing facility in Gainesville, Georgia, which has been inspected by U.S., EU, Turkish and Brazilian regulatory authorities for compliance with required cGMP standards for continued commercial manufacturing.

With each product, we either purchase active drug substance from third parties or receive it from our commercial partners to formulate product using our technologies. Although some materials for our products are currently available from a single source or a limited number of qualified sources, we attempt to acquire an adequate inventory of such materials, establish alternative sources and/or negotiate long-term supply arrangements. We do not currently have any significant issues finding suppliers. However, there is no certainty that we will be able to obtain long-term supplies of our manufacturing materials in the future.

Permits and Regulatory Approvals

We hold various licenses for our CDMO division manufacturing activities. The primary licenses held are FDA Registrations of Drug Establishments and DEA Controlled Substance Registration. Due to certain U.S. state law requirements, we also hold certain state licenses for distribution activities throughout certain states. We also hold cGMP certifications for EU importation of products made in Gainesville for sale in the EU and an ANVISA certification for sale in Brazil.

In certain of our commercial partnerships, our commercial partner is the product authorization holder for products that have been developed on behalf of the commercial partner. In other commercial partnerships, we are the authorization holder.  When our commercial partner holds the relevant authorization from the FDA or other national regulator, we support this authorization by furnishing a letter of reference to the Drug Master File, or the chemistry, manufacturing and related data to the relevant regulator or sponsor to provide adequate manufacturing support in respect of the product. We generally update this information annually with the relevant regulator.

We hold the approved NDAs for Verelan and Verapamil, which we license to Lanett Company, Inc. and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc., respectively.

Customer Agreements

We are party to agreements with each of our commercial partners governing the development, formulation and/or supply services we provide, as well as any applicable intellectual property licenses. Each commercial partner generally remains responsible for distributing, marketing and promoting their respective products. These collaborations result in revenue streams including royalties, profit sharing, etc., which support continued operations for our CDMO division and have contributed funds to be used in our research and development and pre-commercialization activities in our Acute Care division. We are dependent on a small number of commercial partners, with our four largest customers (Novartis Pharma AG, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc., Pernix Therapeutics, Inc., or Pernix, and Lannett Company, Inc.) having generated 98% of our revenues for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, of which Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc. generated 45% of our revenue under one customer agreement, and Novartis Pharma AG, generated 40% of our revenue combined under two separate customer agreements.

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Intellectual Property

Acute Care

We own patents and patent applications for injectable meloxicam, that cover compositions, including compositions produced using NanoCrystal^® technology, method of making and method of treating. These issued patents expire in 2022 in the United States. We also in-license from Alkermes, on a perpetual, royalty-free basis, composition and methods of making patent and patent applications (specifically directed to the prevention of flake like aggregates) which expire in 2030.

We license the patents and other intellectual property covering the NMBs and the related reversal agent under a worldwide, exclusive, sublicensable, royalty-bearing license from Cornell University.  Under the license agreement, we are obligated to pay Cornell University (i) an annual license maintenance fee payment until the first commercial sale of a licensed compound; (ii) milestone payments upon the achievement of certain milestones, up to a maximum, for each NMB, of $5 million for U.S. regulatory approval and commercialization milestones and $3 million for European regulatory approval and commercialization milestones; and (iii) royalties on net sales of the NMBs and the related reversal agent at rates ranging from low to mid-single digits, depending on the applicable licensed compound and whether there is a valid patent claim in the applicable country, subject to an annual minimum royalty amount. In addition, we will reimburse Cornell University for past and ongoing patent costs related to prosecution and maintenance of the patents related to the licensed compounds.  The license agreement is terminable by us at any time upon 90 days’ written notice and by Cornell University upon our material breach, subject to a cure period, and upon our filing any claim asserting the invalidity of any of Cornell University’s licensed patent rights. The royalty term for each licensed compound expires, on a country-by-country basis, on the later of (i) the expiration date of the longest-lived licensed patent, (ii) the expiration of any granted statutory period of marketing exclusivity, or (iii) the first commercial sale of a generic equivalent of the applicable licensed compound. On the last to expire royalty term the license agreement will automatically convert to a royalty-free nonexclusive license.

We hold patent applications directed to the analgesia indication, formulations and intranasal and transmucosal methods of use of Dex, and we are progressing through the patent application process globally, including the United States. Several patent applications have issued as patents outside the United States for transmucosal methods, and the resulting patent protection will last into 2030, subject to any disclaimers or extensions. In addition, a patent related to intranasal methods has issued in the United States, and the resulting patent protection will last into 2032, subject to any disclaimers or extensions.

We are party to an exclusive license with Orion for the development and commercialization of Dex for use in the treatment of pain in humans in any dosage form for transdermal, transmucosal (including sublingual and intranasal), topical, enteral or pulmonary (inhalational) delivery, but specifically excluding delivery vehicles for administration by injection or infusion, worldwide, except for Europe, Turkey, and the CIS (currently includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan), referred to herein as the Territory. We have the right to sublicense the rights under such license at any time. We are required to pay Orion lump sum payments on the achievement of certain developmental milestones and upon the achievement of certain commercial milestones, as well as a royalty on net sales during the term, which varies from 10% to 20% depending on annual sales levels.

We license our intellectual property rights related to injectable meloxicam and Dex to our Irish subsidiary, Recro Ireland Limited.

CDMO Division

We own various controlled release formulation patents, including patents in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Brazil, related to our proprietary delivery technologies that we utilize in our drug development, formulation and manufacturing business through our CDMO division. These patents are scheduled to expire between 2019 and 2026. We own patents and patent applications in the United States and Canada directed to the composition of, manufacturing of, and formulations of Zohydro ER^®. We license our U.S. patents and patent applications to our commercial partner Pernix in the United States. We also own Canadian patents and patent applications relating to the same technology. The patent protection for Zohydro ER^® formulation provides for protection of Zohydro ER^® through 2019, subject to any extensions or disclaimers.  In addition, we own several issued patents in the United States and several foreign patent applications for abuse resistant pharmaceutical compositions and methods of use related to Zohydro ER®, which provide patent protection through 2034, subject to any extensions or disclaimers.

Intellectual Property Protection Strategy

We intend to rely on a combination of patents and trade secrets, as well as confidentiality agreements and license agreements, to protect our product candidates. Our patent strategy is designed to facilitate commercialization of our current product candidates and future product candidates, as well as create barriers to entry for third parties. One focus of our claim strategy is on formulation claims and other related claims.

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We are seeking patent protection in the United States and internationally for our product candidates. Our policy is to pursue, maintain and defend patent rights and to protect the technology, inventions and improvements that are commercially important to the development of our business. 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 granted to us in the future will be commercially useful in protecting our technology. We also intend to rely on trade secrets to protect our product candidates. Our commercial success also depends in part on our non-infringement of the patents or proprietary rights of third parties.

Our success will depend significantly on our ability to:

We have taken steps to build and will continue to build proprietary positions for our product candidates and related technology in the United States and abroad. We note that the patent laws of foreign countries differ from those in the United States, and the degree of protection afforded by foreign patents may be different from the protection offered by United States patents.

Sales and Marketing

Our current intent is to develop and commercialize our product candidates in the United States while out-licensing development and commercialization rights for other territories outside the United States, for which we own the territorial rights. We believe the initial target audience for our product candidates will be specialty physicians, including surgeons, anesthesiologists and pain specialists. Our management team has experience building and launching therapeutics to specialty physicians, including hospital and related settings. As this target audience is only a portion of all physicians, we believe we have the capabilities to build a sales and marketing infrastructure and effectively market our product candidates after FDA approval. We are establishing sales infrastructure, marketing and reimbursement functions to commercialize IV meloxicam, if approved, in the United States. While we plan to develop and commercialize our product candidates in the United States, we will consider potential strategic collaborations that could accelerate or enhance development and, upon approval, commercial success of our product candidates.

Manufacturing and Supply of our Acute Care Product Candidates

We currently rely on contract manufacturers to produce drug product for our clinical studies under cGMPs, with oversight by our internal managers. We plan to continue to rely on contract manufacturers to manufacture development quantities of our product candidates, as well as commercial quantities of our product candidates, if and when approved for marketing by the FDA. We currently rely on a single manufacturer for the clinical supplies of our drug product for each of our product candidates and do not currently have agreements in place for redundant supply or a second source for any of our product candidates. We have identified other potential drug product manufacturers that could satisfy our clinical and commercial requirements, but this would require significant expense and could produce a significant delay in setting up the facility and moving equipment. Additionally, should a supplier or a manufacturer on whom we rely to produce a product candidate provide us with a faulty product or a product that is later recalled, we would likely experience significant delays and additional costs.

Injectable Meloxicam

Alkermes is currently our exclusive supplier of bulk injectable meloxicam formulation. Pursuant to a Development, Manufacturing and Supply Agreement, or Supply Agreement, Alkermes (through a subsidiary), provides clinical and commercial bulk supplies of injectable meloxicam formulation. During the term of the Supply Agreement, we will purchase our clinical and commercial supplies of bulk injectable meloxicam formulation exclusively from Alkermes. If the first commercial sale of injectable meloxicam occurs on or prior to December 31, 2020, the Supply Agreement will have an initial term expiring ten years following the date of such first commercial sale. The Supply Agreement will then automatically renew for successive one-year terms unless terminated by either party upon written notice at least 180 days prior to the expiration of the applicable term. If the first commercial sale of injectable meloxicam has not occurred by December 31, 2020, the Supply Agreement will expire on that date. The Supply Agreement may be terminated earlier (i) by us upon 180 days’ written notice following the date of first generic entry; (ii) by either party upon twelve months’ written notice following the first anniversary of the approval of the NDA for meloxicam; (iii) by either party upon written notice to the other party in the event of uncured material breach of the other party; and (iv) by Alkermes upon written notice in certain events of uncured non-payment.

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Patheon UK Limited, or Patheon, provides sterile fill-finish of bulk injectable meloxicam formulation pursuant to a Master Manufacturing Services Agreement and Product Agreement, collectively the Patheon Agreements, at its Monza, Italy manufacturing site.  We have agreed to purchase a certain percentage of our annual requirements of finished injectable meloxicam from Patheon during the term of the Patheon Agreements.  The Patheon Agreements expire on December 31, 2020 and will automatically renew thereafter for successive two-year periods unless terminated by either party upon prior written notice. We may terminate the Patheon Agreements upon prior notice if (i) a governmental authority prevents us from importing, exporting, purchasing or selling injectable meloxicam, (ii) injectable meloxicam is discontinued in the market or (iii) Patheon fails to timely deliver batches of injectable meloxicam. Patheon may terminate the Patheon Agreements if we assign any rights thereunder to a Patheon competitor or to a non-credit worthy substitute. In addition, either party may also terminate the Patheon Agreements for material, uncured breaches or in the event of the other party’s bankruptcy.

Dex-IN

We are party to an API supply agreement with Orion, whereby Orion provides us with API for the development and, if approved, commercialization of Dex-IN. Prior to obtaining regulatory approval, subject to advance notice to Orion, Orion will provide API without charge for agreed upon amounts. Any amounts ordered by us that are greater than the planned supply will be charged at 50% of the supply price for commercial product. The initial term of the agreement is the later of 15 years from the first commercial sale and 15 years after the effective date of the agreement, and in each case, will be automatically extended for one or more periods of two years unless terminated. After the initial term, the agreement may be terminated upon six months’ notice to the other party.

The single unit dose intranasal sprayer for Dex-IN is manufactured by a supplier of proprietary components and devices. We will continue to evaluate the option of entering a manufacturing agreement with the device originator or evaluate alternative devices prior to commercialization. Suppliers of components, subassemblies and other materials are located in Europe, Asia and the United States.

NMBs

Under our license agreement with Cornell University, we acquired certain materials relating to the API for our NMB product candidates.  We are currently in the process of sourcing API for use in pre-clinical studies and clinical trials for these product candidates.

Competition

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are intensely competitive and subject to rapid and significant technological change. Our current and future competitors include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies. Many of our competitors have greater financial and other resources than we have, such as more commercial resources, larger research and development staffs and more extensive marketing and manufacturing organizations. As a result, these companies may obtain marketing approval more rapidly than we are able to obtain and may be more effective in selling and marketing their products. Smaller or early stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large, established companies.

Our competitors may succeed in developing, acquiring or licensing technologies and drug products that are more effective or less costly than our product candidates or any other products that we may develop which could render our products obsolete and noncompetitive. We expect any products that we develop and commercialize to compete on the basis of, among other things, efficacy, safety, convenience of administration and delivery, price and the availability of reimbursement from government and other third-party payers. We also expect to face competition in our efforts to identify appropriate collaborators or partners to help commercialize our product candidates in our target commercial markets.

In the post-operative pain relief setting, we believe patients are prescribed injectable acetaminophen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, sodium channel blockers and opioids, depending on the severity of pain. Specifically, acetaminophen, NSAIDs and sodium channel blockers, we believe, are prescribed for mild to moderate pain relief, whereas we believe opioids are prescribed for moderate to severe pain relief. While we will compete with all of these compounds in the post-operative pain setting, we believe injectable meloxicam will be used to manage moderate to severe pain, competing with opioids and predominantly systemic non-opioid pain treatments. There are a number of pharmaceutical companies that currently market and or manufacture therapeutics in the pain relief area, including Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma, L.P., Mallinckrodt plc, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc., Depomed, Inc. and Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mallinckrodt commercializes an injectable formulation of acetaminophen. Pacira commercializes an intraoperative formulation of bupivacaine, a sodium channel blocker, that is injected or instilled at the surgical site. Additionally, companies such as Adynxx, Inc., AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Durect Corporation, Heron Therapeutics, Inc., Innocoll Holdings plc, Sandoz AG, Trevena, Inc., Avenue Therapeutics, Inc., Neumentum Inc. and Cara Therapeutics, Inc. are currently developing post-operative pain therapeutics that could compete with IV meloxicam in the future.

The CDMO division competes with contract pharmaceutical formulation and manufacturing companies such as Catalent, Inc., Patheon Holdings Coôperatief U.A., Adare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Metrics, Inc., a subsidiary of Mayne Pharma Group Limited, and other formulation, development and manufacture-related service providers.

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Research and Development

Research activities represent a significant part of our businesses. In the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively, we incurred research and development expenses of $33.1 million, $33.3 million and $12.3 million, respectively.

Information about Segment Revenue

Information about segment revenue is set forth in Note 17 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Form 10-K.

Government Regulation

Governmental authorities in the United States at the federal, state and local level, and the equivalent regulatory authorities in other countries, extensively regulate, among other things, the research, development, testing, manufacture, quality control, approval, labeling, packaging, storage, record-keeping, promotion, advertising, distribution, marketing, export and import of products such as those we are developing. Our product candidates, including our formulations of injectable meloxicam, must be approved by the FDA before they may legally be marketed in the United States. In addition, to the extent we choose to clinically evaluate or market any products in other countries or develop these products for future licensing to third parties, we are subject to a variety of regulatory requirements and to the authority of the competent regulatory authorities of those other countries.

U.S. Drug Development Process

In the United States, the FDA regulates drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, and implementing regulations. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and ensuring compliance with appropriate federal, state, local and foreign statutes and regulations require 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 after approval, may subject an applicant to administrative enforcement or judicial sanctions. This enforcement could include, without limitation, the FDA’s refusal to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, a clinical hold, untitled or warning letters, corrective actions, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, restitution, disgorgement, or civil or criminal penalties.

The process required by the FDA before a drug may be marketed in the United States generally involves the following:

The testing and approval process requires substantial time, effort and financial resources, and we cannot be certain that any approvals for our product candidates will be granted on a timely basis, if at all.

Once a pharmaceutical product candidate is identified for development, it enters the preclinical testing stage. Preclinical tests include laboratory evaluations of product chemistry, toxicity, formulation and stability, as well as animal studies. An IND sponsor must submit the results of the preclinical tests, together with manufacturing information, analytical data and any available clinical data or literature, to the FDA as part of the IND. The sponsor must also include a protocol detailing, among other things, the objectives of the initial clinical trial, the parameters to be used in monitoring safety, and the effectiveness criteria to be evaluated if the initial clinical trial lends itself to an efficacy evaluation. Some preclinical testing may continue even after the IND is submitted. The IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless the FDA places the clinical trial on a clinical hold within that 30-day time period. In such a case, the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns before the clinical trial can begin. Clinical holds also may be imposed by the FDA at any time before or during trials due to safety concerns regarding the product candidate or non-compliance with applicable requirements.

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All clinical trials of a product candidate must be conducted under the supervision of one or more qualified investigators, in accordance with cGCP regulations. These regulations include the requirement that all research subjects provide informed consent. Further, an IRB, must review and approve the plan for any clinical trial before it commences at any institution. The IRB’s role is to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects involved in clinical studies by evaluating, among other things, the potential risks and benefits to subjects, processes for obtaining informed consent, monitoring of data to ensure subject safety, and provisions to protect the subjects’ privacy. The IRB approves the information regarding the clinical trial and the 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.

Once an IND is in effect, each new clinical protocol, and any amendments to the protocol, must be submitted to the IND for FDA review and to the IRBs for approval. Protocols detail, 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.

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

Progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials must be submitted at least annually to the FDA, and safety reports must be submitted to the FDA and the investigators for serious and unexpected side effects. Phase I, Phase II and Phase III testing may not be completed successfully within any specified period, if at all. Results from earlier trials are not necessarily predictive of results from later trials. 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 has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients.

Concurrent with clinical trials, companies usually complete additional animal studies and must also develop additional information about the chemistry and physical characteristics of the product and 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 candidate and, among other things, the manufacturer must develop methods for testing the identity, strength, quality and purity of the final product. Additionally, appropriate packaging must be selected and tested and stability studies must be conducted to demonstrate that the product candidate does not undergo unacceptable deterioration over its shelf life.

U.S. Review and Approval Processes

The results of product development, preclinical studies and clinical trials, along with descriptions of the manufacturing process, analytical tests conducted on the drug, proposed labeling and other relevant information, are submitted to the FDA as part of an NDA for a new drug, requesting approval to market the product.

The submission of an NDA generally is subject to the payment of a substantial user fee for a human drug application. A waiver of such fee may be obtained under certain limited circumstances. For example, an applicant is eligible for waiver of the application fee if the applicant is a small business submitting its first human drug application and does not have another product approved under a human drug application and introduced and delivered for introduction into interstate commerce. However, we did not qualify due to prior NDA approvals received by our CDMO division.

In addition, under the Pediatric Research Equity Act of 2003, an NDA or supplement to an NDA for a new indication, dosage form, dosing regimen, route of administration, or active ingredient, must contain data to assess the safety and effectiveness 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 waive or defer pediatric studies under certain circumstances.

Section 505(b)(2) New Drug Applications. As an alternate path to FDA approval, particularly for modifications to drug products previously approved by the FDA, an applicant may submit an NDA under Section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA, or a Section 505(b)(2) NDA. Section 505(b)(2) was enacted as part of the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, commonly referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Amendments, and it permits approval of applications other than those for duplicate products and

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permits reliance for such approvals on literature or on the FDA’s findings of safety and effectiveness of an approved drug product. A Section 505(b)(2) NDA is an application where at least some of the information required for approval comes from clinical trials not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference. The FDA requires submission of information needed to support any changes relative to a previously approved drug, known as the reference product, such as published data or new studies conducted by the applicant, including bioavailability or bioequivalence studies, or clinical trials demonstrating safety and effectiveness. The FDA may then approve the Section 505(b)(2) NDA for all or some of the labeled indications for which the reference product has been approved, as well as for any new indication sought by the applicant, unless such indications or uses are protected by patent or exclusivity provisions covering the reference product. To the extent that a Section 505(b)(2) NDA relies on clinical trials conducted for a previously approved drug product or the FDA’s prior findings of safety and effectiveness for a previously approved drug product, the Section 505(b)(2) applicant must submit patent certifications in its application with respect to any patents for the reference product that are listed in the FDA’s publication, Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations, commonly referred to as the Orange Book. Specifically, the applicant must certify for each listed patent that, in relevant part, (1) the required patent information has not been filed; (2) the listed patent has expired; (3) the listed patent has not expired, but will expire on a particular date and approval is not sought until after patent expiration; or (4) the listed patent is invalid, unenforceable or will not be infringed by the proposed new product. A certification that the new product will not infringe the previously approved product’s listed patent or that such patent is invalid or unenforceable is known as a Paragraph IV certification. If the applicant does not challenge one or more listed patents through a Paragraph IV certification, the FDA will not approve the Section 505(b)(2) NDA until all the listed patents claiming the referenced product have expired.

Further, the FDA will also not approve a Section 505(b)(2) NDA until any non-patent exclusivity, such as, for example, five-year exclusivity for obtaining approval of a new chemical entity, three-year exclusivity for an approval based on new clinical trials, or pediatric exclusivity, listed in the Orange Book for the reference product, has expired.

