10-K
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
☒
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31 , 2024
or
☐
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from to
Commission File No. 001-38959
BridgeBio Pharma, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware
State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization
84-1850815
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
3160 Porter Drive , Suite 250 , Palo Alto , CA
(Address of principal executive offices)
94304
(Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: ( 650 ) 391-9740
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class
Trading
Symbol(s)
Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share
BBIO
The Nasdaq Global Select Market
Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act: NONE
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well‑known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S‑T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer
☒
Accelerated filer
☐
Non-accelerated filer
☐
Smaller reporting company
☐
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 has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 726(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b‑2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
The aggregate market value of the voting and non‑voting common equity held by non‑affiliates of the registrant based upon the closing price of the registrant’s Common Stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on June 30, 2024 was approximately $ 3,729.4 million. Shares of the registrant’s Common Stock held by each executive officer and director and by each other person who may be deemed an affiliate of the Registrant have been excluded from this computation. The determination of affiliate status for this purpose is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.
On February 13, 2025, there were 190,188,626 shares of the registrant’s Common Stock issued and outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Specified portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement to be issued in conjunction with the registrant’s 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is expected to be filed not later than 120 days after the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 , are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report. Except as expressly incorporated by reference, the registrant’s Proxy Statement shall not be deemed to be a part of this Annual Report on Form 10‑K.
BRIDGEBIO PHARMA, INC.
2024 Form 10‑K Annual Report
Table of Contents
Page
PART I
Item 1.
Business
1
Item 1A.
Risk Factors
50
Item 1B.
Unresolved Staff Comments
118
Item 1C.
Cybersecurity
118
Item 2.
Properties
119
Item 3.
Legal Proceedings
119
Item 4.
Mine Safety Disclosures
119
PART II
Item 5.
Market for the Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
120
Item 6.
[Reserved]
121
Item 7.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
122
Item 7A.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
141
Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
142
Item 9.
Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
210
Item 9A.
Controls and Procedures
210
Item 9B.
Other Information
212
Item 9C.
Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections
212
PART III
Item 10.
Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
213
Item 11.
Executive Compensation
213
Item 12.
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
213
Item 13.
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
213
Item 14.
Principal Accountant Fees and Services
213
PART IV
Item 15.
Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules
214
Item 16.
Form 10‑K Summary
215
Exhibits
215
Signatures
222
In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless otherwise stated or as the context requires, references to “BridgeBio,” “the Company,” “we,” “us,” “our” or similar references refer to BridgeBio Pharma, Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries.
BRIDGEBIO is our registered trademark in the United States. BRIDGEBIO, ATTRUBY and BEYONTTRA are our registered trademarks in the European Union. All other brand names and service marks, trademarks and other trade names appearing in this report are the property of their respective owners.
We use the brand name for our products when we refer to the product that has been approved and with respect to the indications on the approved label. Otherwise, including in discussions of our achondroplasia, ADH1 and LGMD2I/R9 development programs, we refer to our product candidates by their scientific (or generic) name or BridgeBio Pharma (“BBP”) developmental designation. Where referring to our commercial product that has been approved in both the United States and European Union, we use both names Attruby TM /Beyonttra TM – e.g., “Our commercial organization focuses on supporting the appropriate use of ATTRUBY and BEYONTTRA in the markets where this product has been approved.”
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Special Note Regarding Forward‑Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10‑K contains forward‑looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward‑looking statements involve substantial risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All statements in this Annual Report on Form 10‑K, other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding our strategy, future operations, future operating expenses, future financial position, future revenue, projected costs, prospects, plans, intentions, expectations, goals and objectives may be forward‑looking statements. The words “anticipates,” “approximately,” “believes,” “could,” “designed,” “estimates,” “expects,” “goal,” “intends,” “may,” “objective,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,” “projects,” “pursuing,” “seeks,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions (including the negatives thereof) are intended to identify forward‑looking statements, although not all forward‑looking statements contain these identifying words. The forward-looking statements in this report include, but are not limited to, statements about:
• our ability to successfully commercialize Attruby TM (acoramidis), including our ability to successfully establish and maintain commercial manufacturing and supply chains for Attruby, and our expectations regarding the size and growth potential of the commercial markets for Attruby;
• the success, cost and timing of our clinical development of our product candidates, including the progress of, and results from, our ongoing Phase 2 and planned Phase 3 clinical trials of low-dose infigratinib, our planned Phase 3 clinical trials of BBP-418, and our ongoing Phase 2b and Phase 3 clinical trials of encaleret, a Phase 1/2 study for BBP-812 for Canavan disease, as well as the potential indications for each;
• our ability to continue planned preclinical and clinical development of our respective development programs, and the timing, cost and success of any such continued preclinical and clinical development and planned regulatory submissions;
• our ability to initiate, recruit and enroll patients in and conduct our clinical trials at the pace that we project;
• the timing of our submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”), and any review or comments on data that we will need to generate to file our Investigational New Drug applications (“INDs”) including pending or new clinical hold notices;
• our plans to implement certain development strategies, including our ability to attract and retain potential collaborators with development, regulatory and commercialization expertise;
