Item 4. Controls and Procedures
Item 4. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specific in the SEC rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Per Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e), the term disclosure controls and procedures means controls and other procedures of an issuer that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the issuer in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by an issuer in the reports it files or submits under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to the issuer’s management, including its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, or persons performing similar functions, does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent all errors and all fraud due to inherent limitations of internal controls. Because of such limitations, there is a risk that material misstatements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis by internal control over financial reporting. However, these inherent limitations are known features of the financial reporting process. Therefore, it is possible to design into the process safeguards to reduce, though not eliminate, this risk. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Accounting Officer (“certifying officers”), in their role as Principal Executive and Financial Officer, have conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act)) as of June 30, 2025. Our certifying officers concluded that, as a result of the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting as described below, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of June 30, 2025.
Our certifying officers concluded that the Company did not have an effective risk assessment over complex transactions due to the lack of sufficient and qualified resources. This also led to a deficiency in the design and implementation of controls over in-
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process research and development and valuation of financial instruments. We also identified a material weakness related to the lack of segregation of duties in the financial reporting process due to the lack of sufficient resources. Furthermore, the control deficiencies described above created a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement to the consolidated financial statements would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Additionally, as previously disclosed, on July 21, 2023, AEON completed a Merger with Old AEON and Merger Sub, pursuant to which Merger Sub merged with and into Old AEON, with Old AEON surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AEON. Prior to the Merger, Priveterra was a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or other similar business combination with one or more target businesses. As a result, previously existing internal controls are no longer applicable or comprehensive enough as of the assessment date considering the Company’s operations prior to the Merger were insignificant compared to those of the Post-Combination Company. The design and implementation of internal controls over financial reporting for the Post-Combination Company has required and will continue to require significant time and resources from management and other personnel.
Remediation Status of Material Weaknesses in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
We plan to enhance our processes by designing and implementing controls to review the results of valuations and estimates, including the completeness and accuracy of relevant data elements included in the valuation or estimate. We engaged additional resources during the first quarter of 2025 and are working to ensure incremental controls are properly implemented and to ensure proper segregation of duties around the review of manual journal entries.
Management continues to be actively engaged to take steps to remediate the material weaknesses, including enhanced processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements to better evaluate and understand the nuances of the complex accounting standards that apply to our consolidated financial statements, providing enhanced access to accounting literature, research materials and documents, and increased communication among our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Management has continued to take action to remediate the material weaknesses during the six months ended June 30, 2025. However, the material weaknesses will not be considered remediated until management designs and implements effective controls that operate for a sufficient period of time and management has concluded, through testing, that these controls are effective.
Other than described above, there has not been any changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15(d)-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the quarter to which this Report relates that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect our internal control over financial reporting.
PART II — OTHER INFORMATION
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.