If the Section 505(b)(2) NDA applicant has provided a Paragraph IV certification to the FDA, the applicant must also send notice of the Paragraph IV certification to the owner of the reference product and relevant patent holders within 20 days after the Section 505(b)(2) NDA has been accepted for filing by the FDA. The NDA and patent holders may then initiate a patent infringement suit against the Section 505(b)(2) applicant. Under the FDCA, the filing of a patent infringement lawsuit within 45 days of receipt of the notification regarding a Paragraph IV certification automatically prevents the FDA from approving the Section 505(b)(2) NDA for 30 months, beginning on the date the patent holder receives notice, or until the patent expires or a court deems the patent unenforceable, invalid or not infringed, whichever is earlier. Even if a patent infringement claim is not brought within the 45-day period, a patent infringement claim may be brought under traditional patent law, but it does not invoke the 30-month stay. Moreover, in cases where a Section 505(b)(2) application containing a Paragraph IV certification is submitted after the fourth year of a previously approved drug’s five-year exclusivity period, and the patent holder brings suit within 45 days of notice of certification, the 30-month period is automatically extended to prevent approval of the Section 505(b)(2) application until the date that is seven and one-half years after approval of the previously approved reference product. The court also has the ability to shorten or lengthen either the 30-month or the seven and one-half year period if either party is found not to be reasonably cooperating in expediting the litigation. Thus, the Section 505(b)(2) applicant may invest a significant amount of time and expense in the development of its product only to be subject to significant delay and patent litigation before its product may be commercialized. Alternatively, if the NDA applicant or relevant patent holder does not file a patent infringement lawsuit within the specified 45-day period, the FDA may approve the Section 505(b)(2) application at any time, assuming the application is otherwise approvable.

Notwithstanding the approval of many products by the FDA pursuant to Section 505(b)(2), over the last few years, some pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders have objected to the FDA’s interpretation of Section 505(b)(2). If the FDA changes its interpretation of Section 505(b)(2), or if the FDA’s interpretation is successfully challenged in court, this could delay or even prevent the FDA from approving any Section 505(b)(2) NDA that we submit.

FDA Review of New Drug Applications. The FDA reviews all NDAs submitted to ensure that they are sufficiently complete for substantive review before it accepts them for filing. If the FDA does not find an NDA to be sufficiently complete for filing, it may request additional information rather than accepting the NDA for filing. In this event, the sponsor must resubmit the NDA with the additional information. The re-submitted application also is subject to review before the FDA accepts it for filing. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an in-depth substantive review. The FDA reviews an NDA to determine, among other things, whether clinical data demonstrates that a product is safe and effective for its intended use and whether its manufacturing process can assure the product’s identity, strength, quality and purity. Before approving an NDA, the FDA will inspect the facility or facilities where the product is manufactured. The FDA will not approve an application unless it determines that the manufacturing processes and facilities are in compliance with cGMP requirements and adequate to assure consistent production of the product within required specifications. The FDA may refer the NDA to an advisory committee for review, evaluation and recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions. An advisory committee is a panel of independent experts who provide advice and recommendations when requested by the FDA. The FDA is not bound by the recommendation of an advisory committee.

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The approval process is lengthy and difficult, and the FDA may refuse to approve an NDA if the applicable regulatory criteria are not satisfied or may require additional clinical data or other data and information. Even if such data and information are submitted, the FDA may ultimately decide that the NDA 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. The FDA will issue a complete response letter if the agency decides not to approve the NDA in its present form. The complete response letter usually describes all the specific deficiencies that the FDA identified in the NDA. The deficiencies identified may be minor, for example, requiring labeling changes, or major, for example, requiring additional clinical trials. Additionally, the complete response letter may include recommended actions that the applicant might take to place the application in a condition for approval. If a complete response letter is issued, the applicant may either resubmit the NDA, addressing all the deficiencies identified in the letter, withdraw the application or request an opportunity for a hearing.

If a product receives regulatory approval, the approval may be significantly limited to specific diseases and dosages, or the indications for use may otherwise be limited, which could restrict the commercial value of the product. Further, the FDA may require that certain contraindications, warnings or precautions be included in the product labeling, and the agency also may require a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, if it determines that a REMS is necessary to assure that the benefits of a drug outweigh its risks. In addition, the FDA may require Phase IV testing, which involves clinical trials designed to further assess a drug’s safety and effectiveness after NDA approval, and may require testing and surveillance programs to monitor the safety of approved products that have been commercialized.

Patent Term Restoration and Marketing Exclusivity

Depending upon the timing, duration and specific circumstances of FDA marketing approval of our product candidates, some of our U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent restoration term of up to five years for patent term lost during product development and the FDA regulatory review process. However, patent term restoration cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the product’s approval date. Subject to certain limitations, the patent term restoration period is generally equal to one-half of the time between the effective date of an IND and the submission date of an NDA, plus the time between the submission date of an NDA and the approval of that application. However, each phase of the regulatory review period may be reduced by any time that the FDA finds the applicant did act not act with due diligence. Only one patent applicable to an approved drug is eligible for the extension, and the application for the extension must be submitted prior to the expiration of the patent and within sixty days of approval of the drug. The U.S. 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 intend to apply for restorations of patent term for patents that issue from some of our currently owned or licensed patents or patent applications to add patent life beyond their current expiration dates, depending on the expected length of the clinical trials and other factors involved in the filing of the relevant NDA.

Market exclusivity provisions under the FDCA can also delay the submission or the approval of certain applications. The FDCA provides a five-year period of non-patent marketing exclusivity within the United States to NDAs for products containing chemical entities never previously approved by the FDA alone or in combination. A new chemical entity means a drug that contains no active moiety that has been approved by the FDA in any application submitted under Section 505(b) of the FDCA. An active moiety is the molecule or ion responsible for the action of the drug substance. During the exclusivity period, the FDA may not accept for review an abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA, or a Section 505(b)(2) NDA submitted by another company for another version of such drug where the applicant does not own or have a legal right of reference to all the data required for approval. This exclusivity provision does not prevent the submission or approval of another full Section 505(b)(1) NDA, but such an NDA applicant would be required to conduct its own preclinical and adequate, well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate safety and effectiveness. The FDCA also provides three years of marketing exclusivity for an NDA, Section 505(b)(2) NDA or supplement to an existing NDA if new clinical investigations, other than bioavailability studies, that were conducted or sponsored by the applicant are deemed by the FDA to be essential to the approval of the application. Such clinical trials may, for example, support new indications, dosages, routes of administration or strengths of an existing drug, or for a new use. This exclusivity, which is sometimes referred to as clinical investigation exclusivity, prevents the FDA from approving an application under a Section 505(b)(2) NDA or an ANDA for the same conditions of use associated with the new clinical investigations before the expiration of three years from the date of approval. Such three-year exclusivity, however, would not prevent the approval of another application if the applicant submits a Section 505(b)(1) NDA and has conducted its own adequate, well-controlled clinical trials demonstrating safety and efficacy, nor would it prevent approval of an ANDA or a Section 505(b)(2) NDA product that did not incorporate the exclusivity-protected aspects of the approved drug product.

Pediatric exclusivity is another type of exclusivity in the United States. Pediatric exclusivity, if granted, provides an additional six months of exclusivity to any existing exclusivity (e.g., three- or five-year exclusivity) or patent protection for a drug. This six-month exclusivity, which runs from the end of other exclusivity or patent protection, may be granted based on the voluntary completion of a pediatric trial in accordance with an FDA-issued “Written Request” for such a trial.

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Post-Approval Requirements

Any drugs for which we receive FDA approval will be subject to continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, record-keeping requirements, reporting of adverse experiences with the product, providing the FDA with updated safety and efficacy information, product sampling and distribution requirements, and complying with FDA promotion and advertising requirements.

The FDA strictly regulates marketing, labeling, advertising, and promotion of products that are placed on the market. Drugs may be promoted only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. The FDA and other government agencies enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the false or misleading promotion of drugs. The FDA also limits the promotion of product candidates prior to their approval. With limited exceptions, pre-approval promotion is prohibited under the FDA’s regulations.

Further, manufacturers of drugs must continue to comply with cGMP requirements, which are extensive and require considerable time, resources and ongoing investment to ensure compliance. In addition, changes to the manufacturing process may 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 subject to further FDA review and approval. Drug manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacturing and distribution of approved drugs are required to list their products and 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 other laws. The cGMP requirements apply to all stages of the manufacturing process, including the production, processing, sterilization, packaging, labeling, storage and shipment of the drug. Manufacturers must establish validated systems to ensure that products meet specifications and regulatory standards and test each product batch or lot prior to its release. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the production of clinical quantities of our product candidates. FDA and state inspections may identify compliance issues at our site or at the facilities of our contract manufacturers that may disrupt production or distribution or may require substantial resources to correct.

The FDA may withdraw a product approval if compliance with regulatory standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the product reaches the market. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product may result in restrictions on the product or even complete withdrawal of the product from the market. Further, the failure to maintain compliance with regulatory requirements may result in administrative or judicial actions, such as fines, untitled and warning letters, holds on clinical trials, product recalls or seizures, product detention or refusal to permit the import or export of products, refusal to approve pending applications or supplements, restrictions on marketing or manufacturing, consent decrees, injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.

From time to time, legislation is drafted, introduced and passed in the U.S. Congress that could significantly change the statutory provisions governing the approval, manufacturing and marketing of products regulated by the FDA. In addition to new legislation, the FDA regulations and policies are often revised or reinterpreted by the agency in ways that may significantly affect our business and our product candidates. It is impossible to predict whether further legislative or FDA regulation or policy changes will be enacted or implemented and what the impact of such changes, if any, may be. For example, in December 2016, the 21^st Century Cures Act, or the Cures Act, became law. The Cures Act contains numerous provisions, including provisions designed to speed development of innovative therapies and encourage greater use of real-world evidence to support regulatory decision making for drugs.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Certain products that we manufacture are regulated as a “controlled substance” as defined in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which establishes registration, security, recordkeeping, reporting, storage, distribution and other requirements administered and enforced by the DEA. The DEA is concerned with the control and handling of controlled substances, and with the equipment and raw materials used in their manufacture and packaging, in order to prevent loss and diversion into illicit channels of commerce.

The DEA regulates controlled substances by controlling them in five schedules. Schedule I and II controlled substances have a high potential for abuse, whereas Schedule III-V controlled substances have relatively decreasing potential for abuse. Therefore, the DEA imposes more stringent controls on Schedule I and II substances than Schedule III-V substances, including stricter security controls, quotas, and increased recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Certain of the products we manufacture and/or develop are regulated as Schedule II controlled substances. The DEA establishes annually an aggregate quota for how much certain controlled substances that we manufacture may be produced in total in the United States, based on the DEA’s estimate of the quantity needed to meet legitimate scientific and medicinal needs. This limited aggregate amount that the DEA allows to be produced in the United States each year is allocated among individual companies, who must submit applications annually to the DEA for individual production and procurement quotas. We must receive an annual quota from the DEA in order to produce any Schedule II substance. The DEA may adjust aggregate production quotas and individual production and procurement quotas from time to time during the year, although the DEA has substantial discretion in whether or not to make such adjustments. Annual registration is required for any facility that manufactures, distributes, dispenses, imports or exports any controlled substance. The registration is specific to the particular location, activity and controlled substance schedule.

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The DEA requires facilities that manufacture controlled substances to adhere to certain security requirements. Security requirements vary by controlled substance schedule, with the most stringent requirements applying to Schedule I and Schedule II substances. Required security measures include background checks on employees and physical control of inventory through measures such as cages, surveillance cameras and inventory reconciliations. Records must be maintained for the handling of all controlled substances and periodic reports must be made to the DEA, for example, distribution, acquisition, and inventory reports for Schedule I and II controlled substances, Schedule III substances that are narcotics and other designated substances. Reports must also be made for thefts or losses of any controlled substance and suspicious orders. In addition, special authorization and notification requirements apply to imports and exports.

Failure to maintain compliance with applicable requirements, particularly where noncompliance results in loss or diversion, can result in enforcement action that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. The DEA may seek civil penalties, refuse to renew necessary registrations or initiate proceedings to revoke those registrations, or take other enforcement action. In certain circumstances, violations could result in criminal prosecution.

There is a risk that DEA regulations may interfere with the manufacture and supply of the drugs sold commercially, and thus with our ability to produce products in the volume needed to meet commercial demand.

Foreign Regulation

In addition to regulations in the United States, we will be subject to a variety of foreign regulations governing clinical trials and commercial sales and distribution of our product candidates to the extent we choose to clinically evaluate or sell any products outside of the United States. Whether or not we obtain FDA approval for a product, we must obtain approval of a product by the comparable regulatory authorities of foreign countries before we can commence marketing of the product in those countries. The approval process varies from country to country, and the time may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA approval. The requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary greatly from country to country. As in the United States, post-approval regulatory requirements, such as those regarding product manufacture, marketing or distribution, would apply to any product that is approved outside the United States.

For example, in the European Union, we may submit applications for marketing authorizations either under a centralized, decentralized, or mutual recognition marketing authorization procedure. The centralized procedure provides for the grant of a single marketing authorization for a medicinal product by the European Commission on the basis of a positive opinion by the European Medicines Agency, or the EMA. A centralized marketing authorization is valid for all European Union member states and three of the four EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). The decentralized procedure and the mutual recognition procedure apply between European Union member states. The decentralized marketing authorization procedure involves the submission of an application for marketing authorization to the competent authority of all European Union member states in which the product is to be marketed. One national competent authority, selected by the applicant, assesses the application for marketing authorization. The competent authorities of the other European Union member states are subsequently required to grant marketing authorization for their territory on the basis of this assessment, except where grounds of potential serious risk to public health require this authorization to be refused. The mutual recognition procedure provides for mutual recognition of marketing authorizations delivered by the national competent authorities of European Union member states by the competent authorities of other European Union member states. The holder of a national marketing authorization may submit an application to the competent authority of a European Union member state requesting that this authority recognize the marketing authorization delivered by the competent authority of another European Union member state for the same medicinal product.

We are also subject to the U.K. Bribery Act, and other third country anti-corruption laws and regulations pertaining to our financial relationships with foreign government officials. The U.K. Bribery Act, which applies to any company incorporated or doing business in the UK, prohibits giving, offering, or promising bribes in the public and private sectors, bribing a foreign public official or private person, and failing to have adequate procedures to prevent bribery amongst employees and other agents. Penalties under the Bribery Act include potentially unlimited fines for companies and criminal sanctions for corporate officers under certain circumstances. Liability in relation to breaches of the U.K. Bribery Act is strict. This means that it is not necessary to demonstrate elements of a corrupt state of mind. However, a defense of having in place adequate procedures designed to prevent bribery is available.

Formulary Approvals and Third-Party Payer Coverage and Reimbursement

In both the United States and foreign markets, our ability to commercialize our Acute Care division product candidates successfully, and to attract commercialization partners for our product candidates, depends in significant part on the availability of institutional formulary approvals and on adequate financial coverage and reimbursement from third-party payers, including, in the United States.  These payers include the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, the federal program that runs the Medicare program and monitors the Medicaid programs offered by each state, as well as national and regional commercial plans. Medicare is a federally funded program managed by CMS through local Medicare Administrative Contractors that administer coverage and reimbursement for certain healthcare items and services furnished to the elderly, disabled and other individuals with certain conditions. Medicaid is an insurance program for certain categories of patients whose income and assets fall below state defined levels that is both federally and

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state funded and managed by each state. The federal government sets general guidelines for Medicaid and each state creates specific regulations that govern its individual program. Each government or commercial plan has its own process and standards for determining whether it will cover and reimburse a procedure or particular product and how much it will pay for that procedure or product. Commercial plans often rely on the lead of the governmental payers in rendering coverage and reimbursement determinations. Therefore, achieving favorable Medicare coverage and reimbursement is usually an essential component of successfully launching a new product. The competitive position of some of our products will depend, in part, upon the extent of coverage and adequate reimbursement for such products and for the procedures in which such products are used. Reimbursement for our product candidates can be subject to challenge, reduction or denial by government and other commercial plans.

A primary trend in the U.S. healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. Government healthcare programs and other third-party payers are increasingly challenging the prices charged for medical products and services and examining the medical necessity and cost-effectiveness of medical products and services, in addition to their safety and efficacy, and have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications. Increasingly, third-party payers are challenging the prices charged for medical products and requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices.

Payers also are increasingly changing the metrics for reimbursement rates, such as basing payment on average sales price, or ASP, average manufacturer price, or AMP, and wholesale acquisition cost. The existing data for reimbursement based on these metrics is relatively limited, although certain states have begun to survey acquisition cost data for the purpose of setting Medicaid reimbursement rates. CMS surveys and publishes retail community pharmacy acquisition cost information in the form of National Average Drug Acquisition Cost files to provide state Medicaid agencies with a basis of comparison for their own reimbursement and pricing methodologies and rates. It may be difficult to project the impact of these evolving reimbursement mechanics on the willingness of payers to cover any products for which we receive regulatory approval.

If we successfully commercialize any of our products, we may participate in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. Participation is required for federal funds to be available for our products under Medicaid and Medicare Part B. Under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, we would be required to pay a quarterly rebate to each state Medicaid program for our covered outpatient drugs that are dispensed to Medicaid beneficiaries and paid for by a state Medicaid program as a condition of having federal funds being made available to the states for our drugs under Medicaid and Part B of the Medicare program.

Federal law requires that any company that participates in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program also participate in the Public Health Service’s 340B drug pricing program in order for federal funds to be available for the manufacturer’s drugs under Medicaid and Medicare Part B. The 340B drug pricing program requires participating manufacturers to agree to charge statutorily-defined covered entities no more than the 340B “ceiling price” for the manufacturer’s covered outpatient drugs. These 340B covered entities include a variety of community health clinics and other entities that receive health services grants from the Public Health Service, as well as hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients.

Additionally, in order to be eligible to have its products paid for with federal funds under the Medicaid and Medicare Part B programs and purchased by certain federal agencies and grantees, a manufacturer also must participate in the Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, Federal Supply Schedule, or FSS, pricing program, established by Section 603 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, or VHCA. Under this program, the manufacturer is obligated to make its innovator and single source products available for procurement on an FSS contract and charge a price to four federal agencies, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, or DoD, Public Health Service, and Coast Guard, that is no higher than the statutory Federal Ceiling Price. Moreover, pursuant to regulations issued by the DoD’s TRICARE Management Activity, now the Defense Health Agency, to implement Section 703 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, manufacturers are required to provide rebates on utilization of their innovator and single source products that are dispensed to TRICARE beneficiaries by TRICARE network retail pharmacies. The formula for determining the rebate is established in the regulations and is based on the difference between the annual non-federal average manufacturer price and the Federal Ceiling Price (these price points are required to be calculated by us under the VHCA). The requirements under the 340B, FSS, and TRICARE programs could reduce the revenue we may generate from any products that are commercialized in the future.

There may be significant delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs, and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the drug is approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Moreover, eligibility for coverage and reimbursement does not imply that a drug will be paid for in all cases or at a rate that covers costs, including research, development, manufacturing, sale and distribution. Interim reimbursement levels for new drugs, if applicable, may also not be sufficient to cover costs and may only be temporary. Reimbursement rates vary according to the use of the drug and the clinical setting in which it is used. Product reimbursement may also be incorporated into existing bundled payments for other services. Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs or commercial payers and by any future relaxation of laws that presently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the United States. Limited coverage may impact the demand for, or the price of, any product candidate for which marketing approval is obtained. Third-party payers also may seek additional clinical evidence, including expensive pharmacoeconomic studies, beyond the data required to obtain marketing approval, demonstrating clinical benefits and value in specific patient populations, before covering our products for those patients. If reimbursement is available only for limited indications,

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we may not be able to successfully commercialize any product candidate for which we obtain marketing approval. Our inability to promptly obtain coverage and profitable reimbursement rates from both government-funded and commercial payers for any approved products that we develop could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, our ability to raise capital needed to commercialize products and our overall financial condition.

In addition, in some foreign countries, the proposed pricing for a drug must be approved before it may be lawfully marketed. Moreover, the requirements governing drug pricing and reimbursement vary widely from country to country. For example, in the European Union the sole legal instrument at the European Union level governing the pricing and reimbursement of medicinal products is Council Directive 89/105/EEC, or the Price Transparency Directive. The aim of the Price Transparency Directive is to ensure that pricing and reimbursement mechanisms established in European Union member states are transparent and objective, do not hinder the free movement and trade of medicinal products in the European Union and do not hinder, prevent or distort competition on the market. The Price Transparency Directive does not, however, provide any guidance concerning the specific criteria on the basis of which pricing and reimbursement decisions are to be made in individual European Union member states. Neither does it have any direct consequence for pricing or levels of reimbursement in individual European Union member states. The national authorities of the individual European Union member states are free to restrict the range of medicinal products for which their national health insurance systems provide reimbursement and to control the prices and/or reimbursement of medicinal products for human use. Some individual European Union member states adopt policies according to which a specific price or level of reimbursement is approved for the medicinal product. Other European Union member states adopt a system of reference pricing, basing the price or reimbursement level in their territory either, on the pricing and reimbursement levels in other countries, or on the pricing and reimbursement levels of medicinal products intended for the same therapeutic indication. Furthermore, some European Union member states impose direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the medicinal product on the market.