• our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates in any of the indications for which we are developing or we plan to develop, and any related restrictions, limitations or warnings in the label of any of our product candidates, if approved;
• our ability to successfully commercialize our current product candidates, if approved, and any other product candidates we may identify and pursue, if approved, including our ability to successfully build a specialty sales force and commercial infrastructure to market our current product candidates and any other product candidates we may identify and pursue;
• our ability to compete with companies currently marketing approved treatments or engaged in the development of treatments that may become available for any of the indications that our product candidates are designed to target;
• our reliance on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and to manufacture drug substance for use in our clinical trials;
• our ability to contract with and the performance of our and our collaborators’ third-party suppliers and manufacturers;
• the pricing and reimbursement of our product candidates, if approved;
• the size and growth potential of the markets for our current product candidates or other product candidates we may identify and pursue, and our ability to serve and gain acceptance by those markets;
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• our ability to identify and advance through clinical development any additional product candidates;
• the restructuring plans we commenced in 2024 and any future restructuring plans that we may pursue;
• the impacts of public health crises or macroeconomic factors that could impact our business, such as the effects of the ongoing conflicts in the Ukraine or in Israel and the Gaza Strip on the global economy; supply chain and inflationary pressures, or significant political, trade or regulatory developments in the jurisdictions in which we may sell our products or conduct our operations;
• our ability to retain and recruit key personnel;
• the success of competing therapies that are or may become available;
• our ability to obtain and maintain adequate intellectual property rights for our product candidates and our ability to operate our business without infringing on the intellectual property rights of others;
• our expectations regarding government and third-party payor coverage and reimbursement;
• our estimates of our expenses, ongoing losses, capital requirements and our use of cash resources, and our needs for or ability to pay for debt interests and obtain additional financing to complete the clinical trials of any of our product candidates;
• the impact of laws and regulations in the United States and foreign countries;
• our financial performance;
• adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults, or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties; and
• developments and projections relating to our competitors or our industry.
We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, expectations or objectives disclosed in our forward‑looking statements and the assumptions underlying our forward‑looking statements may prove incorrect. Furthermore, if our forward‑looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on our forward‑looking statements, and you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions, expectations and objectives disclosed in the forward‑looking statements that we make. Important factors that we believe could cause actual results or events to differ materially from our forward‑looking statements include, but are not limited to, those listed under “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of Part I, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7 of Part II and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10‑K. Our forward‑looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10‑K are based on current expectations as of the date hereof and we do not assume any obligation to update any forward‑looking statements on account of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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RISK FACTOR SUMMARY
Below is a summary of the principal factors that make an investment in our common stock speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, and other risks that we face, can be found below under the heading “Risk Factors” and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) before making investment decisions regarding our common stock.
• Drug development is a highly uncertain undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. We have incurred significant losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future. We have not generated significant revenue since inception, which, together with our limited operating history, may make it difficult for you to assess our future viability.
• We may encounter substantial delays in clinical trials for a variety of reasons, including difficulties in patient enrollment, and we may not be able to conduct or complete clinical trials on the expected timelines, if at all.
• Results of earlier studies or clinical trials may not be predictive of future clinical trial results, and initial studies or clinical trials may not establish an adequate safety or efficacy profile for our product candidates to justify proceeding to advanced clinical trials or an application for regulatory approval.
• Use of our product candidates could be associated with side effects, adverse events or other properties or safety risks, which could delay or halt their clinical development, prevent their regulatory approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, abandon a product or product candidate, limit the commercial potential of a product candidate, if approved, or result in other significant negative consequences that could harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.
• Interim, “top-line,” and preliminary data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available or as additional analyses are conducted, and as the data are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.
• Our clinical trials may fail to demonstrate substantial evidence of the safety and efficacy of product candidates that we may identify and pursue for their intended uses, which would prevent, delay or limit the scope of regulatory approval and commercialization.
• We conduct clinical trials for product candidates outside the United States, and the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not accept data from such trials.
• Even if we obtain FDA approval for any of our current product candidates in the United States, we may never obtain approval to commercialize any of these product candidates outside of the United States, which would limit our ability to realize their full market potential.
• Even though we may apply for orphan drug designation for our product candidates, we may not be able to obtain orphan drug marketing exclusivity.
• Att r uby TM and our current product candidates, if approved, will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates.
• Certain of our product candidates, including our protein therapeutic and gene therapy product candidates, are novel, complex and difficult to manufacture. We could experience manufacturing problems that result in delays in our development or commercialization programs or otherwise harm our business.
• We expect to rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and some aspects of our research and preclinical testing, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials, research or testing.
• We rely entirely on third parties for the manufacturing of Attruby and Beyonttra and our product candidates that we may develop for preclinical studies and clinical trials. Our business could be harmed if those third
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parties fail to provide us with sufficient quantities of drug product, or fail to do so at acceptable quality levels or prices.
• Significant political, trade, regulatory developments, and other circumstances beyond our control could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.
• If we are unable to obtain and maintain sufficient intellectual property protection for Attruby and our product candidates, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize products or product candidates similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates may be impaired.
• Our rights to develop and commercialize our product candidates are subject in part to the terms and conditions of licenses granted to us by others, and the patent protection, prosecution and enforcement for some of our product candidates may be dependent on our licensors.
• If we fail to comply with our obligations in the agreements under which we license intellectual property rights from third parties, or these agreements are terminated or we otherwise experience disruptions to our business relationships with our licensors, we could lose intellectual property rights.
• Our business is substantially dependent on our ability to successfully commercialize Attruby and Beyonttra, and the commercial success of Attruby and Beyonttra or any other product candidates, if approved, will depend upon the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, healthcare payors, and others in the medical community.
• If our sales and marketing capabilities for Attruby and Beyonttra are not effective or we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into and maintain our agreements with third parties to sell and market Attruby and Beyonttra or any future product candidates approved for commercial sale, we may be unsuccessful in our commercial efforts.
• Our profitability will depend significantly on our ability to sell enough product at competitive prices and on the availability of adequate coverage and reimbursement through governmental or private third-party payors.
• We face significant competition in an environment of rapid technological and scientific change, and there is a possibility that our competitors may achieve regulatory approval before us or develop therapies that are safer, more advanced or more effective than ours, which may ultimately harm our financial condition.
• Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry could adversely affect our current and projected business operations, financial condition and results of operations.
• Our future success depends on our ability to retain key employees, directors, consultants and advisors and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.
• Because we have multiple programs and product candidates in our development pipeline and are pursuing a variety of target indications and treatment modalities, we may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product candidate and fail to capitalize on development opportunities or product candidates that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success.
• We have incurred a significant amount of debt and may in the future incur additional indebtedness. Servicing our debt requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our substantial debt.
• We may require substantial additional funding to achieve our business goals. If we are unable to obtain this funding when needed and on acceptable terms, we could be forced to delay, limit or terminate our product development and commercialization efforts.
• The Funding Agreement contains certain conditions to the Purchasers’ funding obligations and various covenants and restrictions on our operations that, if violated, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.
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PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview
BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. is a new type of biopharmaceutical company founded to discover, create, test and deliver transformative medicines to treat patients who suffer from genetic diseases. BridgeBio’s pipeline of development programs ranges from early science to advanced clinical trials. BridgeBio was founded in 2015 and our team of experienced drug discoverers, developers and innovators are committed to applying advances in genetic medicine to help patients as quickly as possible. Since inception, BridgeBio has created 19 Investigational New Drug applications (“INDs”) and received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) for three of our products. We have worked across over 20 disease states at various stages of development. Several of our programs target indications that we believe present the potential for our product candidates, if approved, to target portions of market opportunities of at least $1.0 billion in annual sales.
We focus on genetic diseases because they exist at the intersection of high unmet patient need and tractable biology. Our approach is to translate research pioneered at academic laboratories and leading medical institutions into products that we hope will ultimately reach patients. We are able to realize this opportunity through a confluence of scientific advances, including: (i) identification of the genetic underpinnings of disease as more cost-efficient genome and exome sequencing becomes available; (ii) progress in molecular biology; and (iii) the development and maturation of longitudinal data and retrospective studies that enable the linkage of genes to diseases. We believe that this early-stage innovation represents one of the greatest practical sources for new drug creation.
We believe we have developed a world-class product platform that supports the continued growth of our Company and the advancement of our pipeline.
Recent Developments
On November 22, 2024, the FDA approved Attruby TM (acoramidis), an orally-administered near-complete (≥90%) stabilizer of transthyretin (TTR) for the treatment of adults with ATTR-CM to reduce cardiovascular death and cardiovascular-related hospitalization. Following the receipt of FDA approval, we commercially launched Attruby in the United States (the “U.S.”) with a sales force appropriately sized to call on all ATTR-CM treatment centers in the U.S. and other community cardiologists who treat ATTR-CM patients in the U.S. On February 10, 2025, the European Commission (“EC”) approved acoramidis for the treatment of ATTR-CM in Europe. We have licensed commercial rights in Europe to Bayer Consumer Care AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bayer AG (“Bayer”), who plans to commercialize acoramidis following approval under the brand name Beyonttra as a treatment for transthyretin amyloidosis in all EU member states as well as all member and extension states of the European Patent Organization as of the effective date of the license agreement. We anticipate Bayer will commercially launch Beyonttra in Europe during the first half of 2025. Please see the disclosures below in this Part I, Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion of these recent developments.