Health Technology Assessment, or HTA, of medicinal products is becoming an increasingly common part of the pricing and reimbursement procedures in some European Union member states. These countries include the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Sweden. The HTA process in the European Union member states is governed by the national laws of these countries. HTA is the procedure according to which the assessment of the public health impact, therapeutic impact and the economic and societal impact of the use of a given medicinal product in the national healthcare systems of the individual country is conducted. HTA generally focuses on the clinical efficacy and effectiveness, safety, cost, and cost-effectiveness of individual medicinal products as well as their potential implications for the national healthcare system. Those elements of medicinal products are compared with other treatment options available on the market.

The outcome of HTA may influence the pricing and reimbursement status for specific medicinal products within individual European Union member states. The extent to which pricing and reimbursement decisions are influenced by the HTA of a specific medicinal product vary between the European Union member states.

In 2011, Directive 2011/24/EU was adopted at European Union level. This Directive concerns the application of patients' rights in cross-border healthcare. The Directive is intended to establish rules for facilitating access to safe and high-quality cross-border healthcare in the European Union. Pursuant to Directive 2011/24/EU, a voluntary network of national authorities or bodies responsible for HTA in the individual European Union member states was established. The purpose of the network is to facilitate and support the exchange of scientific information concerning HTAs. This could lead to harmonization between European Union member states of the criteria taken into account in the conduct of HTA in pricing and reimbursement decisions and negatively impact price in at least some European Union member states.

United States Healthcare Reform

The United States and many foreign jurisdictions have enacted or proposed legislative and regulatory changes affecting the healthcare system. The United States government, state legislatures and foreign governments also have shown significant interest in implementing cost-containment programs to limit the growth of government-paid healthcare costs, including price controls, restrictions on reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products for branded prescription drugs.

In recent years, Congress has considered reductions in Medicare reimbursement levels for drugs administered by physicians. CMS, the agency that administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs, also has authority to revise reimbursement rates and to implement coverage restrictions for some drugs. Cost reduction initiatives and changes in coverage implemented through legislation or regulation could decrease utilization of and reimbursement for any approved products. While Medicare regulations apply only to drug benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, private payers often follow Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own reimbursement rates. Therefore, any reduction in reimbursement that results from federal legislation or regulation may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payers.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, or collectively the Affordable Care Act, substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers, and significantly impacts the pharmaceutical industry. The Affordable Care Act is intended to broaden access to health insurance, reduce or constrain the growth of healthcare spending, enhance remedies against healthcare fraud and abuse, add new transparency

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requirements for healthcare and health insurance industries, impose new taxes and fees on pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, and impose additional health policy reforms. Among other things, the Affordable Care Act expanded manufacturers’ rebate liability under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program by increasing the minimum Medicaid rebate for both branded and generic drugs, expanded the 340B program, and revised the definition of AMP, which could increase the amount of Medicaid drug rebates manufacturers are required to pay to states. The legislation also extended Medicaid drug rebates, previously due only on fee-for-service Medicaid utilization, to include the utilization of Medicaid managed care organizations as well and created an alternative rebate formula for certain new formulations of certain existing products that is intended to increase the amount of rebates due on those drugs. On February 1, 2016, CMS issued final regulations to implement the changes to the Medicaid Drug Rebate program under the Affordable Care Act. These regulations became effective on April 1, 2016. There have been significant ongoing efforts to modify or eliminate the Affordable Care Act.  For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or the Tax Act, enacted on December 22, 2017, repealed the shared responsibility payment for individuals who fail to maintain minimum essential coverage under section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code, commonly referred to as the individual mandate, beginning in 2019. Further legislative changes to and regulatory changes under the Affordable Care Act remain possible. It is unknown what form any such changes or any law proposed to replace the Affordable Care Act would take, and how or whether it may affect our business in the future. We expect that changes to the Affordable Care Act, the Medicare and Medicaid programs, changes allowing the federal government to directly negotiate drug prices and changes stemming from other healthcare reform measures, especially with regard to healthcare access, financing or other legislation in individual states, could have a material adverse effect on the healthcare industry generally.

The Affordable Care Act requires pharmaceutical manufacturers of branded prescription drugs to pay a branded prescription drug fee to the federal government. Each individual pharmaceutical manufacturer pays a prorated share of the branded prescription drug fee of $4.0 billion in 2017, based on the dollar value of its branded prescription drug sales to certain federal programs identified in the law. Furthermore, the law requires manufacturers to provide a 50% discount off the negotiated price of prescriptions filled by beneficiaries in the Medicare Part D coverage gap, referred to as the “donut hole.”

The Affordable Care Act also expanded the Public Health Service’s 340B drug pricing program. As noted above, the 340B drug pricing program requires participating manufacturers to agree to charge statutorily-defined covered entities no more than the 340B “ceiling price” for the manufacturer’s covered outpatient drugs. The Affordable Care Act expanded the 340B program to include additional types of covered entities: certain free-standing cancer hospitals, critical access hospitals, rural referral centers and sole community hospitals, each as defined by the Affordable Care Act. Because the 340B ceiling price is determined based on AMP and Medicaid drug rebate data, revisions to the Medicaid rebate formula and AMP definition could cause the required 340B discounts to increase.

In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. For example, beginning April 1, 2013, Medicare payments for all items and services, including drugs and biologics, were reduced by 2% under the sequestration (i.e., automatic spending reductions) required by the Budget Control Act of 2011, as amended by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Subsequent legislation extended the 2% reduction, on average, to 2025. Continuation of sequestration or enactment of other reductions in Medicare reimbursement for drugs could affect our ability to achieve a profit on any candidate products that are approved for marketing.

Other Healthcare Laws and Compliance Requirements

If we obtain FDA approval for any of our product candidates and begin commercializing those products in the United States, our activities may become subject to various federal and state fraud and abuse laws, including, without limitation, the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal civil False Claims Act, and laws and regulations pertaining to limitations on and reporting of healthcare provider payments (physician sunshine laws). These laws and regulations are interpreted and enforced by various federal, state and local authorities including CMS, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Justice, individual U.S. Attorney offices within the Department of Justice, and state and local governments. These laws include:

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Violations of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, may subject us to significant civil, criminal and administrative sanctions including penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment, and exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and/or adverse publicity.

In addition to regulations in the United States, to the extent we choose to clinically evaluate or sell any products outside of the United States, we will be subject to a variety of foreign healthcare laws and compliance requirements. For example, in the European Union, the EU Data Protection Directive imposes strict obligations and restrictions on the ability to collect, analyze and transfer personal data, including health data from clinical trials and adverse event reporting. Switzerland has adopted similar restrictions. Data protection authorities from the different European Union member states may interpret the applicable laws differently, and guidance on implementation and compliance practices are often updated or otherwise revised, which adds to the complexity of processing personal data in the European Union.

Although there are legal mechanisms to allow for the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the U.S., the decision of the European Court of Justice in the Schrems case (Case C-362/14 Maximillian Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner) invalidated the Safe Harbor framework and increased uncertainty around compliance with European Union restrictions on cross-border data transfers. As a result of the decision, it was no longer possible to rely on Safe Harbor certification as a legal basis for the transfer of personal data from the European Union to entities in the U.S. On February 29, 2016, however, the European Commission announced an agreement with the United States Department of Commerce, or DoC, to replace the invalidated Safe Harbor framework with a new EU-U.S. “Privacy Shield.” On July 12, 2016, the European Commission adopted a decision on the adequacy of the protection provided by the Privacy Shield. The Privacy Shield is intended to address the requirements set out by the European Court of Justice in its ruling by imposing more stringent obligations on companies, providing stronger monitoring and enforcement by the DoC and Federal Trade Commission, and making commitments on the part of public authorities regarding access to information. U.S. companies have been able to certify to the DoC their compliance with the privacy principles of the Privacy Shield since August 1, 2016.

On September 16, 2016, the Irish privacy advocacy group Digital Rights Ireland brought an action for annulment of the European Commission decision on the adequacy of the Privacy Shield before the European Court of Justice (Case T-670/16). In October 2016, a further action for annulment was brought by three French digital rights advocacy groups (Case T-738/16). Case T-670/16 and Case T-738/16 are still pending before the European Court of Justice. If, however, the European Court of Justice invalidates the Privacy Shield, it will no longer be possible to rely on the Privacy Shield certification to support transfer of personal data from the European Union to entities in the US. Adherence to the Privacy Shield is not, however, mandatory. U.S.-based companies are permitted to rely either on their adherence to the EU-US Privacy Shield or on the other authorized means and procedures to transfer personal data provided by the EU Data Protection Directive.

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In December 2015, a proposal for an EU General Data Protection Regulation, intended to replace the current EU Data Protection Directive, introducing new data protection requirements in the EU, as well as substantial fines for breaches of the data protection rules, was agreed between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. The EU General Data Protection Regulation entered into force on May 24, 2016 and will apply from May 25, 2018. The EU Data Protection Regulation will increase the responsibility and liability in relation to personal data processed in the European Union and will also introduce substantial fines for breaches of the data protection rules. Furthermore, there is a growth towards the public disclosure of clinical trial data in the European Union which adds to the complexity of processing health data from clinical trials.

Corporate Information

We were incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in November 2007. Our principal executive offices are located at 490 Lapp Road, Malvern, PA 19355, and our telephone number is (484) 395-2470.

Employees

We currently have 255 full-time employees and 1 temporary employee. None of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements, and we consider relations with our employees to be good.

Available Information

Our website address is www.recropharma.com. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, any amendments to those reports, proxy and registration statements filed or furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, are available free of charge through our website. We make these materials available through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such materials with, or furnish such materials to, the SEC. The reports filed with the SEC by our executive officers and directors pursuant to Section 16 under the Exchange Act are also made available, free of charge on our website, as soon as reasonably practicable after copies of those filings are provided to us by those persons. These materials can be accessed through the “Investor Relations” section of our website. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, our website is not part of this Report.

The following risk factors and other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K should be carefully considered.  The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face.  Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we presently deem less significant may also impair our business operations.  Please see page 4 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of some of the forward-looking statements that are qualified by these risk factors.  If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and future growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected. All references and risks related to the launch, commercialization or sale of injectable meloxicam or any of our other product candidates are predicated on such product candidates receiving the requisite marketing and regulatory approval in the United States and applicable foreign jurisdictions.

Risks Related to Our Finances and Capital Requirements

We have incurred net losses since inception.  We expect to incur losses for the foreseeable future and may never achieve or maintain profitability.

To date, we have focused primarily on developing our proprietary product candidates.  We have incurred significant pre-tax losses in each year since our inception in November 2007, including pre-tax losses of approximately $52.0 million and $31.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.  As of December 31, 2017, we had an accumulated deficit of $111.3 million.

We have financed our operations through the sale of debt and equity securities, term loans made under our previous and existing credit facilities, including our current $100.0 million credit facility with Athyrium Opportunities III Acquisition LP, or Athyrium, and revenue generated by our CDMO division.  We have used revenue generated by our CDMO division primarily to fund the operations of our CDMO division, to make payments under our previous credit facility and to partially fund our research and development and pre-commercialization activities.  We believe that our CDMO division revenue will continue to contribute cash for general corporate purposes that may, to some extent, reduce the amount of external capital needed to fund development operations.

The size of our future net losses and our ability to achieve profitability will depend, in part, on the rate of future expenditures and our ability to successfully commercialize IV meloxicam, if approved, and our other current or future product candidates.  To date, none of

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our product candidates have been commercialized, and revenues generated by our CDMO division do not cover our costs and may never be sufficient to achieve profitability.  Our ability to generate future revenues from product sales depends heavily on our success in:

We expect to continue to incur substantial and increased expenses as we continue our clinical, launch preparation and commercialization activities for IV meloxicam, and expand our research and development activities and advance our clinical programs for our other product candidates.  Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with pharmaceutical product development and commercialization, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of increased expenses, and when, or if, we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability.

If IV meloxicam or our other product candidates are not successfully developed or commercialized, or if revenues are insufficient following marketing approval, we will not achieve profitability and our business may fail.  Even if we successfully obtain regulatory approval for IV meloxicam in the United States, our revenues are also dependent upon the size of the markets outside of the United States, as well as our ability to obtain market approval and achieve commercial success outside of the United States on our own or with a collaboration partner.

As a result of the foregoing, we expect to continue to incur significant and increasing losses from operations for the foreseeable future.  Even if we are able to generate revenues from the sale of our products, we may not become profitable and may need to obtain additional funding to continue operations.

If we fail to obtain sufficient additional financing, we would be forced to delay, reduce or eliminate our product development and related commercialization programs or to significantly scale back or discontinue our manufacturing business.

Developing and commercializing pharmaceutical products, including conducting preclinical studies and clinical trials and ramping up commercial manufacturing activities, is expensive.  We expect our research and development expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing clinical and pre-commercialization activities, particularly as we advance our clinical programs and scale up our commercialization activities.  If we obtain regulatory approval for IV meloxicam, we anticipate incurring significant costs of sales and general and commercialization expenses in connection with its launch and commercialization.  In addition, maintaining our cGMP pharmaceutical manufacturing facility is expensive.  While our CDMO division generates revenue and profit, that revenue and profit alone is not sufficient to support the development and commercialization of our product candidates.  We will need to raise additional funds to support our future product development operations.  In addition, we may also need to obtain additional financing if the capital requirements for operating and maintaining our manufacturing facility exceed our current expectations.  Such financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.

We expect our existing cash and cash equivalents and other expected financing sources will be sufficient to fund our operations over the next 12 months.  If IV meloxicam is approved by the FDA, we will need to raise additional funding to satisfy the $45 million milestone payment due to Alkermes upon FDA approval of IV meloxicam, and to implement our commercial launch plans for IV meloxicam. In addition, changing circumstances beyond our control may cause us to consume capital more rapidly than we currently anticipate.  For example, our pre-commercialization and commercialization activities for IV meloxicam may lead to additional,

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unexpected costs related to the commercial manufacture of IV meloxicam or the build out of our commercial sales organization.  We may also encounter technical, enrollment or other difficulties that could increase our development costs more than we expect for our other product candidates.  Additional funding will be needed to develop our other product candidates.

Securing additional financing may divert our management from our day-to-day activities, which may adversely affect our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates or to develop and maintain customer relationships.  In addition, we cannot guarantee that future financing will be available in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.  If we are unable to raise additional capital when required or on acceptable terms, we may be required to:

Any of the above could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and prospects.

We may sell additional equity or debt securities to fund our operations, which would result in dilution to our shareholders and may impose restrictions on our business.

We may seek additional capital through a combination of private and public equity offerings, debt financings, strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements.  On December 29, 2017, we entered into a Sales Agreement, or the Sales Agreement with Cowen and Company, LLC, or Cowen, pursuant to which we may sell from time to time, at our option, up to $40.0 million of shares of our common stock through Cowen, as our placement agent. On March 2, 2018, we entered into a common stock purchase agreement, or the Purchase Agreement, with Aspire Capital Fund, LLC, or Aspire Capital, which provides that, upon the terms and subject to the conditions and limitations set forth in the Purchase Agreement, Aspire Capital is committed to purchase, at our sole election, up to an aggregate of $20.0 million of our shares of common stock over the approximately 30-month term of the Purchase Agreement. To the extent that we raise additional capital through sales of common stock under the Sales Agreement or the Purchase Agreement, or the sale of equity or convertible debt securities by any other means, existing ownership interests will be diluted, and the terms of such financings may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of existing shareholders.  Debt financings may be coupled with an equity component, such as warrants to purchase shares, which could also result in dilution of our existing shareholders’ ownership.  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 product candidates, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us.

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly.

Our operating results may be subject to quarterly and annual fluctuations.  Our operating results will be affected by numerous factors, including:

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Due to the various factors mentioned above, and others, the results of any prior quarterly period should not be relied upon as an indication of our future operating performance.  If our quarterly operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially.  Furthermore, any quarterly fluctuations in our operating results may, in turn, cause the price of our stock to fluctuate substantially.

We have incurred significant indebtedness, which could adversely affect our business.

As of December 31, 2017, we had an outstanding balance under the credit agreement of $60.0 million.  Upon entry into the credit agreement with Athyrium, we drew upon an initial $60.0 million term loan and have the ability to draw upon two additional tranches of terms loans, each in the aggregate original principal amount of $20.0 million, subject to certain timing and milestone restrictions.

Our indebtedness could have important consequences to our shareholders.  For example, it:

Any of the above listed factors could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.  Our credit agreement with Athyrium also contains certain financial and other covenants, including a minimum liquidity requirement and a trailing four quarter revenue requirement, maximum leverage ratios and includes limitations on, among other things, additional indebtedness, paying dividends in certain circumstances, acquisitions and certain investments.  The credit agreement provides for certain mandatory prepayment events, including with respect to the proceeds of asset sales, extraordinary receipts, debt issuances and other specified events, based on the terms of the credit agreement with Athyrium.  Any failure to comply with the terms, covenants

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and conditions of the credit agreement may result in an event of default under such agreement, may limit our ability to draw upon additional tranches of term loans, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operation.

The recently passed comprehensive tax reform bill could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law the Tax Act, which significantly changes the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.  The Tax Act contains, among other things, significant changes to corporate taxation, including a permanent reduction to the corporate income tax rate from a top marginal 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 current year taxable income and elimination of net operating loss carrybacks, one time taxation of offshore earnings at reduced rates regardless of whether they are repatriated, immediate deductions for certain new investments instead of deductions for depreciation expense over time, and modifying or repealing many business deductions and credits. Any federal net operating loss carryovers created in 2018 and thereafter will be carried forward indefinitely. As a result of the Tax Act, we have incurred a one-time net expense of $7.9 million related to the remeasurement of our deferred tax balances to the new statutory rate.  We continue to examine the impact the Tax Act may have on our business.   Any estimates we have made or will make regarding the impact of the Tax Act reflect certain assumptions based upon our current interpretation and analysis to date of the law. These assumptions may be subject to further refinement due to any future changes in interpretations or additional guidance that may be issued as a result of the Tax Act.  Notwithstanding the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, the overall impact of the Tax Act is uncertain, and our business and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Changes in tax laws and unanticipated tax liabilities could adversely affect our effective income tax rate and ability to achieve profitability.

We are subject to income taxes in the United States and Ireland. Our effective income tax rate in the future could be adversely affected by a number of factors including changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities and changes in tax laws.  

We regularly assess these matters to determine the adequacy of our tax provision, which is subject to discretion.  If our assessments are incorrect, it could have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition.  There can be no assurance that income tax laws and administrative policies with respect to the income tax consequences generally applicable to us or to our subsidiaries will not be changed in a manner which adversely affects our shareholders. Changes in tax laws and unanticipated tax liabilities could adversely affect our effective income tax rate and ability to achieve profitability.

Risks Related to Clinical Development and Regulatory Approval

We are substantially dependent on the success of our lead product candidate IV meloxicam, which is in a later stage of development than our other product candidates.  To the extent regulatory approval of IV meloxicam is delayed or not granted, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected and the price of our common stock may decline.

We currently have no product candidates approved for sale, and we may never be able to develop marketable products.  We are focusing a significant portion of our activities and resources on our lead product candidate, IV meloxicam, and we believe our prospects are highly dependent on, and a significant portion of the value of our company relates to, our ability to successfully obtain regulatory approval for, and successfully commercialize, IV meloxicam.  The regulatory approval of IV meloxicam is subject to many risks, including the risks discussed in other risk factors, and IV meloxicam may not receive marketing approval from any regulatory agency.  If the results or timing of regulatory filings, the regulatory process, regulatory developments, clinical trials or preclinical studies, or other activities, actions or decisions related to IV meloxicam do not meet our or others’ expectations, the market price of our common stock could decline significantly.

We submitted an NDA for IV meloxicam for the management of moderate to severe pain in July 2017. Our NDA was subsequently accepted for filing and review by the FDA in September 2017 and a PDUFA date for was set for May 26, 2018.  Although we have discussed our clinical development plans with the FDA, the agency may ultimately determine that our Phase III clinical trials or other aspects of our NDA are not sufficient for regulatory approval and may issue a complete response letter instead of approval. If we receive a complete response letter, the FDA would outline deficiencies in our NDA and may request the submission of additional information, including CMC, preclinical and clinical data.  The FDA is also in the process of auditing the third-party manufacturing facilities that we rely on for the manufacture of IV meloxicam for pre-approval inspections and may audit one or more of our clinical trial sites, and if any site or facility reveals anomalies or does not pass inspection, including, but not limited to, any issues related to our process validation batches, the FDA could delay or preclude approval of our NDA.  In either case, our commercialization of IV meloxicam may be delayed and we may incur additional costs and be required to devote additional resources to address the FDA’s concerns.  If the FDA requires us to conduct additional clinical trials or pre-clinical studies or requires any of our manufacturers to

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improve or change their practices, our timeline for commercialization of IV meloxicam will be delayed and we will incur additional costs.  Further, there can be no assurance that we will complete the other clinical and non-clinical studies or address manufacturing issues in a manner that is acceptable to the FDA.  In addition, we are conducting Phase IIIb clinical trials for IV meloxicam in colorectal surgery patients and orthopedic surgery patients, and those clinical trials could fail or produce results that are adverse or inconclusive, which could have a negative impact on regulatory approval.

Any delay or setback in the development or regulatory approval of IV meloxicam could adversely affect our business and cause our stock price to decline.  Should our recent Phase III clinical development program be insufficient to support regulatory approval, we may be forced to rely on our other product candidates, which are at an earlier development stage and will require additional time and resources to obtain regulatory approval and proceed with commercialization.  We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain approval for IV meloxicam from the FDA.

Even if the FDA grants approval of IV meloxicam, the terms of the approval may limit its commercial potential.

Even if IV meloxicam were to successfully obtain approval from the FDA, any such approval might significantly limit the approved indications for use, including limiting its use to a more limited patient populations, require that precautions, contraindications or warnings be included on the product labeling, including black box warnings, require expensive and time-consuming post-approval clinical trials, REMS or surveillance as conditions of approval, or, through product labeling limit the claims that we may make, any of which may impede the successful commercialization of IV meloxicam.  For example, the FDA may conclude that our Phase III clinical trials or other aspects of our NDA are not sufficient to support a product label with claims covering management of moderate to severe pain or 24 hour dosing intervals.  If the approval of IV meloxicam contains significant limitations, our ability to market to our full target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of IV meloxicam will be harmed and we may have to discontinue the commercialization of IV meloxicam or limit our sales and marketing efforts, which in turn could limit our ability to achieve profitability.

Our development and commercialization strategy for IV meloxicam depends, in part, on published scientific literature and the FDA’s prior findings regarding the safety and efficacy of approved products containing meloxicam based on data not developed by us, but upon which the FDA may rely in reviewing our NDA.

Section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA permits the filing of an NDA where at least some of the information required for approval comes from investigations that were not conducted by or for the applicant and for which the applicant has not obtained a right of reference or use from the person by or for whom the investigations were conducted.  The FDA interprets Section 505(b)(2) of the FDCA, for purposes of approving an NDA, to permit the applicant to rely, in part, upon published literature or the FDA’s previous findings of safety and efficacy for an already-approved reference product.  The FDA may also require companies to perform additional clinical trials or measurements to support any deviation from the reference product.  The FDA may then approve the new product candidate for all or some of the label indications for which the reference product has been approved, as well as for any new indication sought by the Section 505(b)(2) applicant.  The label, however, may require all or some of the limitations, contraindications, warnings or precautions included in the reference product’s label, including a black box warning, or may require additional limitations, contraindications, warnings or precautions.  Our NDA for IV meloxicam was submitted under Section 505(b)(2) and as such the NDA relies, in part, on the FDA’s previous findings of safety and efficacy from investigations for approved product containing meloxicam and published scientific literature for which we have not received a right of reference.  Even though we may be able to take advantage of Section 505(b)(2) to support potential U.S. approval for IV meloxicam, the FDA may require us to perform additional clinical trials or measurements to support approval.  In addition, notwithstanding the approval of many products by the FDA pursuant to Section 505(b)(2), if the FDA changes its interpretation of Section 505(b)(2), or if the FDA’s interpretation is successfully challenged in court, this could delay or even prevent the FDA from approving our NDA for IV meloxicam or any other Section 505(b)(2) NDAs that we submit.  Such a result could require us to conduct additional testing and costly clinical trials, which could substantially delay or prevent the approval and launch of IV meloxicam.

We will need to obtain approval for any proposed names for IV meloxicam, and any delay associated with doing so could delay commercialization of IV meloxicam, and adversely impact our business.

The proprietary name we propose to use with IV meloxicam in the United States must be reviewed and accepted by the FDA, regardless of whether we have registered it, or applied to register it, as a trademark. The FDA reviews any proposed product name, including an evaluation of potential for confusion with other product names. The FDA may also object to a product name if it believes the name inappropriately implies medical claims or contributes to an overstatement of efficacy. Although the FDA has conditionally accepted our proposed proprietary product name for IV meloxicam, it may still object to the proposed proprietary product name at the time of any NDA approval, which would require us to expend significant additional resources in an effort to identify a suitable proprietary product name that would qualify under applicable laws, not infringe the existing rights of third parties and be acceptable to the FDA.

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IV meloxicam and our other product candidates may cause adverse events or other safety concerns or have other properties that could delay or prevent their regulatory approval or limit the scope of any approved label or market acceptance.

AEs caused by IV meloxicam and our other product candidates could cause us, other reviewing entities, clinical study sites or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical studies and could result in the denial of regulatory approval.  Clinical studies conducted with IV meloxicam and our other product candidates have generated some AEs, and in some cases SAEs, as those terms are defined by the FDA in its regulations, and AEs or SAEs could be generated during the course of our on-going Phase IIIb clinical trials for IV meloxicam.  Our ability to obtain regulatory approval for IV meloxicam and our other product candidates may be adversely impacted by these AEs, SAEs or other safety concerns.  Further, if our products cause serious or unexpected side effects after receiving market approval, a number of potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:

Any of these events could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the affected product candidate and could substantially increase the costs of commercializing our product candidates.

IV meloxicam or any of our other product candidates, if approved, may require REMS, which may significantly increase our costs.

IV meloxicam or any of our other product candidates, if approved, may require REMS.  The REMS may include requirements for special labeling or medication guides for patients, special communication plans to health care professionals and restrictions on distribution and use.  We cannot predict the specific scope or magnitude of REMS that may be required as part of the FDA’s approval of IV meloxicam or our other product candidates.  Depending on the extent of the REMS requirements, our costs to commercialize IV meloxicam or our other product candidates may increase significantly and distribution restrictions could limit sales.  Similar obstacles may arise in countries outside of the United States.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, we will still face extensive regulatory requirements and our products may face future regulatory difficulties.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval in the United States or in other countries, the FDA and state regulatory authorities and the equivalent regulatory authorities in other countries may still impose significant restrictions on the indicated uses or marketing of our product candidates, or impose ongoing requirements for potentially costly post-approval studies or post-marketing surveillance.  Any approved products will also be subject to ongoing FDA requirements governing the labeling, packaging, storage, distribution, safety surveillance, advertising, promotion, record-keeping and reporting of safety and other post-marketing information.  The holder of an approved NDA is obligated to monitor and report AEs and any failure of a product to meet the specifications in the NDA.  The holder of an approved NDA must also submit new or supplemental applications and obtain FDA approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling or manufacturing process.  Advertising and promotional materials must comply with FDA rules and are subject to FDA review, in addition to other potentially applicable federal and state laws.  The applicable regulations in countries outside the United States grant similar powers to the competent authorities and impose similar obligations on companies.

In addition, manufacturers of drug products and their facilities are subject to payment of substantial user fees and continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities, including equivalent regulatory authorities in other countries, for compliance with cGMP regulations and adherence to commitments made in the NDA or the application for marketing authorization.  If we, or a regulatory authority, discover previously unknown problems with a product, such as AEs of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with a facility where the product is manufactured, a regulatory authority may impose restrictions relative to that product or the manufacturing facility, including requiring recall or withdrawal of the product from the market, suspension of manufacturing, or other FDA action or other action by the equivalent regulatory authorities in other countries.

If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements following approval of any of our product candidates, a regulatory authority may:

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Even if we obtain FDA approval for IV meloxicam or our other product candidates in the United States, we may never obtain approval for or commercialize our products outside of the United States, which would limit our ability to realize their full market potential.

In order to market any products outside of the United States, we must establish and comply with numerous and varying regulatory requirements of other countries regarding quality, safety and efficacy.  Clinical trials conducted in one country may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other countries, and regulatory approval in one country does not mean that regulatory approval will be obtained in any other country.  Approval processes vary among countries and can involve additional product testing and validation and additional administrative review periods.  Seeking foreign regulatory approval could result in difficulties and costs for us and require additional non-clinical studies or clinical trials, which could be costly and time consuming.  Regulatory requirements can vary widely from country to country and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in those countries.  While our management has experience in obtaining foreign regulatory approvals, we do not have any product candidates approved for sale in any jurisdiction, including international markets, and we, as a company, do not have experience in obtaining regulatory approval in international markets.  If we fail to comply with regulatory requirements in international markets or to obtain and maintain required approvals, or if regulatory approval in international markets is delayed, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our products will be adversely affected.

For example, in the European Union, similar to the United States regulation scheme, both marketing authorization holders and manufacturers of medicinal products are subject to comprehensive regulatory oversight by the EMA and the competent authorities of the individual European Union member states both before and after grant of the manufacturing and Marketing Authorizations.  This includes control of compliance with cGMP rules, which govern quality control of the manufacturing process and require documentation policies and procedures.  We and our third-party manufacturers are required to ensure that all of our processes, methods, and equipment are compliant with cGMP.  Failure by us or by any of our third-party partners, including suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors to comply with European Union laws and the related national laws of individual European Union member states governing the conduct of clinical trials, manufacturing approval, marketing authorization of medicinal products, both before and after grant of marketing authorization, and marketing of such products following grant of authorization may result in administrative, civil, or criminal penalties.  These penalties could include delays in or refusal to authorize the conduct of clinical trials or to grant Marketing Authorization, product withdrawals and recalls, product seizures, suspension, or variation of the marketing authorization, total or partial suspension of production, distribution, manufacturing, or clinical trials, operating restrictions, injunctions, suspension of licenses, fines, and criminal penalties.

The regulatory approval processes of the FDA are lengthy, time consuming and inherently unpredictable, and if we are ultimately unable to obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our business will be substantially harmed.

The time required to obtain approval by the FDA is unpredictable but typically takes many years following the commencement of clinical trials and depends upon numerous factors, including the substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities.  In addition, approval policies, regulations, or the type and amount of clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s clinical development and may vary among jurisdictions.  We have not obtained regulatory approval for any product candidate, and it is possible that none of our existing product candidates or any product candidates we may seek to develop in the future will ever obtain regulatory approval.

Our product candidates could fail to receive regulatory approval for many reasons, including the following:

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With the exception of our recent NDA submission for IV meloxicam, we have not previously submitted an NDA or any similar drug approval filing to the FDA or any comparable foreign authority for any product candidate, and we cannot be certain that any of our product candidates will receive regulatory approval.  If we do not receive regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we may not be able to continue our operations.  Even if we successfully obtain regulatory approval to market one of our product candidates, our revenue will be dependent, to a significant extent, upon the size of the markets in the territories for which we gain regulatory approval.  If the markets for patients or indications that we are targeting are not as significant as we estimate, we may not generate significant revenue from sales of such products, if approved.

Clinical development is a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome, and results of earlier studies and trials may not be predictive of future trial results.  Clinical failure can occur at any stage of clinical development.

Clinical trials are expensive, can take many years to complete and have highly uncertain outcomes.  Failure can occur at any time during the clinical trial process as a result of inadequate study design, inadequate performance of a drug, inadequate adherence by patients or investigators to clinical trial protocols, or other factors.  New drugs in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy traits despite having progressed through earlier clinical trials.  Some of our pipeline product candidates are in early stages of development, and positive preclinical and Phase I clinical trials for those product candidates may not necessarily be predictive of the results of later stage clinical trials. A number of companies in the biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials as a result of a lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, despite promising results in earlier trials.  Our clinical trials may not be successful or may be more expensive or time-consuming than we currently expect.  If clinical trials for any of our product candidates fail to demonstrate safety or efficacy to the satisfaction of the FDA or the equivalent regulatory authorities in other countries, the FDA or the equivalent regulatory authorities in other countries will not approve that drug and we would not be able to commercialize it, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.

Delays in clinical trials are common and have many causes, and any delay could result in increased costs to us and jeopardize or delay our ability to obtain regulatory approval and commence product sales.

We may experience delays in clinical trials of our product candidates or the time required to complete clinical trials for our product candidates may be longer than anticipated.  Our planned clinical trials may not begin on time, have an effective design, enroll a sufficient number of patients, or be completed on schedule, if at all.  Our clinical trials can be delayed for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to:

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For example, the FDA has imposed a clinical hold on two of our early-stage product candidates, RP1000 and the reversal agent. We currently are scheduled to meet with the FDA regarding the process for resolving the holds, but we will be unable to proceed with clinical development on these product candidates until clinical hold is resolved.  In addition, we initially studied Dex-IN for the treatment of post-operative pain. Based on clinical trial results and feedback from the FDA, we are exploring Dex-IN in peri-procedural pain.  However, we cannot guarantee whether the FDA will accept a development path that leads to this indication.  If we are unable to resolve these issues with the FDA, or if clinical trials for any of our other product candidates are delayed for any of the above reasons or other reasons, our development costs may increase, our approval process could be delayed and our ability to commercialize our product candidates could be materially harmed, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Risks Related to Commercialization of Our Product Candidates

We have no history of commercializing drugs, which may make it difficult to predict our future performance or evaluate our business and prospects.

Although we commenced operations in 2007, our operations have been primarily limited to developing our technology and undertaking non-clinical studies and clinical trials for our product candidates.  We have not yet obtained regulatory approval for any of our product candidates.  To date, we have not yet demonstrated our ability to successfully manufacture at commercial scale or arrange for a third party to do so on our behalf, or conduct sales, marketing and distribution activities necessary for successful product commercialization. Consequently, because our success is dependent on our ability to commercialize IV meloxicam, any predictions about our future success or viability may not be as accurate as they could be if we had a longer history of successfully developing and commercializing drugs.

If we are unable to successfully commercialize IV meloxicam, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected and the price of our common stock may decline.

Even if we receive regulatory approval from the FDA for the labeling that we request, our ability to successfully commercialize IV meloxicam will depend on many factors, including but not limited to:

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Many of these matters are beyond our control and are subject to other risks described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section.  Accordingly, we cannot assure that we will be able to successfully commercialize or generate revenue from IV meloxicam, even if we receive regulatory approval.  If we cannot do so, or are significantly delayed in doing so, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected and the price of our common stock may decline.

The commercial success of IV meloxicam and our other product candidates will depend upon the acceptance of these products by the medical community, including physicians, patients, health care payers and hospital formularies.

Physicians may not prescribe IV meloxicam or any of our other product candidates if approved by the FDA, in which case we would not generate the revenues we anticipate.  The degree of market acceptance of any of our product candidates will depend on a number of factors, including:

If IV meloxicam or any of our other product candidates are approved, but do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance by physicians, patients and health care payers, we may not generate sufficient revenue and we may not become or remain profitable.

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If we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to market and sell IV meloxicam or our other product candidates, we may be unable to generate any revenue for IV meloxicam or our other product candidates.

In anticipation of the approval and commercialization of IV meloxicam, we have begun to build out our sales, marketing and distribution capabilities, and will need to continue to do so.  We may discover that the cost of continuing to establish, expand and maintain such sales force may exceed the cost-effectiveness of doing so.  In order to market any products that may be approved, we must continue to build our sales, marketing, managerial and other non-technical capabilities or make arrangements with third parties to perform these services.  We intend to enter into strategic partnerships with third parties to commercialize our product candidates outside of the United States.  We will also consider the option to enter into strategic partnerships for certain product candidates in the United States.

To date, we have not entered into any strategic partnerships for any of our product candidates.  We face significant competition in seeking appropriate strategic partners, and these strategic partnerships can be intricate and time consuming to negotiate and document.  We may not be able to negotiate strategic partnerships on acceptable terms, or at all.  We are unable to predict when, if ever, we will enter into any strategic partnerships because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with establishing strategic partnerships.

Our strategy for IV meloxicam is to develop a specialty sales force and/or collaborate with third parties to promote the product to healthcare professionals and third-party payers in the United States.  Our future collaboration partners, if any, may not dedicate sufficient resources to the commercialization of our product candidates or may otherwise fail in their commercialization due to factors beyond our control.  If we are unable to establish effective collaborations to enable the sale of our product candidates to healthcare professionals and in geographic regions, including the United States, that will not be covered by our own marketing and sales force, or if our potential future collaboration partners do not successfully commercialize our product candidates, our ability to generate revenues from product sales will be adversely affected.

If we are unable to negotiate a strategic partnership or obtain additional financial resources for our other product candidates, we may be forced to curtail the development of them, delay potential commercialization, reduce the scope of our sales or marketing activities or undertake development or commercialization activities at our own expense.  In addition, without a partnership, we will bear all the risk related to the development of these other product candidates.  If we elect to increase our expenditures to fund development or commercialization activities ourselves, we will need to obtain additional capital, which may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.  If we do not have sufficient funds, we will not be able to bring our other product candidates to market or generate product revenue.

We are subject to intense competition and, if we are unable to compete effectively, injectable meloxicam or any of our other product candidates may not reach their commercial potential.

The market for our product candidates is characterized by intense competition and rapid technological advances.  If our product candidates obtain FDA approval, they will compete with a number of existing and future pharmaceuticals and drug delivery devices developed, manufactured and marketed by others.  We will compete against fully integrated pharmaceutical companies and smaller companies that are collaborating with larger pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations.

In the post-operative pain relief setting, we believe patients are prescribed injectable acetaminophen, NSAIDs, sodium channel blockers and opioids, depending on the severity of pain.  Specifically, acetaminophen, NSAIDs and sodium channel blockers, we believe, are prescribed for mild to moderate pain relief, whereas we believe opioids are prescribed for moderate to severe pain relief.  While we will compete with all of these compounds in the post-operative pain setting, we believe injectable meloxicam will be prescribed for moderate to severe pain, competing with opioids and other non-opioid pain treatments.  There are a number of pharmaceutical companies that currently market and/or manufacture therapeutics in the pain relief area, including Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma, L.P., Mallinckrodt plc, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc., Depomed, Inc. and Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Purdue is the primary competitor in the manufacture of opioid therapeutics.  Mallinckrodt commercializes an injectable formulation of acetaminophen.  Pacira commercializes an intraoperative formulation of bupivacaine, a sodium channel blocker.  Additionally, companies such as Adynxx, Inc., AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Durect Corporation, Heron Therapeutics, Inc., Innocoll Holdings plc, Sandoz AG, Trevena, Inc. and Cara Therapeutics, Inc. are currently developing post-operative pain therapeutics that could compete with us in the future.

More established companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their greater size, cash flows and institutional experience.  Compared to us, many of our competitors may have significantly greater financial, technical and human resources.  As a result of these factors, our competitors may have an advantage in marketing their approved products and may obtain regulatory approval of their product candidates before we are able to, which may limit our ability to develop or commercialize our product candidates.  Our competitors may also develop drugs that are safer, more effective, more widely used and less expensive than ours,

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and may also be more successful than us in manufacturing and marketing their products.  These advantages could materially impact our ability to develop and commercialize IV meloxicam and our other product candidates successfully.

Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors.  Smaller and early‑stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies.  These third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific, management and commercial personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and subject registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs.

We anticipate that we will face intense and increasing competition as new drugs enter the market and additional technologies become available in the pain management and relief space.  Finally, the development of different methods for the treatment of acute pain following surgery could render injectable meloxicam non-competitive or obsolete.  These and other risks may materially adversely affect our ability to attain or sustain profitable operations.

Our business, financial condition, and results of operations are subject to risks arising from the international scope of our operations.

Some of the contract manufacturers of our lead product candidate injectable meloxicam manufacture and source raw materials outside the United States and we may, in the future, use manufacturers outside the United States for our other product candidates.  As such, we are subject to risks associated with such international manufacturing relationships, including:

Additionally, we are subject to periodic reviews and audits by governmental authorities responsible for administering import/export regulations. To the extent that we are unable to successfully defend against an audit or review, we may be required to pay assessments, penalties, and increased duties on products imported into the United States.

If third-party payers do not reimburse physicians or patients for IV meloxicam or our other product candidates or if reimbursement levels are, or pricing pressures cause the sales price to be, set too low for us to sell IV meloxicam or our other product candidates at a profit, our ability to successfully commercialize IV meloxicam or our other product candidates and our results of operations will be harmed.