Our Commercial Product and Late-Stage Clinical Pipeline
Our late-stage clinical pipeline has successfully resulted in the approval of our commercial product Attruby by the FDA on November 22, 2024 for the treatment of ATTR-CM in adults to reduce cardiovascular death and cardiovascular-related hospitalization and the approval of Beyonttra (acoramidis) by the EC on February 10, 2025. Over the next year, this pipeline is also expected to deliver Phase 3 clinical trial results in three additional programs in potential markets of $1.0 billion dollars or more. The following table summarizes our commercial product
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Attruby/Beyonttra (acoramidis) and the three clinical product candidates in our late-stage development pipeline along with their target indications, drug mechanism, estimated patient population, and development status:
Product Name
Target Indication
Drug Mechanism
Patient Population (US + EU)
Development Stage
Commercial Product
Attruby (US) & Beyonttra (EU) (acoramidis)
ATTR-CM 1
TTR stabilizer
>400,000
Approved in US & EU
Products in Phase 3 Development
Infigratinib
Achondroplasia
Low-dose FGFRi 4
7,000 - 10,000 5
Phase 3 Fully Enrolled
Encaleret
ADH1 2
CaSR antagonist
20,000 - 25,000 6
Phase 3 Fully Enrolled
BBP-418
LGMD2I/R9 3
Glycosylation substrate
7,000
Fully Enrolled
1 Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy
2 Autosomal Dominant Hypocalcemia Type 1
3 Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2I
4 Oral FGFR1-3 selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor
5 Treatable population
6 Carriers
Commercial Product-Attruby (U.S.)/ Beyonttra (EU) for the Treatment of TTR Amyloidosis
Summary
Our product, Attruby (acoramidis), previously known as AG10, a next-generation oral small molecule near-complete TTR stabilizer, was approved by the FDA in November 2024 for the treatment of cardiomyopathy of wild-type or variant transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) in adults to reduce cardiovascular death and cardiovascular-related hospitalization. Acoramidis has demonstrated differentiated clinical benefit in ATTR patients in the Phase 3 ATTRibute-CM study and its open label extension. Attruby is the first and only approved product with a label specifying near-complete stabilization of TTR. In December 2024, acoramidis received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommending the approval of acoramidis in the European Union (EU) based on positive results from the Phase 3 ATTRibute-CM study. On February 10, 2025, the European Commission approved acoramidis for the treatment of ATTR-CM in Europe. We have licensed commercial rights in Europe to Bayer who following approval will commercialize acoramidis under the name Beyonttra as a treatment for transthyretin amyloidosis in all EU member states as well as all member and extension states of the European Patent Organization as of the effective date of the license agreement. We anticipate Bayer will commercially launch Beyonttra in Europe during the first half of 2025.
The FDA’s approval of Attruby was based on positive data from our Phase 3 ATTRibute-CM clinical trial of acoramidis for patients with ATTR-CM. In July 2023, we announced that the primary endpoint (a hierarchical analysis inclusive of all-cause mortality and frequency of cardiovascular-related hospitalization) was met (win ratio of 1.8) with a highly statistically significant p-value (p<0.0001). This primary endpoint result consistently favored acoramidis treatment across key subgroups, including across both variant and wild-type ATTR patients as well as across New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class I, II, and III patients. Absolute values observed across all-cause mortality (ACM), cardiovascular mortality (CVM) and cardiovascular-related hospitalization (CVH) showed that over 30 months, patients survived more and were hospitalized less than, to our knowledge, has been seen in prior controlled studies of ATTR-CM. Acoramidis was well-tolerated, with no safety signals of potential clinical concern identified. In additional results from ATTRibute-CM presented on November 12, 2023, the placebo and acoramidis time-to-first event Kaplan-Meier curves for a composite of ACM and CVH separated beginning at month 3, representing the most rapid and sustained clinical benefit known to us on the composite endpoint of ACM and CVH in ATTR-CM patients through month 30.
In March 2024, we entered into an exclusive license agreement with Bayer Consumer Care AG (“Bayer”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bayer AG (the “Bayer License Agreement”), to commercialize acoramidis in Europe. Following approval, Bayer will commercialize acoramidis under the name Beyonttra. Under the Bayer License Agreement, we received an upfront payment of $135.0 million in May 2024, and will be eligible to receive up to $150.0 million in regulatory and sales milestone payments (of which $75.0 million is for a regulatory milestone dependent upon receipt of EC approval of Beyonttra on or before December 31, 2025). We are also eligible to receive up to $450.0 million in additional sales milestones along with quarterly royalty payments according to a tiered structure starting in the low-thirties percent on net sales by Bayer of Beyonttra, subject to reduction under
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certain circumstances as provided in the Bayer License Agreement. The condition for the $75.0 million regulatory-based milestone payment was achieved upon the EC approval of Beyonttra on February 10, 2025. We anticipate receiving this milestone payment from Bayer in April 2025.
In September 2019, through our subsidiary Eidos Therapeutics, Inc. (“Eidos”), we entered into a license agreement (the “Eidos-Alexion License Agreement”), with Alexion Pharma International Operations Unlimited Company, a subsidiary of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (together, “Alexion”), to develop and commercialize Beyonttra in Japan. Under the Eidos-Alexion License Agreement, we are eligible to receive $30.0 million in regulatory milestone payments and royalties in the low-teens based on net sales of Beyonttra in Japan. Refer to the section titled “Our Material Agreements” below, and Note 11 of Part II - Item 8. Financial and Supplementary Data - Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Annual Form 10-K for further details regarding the Bayer License Agreement and Eidos-Alexion License Agreement.
We presented results from the open label extension (OLE) of ATTRibute-CM in 2024, which confirmed sustained benefit of acoramidis on cardiovascular outcomes, including statistically significant reduction in ACM within 36 months. The continued curve separation of the composite endpoint of ACM and recurrent CVH emphasizes the importance of early intervention resulting in early and sustained clinical benefits.
Market Opportunity
We believe that the total market for ATTR therapeutic interventions will continue to grow for the foreseeable future as the population of diagnosed patients increases because of heightened disease awareness and the increased adoption of non-invasive diagnostic techniques, and that the potential total global addressable market could reach as high as $20.0 billion. The number of estimated diagnosed ATTR-CM patients in the United States has grown from fewer than 5,000 in 2019 to more than 50,000 in 2024. As such, we believe that there could be a significant population of either newly diagnosed or undiagnosed patients who have not previously been treated with a disease-modifying therapy and could be treated with acoramidis (Attruby/Beyonttra). We believe acoramidis (Attruby/Beyonttra) will also be an important treatment option for patients inadequately managed by the current treatment. Further, we believe that acoramidis (Attruby/Beyonttra) has the potential to be a best-in-class stabilizer for the treatment of ATTR-CM and that stabilization is likely to remain the preferred mechanism.
Disease Overview
ATTR is a disease caused by destabilization of TTR tetramers resulting in progressive amyloid deposition. TTR is a protein that occurs naturally in the form of a tetramer, consisting of four identical subunits, or monomers, and performs multiple physiologic roles, including the transport of essential hormones and vitamins. In ATTR, TTR tetramers become destabilized due to a mutation in the TTR gene or as part of the natural aging process. Destabilized TTR dissociates into monomers, self-aggregates, and assembles into fibrils that are deposited, predominantly in the heart and nervous system, driving disease pathophysiology. TTR itself is not toxic – it is a normal and essential protein in humans, and humans cannot be born in the absence of the TTR gene. Higher serum TTR levels are associated with increased longevity and reduced cardiovascular and dementia risk in multiple independent studies. Higher serum levels also reflect greater TTR stability. Only when TTR destabilizes to release its monomers, which may then re-aggregate and misfold into amyloid fibrils, does the ATTR disease process begin.
Cardiomyopathic ATTR is commonly categorized by its genotypic cause with wild-type ATTR cardiomyopathy (“ATTRwt-CM”), which results from an age-related process, and variant ATTR cardiomyopathy (“ATTRv-CM”). Both forms of the disease are progressive and fatal. ATTRwt-CM and ATTRv-CM patients generally present with symptoms later in life (older than 50) and have median life expectancies of two to five years from diagnosis if untreated. Progression of both forms of the disease can cause significant disability, impact productivity and quality of life, and create a significant economic burden due to the costs associated with patient need for supportive care. As the disease progresses, ATTRwt-CM and ATTRv-CM patients may experience recurrent hospitalizations and repeated interventions.
The worldwide estimated prevalence of ATTRwt-CM and ATTRv-CM is greater than 400,000 and 40,000, respectively. We believe that cardiomyopathic ATTR is significantly underdiagnosed today. For example, recent literature has suggested that between 10% to 13% of patients diagnosed with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction may have undiagnosed ATTR-CM. The heart failure with preserved ejection fraction segment represents approximately half of the 6.0 million to 7.0 million estimated people with heart failure in the United States. With the increasing availability of disease-modifying therapeutics, disease awareness is heightened.
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We believe the population of diagnosed ATTR-CM patients is also growing rapidly due to the shift to an accurate and reliable non-invasive diagnostic imaging technique. Historically, a heart biopsy was required to make a diagnosis of ATTR-CM. Recently, however, it has been shown that scintigraphy with technetium-labeled radiotracers paired with single-photon emission computerized tomography (“SPECT) imaging is a highly accurate, non-invasive, and cost-effective method for ATTR-CM diagnosis. We believe that both increased disease awareness and availability of this non-invasive diagnostic imaging technique allow for earlier diagnosis of ATTR-CM patients and the identification of previously misdiagnosed patients.