Our ability to commercialize IV meloxicam or our other product candidates successfully will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement for such products, once approved, will be available in a timely manner from third-party payers, including governmental healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, commercial health insurers and managed care organizations. Government authorities and other third-party payers, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, determine which medications they will cover and establish reimbursement levels. Reimbursement decisions by particular third-party payers depend upon a number of factors, including each third-party payer’s determination that use of a product is:

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Obtaining coverage and reimbursement approval for IV meloxicam or our other product candidates from government authorities or other third-party payers may be a time consuming and costly process that could require us to provide supporting scientific, clinical and cost-effectiveness data, including expensive pharmacoeconomic studies beyond the data required to obtain marketing approval, for the use of IV meloxicam or our other product candidates to each government authority or other third-party payer. For example, if our ongoing Phase IIIb clinical trials for IV meloxicam in colorectal surgery patients and orthopedic surgery patients do not show improved outcomes relative to the current standard of care, obtaining payer coverage could be more difficult.  We may not be able to provide data sufficient to gain acceptance with respect to coverage and reimbursement.

Third-party payers may deny reimbursement for covered products if they determine that a medical product was used for an unapproved indication. Third-party payers may also limit coverage to specific products on an approved list, or formulary, which might not include all of the FDA-approved products for a particular indication. Failure to obtain timely hospital formulary approval will limit our commercial success, and obtaining such approval can be an expensive and time consuming process.  We cannot be certain if and when we will obtain the formulary approvals to allow us to sell our products into our target markets, nor, if formulary approval is obtained, at what price our products will be accepted for sale and reimbursement.

Increasingly, third-party payers are also requiring that drug companies provide them with predetermined discounts from list prices and are challenging the prices charged for medical products. These third-party payers could also impose price controls restricting the prices at which the products will be reimbursed and other conditions that must be met by patients prior to providing coverage for use of IV meloxicam or our other product candidates.

Third-party payers are increasingly attempting to contain healthcare costs by limiting both coverage and the level of reimbursement for medical products and services, which can impact the demand for, or the price of, such products and services. The process for determining whether a payer will provide coverage for a product may be separate from the process for setting the price or reimbursement rate that the payer will pay for the product once coverage is approved. Levels of reimbursement may also decrease in the future, due to the availability of numerous generic pain medications available at lower costs or future legislation, regulation or reimbursement policies of third-party payers which may adversely affect the demand for and reimbursement available for IV meloxicam or our other product candidates, which in turn, could negatively impact pricing. If patients are not adequately reimbursed for IV meloxicam or our other product candidates, they may reduce or discontinue purchases of it, which would result in a significant shortfall in achieving revenue expectations and negatively impact our business, prospects and financial condition.

If we obtain approval to commercialize our products outside of the United States, a variety of risks associated with international operations could materially adversely affect our business.

If our product candidates are approved for commercialization, we may enter into agreements with third parties to market IV meloxicam or other product candidates outside the United States.  We expect that we will be subject to additional risks related to entering into international business relationships, including:

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The realization of any of these risks would negatively affect our ability to attain or sustain profitability.

Our relationships with physicians, patients and payers in the U.S. are subject to applicable anti-kickback, fraud and abuse laws and regulations. Our failure to comply with these laws could expose us to criminal, civil and administrative sanctions, reputational harm, and could harm our results of operations and financial conditions.

Our current and future operations with respect to the commercialization of IV meloxicam and our other product candidates are subject to various U.S. federal and state healthcare laws and regulations. These laws impact, among other things, our proposed sales, marketing, support and education programs and constrain our business and financial arrangements and relationships with third-party payers, healthcare professionals and others who may prescribe, recommend, purchase or provide IV meloxicam or our other product candidates, and other parties through which we market, sell and distribute IV meloxicam or our other product candidates. Finally, our current and future operations are subject to additional healthcare-related statutory and regulatory requirements and enforcement by foreign regulatory authorities in jurisdictions in which we conduct our business. The laws are described in greater detail in the section below under “Business — Government Regulation — Other Healthcare Laws and Compliance Requirements,” and include, but are not limited to:

The shifting commercial compliance environment and the need to build and maintain robust and expandable systems to comply with different compliance or reporting requirements in multiple jurisdictions increase the possibility that a healthcare or pharmaceutical company may fail to comply fully with one or more of these requirements. Efforts to ensure that our business arrangements with third

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parties will comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations may involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices do not comply with applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations or guidance. In addition, the complex framework of laws and regulations at the federal and state law are subject to change, which could lead to non-compliance or additional costs in updating our compliance mechanism to reflect these changes.  For example, several states have begun to enact new laws or regulations affecting or restricting payments that pharmaceutical manufacturers or distributors can make to physicians and other drug prescribers.  If our operations are found to be in violation of any of these laws or any other governmental regulations that may apply to us, we may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, fines, imprisonment, exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, additional oversight and reporting requirements if we become subject to a corporate integrity agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations. If any of the physicians or other providers or entities with whom we expect to do business is found not to be in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to the same criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs. Even if we are not determined to have violated these laws, government investigations into these issues typically require the expenditure of significant resources and generate negative publicity, which could harm our financial condition and divert resources and the attention of our management from operating our business.

Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity in addition to the aforementioned potential regulatory actions. The occurrence of any event or penalty described above may inhibit our ability to commercialize IV meloxicam or our other product candidates and generate revenues which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we are able to successfully commercialize IV meloxicam or our other product candidates and if we participate in but fail to comply with our reporting and payment obligations under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, or other governmental pricing programs, we could be subject to additional pricing pressures and controls, reimbursement requirements, penalties, sanctions and fines which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

If we participate in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, and other governmental pricing programs, we will be obligated to pay certain specified rebates and report pricing information with respect to IV meloxicam or our other product candidates. Pricing and rebate calculations are complex and are often subject to interpretation by us, governmental or regulatory agencies and the courts. We cannot assure you that our submissions will not be found by the CMS to be incomplete or incorrect. Governmental agencies may also make changes in program interpretations, requirements or conditions of participation, some of which may have implications for amounts previously estimated or paid. The Medicaid rebate amount is computed each quarter based on our submission to CMS of our current AMP and best price for the quarter. If we become aware that our reporting for a prior quarter was incorrect, or has changed as a result of recalculation of the pricing data, we are obligated to resubmit the corrected data for a period not to exceed twelve quarters from the quarter in which the data originally were due, and CMS may request or require restatements for earlier periods as well. Such restatements and recalculations increase our costs for complying with the laws and regulations governing the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. Any corrections to our rebate calculations could result in an overage or underage in our rebate liability for past quarters, depending on the nature of the correction. Price recalculations also may affect the ceiling price at which we are required to offer our products to certain covered entities, such as safety-net providers, under the 340B program, and under other similar government pricing programs. These programs are described in greater detail in the section below under “Business — Government Regulation — Third-Party Payer Coverage and Reimbursement.”

We will also be liable for errors associated with our submission of pricing data. In addition to retroactive rebates and the potential for 340B program refunds, if we are found to have knowingly submitted false AMP, or best price information to the government, we may be liable for civil monetary penalties in the amount of $181,071 per item of false information. If we are found to have made a misrepresentation in the reporting of our average sales price, we may be liable for civil monetary penalties of up to $13,066 for each misrepresentation for each day in which the misrepresentation was applied. Our failure to submit monthly/quarterly AMP and best price data on a timely basis could result in a civil monetary penalty of $18,107 per day for each day the information is late beyond the due date. Such failure also could be grounds for CMS to terminate our Medicaid drug rebate agreement, pursuant to which we participate in the Medicaid program. In the event that CMS terminates our rebate agreement, federal payments may not be available under Medicaid for IV meloxicam or our other product candidates. A final regulation imposes a civil monetary penalty of up to $5,000 for each instance of knowingly and intentionally charging a 340B covered entity more than the 340B ceiling price.

Federal law requires that a company must participate in the FSS pricing program to be eligible to have its products paid for with federal funds. As part of this program, we would be obligated to make IV meloxicam or our other product candidates available for procurement on an FSS contract under which we must comply with standard government terms and conditions and charge a price that is no higher than the statutory Federal Ceiling Price to four federal agencies (VA, DOD, Public Health Service, and U.S. Coast Guard). The Federal Ceiling Price is based on the Non-Federal Average Manufacturer Price, which we calculate and report to the VA on a quarterly and annual basis. If we overcharge the government in connection with our FSS contract or Section 703 Agreement, whether due to a misstated Federal Ceiling Price or otherwise, we are required to refund the difference to the government. Failure to

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make necessary disclosures and/or to identify contract overcharges can result in allegations against us under the U.S. civil False Claims Act and other laws and regulations. Unexpected refunds to the government, and responding to a government investigation or enforcement action, would be expensive and time-consuming, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

The Affordable Care Act and any changes in healthcare law may increase the difficulty and cost for us to commercialize IV meloxicam or our other product candidates and affect the prices we may obtain.

The United States and many foreign jurisdictions have enacted or proposed legislative and regulatory changes affecting the healthcare system that could prevent or delay marketing approval of IV meloxicam or our other product candidates or restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to profitably sell IV meloxicam or our other product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval. The United States government, state legislatures and foreign governments also have shown significant interest in implementing cost-containment programs to limit the growth of government-paid healthcare costs, including price controls, restrictions on reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products for branded prescription drugs.

The Affordable Care Act was intended to broaden access to health insurance, reduce or constrain the growth of healthcare spending, enhance remedies against fraud and abuse, add transparency requirements for the healthcare and health insurance industries, impose new taxes and fees on the health industry and impose additional health policy reforms. These intended reforms are described in greater detail in the section below under “Business — Government Regulation — United States Healthcare Reform.”

Among the provisions of the Affordable Care Act that have been implemented since enactment and are of importance to the commercialization of IV meloxicam or our other product candidates are the following:

There have been significant ongoing efforts to modify or eliminate the Affordable Care Act.  For example, the Tax Act enacted on December 22, 2017, repealed the shared responsibility payment for individuals who fail to maintain minimum essential coverage under section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code, commonly referred to as the individual mandate, beginning in 2019. Further legislative changes to and regulatory changes under the Affordable Care Act remain possible. It is unknown what form any such changes or any law proposed to replace the Affordable Care Act would take, and how or whether it may affect our business in the future.

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We expect that the Affordable Care Act, as well as other healthcare reform measures that have and may be adopted in the future, may result in more rigorous coverage criteria and in additional downward pressure on the price that we receive for any approved products and could seriously harm our future revenues. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid, or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payers. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our products.

Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties

We rely on limited sources of supply and manufacturing for injectable meloxicam and our other product candidates, and if we encounter any issues with our contract manufacturers or suppliers, we may need to qualify alternative manufacturers or suppliers, which could impair our ability to sufficiently and timely manufacture and supply injectable meloxicam.

We do not own facilities for clinical-scale or commercial manufacturing of injectable meloxicam and our other product candidates and we rely on third-party suppliers and contract manufacturers to manufacture injectable meloxicam.  For example, Alkermes is currently our sole supplier of bulk injectable meloxicam formulation and Patheon provides sterile fill and finish services. Currently, Alkermes is the only established supplier of bulk injectable meloxicam formulation, and we have committed to purchase a certain percentage of our annual requirements of sterile fill and finish services from Patheon. Although our supply agreement and manufacturing agreements for injectable meloxicam and our other product candidates allow us to qualify and purchase from an alternative supplier or manufacturer in certain circumstances, it would be time-consuming and expensive for us to do so, and there can be no assurance that an alternative supplier could be found.  The number of potential manufacturers that have the necessary equipment, expertise and governmental licenses to produce our product candidates is limited.  If we encounter any issues with our contract manufacturers or choose to engage a new supplier or contract manufacturer for any of our product candidates, we would need to qualify and obtain FDA approval for another contract manufacturer or supplier as an alternative source for these products and services, which could be costly and cause significant delays.

Relying on third-parties to manufacture our product candidates exposes us to risks that may delay: testing, development, regulatory approval, commercialization and overall manufacturing of our product candidates.

We currently lack the internal resources to manufacture injectable meloxicam and our other product candidates. Although we have agreements pertaining to the manufacture, testing, supply, storage and distribution of product supplies of injectable meloxicam, upon commercialization, it is possible that our manufacturing requirements may exceed the available supply allotments under our existing agreements. We currently rely on Alkermes and Patheon to manufacture, test and supply injectable meloxicam. Our anticipated future reliance on a limited number of third-party manufacturers exposes us to the following risks:

Each of these risks could delay the approval, if any, of our product candidates by the FDA or the commercialization of our product candidates or result in higher costs or deprive us of potential product revenues.  If we do not successfully navigate each of these risks 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.

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If third-party service providers, including carriers, logistics providers and distributors fail to devote sufficient time and resources IV meloxicam or their performance is substandard, our product launch may be delayed and our costs may be higher than expected.

Our reliance on third-party service providers, including carriers, logistics providers and distributors exposes us to risks which could delay or impair the commercialization of IV meloxicam or our other product candidates, result in higher costs, or deprive us of potential product revenues.  Our carriers may experience technical issues relating to the timing and shipment of our products, may encounter issues in connection with transporting our products internationally, or may become subject to other transit difficulties that could cause loss or damage to our products, some of which may not be adequately covered under our insurance policies.  Our third-party logistic providers may experience difficulty in providing key services relating to customer service, warehousing, inventory management, distribution services, contract management, chargeback processing, accounts receivable management, cash application and financial management.  Our distributors could become unable to sell and deliver IV meloxicam or our other product candidates for regulatory, compliance and other reasons.  Our carriers, logistics providers, distributors and other third-party service providers may not perform as agreed or may not remain in business for the time required to successfully ship, store, deliver, sell and distribute our products and we may incur additional cost.  Any of our vendors could also default on or terminate their agreements with us, which could delay or impair the commercialization of IV meloxicam or our other product candidates.

Issues with product quality could have a material adverse effect upon our business, subject us to regulatory actions and cause a loss of customer confidence in us or our products.

Our success depends upon the quality of our products. Quality management plays an essential role in meeting customer requirements, preventing defects, improving our product candidates and services and assuring the safety and efficacy of our product candidates. Our future success depends on our ability to maintain and continuously improve our quality management program. A quality or safety issue may result in adverse inspection reports, warning letters, product recalls or seizures, monetary sanctions, injunctions to halt manufacture and distribution of products, civil or criminal sanctions, costly litigation, refusal of a government to grant approvals and licenses, restrictions on operations or withdrawal of existing approvals and licenses. An inability to address a quality or safety issue in an effective and timely manner may also cause negative publicity, a loss of customer confidence in us or our future products, which may result in difficulty in successfully launching product candidates and the loss of sales.

Manufacturing issues may arise that could increase product and regulatory approval costs or delay commercialization.

As we scale up manufacturing of IV meloxicam or our other product candidates and conduct required stability testing, issues may arise involving product-packaging and third-party equipment malfunctions. These issues may require refinement or resolution in order to proceed with commercial marketing of IV meloxicam or our other product candidates. In addition, quality issues may arise during scale-up and validation of commercial manufacturing processes. Any issues in our product or delivery devices could result in increased scrutiny by regulatory authorities, delays in our regulatory approval process, increases in our operating expenses, or failure to obtain or maintain approval for our products.

We use third parties to assist with conducting, supervising and monitoring portions of our clinical studies, and if those third parties perform in an unsatisfactory manner, it may harm our business.

We use third parties to provide certain manufacturing and operational support and for assistance with clinical trials, data management and statistical support.  While we have agreements governing their activities, we have limited influence over certain of these third parties’ actual performance.  We have previously relied upon such third parties and plan to continue to use third parties to assist with monitoring and managing data for our ongoing clinical programs for IV meloxicam and our other product candidates, as well as the execution of nonclinical studies.  We control only certain aspects of our third parties’ activities.  

We and our contractors are required to comply with cGCPs, which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA and equivalent regulatory authorities in other countries for all of our product candidates in clinical development.  The FDA and the equivalent regulatory authorities in other countries enforce these cGCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and clinical trial sites.  If we or our contractors fail to comply with applicable cGCPs, the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA may require us to perform additional clinical trials before approving our marketing applications.  In addition, our clinical trials for IV meloxicam and our other product candidates will require a sufficiently large number of test subjects to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of each product candidate.  Accordingly, if our contractors fail to comply with these regulations or fail to recruit a sufficient number of patients, we may be required to repeat the clinical trials, which would delay the regulatory approval process.

These contractors may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical studies, or other drug development activities that could harm our competitive position.  While we take steps to protect our intellectual property, we face the risk of potential unauthorized disclosure or misappropriation of our intellectual property by our contractors, which may allow our potential competitors to access our proprietary technology.  If our contractors do not

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successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or fail to meet expected deadlines for items within their purview, or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they oversee is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements or for any other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize IV meloxicam or our other product candidates.  As a result, our financial results and the commercial prospects for IV meloxicam and any future product candidates that we develop would be harmed, our costs could increase, and our ability to generate revenues could be delayed.

Risks Related to Our CDMO Division

Revenues from our development, formulation and manufacturing business are dependent on a small number of commercial partners, and the loss of one of these partners, or a decline in their orders, may adversely affect our business.

Our CDMO division is dependent on our relationships with a small number of commercial partners, with our four largest customers (Novartis AG, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc., Pernix and Lannett Company, Inc.) having generated 98% of our revenues for the year ended December 31, 2017, of which Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc. generated 45% of our revenue under one customer agreement and Novartis Pharma AG generated 40% of our revenue combined under two separate customer agreements. Our contracts with our commercial partners are for a short term, generally one year.  If any one or more of these commercial partners fails to renew their contract, adjusts pricing, significantly reduces their purchasing volume or experiences financial difficulties such as bankruptcy, our revenues could be adversely affected.  We are actively seeking to develop new customer relationships but there can be no guarantee that we will be able to expand our customer base.

Our royalty, profit sharing and manufacturing revenues from this business also depend on the ability of our commercial partners to effectively market and sell their products to their customers.  A commercial partner may choose to devote its efforts to its other products or reduce or fail to devote the necessary resources to provide effective sales and marketing support of the products we manufacture and supply.  Our commercial partners face competition from other pharmaceutical companies for sales of products to end users.  Competition from sellers of generic drugs is a major challenge for our commercial partners, and the loss or expiration of intellectual property rights for the products we manufacture can have a significant adverse effect on their sales volume.  This and any other significant reduction, delay or cancellation of orders from our commercial partners could adversely affect our revenues.

In addition, the financial covenants in our credit agreement with Athyrium include minimum revenue targets for our CDMO division, and any significant reduction, delay or cancellation of orders from our commercial partners may cause us to fail to meet such targets, which may result in an event of default under the credit agreement with Athyrium and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operation.

We are subject to risks related to large-scale commercial manufacturing.

Manufacturing pharmaceuticals, especially in large quantities, is complex.  The products we manufacture for our commercial partners require several manufacturing steps and may involve complex techniques to assure quality and sufficient quantity.  Our manufactured products must be made consistently and in compliance with a clearly defined manufacturing process.  Slight deviations anywhere in the manufacturing process, including obtaining materials, equipment malfunctions, filling, labeling, packaging, storage, shipping, regulatory compliance, quality control and testing, some of which all pharmaceutical manufacturing companies experience from time to time, may result in lot failures, delay in the release of lots, product recalls or spoilage.  Success rates can vary dramatically at different stages of the manufacturing process, which can lower yields and increase costs.

In addition, some of the raw materials needed for the manufacture of our products are currently available from a single source or a limited number of qualified sources of these products.  Although we attempt to acquire an adequate inventory of such materials, establish alternative sources and/or negotiate long-term supply arrangements, there is no certainty that we will be able to obtain long-term supplies of our manufacturing materials in the future. We may also experience deviations in the manufacturing process or interruptions in our supply chain that may take significant time and resources to resolve and, if unresolved, may affect manufacturing output and/or cause us to fail to satisfy customer orders or contractual commitments or result in litigation or regulatory action.

Our manufacturing facility also requires specialized personnel and is expensive to operate and maintain.  Any suspension of the sale of products of our commercial partners to be manufactured in our facility may cause operating losses as we continue to operate the facility and retain specialized personnel.  In addition, any interruption in manufacturing could result in delays in meeting our contractual obligations and could damage our relationships with our commercial partners, including the loss of manufacturing and supply rights.

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Our development and formulation services projects are typically for a shorter term than our manufacturing projects, and any failure by us to maintain a high volume of development and formulation services projects, including due to lower than expected success rates of the products for which we provide services, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our pharmaceutical development services business contracts are generally shorter in term than our manufacturing contracts and typically require us to provide development services within a designated scope.  Since our development and formulation services focus on products that are still in developmental stages, their viability depends on the ability of such products to reach their respective subsequent development phases.  In many cases, such products do not reach subsequent development phases and, as a result, the profitability of the related pharmaceutical development service project may be limited.  Even if a customer wishes to proceed with a project, the product we are developing on such customer’s behalf may fail to receive necessary regulatory approval or may have its development hindered by other factors, such as the development of a competing product.