Design Criteria
Acoramidis (Attruby/Beyonttra) is a commercially available, orally administered, small molecule TTR stabilizer that treats ATTR at its source. We designed acoramidis to meet two primary criteria – to preserve circulating native TTR and to reduce amyloid deposition by minimizing toxic TTR monomer formation.
TTR is a protein which has been highly conserved throughout evolution, and which is abundant in the plasma with relatively rapid turnover requiring sustained metabolic energy expenditure. Thus, we seek to achieve maximal stabilization of the TTR tetramer rather than elimination.
Acoramidis has been shown in preclinical studies and clinical trials to prevent the dissociation of tetrameric TTR into monomers, and in preclinical studies, to reduce the rate of amyloid fibril formation. In addition, it has been shown to lead to increased circulating levels of tetrameric TTR. Acoramidis was designed to bind TTR in a way that causes TTR’s conformational structure to mimic that of the well-characterized T119M variant, a naturally occurring rescue mutation that super stabilizes the TTR tetramer. The T119M variant has been observed to prevent the dissociation of TTR tetramers into monomers; T119M tetramers dissociate 40-fold more slowly than wild-type tetramers in biochemical assays. Known as a trans-allelic trans-suppressor, individuals who coinherit the T119M rescue mutation along with a TTR-destabilizing mutation are protected against the development of ATTR.
In third-party clinical trials of tafamidis, another orally administered, small molecule TTR stabilizer, interventional approaches that increased TTR stabilization led to improved outcomes in this disease, as measured by all-cause mortality and cardiovascular-related hospitalizations, and were correlated with increases in serum TTR. Further, based on genetic data, there is a correlation between the level of TTR stabilization, serum TTR levels and disease severity. As a result, we believe that serum TTR is a predictive biomarker for disease prognosis and that observed data from the ATTRibute-CM study showed increases in serum TTR from baseline levels were correlated with reductions in CVH and CVM over 30 months. Based on results from comparative nonclinical studies, we believe that acoramidis has the potential to stabilize TTR to a greater extent than other TTR stabilizers.
Clinical Data
Phase 2 Data
In November 2018, we announced Phase 2 data for acoramidis in symptomatic patients with ATTR-CM. The randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging clinical trial included 49 patients with symptomatic ATTR-CM, of which 14 had ATTR-CM. Eligible patients were randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to placebo or 400 milligrams or mg, or 800 mg of acoramidis twice daily over 28 days. Overall, acoramidis was well-tolerated in symptomatic ATTR-CM subjects with no safety signals of potential clinical concern attributed to study drug. Acoramidis significantly raised serum TTR concentrations (p < 0.0001) by 50% and 36% in subjects administered 800 mg twice daily and 400 mg twice daily, respectively, at day 28. Normalized serum TTR levels were observed in all actively treated subjects at day 28.
In November 2019, we announced data from our Phase 2 open-label extension (“OLE”), suggesting long-term tolerability of acoramidis and stabilization of ATTR-CM disease measures. Acoramidis was well-tolerated in the OLE and no safety signals of potential clinical concern were attributed to study drug. In an exploratory analysis of OLE participants following a median of 15 months since Phase 2 initiation, the rate of all-cause mortality (including either death or cardiac transplantation) was 8.5% and cardiovascular-related hospitalizations (proportion experiencing at least one event) was 25.5%.
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In October 2023, we presented updated results from our Phase 2 OLE, demonstrating continued long-term tolerability of acoramidis and stabilization of ATTR-CM disease measures. With a median of 55 months of continuous treatment, acoramidis was generally well-tolerated in the OLE and no safety signals of potential clinical concern were attributed to study drug. In patients with symptomatic ATTR-CM, long-term treatment with acoramidis is associated with both stable median NT-proBNP levels and sustained increases in serum TTR. In this ongoing open-label study, at least 53% of patients with ATTR-CM and NYHA Class II or III at entry to the Phase 2 trial have survived for a median follow-up of 4.6 years.
Phase 3 Data
In February 2019, we initiated ATTRibute-CM, a global Phase 3 randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of acoramidis in ATTR-CM. ATTRibute-CM enrolled 632 subjects with symptomatic ATTR-CM, associated with either wild-type or variant TTR and NYHA Class I-III symptoms. Subjects were randomized 2:1 between treatment (acoramidis 800 mg) and placebo twice daily in a two-part trial. In Part A, change in 6MWD at 12 months was compared between treatment and placebo groups as a potential registrational endpoint. In Part B, the hierarchical composite primary endpoint including all-cause mortality and cardiovascular hospitalizations will be compared between treatment and control groups at 30 months. Secondary endpoints include quality of life as assessed by the KCCQ-OS, safety parameters, serum TTR levels, a measure of TTR stabilization, and NT-proBNP levels, a cardiac biomarker. In Part B, concomitant use of tafamidis was allowed. A schematic of the trial design is shown below:
6MWD = Six-minute walk distance; NYHA = New York Heart Association; 99mTc = Technetium labeled pyrophosphate (PYP) or bisphosphonate (e.g., DPD); mITT = Modified intent-to-treat. eGFR = Estimated glomerular filtration rate.