If we are unable to continue to obtain new projects from existing and new customers, our development and formulation services business could be adversely affected.  Furthermore, although our development and formulation services business acts as a pipeline for our manufacturing services business, we cannot predict the conversion rate of our development and formulation services projects to commercial manufacturing services projects, or how successful we will be in winning new projects that lead to a viable product.  As such, an increase in the turnover rate of our development and formulation services projects may negatively affect our manufacturing services business at a later time.  In addition, the discontinuation of a project as a result of our failure to satisfy a customer’s requirements may also affect our ability to obtain future projects from such customer, as well as from new customers.  Any failure by us to maintain a high volume of development and formulation services projects could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we fail to meet the stringent requirements of governmental regulation in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products, we could incur substantial costs and a reduction in revenues.

We are required to maintain compliance with cGMP, and our manufacturing facility is subject to inspections by the FDA and other global regulators to confirm such compliance.  Changes of suppliers or modifications of methods of manufacturing may require amending our application(s) to the FDA and acceptance of the change by the FDA prior to release of our manufactured products.  Because we produce multiple products at our manufacturing facility, there are increased risks associated with cGMP compliance.  On January 24, 2018, following a six day inspection of our manufacturing facility, the FDA issued a Form 483 containing four observations relating to good documentation practices and data integrity.  We have promptly responded to these observations as a part of our ongoing obligations under the FDA’s quality system regulation and have implemented corrective and preventative actions to ensure these type of observations do not occur in the future  While we remain committed to continuous improvement and strengthening our quality system and ensuring that all aspects of the system are in full compliance, we can provide no assurance that our remediation efforts will be successful to a degree acceptable by the FDA.

Our inability to demonstrate ongoing cGMP compliance, including the remediation of the observations in the recent Form 483, could require us to engage in additional lengthy and expensive remediation efforts, withdraw or recall products and/or interrupt commercial supply of any products.  Any delay, interruption or other issue that arises in the manufacture, fill/finish, packaging, or storage of any drug product as a result of a failure of our facility to pass any regulatory agency inspection or maintain cGMP compliance or remediate the observations from the recent Form 483 could significantly impair our relationships with our commercial partners, which would substantially harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.  Any ongoing or additional findings of non-compliance could also increase our costs and cause us to lose revenue from manufactured products, which could be seriously detrimental to our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.

Additionally, our manufacturing activities are subject to the Controlled Substances Act and the regulations of the DEA.  Accordingly, we must adhere to a number of requirements with respect to controlled substances, including registration, recordkeeping and reporting requirements; labeling and packaging requirements; security controls, procurement and manufacturing quotas; and certain restrictions on refills.  Failure to maintain compliance with applicable requirements can result in enforcement action that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows.  The DEA may seek civil penalties, refuse to renew necessary registrations or initiate proceedings to revoke those registrations.  In certain circumstances, violations could result in criminal proceedings.

We may not be able to successfully offer new services.

In order to successfully compete, we will need to offer and develop new services.  Without the timely introduction of enhanced or new services, our services and capabilities may become obsolete over time, in which case, our revenues and operating results would suffer.  The related development costs may require a substantial investment before we can determine their commercial viability, and we may not have the financial resources to fund such initiatives.

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In addition, the success of enhanced or new services will depend on several factors, including but not limited to our ability to:

Even if we were to succeed in creating enhanced or new services, those services may not result in commercially successful offerings or may not produce revenues in excess of the costs of development and capital investment and may be quickly rendered obsolete by changing customer preferences or by technologies or features offered by our competitors.  In addition, innovations may not be accepted quickly in the marketplace due to, among other things, entrenched patterns of clinical practice, the need for regulatory clearance and uncertainty over market access or government or third-party reimbursement.

Technological change may cause our offerings to become obsolete over time.  A decrease in our customers’ purchases of our offerings could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The healthcare industry is characterized by rapid technological change.  Demand for our services may change in ways that we may not anticipate because of evolving industry standards or as a result of evolving customer needs that are increasingly sophisticated and varied or because of the introduction by competitors of new services and technologies.  In addition, we require capital and resources to support the maintenance and improvement of our facilities, including replacing or repairing aging production equipment and updating overall facility master plans.  If we are unable to maintain and improve our facilities, we may experience unscheduled equipment downtime and unpredicted machinery failure and become unable to supply our customers with products or services which may affect business continuity.  Any such incident or disruption in business continuity could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may be adversely affected by natural disasters or other events that disrupt our business operations, and our business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not adequately protect us from a serious disaster.

Our manufacturing facility is located in Gainesville, Georgia, where natural disasters or similar events, like hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, fires, floods or explosions or large-scale accidents or power outages, could severely disrupt our operations and have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition.  If a disaster, power outage or other event occurred that prevented us from using all or a significant portion of our Gainesville facility, damaged critical infrastructure, such as manufacturing resource planning and enterprise quality systems, or otherwise disrupted operations at that location, it may be difficult or, in certain cases, impossible for us to continue our development, formulation and manufacturing business for a substantial period of time.

Currently, we maintain insurance coverage against damage to our property and equipment, and to cover business interruption expenses, in an amount we believe is sufficient for our development, formulation and manufacturing operations.  However, there can be no assurance that such insurance will continue to be available on acceptable terms or that such insurance will provide adequate protection against actual losses.  Even if we maintain adequate insurance coverage, claims could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, liquidity and results of operations and on our ability to obtain suitable, adequate or cost-effective insurance in the future.

We must comply with environmental and health and safety laws and regulations, which can be expensive and restrict how we do business.

In connection with our CDMO division, we are subject to federal, state and local laws, rules, regulations and policies concerning the environment and the health and safety of our employees.  Although we believe that we have complied with the applicable laws, regulations and policies in all material respects and have not been required to correct any material noncompliance, we may be required to incur significant costs to comply with environmental and health and safety regulations in the future.  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.

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In addition, our business conducted by our CDMO division involves the use, generation and disposal of hazardous materials, including chemicals, solvents, agents and biohazardous materials.  As a result, we are subject to federal, state and local laws, rules, regulations and policies governing the use, generation, manufacture, storage, air emission, effluent discharge, handling and disposal of certain materials, biological specimens and wastes.  Although we believe that our safety procedures for storing, handling and disposing of such materials comply with the standards prescribed by those regulations, we cannot completely eliminate the risk of accidental contamination or injury from these materials.  We currently contract with third parties to dispose of these substances that we generate, and we rely on these third parties to properly dispose of these substances in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.  If these third parties do not properly dispose of these substances in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, we may be subject to legal action by governmental agencies or private parties for improper disposal of these substances.  The costs of defending such actions and the potential liability resulting from such actions are often very large.  In the event we are subject to such legal action or we otherwise fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations governing the use, generation and disposal of hazardous materials and chemicals, we could be held liable for any damages that result, and any such liability could exceed our resources.

Although we maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees, including those resulting from the use of hazardous materials, this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities.

Risks Related to Our Business Operations and Industry

Our future success depends on our ability to retain and have the full attention of our key executives as well as to attract, retain and motivate other qualified personnel.

We are highly dependent on the principal members of our executive team and, in particular, the services of Gerri A. Henwood, our President and Chief Executive Officer, the loss of whose services would adversely impact the achievement of our objectives.  We have entered into employment agreements with each of our executive officers.  Recruiting and retaining qualified employees for our business, including scientific and technical personnel, will also be critical to our success.  There is currently a shortage of skilled executives in our industry, which is likely to continue.  As a result, competition for skilled personnel is intense and the turnover rate can be high.  We may not be able to attract and retain personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous pharmaceutical companies for individuals with similar skill sets.  In addition, failure to succeed in clinical studies may make it more challenging to recruit and retain qualified personnel.  The inability to recruit or loss of the services of any executive or key employee could impede the progress of our research, development and commercialization objectives.

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

We have begun to grow the size of our managerial, operational, sales, marketing, financial and other resources as we prepare for the potential approval and commercialization of IV meloxicam and the ongoing development of our other product candidates.  However, our management, personnel and systems currently in place may not be adequate to support this growth or assist us with the potential growth into a commercial stage pharmaceutical company.  As we continue to expand, we may not be able to effectively manage the expansion of our operations, which may result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, give rise to operational mistakes, loss of business opportunities, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees.  Additional future growth could require significant capital expenditures and may divert financial resources from other projects, such as the development of our existing or future product candidates.  Future growth would impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including:

As our operations expand, we will need to manage additional relationships with various collaboration partners, suppliers and other third parties.  Our future financial performance and our ability to commercialize our product candidates and to compete effectively

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will depend, in part, on our ability to manage any future growth effectively.  To that end, we must be able to manage our development efforts and clinical trials effectively and hire, train and integrate additional management, administrative and sales and marketing personnel.  We may not be able to accomplish these tasks, and our failure to accomplish any of them could prevent us from successfully growing our company.

We may acquire other assets or businesses, or form collaborations or make investments in other companies or technologies, that could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, dilute our shareholders’ ownership, increase our debt or cause us to incur significant expense.

As part of our business strategy, we may pursue acquisitions of assets, including preclinical, clinical or commercial stage products or product candidates, businesses or strategic alliances and collaborations, to expand our existing technologies and operations.  We may not identify or complete these transactions in a timely manner, on a cost‑effective basis, or at all, and we may not realize the anticipated benefits of any such transaction, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.  We may not be able to find suitable acquisition candidates, and if we make any acquisitions, we may not be able to integrate these acquisitions successfully into our existing business and we may incur additional debt or assume unknown or contingent liabilities in connection therewith.  Integration of an acquired company or assets may also disrupt ongoing operations, require the hiring of additional personnel and the implementation of additional internal systems and infrastructure, especially the acquisition of commercial assets, and require management resources that would otherwise focus on developing our existing business. On April 10, 2015, we completed the acquisition from Alkermes of certain assets, including the worldwide rights to injectable meloxicam and the development, formulation and manufacturing business that comprised our CDMO division, which we refer to as the Gainesville Transaction. While we have successfully integrated the assets that we purchased in the Gainesville Transaction into our infrastructure, we cannot assure that the experience would be the same for future acquisitions.  We may not be able to find suitable strategic alliance or collaborators or identify other investment opportunities, and we may experience losses related to any such investments.

To finance any acquisitions or collaborations, we may choose to issue debt or shares of our common or preferred stock as consideration.  Any such issuance of shares would dilute the ownership of our shareholders.  If the price of our common stock is low or volatile, we may not be able to acquire other assets or companies or fund a transaction using our stock as consideration.  Alternatively, it may be necessary for us to raise additional funds for acquisitions through public or private financings.  Additional funds may not be available on terms that are favorable to us, or at all.

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

We are exposed to the risk that our employees, partners, independent contractors, principal investigators, consultants, vendors and CROs may engage in fraudulent or other illegal activity with respect to our business.  Misconduct by these employees could include intentional, reckless and/or negligent conduct or unauthorized activity that violates: (1) FDA or DEA regulations, including those laws requiring the reporting of true, complete and accurate information to the FDA; (2) manufacturing standards; (3) federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse laws and regulations; or (4) laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data.  Activities subject to these laws also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of clinical trials, or illegal misappropriation of drug product, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation.  Any incidents or any other conduct that leads to an employee receiving an FDA debarment could result in a loss of business from our partners and severe reputational harm.  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 this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations.  If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business, operating results and financial condition.

We face potential product liability claims, and, if successful claims are brought against us, we may incur substantial liability.

The use of our product candidates in clinical studies and the sale of any products for which we obtain marketing approval exposes us to the risk of product liability claims.  In addition, our CDMO division exposes us to potential toxic tort and other types of product liability claims that are inherent in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products.  Product liability claims might be brought against us by consumers, health care providers, pharmaceutical companies or others selling or otherwise coming into contact with our products.  If we cannot successfully defend against product liability claims, we could incur substantial liability and costs.  In addition, regardless of merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in:

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Our current product liability insurance coverage may not be sufficient to reimburse us for any expenses or losses we may suffer.  Moreover, insurance coverage is becoming increasingly expensive and, in the future, we may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost or in sufficient amounts to protect us against losses due to liability.  If and when we obtain marketing approval for our product candidates, we intend to expand our insurance coverage to include the sale of commercial products; however, we may be unable to obtain product liability insurance on commercially reasonable terms or in adequate amounts.

On occasion, large judgments have been awarded in class action lawsuits based on drugs that had unanticipated AEs.  A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us could cause our stock price to decline and, if judgments exceed our insurance coverage, could adversely affect our results of operations and business.

We incur increased costs and demands upon our management as a result of complying with the laws and regulations affecting public companies, which could harm our operating results.

We are a public company and, as such, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses, including costs associated with public company reporting requirements.  We incur costs associated with current corporate governance requirements, including certain of the requirements under Section 404 and other provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules implemented by the SEC and the NASDAQ Capital Market, the stock exchange on which our common stock is listed.  If we fail to comply with current corporate governance requirements, our business may be negatively affected, including by having our common stock delisted from the NASDAQ Capital Market.

The expenses incurred by public companies for reporting and corporate governance purposes have increased dramatically in recent years.  We expect these rules and regulations to continue to substantially increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly.  We are unable to currently estimate these costs with any degree of certainty.  We also expect that these rules and regulations may make it difficult and expensive for us to continue to maintain director and officer liability insurance, and if we are able to maintain such insurance, we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage available to privately-held companies.  As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our board of directors, or the board, or as our executive officers.

The security of our information technology systems may be compromised in the event of system failures, unauthorized access, cyberattacks or a deficiency in our cybersecurity, and confidential information, including non-public personal information that we maintain, could be improperly disclosed.

We rely extensively on information technology and systems including internet sites, data hosting, physical security, and software applications and platforms.  Despite our security measures, our information technology systems, some of which are managed by third parties, may be susceptible to damage, disruptions or shutdowns due to computer viruses, attacks by computer hackers, failures during the process of upgrading or replacing software, power outages, user errors or catastrophic events. A significant breakdown, invasion, corruption, destruction or interruption of critical information technology systems, by our employees, others with authorized access to

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our systems or unauthorized persons could negatively impact or interrupt operations.  For example, the loss of data from completed or ongoing clinical trials for our product candidates could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data.  The use of technology, including cloud-based computing, creates opportunities for the unintentional dissemination or intentional destruction of confidential information stored in our systems or our third-party systems.  We could also experience a business interruption, theft of confidential information or reputational damage from malware or other cyberattacks, which may compromise our systems or lead to data leakage, either internally or at our third-party providers.  As part of our business, we maintain large amounts of confidential information, including non-public personal information on patients and our employees.  Such breaches in security, either internally or at our third-party providers, could result in the loss or misuse of this information, which could, in turn, result in potential regulatory actions or litigation, including material claims for damages, interruption to our operations, damage to our reputation or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.  Although we believe we have appropriate information security policies and systems in place in order to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential information, including non-public personal information, there can be no assurance that such use or disclosure will not occur.

If we fail to comply with data protection laws and regulations, we could be subject to government enforcement actions (which could include civil or criminal penalties), private litigation and/or adverse publicity, which could negatively affect our operating results and business.

We are subject to laws and regulations that address privacy and data security of patients who use our product candidates in the United States and in states in which we conduct our business. In the United States, numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including state data breach notification laws, state health information privacy laws, and federal and state consumer protection laws (e.g., Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act) govern the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of health-related and other personal information. For instance, HIPAA imposes certain obligations, including mandatory contractual terms, with respect to safeguarding the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information and imposes notification obligations in the event of a breach of the privacy or security of individually identifiable health information on entities subject to HIPAA and their business associates that perform certain activities that involve the use or disclosure of protected health information on their behalf. Certain of these laws and regulations are described in greater detail in the section below under “Business — Government Regulation — Other Healthcare Laws and Compliance Requirements.” Failure to comply with applicable data protection laws and regulations could result in government enforcement actions and create liability for us, which could include civil and/or criminal penalties, as well as private litigation and/or adverse publicity that could negatively affect our operating results and business.

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property

We own or license numerous pending patent applications and issued patents in the United States.  If our pending patent applications fail to issue or if our issued patents expire or are successfully opposed, invalidated, or rendered unenforceable, our business will be adversely affected.

Our commercial success will depend in part on obtaining and maintaining patent protection for our product candidates, as well as successfully defending our current and future patents against third-party challenges.  To protect our proprietary technology, we intend to rely on patents, and we may also rely on other intellectual property protections, including trade secrets, nondisclosure agreements and confidentiality provisions.

There can be no assurance that our pending patent applications will result in issued patents.  As of December 31, 2017, we own patents and patent applications for injectable meloxicam that cover compositions, including compositions produced using NanoCrystal® technology, method of making and method of treating.  These issued patents expire in 2022 in the United States.  We also in-license from Alkermes, on a perpetual royalty-free basis, composition and methods of making patent and patent applications (specifically directed to the prevention of flake like substances) which expire in 2030.  As of December 31, 2017, we own or license a total of five issued U.S. patents and 4 U.S. pending patent applications, and 50 issued foreign patents (including European validation countries) and 5 pending foreign applications related to meloxicam.  As of December 31, 2017, we own six issued U.S. patents relating to Zohydro-ER®, two of which expire on November 1, 2019, and four of which expire on September 12, 2034.  We also own Canadian patent applications that are pending relating to the same technology, which we license to our commercial partner, Paladin Labs Inc., in Canada.  As of December 31, 2017, we are the owner of record of one issued U.S. patent and ten issued foreign patents to Dex.  As of December 31, 2017, we are also the owner of record and are prosecuting one U.S. non-provisional patent application and 34 foreign patent applications related to certain product pipeline candidates.  In addition, we have recently licensed four patent families containing several U.S. and foreign issued patents and pending applications related to neuromuscular blocking agents from Cornell University.  The patent applications that we have filed and have not yet been granted may fail to result in issued patents in the United States or in foreign countries.  Even if the patents do successfully issue, third parties may challenge the patents or the inventorship thereof, which can lead to an issued patent being found invalid, unenforceable or can otherwise alter the ownership of the patents.

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The issuance of any patent is not a certainty.  Unless and until our pending applications issue, their protective scope is impossible to determine.  It is impossible to predict whether or how many of these applications will result in issued patents and patents that issue may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the United States and abroad.  Such challenges may result in loss of patent exclusivity or freedom to operate or in patent claims being narrowed, invalidated or held unenforceable, in whole or in part, which may limit our ability to prevent others from using or commercializing similar or identical technology and products, or limit the duration of the patent protection of our technology and products.  In addition, upon expiration of a patent, we may be limited in our ability to prevent others from using or commercializing subject matter covered by the expired patents.  As a result, our owned and licensed patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours.  The composition of matter patents for Dex are licensed from Orion.  The composition of matter patent for Dex expired in January 2014.  If no additional patent protection is obtained, patent expirations will impact our ability to prevent third parties from marketing generic equivalents.

The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including us, generally is highly uncertain, involves complex legal and factual questions and has in recent years been the subject of much litigation.  In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States.  For example, European patent law restricts the patentability of methods of treatment of the human body more than United States law does.  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 the first filing, or in some case at all.  Therefore, we cannot know with certainty whether we or our licensors were the first to make the inventions claimed in 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.  As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain.  In addition, we may not be aware of particular prior art publications that may have an impact on patentability or enforceability. Further, the examination process may require us or our licensors to narrow the claims for our pending patent applications due to, for example, such prior art publications, which may limit the scope of patent protection that may be obtained if these applications issue.  Our pending and future patent applications may not result in patents being issued which protect our technology or products, in whole or in part, or which effectively prevent others from commercializing competitive technologies and products.  Furthermore, our pending applications cannot be enforced against third parties practicing the technology claimed in such applications unless and until a patent issues from such applications. Because the issuance of a patent is not conclusive as to its inventorship, scope, validity or enforceability, issued patents that we own or have licensed from third parties may be challenged in the courts or patent offices in the U.S. and abroad. Such challenges may result in the loss of patent protection, the narrowing of claims in such patents, and/or the invalidity or unenforceability of such patents, 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 for our technology and products.  Changes in either the patent laws or interpretation of the patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of patents or narrow the scope of patent protection.

Patent reform legislation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents.  On September 16, 2011, the Leahy Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy Smith Act, was signed into law.  The Leahy Smith Act includes a number of significant changes to United States patent law. These include provisions that affect the way patent applications are prosecuted and may also affect patent litigation.  The United States Patent Office continues to develop and implement new regulations and procedures to govern administration of the Leahy Smith Act, and many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy Smith Act, and in particular, the first to file provisions, only became effective on March 16, 2013.  Accordingly, it is not clear what, if any, impact the Leahy Smith Act will have on the operation of our business.  However, the Leahy Smith Act and its implementation could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of our patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our issued patent, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

We do not own worldwide rights to all of our product candidates or the exclusive rights to all formulations.

We own worldwide rights to injectable meloxicam.  We have an exclusive license from Orion for the development and, subsequent to approval, the commercialization of Dex-IN for use in the treatment of pain in humans the licensed dosage forms, but specifically excluding delivery vehicles for administration by injection or infusion, in the Territory.  Orion retains the rights to develop and commercialize Dex for all uses and indications other than pain in humans and for use in combination products in that field, and we have granted Orion a license to use our clinical trial data, patents and know-how for such purpose; provided, however that Orion cannot undertake development activities in the United States, Australia or South Africa with respect to treatment of pain in humans in any licensed dosage form until four years after our first product is granted regulatory approval in the United States.  It is possible, therefore, that Orion may develop and commercialize competing products in the territories retained by it and/or combination products for Dex in the Territory.  We are unaware of any such programs at Orion at this time.  We have a right of first refusal to commercialize any such product developed by Orion in the Territory.  However, there is no guarantee that we would have the resources to exercise this right or, if we did, that we would be able to reach mutually agreeable terms with Orion.

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Litigation involving patents, patent applications and other proprietary rights is expensive and time consuming.  If we are involved in such litigation, it could cause delays in bringing our product candidates to market and interfere with our business.

Our commercial success depends in part on not infringing patents and proprietary rights of third parties.  Although we are not currently aware of litigation or other proceedings or third-party claims of intellectual property infringement related to our product candidates, the pharmaceutical industry is characterized by extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights.

As we enter our target markets, it is possible that competitors or other third parties will claim that our products and/or processes infringe their intellectual property rights.  These third parties may have obtained and may in the future obtain patents covering products or processes that are similar to, or may include compositions or methods that encompass our technology, allowing them to claim that the use of our technologies infringes these patents.  If such third-party patent is listed in the Orange Book, we would be required to file a certification, known as a Paragraph IV certification, that we are not infringing the patent, or that the patent is invalid.  The third-party would then have 45 days to file a patent infringement lawsuit against us, and if so brought, we could be subject to a stay of up to 30 months (unless before that time the patent expires or is judged to be invalid or not infringed), in which we would be unable to have our 505(b)(2) application approved.

In a patent infringement claim against us, we may assert, as a defense, that we do not infringe the relevant patent claims, that the patent is invalid or both.  The strength of our defenses will depend on the patents asserted, the interpretation of these patents and/or our ability to invalidate the asserted patents.  However, we could be unsuccessful in advancing non-infringement and/or invalidity arguments in our defense.  In the United States, issued patents enjoy a presumption of validity, and the party challenging the validity of a patent claim must present clear and convincing evidence of invalidity, which is a high burden of proof.  Conversely, the patent owner need only prove infringement by a preponderance of the evidence, which is a low burden of proof.

If we were found by a court to have infringed a valid patent claim, we could be prevented from using the patented technology or be required to pay the owner of the patent for the right to license the patented technology.  If we decide to pursue a license to one or more of these patents, we may not be able to obtain a license on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, or the license we obtain may require us to pay substantial royalties or grant cross licenses to our patent rights.  For example, if the relevant patent is owned by a competitor, that competitor may choose not to license patent rights to us.  If we decide to develop alternative technology, we may not be able to do so in a timely or cost-effective manner, if at all.

In addition, because patent applications can take years to issue and are often afforded confidentiality for some period of time, there may currently be pending applications, unknown to us, that later result in issued patents that could cover one or more of our products.

It is possible that we may in the future receive, particularly as a public company, communications from competitors and other companies alleging that we may be infringing their patents, trade secrets or other intellectual property rights, offering licenses to such intellectual property or threatening litigation.  In addition to patent infringement claims, third parties may assert copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights against us.  We may need to expend considerable resources to counter such claims and may not be able to be successful in our defense.  Our business may suffer if a finding of infringement is established.

Generic competitors can challenge the U.S. patents protecting our product candidates by filing an ANDA or an NDA for a generic or a modified version of our product candidates and negatively affect our competitive position.

Separate and apart from the protection provided under the U.S. patent laws, drug candidates may be subject to the provisions of the Hatch-Waxman Act, which may provide drug candidates with either a three- or five-year period of marketing exclusivity following receipt of FDA approval.  The Hatch-Waxman Act prohibits the FDA from accepting the filing of an ANDA application (for a generic product) or a 505(b)(2) NDA (for a modified version of the product) for three years for active drug ingredients previously approved by the FDA or for five years for active drug ingredients not previously approved by the FDA.

There is an exception, however, for newly approved molecules that allows competitors to challenge a patent beginning four years into the five-year exclusivity period by alleging that one or more of the patents listed in the FDA’s list of approved drug products are invalid, unenforceable and/or not infringed and submitting an ANDA for a generic version of a drug candidate.  This patent challenge is commonly known as a Paragraph IV certification.  Within the past several years, the generic industry has aggressively pursued approvals of generic versions of innovator drugs at the earliest possible point in time.

If a generic company is able to successfully challenge the patents covering drug candidates by obtaining FDA approval for an ANDA, the generic company may choose to launch a generic version of a drug candidate.  Any launch of a generic version of our drug candidates prior to the expiration of patent protection will have a material adverse effect on our revenues and our results of operations.

We and our commercial partners have been involved in Paragraph IV litigation in the United States involving some of our patents in respect of Zohydro ER®.  These litigations have been, and any other Paragraph IV litigation may be, expensive, distracting to management and protracted.  Although we and our commercial partners have successfully settled our Paragraph IV litigation, any future Paragraph IV litigation could result in new or additional generic competition to Zohydro ER®.  The introduction of a generic version of Zohydro ER® could cause a reduction in revenue for our manufacturing business, which could have a material adverse

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effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.  In addition, we were previously involved in an interference in front of the United States Patent and Trademark Office with another party, which involved a patent application relating to Zohydro ER®, for which we ultimately were successful on appeal.  However, any future interference claims could arise, and if successful, result in the issuance of a patent that could limit our freedom to operate in respect to Zohydro ER®, which could also cause a reduction in revenue for our manufacturing business and have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition.

It is difficult and costly to protect our proprietary rights, and we may not be able to ensure their protection.

The patent positions of pharmaceutical companies can be highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions for which important legal principles remain unresolved.  No consistent policy regarding the breadth of claims allowed in pharmaceutical patents has emerged in the United States to date.  The pharmaceutical patent situation outside of the United States is even more uncertain.  Changes in either the patent laws or in interpretations of patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property.  Accordingly, we cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in the patents that may be issued from the applications we currently or may in the future own or license from third parties.  Further, if any patent license we obtain is deemed invalid and/or unenforceable, it could impact our ability to commercialize or partner our technology.

The degree of future protection for our proprietary rights is uncertain, and we cannot ensure that:

If we do not adequately protect our proprietary rights, competitors may be able to use our technologies and erode or negate any competitive advantage we may possess, which could materially harm our business, negatively affect our position in the marketplace, limit our ability to commercialize our product candidates and delay or render impossible our achievement of profitability.

We may be unable to adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information.

In the future, we may rely on trade secrets to protect our proprietary know-how and technological advances, especially where we do not believe patent protection is appropriate or obtainable.  However, trade secrets are difficult to protect.  We rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, outside scientific collaborators, sponsored researchers and other advisors to protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information.  These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information.  In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information.  Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights.  Failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could enable competitors to use our proprietary information to develop products that compete with our products or cause additional, material adverse effects upon our competitive business position.

Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other governmental fees on patents and/or applications will be due to be paid to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and various foreign governmental patent agencies in several stages over the lifetime of the patents and/or applications.

We have systems in place to remind us to pay periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other patent and application fees, and we employ an outside law firm to pay these fees.  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process.  We employ an outside law firm and other professionals to help us comply, and in many cases, an inadvertent lapse can be cured by payment of a late fee or by other means in accordance with the applicable rules.  However, there are situations in which noncompliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction.  If this occurs, our competitors may be able to enter the market, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

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We may not be able to enforce our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

The laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States.  Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in certain foreign jurisdictions.  The legal systems of some countries, particularly developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, especially those relating to life sciences.  This could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or the misappropriation of our other intellectual property rights.  For example, many foreign countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner must grant licenses to third parties.  In addition, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against third parties, including government agencies or government contractors.  In these countries, patents may provide limited or no benefit.

Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business.  Accordingly, our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights in such countries may be inadequate.  In addition, changes in the law and legal decisions by courts in the United States and foreign countries may affect our ability to obtain adequate protection for our technology and the enforcement of intellectual property.

Our ability to manufacture products for our commercial partners may be impaired if any of our manufacturing activities, or the activities of third parties involved in our manufacture and supply chain, are found to infringe patents of others.

Our ability to continue to manufacture Ritalin LA®, Focalin XR®, Verelan PM®, Verelan SR®, Verapamil PM, Verapamil SR and Zohydro ER® for our commercial partners, to utilize third parties to supply raw materials or other products, or to perform fill/finish services or other steps in our manufacture and supply chain, depends on our and their ability to operate without infringing the patents and other intellectual property rights of others.  Other parties may allege that our manufacturing activities, or the activities of third parties involved in our manufacturing and supply chain, infringe patents or other intellectual property rights.  A judicial decision in favor of one or more parties making such allegations could preclude the manufacture of the products to which those intellectual property rights apply, which could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Risks Relating to Our Securities

If securities or industry analysts do not continue to publish research or reports, or if they publish unfavorable research or reports, about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors.  We currently have limited research coverage by securities and industry analysts.  If additional securities or industry analysts do not commence coverage of our company, the trading price for our stock could be negatively impacted.  In the event we obtain securities or industry analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our stock, our stock price would likely decline.  If one or more of these analysts ceases to cover us or fails to regularly publish reports on us, interest in our stock could decrease, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

We have never paid dividends on our common stock and do not intend to do so for the foreseeable future.

We have never paid dividends on our common stock and we do not anticipate that we will pay any dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future.  Accordingly, any return on an investment in our common stock will be realized, if at all, only when shareholders sell their shares.  In addition, our failure to pay dividends may make our stock less attractive to investors, adversely impacting trading volume and price.

The concentration of our capital stock ownership with our directors and their affiliated entities and our executive officers will limit shareholders’ abilities to influence certain corporate matters.

Our directors and their affiliated entities, and our executive officers, beneficially own, in the aggregate, approximately 17% of our outstanding common stock as of December 31, 2017.  As a result, these shareholders are collectively able to influence matters requiring approval of our shareholders, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, such as mergers, consolidations or the sale of all or substantially all of our assets.  Such influence may delay, prevent or deter a change in control of our company, even when such a change may be in the best interests of some shareholders, impede a merger, consolidation, takeover or other business combination involving us, or could deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their common stock as part of a sale of our company or our assets and might adversely affect the prevailing market price of our common stock.

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The market price and trading volume of our common stock has been and may continue to be volatile, which could result in rapid and substantial losses for our shareholders.

The market price for our common stock has been volatile and may continue to fluctuate or may decline significantly in the future.  An active, liquid and orderly market for our common stock may not be sustained, which could depress the trading price of our common stock or cause it to continue to be highly volatile or subject to wide fluctuations.  Some of the factors that could negatively affect our share price or result in fluctuations in the price or trading volume of our common stock include, among other things:

These broad market and industry factors may decrease the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance.  The stock market in general has from time to time experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations, including recently.  In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and decreases in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies.  This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

The JOBS Act allows us to postpone the date by which we must comply with certain laws and regulations and to reduce the amount of information provided in reports filed with the SEC.  We cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act.  We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (1) the beginning of the first fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering, or January 1, 2020, (2) the beginning of the first fiscal year after our annual gross revenue is $1.07 billion or more, (3) the date on which we have, during the previous three-year period, issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities and (4) as of the end of any fiscal year in which the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeded $700 million as of the end of the second quarter of that fiscal year.

For as long as we remain an “emerging growth company,” we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation and financial statements in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote to approve executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.  In addition, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, for complying with new or revised accounting standards.  An emerging growth company can therefore

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delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies.  However, we have chosen to “opt out” of such extended transition period and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act provides that our decision to opt out of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards is irrevocable.

We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on some of these exemptions.  If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.  Our reduced disclosure may make it more difficult for investors and securities analysts to evaluate us and may result in less investor confidence.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could cause our stock price to fall.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities.  We are unable to predict the effect that sales may have on the prevailing market price of our common stock.

Certain holders of our securities are entitled to rights with respect to the registration of their shares under the Securities Act.  Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in the shares becoming freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act.  Any sales of shares by these shareholders could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock.

If we fail to maintain proper and effective internal controls, our ability to produce accurate and timely financial statements could be impaired, which could harm our operating results, our ability to operate our business and investors’ views of us.

Ensuring that we have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place so that we can produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that will need to be frequently evaluated.  Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires public companies to conduct an annual review and evaluation of their internal controls and attestations of the effectiveness of internal controls by independent auditors (the latter requirement does not apply to smaller reporting companies-we qualify as a smaller reporting company).  Our failure to maintain the effectiveness of our internal controls in accordance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could have a material adverse effect on our business.  We could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which could have an adverse effect on the price of our common stock.

Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.

Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to reasonably assure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC.  We believe that any disclosure controls and procedures or internal controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met.

These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision‑making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake.  Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by an unauthorized override of the controls.  Accordingly, because of the inherent limitations in our control system, misstatements or insufficient disclosures due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Some provisions of our charter documents and Pennsylvania law may have anti‑takeover effects that could discourage an acquisition of us by others, even if an acquisition would be beneficial to our shareholders, and may prevent attempts by our shareholders to replace or remove our current management.

Provisions in our articles of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire us or increase the cost of acquiring us, even if doing so would benefit our shareholders, or remove our current management.  These include provisions that:

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These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our shareholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for shareholders to replace members of our board of directors, who are responsible for appointing the members of our management.  Because we are incorporated in Pennsylvania, we are governed by the provisions of the Pennsylvania Business Corporation Law of 1988, which may discourage, delay or prevent someone from acquiring us or merging with us whether or not it is desired by or beneficial to our shareholders.  Under Pennsylvania law, a corporation may not, in general, engage in a business combination with any holder of 20% or more of its capital stock unless the holder has held the stock for five years or, among other things, the board of directors has approved the transaction.  Any provision of our articles of incorporation or bylaws or Pennsylvania law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our shareholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.

None.

Our principal executive offices, primarily used by our Acute Care Segment are located at 490 Lapp Road, Malvern, PA 19355, where we occupy approximately 22,313 square feet of leased laboratory and office space pursuant to a six-year lease, which expires on December 31, 2022. The Acute Care Segment also leases a 4,145 square foot office space in Dublin, Ireland pursuant to a three-year lease. We currently own and our CDMO segment operates a 97,000 square foot, DEA-licensed facility in Gainesville, Georgia.

As part of the Gainesville Transaction, we acquired the rights to Zohydro ER®, which we license to our commercial partner Pernix, in the United States, and which is subject to ongoing intellectual property litigation and proceedings.

Zohydro ER® has been subject to four paragraph IV certifications with Actavis plc, or Actavis, one of which was filed in 2014 regarding the filing of Abbreviated NDAs, or ANDAs, with the FDA for a generic version of Zohydro ER®, one of which was filed in April 2015 regarding the filing of a supplemental ANDA, or sANDA, and another two of which were filed in November 2015 and October 2016 regarding one of our recently issued patents relating to a formulation of Zohydro ER®. These certification notices allege that the three U.S. patents listed in the FDA’s Orange Book for Zohydro ER®, with an expiration date in November 2019 or September 2034, will not be infringed by Actavis’ proposed products, are invalid and/or are unenforceable. In 2014, Daravita Limited (a subsidiary of Alkermes and our predecessor in interest) filed suit against Actavis in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware based on the ANDAs, and, in 2015, we filed suit against Actavis in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware based on the sANDA. In February 2017, the District Court in the Actavis case ruled in our favor and enjoined Actavis from selling the proposed generic version of Zohydro ER®. Actavis has appealed this decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In October 2017, we filed suit against Actavis in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware based upon another recently issued patent relating to a formulation of Zohydro ER®. Under our license agreement with Pernix, we have the right to control the enforcement of our patents and related proceedings involving Zohydro ER® and any prospective generic entrant, and Pernix has the obligation to reimburse us for all reasonable costs of such actions. The litigations with Actavis settled in January 2018 via a multi-party settlement agreement with Pernix and Actavis, in which Actavis was granted a license to begin selling a generic version of Zohydro® ER on March 1, 2029, or earlier under certain circumstances.

Not applicable.

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PART II

Market Information

Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “REPH.” The following table sets forth the high and low sales price of our common stock, as reported by the NASDAQ Capital Market for the periods indicated:

Holders of Common Stock

As of March 1, 2018, there were 8 holders of record of our common stock. We believe that the number of beneficial owners of our common stock at that date was substantially greater.

Dividend Policy

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and our ability to pay cash dividends is currently prohibited by the terms of our credit facility with Athyrium. We do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Payment of future dividends, if any, on our common stock will be at the discretion of our board of directors after taking into account various factors, including our financial condition, operating results, anticipated cash needs and plans for expansion.

Issuer Repurchases of Equity Securities

None.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

Other information about our equity compensation plans is incorporated herein by reference to Part III, Item 12 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

Other than the issuance of warrants to Athyrium, as disclosed on our Form 8-K filed with the SEC on November 20, 2017, there were no unregistered sales of equity securities during the period.

Use of Proceeds

None.

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Performance Graph

This performance graph shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that Section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any of our filings under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act.

The following graph illustrates a comparison of the total cumulative stockholder return for our common stock since March 7, 2014, which is the first trading day for our stock, to two indices: the NASDAQ Composite Index and the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index. The graph assumes an initial investment of $100 on March 7, 2014, in our common stock, the stocks comprising the NASDAQ Composite Index, and the stocks comprising the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index. Historical stockholder return is not necessarily indicative of the performance to be expected for any future periods.

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The following tables present our selected financial data for the periods indicated. The consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 have been derived from our audited financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013 have been derived from audited financial statements not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future. The selected financial data below should be read in conjunction with the information contained in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, and other financial information included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing elsewhere. In addition to historical information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed below. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” included in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

We are a specialty pharmaceutical company that operates through two business divisions: an Acute Care division and a revenue-generating CDMO division. Each of these divisions are deemed to be reportable segments for financial reporting purposes.

Our Acute Care segment is primarily focused on developing innovative products for commercialization in hospital and other acute care settings. Our lead product candidate, IV meloxicam, has successfully completed three Phase III clinical trials, two pivotal efficacy trials, large double-blind Phase III safety trial and other safety studies for the management of moderate to severe pain. Overall, the total NDA program included over 1,400 patients. At the end of July 2017, we submitted an NDA to the FDA for IV meloxicam 30mg for the management of moderate to severe pain. The FDA has accepted the NDA for review and set a PDUFA date of May 26, 2018. Our Acute Care segment has no revenue and our costs consist primarily of expenses incurred in conducting our clinical trials and preclinical studies, manufacturing scale-up, regulatory activities, pre-commercialization of meloxicam and personnel costs.

Our CDMO segment leverages our formulation expertise to develop and manufacture pharmaceutical products using our proprietary delivery technologies for commercial partners who commercialize or plan to commercialize these products. These collaborations result in revenue streams including royalties, profit sharing, research and development and manufacturing, which support continued operations for our CDMO segment and have contributed funds to be used in our research and development and pre-commercialization activities in our Acute Care segment. We operate a 97,000 square-foot, DEA-licensed manufacturing facility in Gainesville, Georgia, and we currently develop and/or manufacture the following key products with our commercial partners: Ritalin LA®, Focalin XR®, Verelan PM®, Verelan SR®, Verapamil PM, Verapamil SR and Zohydro ER®, as well as development stage products. Our CDMO segment’s revenue streams are derived from manufacturing, royalty and profit sharing revenues, as well as our research and development of services performed for commercial partners.

We have incurred losses and generated negative cash flows from operations since inception, and expect to continue to incur significant and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future. Substantially all of our operating losses resulted from costs incurred in connection with our development programs, including our non-clinical and formulation development activities, manufacturing, clinical trials and pre-commercialization activities. We have used revenue generated by our CDMO segment primarily to fund operations at our Gainesville, Georgia manufacturing facility, to make payments under our previous credit facility and to partially fund our development and pre-commercialization activities of our Acute Care segment. We believe our CDMO segment’s revenue will continue to contribute cash for general corporate purposes that may, to some extent, reduce the amount of external capital needed to fund development and commercial operations. We expect to incur increasing expenses over the next several years to commercialize IV meloxicam, if approved, including continued pre-commercialization and commercialization activities for IV meloxicam, and to develop our other current and future product candidates.

On April 10, 2015, we completed the Gainesville Transaction, which transformed our business through the addition of a revenue-generating business and the increase in our workforce as a result of the addition of the employees at our Gainesville, Georgia manufacturing facility. The consideration paid consisted of $50.0 million cash, a $4.0 million working capital adjustment and a seven-year warrant to purchase 350,000 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $19.46 per share. In addition, we may be required to pay up to an additional $125.0 million in milestone payments including $45 million upon regulatory approval of IV meloxicam, as well as net sales milestones and a royalty percentage of future product net sales related to IV meloxicam.