1 Primary analysis assessed using the Finkelstein-Schoenfeld method.
On December 27, 2021, we reported topline data from Part A of the ATTRibute-CM trial, which did not meet its primary endpoint of change from baseline in 6MWD (p = 0.76). Mean observed 6MWD decline for the acoramidis and placebo arms were 9 meters and 7 meters, respectively. Decline observed in both arms of ATTRibute-CM was similar to expected functional decline in healthy elderly adults at 12 months. We observed improvements in acoramidis-treated participants relative to placebo-treated participants at Month 12 on secondary and exploratory endpoints including NT-proBNP, serum TTR concentration and KCCQ-OS.
On July 17, 2023, we announced positive data from our Phase 3 ATTRibute-CM clinical trial of acoramidis for patients with ATTR-CM. The primary endpoint (a hierarchical analysis inclusive of all-cause mortality and frequency of cardiovascular-related hospitalization) was met (win ratio of 1.8) with a highly statistically significant p-value (p<0.0001). This primary endpoint result consistently favored acoramidis treatment across key subgroups, including across both variant and wild-type ATTR patients as well as across NYHA Class I, II, and III patients. In particular, consistency against cardiovascular-related hospitalizations (CVH) was observed across all prespecified subgroups at 30 months. Absolute values observed across all-cause mortality (ACM), cardiovascular mortality (CVM) and CVH
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showed that over 30 months, patients survived more and were hospitalized less than has been seen in prior controlled studies of ATTR-CM to the Company’s knowledge. Assessment of measures of disease progression in the trial suggest that of participants assigned to receive acoramidis treatment who completed a month 30 visit, 45% experienced an improvement from baseline in N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), 40% experienced an improvement from baseline on 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), and 13% experienced an improvement from baseline in NYHA class. The placebo and acoramidis time-to-first event Kaplan-Meier (K-M) curves for a composite of all-cause mortality (ACM) and cardiovascular-related hospitalization (CVH) separated beginning at Month 3, representing rapid and sustained clinical benefit on the composite endpoint of ACM and CVH in ATTR-CM patients through Month 30 (Hazard Ratio = 0.645, 95% CI: 0.500-0.832). Acoramidis was well-tolerated, with no safety signals of potential clinical concern identified.
On September 27, 2024, we announced a post-hoc analysis of ATTRibute-CM demonstrating a 42% reduction in composite ACM and recurrent CVH events at 30 months observed with acoramidis treatment compared to placebo by applying a negative binomial regression model (p=0.0005). A 42% reduction in the total number of ACM and recurrent CVH events per patient was also observed over 30 months with acoramidis treatment compared to placebo.
On November 18, 2024, we announced acoramidis demonstrated statistically significant risk reduction in the OLE of 36% on ACM alone at Month 36 (p=0.009) and 34% by Month 42 (p=0.006), as assessed by the Stratified Cox proportional hazards model. A significant reduction of composite ACM and CVH by 46% at Month 36 (p<0.0001) and 48% at Month 42 (p<0.0001) was also assessed by negative binomial regression. Acoramidis continued to be well tolerated, with no new clinically significant safety signals identified in this long-term evaluation.
ACT-EARLY Prevention Study
ACT-EARLY, the first Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate prophylactic acoramidis therapy for the prevention or delay of ATTR amyloidosis in asymptomatic pathogenic TTR variant carriers, was initiated in 2024.
Competition
Attruby/Beyonttra (acoramidis) for the treatment of adults with ATTR-CM will compete with Vyndaqel / Vyndamax (tafamidis meglumine / tafamidis), which is a commercial product marketed by Pfizer, Inc. and approved in certain territories, including the United States, the European Union, and Japan as a treatment for ATTR-CM. We also expect Attruby/Beyonttra to face competition from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s Vutrisiran, if approved by the FDA for the ATTR-CM indication, which is anticipated in March 2025.
Additionally, there are a number of RNAi, antisense oligonucleotide, antibody, and gene editing product candidates that are currently in development as potential treatments for ATTR-CM.
Products in Clinical Development
Starting with our three late-stage assets, the following section summarizes the products that we have in clinical development and that we believe have the greatest potential to drive significant near-term value for us due to a combination of factors, including their stage of development, potential availability of expedited development pathways, degree of unmet medical need and potential market size in the applicable target indication.