We funded the up-front payment of the Gainesville Transaction with borrowings under our previous credit facility with OrbiMed Royalties, II, LP, or OrbiMed, and cash on hand. Pursuant to the credit facility with OrbiMed, we issued OrbiMed a warrant to purchase an aggregate of 294,928 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $3.28 per share, subject to certain adjustments.

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In November 2017, we entered into our credit agreement with Athyrium, pursuant to which we drew upon an initial $60.0 million term loan and have the ability to draw upon two additional tranches of terms loans, each in the aggregate original principal amount of $20.0 million, subject to certain timing and milestone restrictions.  We used the proceeds from the initial term loan to repay in full all outstanding indebtedness and transaction fees under the previous credit facility with OrbiMed. The interest rate under the credit agreement with Athyrium is equal to three-month LIBOR plus 9.75%, with a 1.0% LIBOR floor. Pursuant to the credit agreement with Athyrium, we issued Athyrium a warrant to purchase an aggregate of 348,664 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $8.6043 per share, subject to certain adjustments.

Financial Overview

Revenues

During the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 we recognized revenues in four categories: manufacturing revenue, royalty, profit sharing and research and development revenue. All revenue is generated from our CDMO segment.

Manufacturing revenue

We recognize manufacturing revenue from the sale of products we manufacture for our commercial partners. Manufacturing revenues are recognized when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, shipment has occurred and title to the product and associated risk of loss has passed to the customer, the sales price is fixed or determinable and collectability is reasonably assured.

Royalty revenue

We recognize royalty revenue related to the sale of products by our commercial partners that incorporate our technologies. Royalties are earned under the terms of a license, development and/or supply agreement in the period the products are sold by a commercial partner and collectability is reasonably assured.

Profit sharing revenue

We recognize revenue from profit sharing related to the sale of certain of our manufactured products by our commercial partners. Profit sharing revenue is earned under the terms of a license, development and/or supply agreement in the period the products are sold and expenses are incurred by our commercial partner and collectability is reasonably assured.

Research and development revenue

Research and development revenue consists of funding that compensates us for formulation, and preparation of pre-clinical and clinical testing drug product materials prepared by our CDMO segment under research and development arrangements with commercial partners. We generally bill our commercial partners under research and development arrangements using a full-time equivalent or hourly rate, plus direct external costs, if any. To the extent that the agreements specify services are to be performed on a fixed basis, revenues are recognized consistent with the pattern of the work performed. In agreements which specify milestones, we recognize revenue from non-refundable milestone payments when the earnings process is complete and the payment is reasonably assured. Non-refundable milestone payments related to arrangements under which we have continuing performance obligations would be deferred and recognized over the period of performance.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses currently consist primarily of costs incurred in connection with the development of injectable meloxicam and other pipeline activities. These expenses consist primarily of:

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The majority of our external research and development costs relate to clinical trials, manufacturing of drug supply for pre-commercial products, analysis and testing of product candidates and patent costs. Costs related to facilities, depreciation and support are not charged to specific programs.

The successful development of our product candidates is highly uncertain and subject to a number of risks, including, but not limited to:

Development timelines, probability of success and development costs vary widely. As a result of the uncertainties discussed above, we anticipate that we will make determinations as to which additional programs to pursue and how much funding to direct to each program on an ongoing basis in response to the scientific and clinical data of each product candidate, as well as ongoing assessments of such product candidate’s commercial potential and available capital resources. Accordingly, we cannot currently estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of time or costs that we will be required to expend in the future on our product candidates to complete current or future clinical or pre-commercial stages prior to their regulatory approval, if such approval is ever granted. As a result of these uncertainties surrounding the timing and outcome of any approvals, we are currently unable to estimate precisely when, if ever, any of our other product candidates will generate revenues and cash flows.

We expect our research and development costs to primarily relate to injectable meloxicam for the foreseeable future as we advance this product candidate through the pre-commercialization scale-up, clinical and other pre-approval activities. We also expect to have expenses as we initiate clinical trials and related work for our other product candidates. We may elect to seek out collaborative relationships in order to provide us with a diversified revenue stream and to help facilitate the development and commercialization of our product candidate pipeline. We expect our research and development costs to continue to increase as we continue clinical and pre-commercialization manufacturing activities for IV meloxicam, and engage in pipeline development activities.

In addition, research and development expenses consist of costs incurred by our CDMO segment for its product and formulation development activities, including regulatory support. We expense research and development costs as incurred. Advanced payments for goods and services that will be used in future research and development activities are initially recorded as prepaid expenses and expensed as the activity is performed or when the goods have been received.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consist principally of salaries and related costs for personnel in executive, pre-commercial and finance and information technology functions. General and administrative expenses also include professional fees for legal, including patent-related expenses, consulting, auditing and tax services, and stock compensation expense.

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We expect our general and administrative expenses to continue to increase as we build our Acute Care commercialization team and engage in pre-commercialization IV meloxicam marketing, sales, market access and medical affairs activities. In addition, we will continue to incur costs relating to our operations as a public company, including increased headcount and increased salary, consulting, legal, patent and compliance, accounting, insurance and investor relations costs.

Amortization of Intangible Assets

We recognize amortization expense related to the intangible asset for our contract manufacturing relationships on a straight-line basis over an estimated useful life of six years. The intangible asset related to injectable meloxicam represents in process research and development, or IPR&D, which is considered an indefinite-lived intangible asset that is assessed for impairment annually or more frequently if impairment indicators exist.

Change in Fair Value of Contingent Consideration

In connection with the acquisition of injectable meloxicam in the Gainesville Transaction, we are required to pay up to an additional $125.0 million in milestone payments, including $45 million upon regulatory approval of IV meloxicam, as well as net sales milestones and a royalty percentage of future product net sales related to IV meloxicam between 10% and 12% (subject to a 30% reduction when no longer covered by patent). The estimated fair value of the initial $54.6 million payment obligation was recorded as part of the purchase price for the Gainesville Transaction. We have since reevaluated and as of December 31, 2017 recorded a $82.0 payment obligation, representing the estimated probability adjusted fair value, and we expect, at a minimum, the current portion of $32.0 million will further increase by approximately $15 million to $20 million as we approach the PDUFA date, and potential approval of IV meloxicam, which will trigger the $45 million milestone payment due to Alkermes. Each reporting period, we revalue this estimated obligation with changes in fair value recognized as a non-cash operating expense or income.

Change in Fair Value of Warrants

We have classified as liabilities certain warrants outstanding which contain a contingent net cash settlement feature, upon a change in control. The fair value of these warrants are remeasured through settlement or expiration with changes in fair value recognized as a period charge within the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss).

Interest Expense, net

Interest expense, net for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 was a result of interest expense incurred on our OrbiMed and Athyrium senior secured term loans and the amortization of the related financing costs and one-time charges for fees related to early extinguishment of the OrbiMed debt and the non-cash write-off of OrbiMed deferred financing costs. Interest expense for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015 was a result of interest expense incurred on our OrbiMed senior secured term loan and the amortization of the related financing costs.

Net Operating Losses and Tax Carryforwards

As of December 31, 2017, we had approximately $9.0 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards. We also had federal and state research and development tax credit carryforwards of $3.4 million available to offset future taxable income. U.S. tax laws limit the time during which these carryforwards may be utilized against future taxes. These federal and state net operating loss and federal and state tax credit carryforwards will begin to expire at various dates beginning in 2028, if not utilized. Based on our projected future taxable income we expect to be able to utilize all federal and state net operating losses. We have also generated foreign net operating loss carryforwards in Ireland. We currently do not believe it is more likely than not we will use any of these net operating losses and as a result have recorded a full valuation allowance against the deferred tax asset related to the losses.

Under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, or the Act, the utilization of a corporation’s net operating loss and research and development tax credit carryforwards is limited following a greater than 50% change in ownership during a three-year period. Any unused annual limitation may be carried forward to future years for the balance of the carryforward period. We determined that we have experienced ownership changes, as defined by the Act, during the 2008, 2014 and 2016 tax years as a result of past financings; accordingly, our ability to utilize the aforementioned carryforwards will be limited. Although the carryforwards will be limited, we have determined that none of the net operating losses will expire prior to being utilized as a result of the changes. In addition, state net operating loss carryforwards may be further limited, including in Pennsylvania, which has a limitation of 30%, 35% or 40% of taxable income after modifications and apportionment on state net operating losses utilized in any one year during tax years beginning during 2017, 2018 or 2019 going forward respectively. In addition, since we will need to raise substantial additional funding to finance our operations, we may undergo further ownership changes in the future, including changes to our organizational structure relating to foreign operations, purchases, sales and licenses, which could further limit our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards. As a

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result, if we generate taxable income, our ability to use some of our net operating loss carryforwards to offset U.S. federal and state taxable income may be subject to limitations, which could result in increased future tax liabilities to us.

As discussed in Note 18 to the Financial Statements, in December 2017, the federal government enacted numerous amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 pursuant to the Tax Act.  The Tax Act will impact our income tax expense/(benefit) from operations in future periods. The Tax Act resulted in the following impacts to us:

Results of Operations

Comparison of the Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2017 and 2016

Revenue and costs of sales. Our revenues were $71.8 million and $69.3 million and cost of sales were $38.2 million and $37.2 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Excluding the $2.3 million, one-time, contractually based manufacturing revenue amount from one of our commercial partners in the twelve months ended December 31, 2016, the $4.8 million increase in 2017 revenue versus 2016 was primarily due to higher profit share revenue as a result of stronger sales volumes and pricing of Verapamil as well as increased manufacturing revenue. These increases were partially offset by decreased royalty revenue due to a change in the mix of generic and brand sales by another of our commercial partners. Costs of sales were $38.2 million and $37.2 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.  The increase in cost of sales of $1.0 million was primarily due to changes in the product mix.

Research and Development. Our research and development expenses were $33.1 million and $33.3 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The decrease of $0.2 million in 2017 was primarily due to lower IV meloxicam clinical trial expenses offset by increases in pre-commercialization IV meloxicam product validation, manufacturing and support costs, NDA filing fees and development costs for our other pipeline products.

General and Administrative. Our general and administrative expenses were $25.4 million and $12.7 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The increase of $12.7 million was primarily due to building of the commercial team and its related infrastructure, and pre-commercial activities for IV meloxicam.

Amortization of Intangible Assets. Amortization expense was $2.6 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 which was exclusively related to the amortization of our royalties and contract manufacturing relationships intangible asset over its estimated useful life.

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Interest Expense, net. Interest expense, net was $11.6 million and $5.5 million during the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The increase in interest expense, net, was due to the refinancing of our prior credit agreement with OrbiMed in 2017 which resulted in a one-time charge totaling approximately $6.8 million for fees related to early extinguishment of debt and the non-cash write-off of related deferred financing costs. Additionally, the higher principal balance on our Athyrium senior secured term loan and amortization of the related financing costs contributed to an increase in interest expense, net.

Income Tax Benefit. Income tax benefit was $1.9 million and $1.1 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The increase in income tax benefit was primarily due to the increase in net loss before income.  As a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, included within income tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2017 was a non-cash adjustment of $7.9 million for the remeasurement of the net deferred tax items using the recently enacted 21% statutory tax rate. We believe that it is more likely than not that the deferred income tax assets associated with our foreign operations will not be realized, and as such, there is a full valuation allowance against our foreign deferred tax assets.

Operating Income (Loss) per Segment.

CDMO Segment-

Our CDMO segment’s revenues were $71.8 million and $69.3 million and cost of sales were $38.2 million and $37.2 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Excluding the $2.3 million, one-time, contractually based manufacturing revenue amount from one of our commercial partners in the twelve months ended December 31, 2016, the $4.8 million increase in revenue versus prior year was primarily due to increased profit share revenue as a result of increased sales volumes and pricing by one of our commercial partners as well as increased manufacturing revenue. These increases were partially offset by decreased royalty revenue due to a change in the mix of generic and brand sales by one of our commercial partners. Costs of sales were $38.2 million and $37.2 million, respectively.  The increase in cost of sales of $1.0 million was primarily due to changes in the product mix.

Our CDMO segment’s operating expenses (including cost of sales) increased by $1.9 million, from $46.1 million in the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 to $48.0 million in the twelve months ended December 31, 2017. Research and development expenses increased by $1.3 million due to expanded investment in our formulation and development capabilities and general and administration expenses decreased by $0.1 million. All of the above contributed to our CDMO segment’s operating income of $25.4 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, which included non-cash charges of $7.4 million for depreciation and amortization and $1.0 million for stock-based compensation.

Acute Care Segment-

Our Acute Care segment’s operating expenses increased $12.2 million from $40.7 million in the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 to $52.9 million in the twelve months ended December 31, 2017. Research and development expenses increased $0.1 million as a result of increased IV meloxicam pre-commercialization manufacturing costs, NDA filing fees and increased headcount, which was partially offset by a decrease in our IV meloxicam clinical trial expenses. General and administrative costs increased by $12.1 million as a result of increased headcount and increased pre-commercialization marketing expenses. The non-cash charge for contingent consideration increased by $3.1 million. All of the above contributed to our Acute Care segment’s operating loss of $65.7 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, which also included non-cash charges of $4.6 million for stock-based compensation, depreciation and amortization.

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Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2016 and 2015

Revenue and costs of sales. Our revenues were $69.3 million and $52.0 million and cost of sales were $37.2 million and $28.1 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. The increase of $17.3 million in revenue and $9.1 million in cost of sales was primarily the result of including a full year of operation of our CDMO segment in the twelve months ended December 31, 2016, compared to the inclusion of approximately nine months of operations for the twelve months ended December 31, 2015 (following the closing of the Gainesville Transaction early in the second quarter of 2015). In the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 revenues also included $2.3 million related to a one-time contractually based manufacturing revenue payment from one of our commercial partners and approximately $1.1 million in higher profit-share revenue from another commercial partner’s new customer base.

Research and Development. Our research and development expenses were $33.3 million and $12.3 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, an increase of $21.0 million from December 31, 2015, primarily due to an increase of $19.5 million in our IV meloxicam clinical expenses and $2.5 million in increased salaries and benefits expense due to increased headcount partially offset by a decrease in pre-commercial manufacturing costs and other pipeline clinical expenses.

General and Administrative. Our general and administrative expenses were $12.7 million and $13.0 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, a decrease of $0.3 million from December 31, 2015 primarily due to lower professional fees (due to expenses incurred in the 2015 Gainesville Transaction), partially offset by higher headcount and pre-commercialization expenses in 2016.

Amortization of Intangible Assets. Amortization expense was $2.6 million and $1.9 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, which was exclusively related to the amortization of our royalties and contract manufacturing relationships intangible asset over its six year estimated useful life. The amortization recorded during the twelve months ended December 31,2015 represents a partial year.

Interest Expense, net. Interest expense, net was $5.5 million during the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, as a result of interest expense incurred on our OrbiMed senior secured term loan and amortization of the related financing costs. Though the principal amount of the debt was paid down significantly in the twelve months ended December 31, 2016, interest expense in the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 was equal to the interest expense for the twelve months ended December 31, 2015 as the interest for the twelve months ended December 31, 2015 was over a nine month period as compared to a full year for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016. The interest rate under the credit agreement with OrbiMed is equal to LIBOR plus 14.0%, with a 1.0% LIBOR floor.

Income Tax Expense. Income tax benefit was $1.1 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 due to income tax related to our US operations offset by our federal research and development credits. There was a full valuation allowance against our foreign deferred tax assets for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016. As there was a full valuation allowance against our net deferred tax assets as of December 31, 2015, there was no income tax expense recorded for the twelve months ended December 31, 2015.

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Operating Income (Loss) per Segment.

CDMO Segment-

Our CDMO segment’s revenues were $69.3 million and $52.0 million and cost of sales were $37.2 million and $28.1 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. The increase of $17.3 million in revenue and $9.1 million in cost of sales was primarily the result of including a full year of operation of our CDMO segment in the twelve months ended December 31, 2016, compared to the inclusion of approximately nine months of operations for the twelve months ended December 31, 2015 (following the closing of the Gainesville Transaction early in the second quarter of 2015). In the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 revenues also included $2.3 million related to a one-time contractually based manufacturing revenue payment from one of our commercial partners and approximately $1.1 million in higher profit-share revenue from another commercial partner’s new customer base.

Our CDMO segment’s operating expenses (including cost of sales) increased by $9.8 million, from $36.2 million in 2015 to $46.0 million in 2016. Research and development expenses increased by $1.9 million due to 2016 representing a full year of operation of our CDMO segment, which was only included for approximately nine months of 2015 due to the closing of the Gainesville Transaction early in the second quarter of 2015 and due to increases in formulation expenses and rent allocation expenses in 2016. General and administration expenses decreased by $1.0 million due to a decrease in patent costs, and partially offset by an increase in stock-based compensation and business development expenses. Amortization of intangibles increased by $0.7 million.

All of the above contributed to our CDMO segment’s operating income of $24.2 million for 2016, which included non-cash charges of $5.0 million for depreciation and amortization and $ 0.8 million for stock-based compensation.

Acute Care Segment-

Our Acute Care segment’s operating expenses increased $25.5 million from $24.5 million in 2015 to $50.0 million in 2016. Research and development expenses increased $19.1 million as a result of the costs of two Phase III clinical studies and a safety study conducted in 2016 and increased salaries and benefits due to additional headcount. General and administrative costs increased by $0.7 million as a result of increased salaries and benefits due to headcount, and increased pre-commercialization expenses. The warrant valuation decreased $0.4 million and contingent consideration increased by $9.7 million.

All of the above contributed to our Acute Care segment’s operating loss of $50.0 million for 2016 which included non-cash charges of $0.04 million for depreciation and amortization and $3.1 million for stock-based compensation.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2017, we had $64.5 million in cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments.

Since inception through December 31, 2017, we have financed our product development, operations and capital expenditures primarily from sales of equity and debt securities, including sales of our common stock with net proceeds of $116.4 million, and term loans made under our previous and existing credit facilities, including our current $100 million credit facility with Athyrium. Revenues from our CDMO segment are used primarily to fund operations at our Gainesville, Georgia manufacturing facility, to make payments under our credit facility and to partially fund the development and pre-commercialization activities of our Acute Care segment. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, our capital expenditures were $6.2 million.

We will need to raise substantial additional funds in order to fund the payments which may become due, including milestone payments owed to Alkermes or other licensing partners, to continue our clinical trials of our product candidates, to commercialize any approved product candidates or technologies and to enhance our sales and marketing efforts for additional products we may acquire. Insufficient funds may cause us to delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more of our development, commercialization or expansion activities. Our future capital needs and the adequacy of our available funds will depend on many factors, including the cost of clinical studies and other actions needed to obtain regulatory approval of our products in development, the timing of approval of IV meloxicam, the level of market acceptance of IV meloxicam and the costs of commercialization activities for IV meloxicam, if approved, the continued profitability of our CDMO segment, and our ability to access additional tranches under our credit agreement with Athyrium. We may raise such additional funds through debt refinancing, bank or other loans, through strategic research and development, licensing, including out-licensing activities, and/or marketing arrangements or through public or private sales of equity or debt securities from time to time. Financing may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all, and our failure to raise capital when needed could materially adversely impact our growth plans and our financial condition or results of operations. Additional debt or equity financing, if available, may be dilutive to the holders of our common stock and may involve significant cash payment obligations and covenants that restrict our ability to operate our business or access to capital.

On March 7, 2015, in connection with the Gainesville Transaction, we, through a wholly owned subsidiary, entered into a credit agreement with OrbiMed. Pursuant to the credit agreement, OrbiMed provided us with a term loan in the original principal amount of

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$50.0 million on April 10, 2015, which amount was used to fund the Gainesville Transaction. On November 17, 2017, we entered into our credit agreement with Athyrium, pursuant to which we drew upon an initial $60.0 million term loan and have the ability to draw upon two additional tranches of terms loans, each in the aggregate original principal amount of $20.0 million.  Pursuant to the terms of the credit agreement, we may draw upon the second $20.0 million tranche on or before December 31, 2018, provided that we receive regulatory approval for IV meloxicam and retain at least $20.0 million in unrestricted cash following payment of the $45.0 million milestone payment to Alkermes.  We may draw upon the final $20.0 million tranche on or prior to March 31, 2020, provided that we have drawn on the second tranche and have achieved net sales for IV Meloxicam of $20.0 million in the most recent trailing twelve month period. We used the proceeds from the initial term loan to (i) repay in full all outstanding indebtedness under our credit facility with OrbiMed of approximately $31.7 million, which included the remaining debt principal balance of $27.3 million and early termination charges of $4.4 million and (ii) pay transaction fees associated with the credit facility with Athyrium of approximately $4.2 million. As of December 31, 2017, we had $60.0 million outstanding principal under our credit agreement with Athyrium.