Low-dose Infigratinib for the treatment of FGFR-driven skeletal dysplasias
Summary
We are developing low-dose infigratinib, an oral FGFR1-3 selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor (“TKI”) for the treatment of children with achondroplasia and hypochondroplasia. On January 13, 2025, we announced full enrollment of PROPEL 3, a Phase 3, multicenter, double-blinded, placebo-controlled pivotal study of low-dose infigratinib at a dose level of 0.25 milligrams per kilogram per day (mg/kg/day) in children with achondroplasia. We are also currently enrolling patients in ACCEL, a prospective natural history study in children with hypochondroplasia.
On June 4, 2024, we announced positive sustained results from PROPEL 2, our Phase 2 clinical trial of infigratinib in children with achondroplasia. In the highest dose level (Cohort 5, 0.25mg/kg/day), an increased annualized height velocity was observed, which persisted throughout the duration of the study, with a mean change
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from baseline at 18 months of 2.50 centimeters per year (p = 0.001). The mean change from baseline in height z score was 0.54 (95% CI, 0.35 to 0.72) relative to an untreated achondroplasia reference population at 18 months; the mean change from baseline in the upper-to-lower body segment ratio was −0.12 (mean change from baseline, p=0.001). Infigratinib demonstrated clear dose-responsiveness when given as a single daily oral dose and was well-tolerated with no treatment-related adverse events (“AEs”) assessed in Cohort 5.
Infigratinib is the first-ever investigational therapeutic option for achondroplasia, which has been awarded the breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA. In addition, infigratinib has also received Orphan Drug Designation and Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for achondroplasia from the FDA, and Fast Track Designation for both achondroplasia and hypochondroplasia from the FDA.
On February 7, 2024, our subsidiary, QED, granted Kyowa Kirin an exclusive license to develop, manufacture, and commercialize infigratinib for achondroplasia, hypochondroplasia, and other skeletal dysplasias in Japan for an upfront payment of $100.0 million that was received in June 2024. In addition, the Company will be eligible to receive royalties up to the mid-twenties percent on sales of infigratinib in Japan, with the potential to receive up to $81.4 million in development and sales-based milestone payments. Refer to Note 11 of Part II - Item 8. Financial and Supplementary Data - Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further details regarding the Kyowa Kirin license agreement.
Market Opportunity
We believe that achondroplasia and other FGFR-driven skeletal dysplasias represent a potentially over $5.0 billion total global market opportunity. The achondroplasia market alone has grown steadily since the end of 2021, driven by a newly available therapy driving children to seek treatment, as well as growing awareness of the new treatment among pediatric endocrinologists. We believe that low-dose infigratinib, if approved, would have meaningful commercial potential to demonstrate best-in-class efficacy as well as a differentiated oral route of administration preferred by many patients.
Condition Overview
Achondroplasia is the most frequent cause of disproportionate short stature, and mutations in the FGFR3 gene have been shown to be the molecular source of the condition. Achondroplasia has a prevalence of greater than 55,000 in the United States and European Union, and an estimated worldwide incidence of one in 10,000 to 30,000 live births. The condition leads to a disproportionate short stature with anomalies in bone development and potential for foramen magnum stenosis, spinal stenosis, cardiovascular complications and obesity. The average height is approximately 4’4” for a male and 4’1” for a female with achondroplasia. Lifespan and intelligence are most often normal.
Achondroplasia is an autosomal dominant condition caused by a gain-of-function point mutation in the FGFR3 gene. Approximately 97% of cases are due to G380R substitution and 80% of cases are the result of de novo mutations. FGFR3 is expressed in osteoblasts and chondrocytes where it plays a critical role in regulating bone growth through the MAPK pathway, which drives hypertrophic differentiation, and through the STAT1 pathway, which drives chondrocyte proliferation. Apart from growth hormones, which are approved in Japan, there is only one medicine approved for marketing by the FDA, the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”), and the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (“PMDA”), for the treatment of achondroplasia: Voxzogo (vosoritide), a C-type natriuretic peptide (“CNP”), analog which activates the MAPK pathway but not the STAT1 pathway.
Design Criteria
We are developing low-dose infigratinib based upon two key design principles – we seek to target achondroplasia and hypochondroplasia at their source (FGFR3 gain-of-function mutations) in order to maximize clinical activity against all manifestations of the condition, not just height; and we seek to provide a tolerable oral treatment option in order to provide a reduced burden of treatment versus injection for children and their families. We believe low-dose infigratinib is the only investigational therapy in late-stage clinical development that incorporates both of these design principles.
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Low-dose infigratinib is designed to directly target FGFR3 gain-of-function mutations, which are the drivers behind the pathophysiology of achondroplasia and hypochondroplasia. As an FGFR1-3 inhibitor, we believe that low-dose infigratinib has the potential to decrease pathologic signaling downstream of FGFR3 and treat both conditions at the source. Unlike potentially competitive CNP mimetic approaches, which only inhibit MAPK signaling, our approach is aimed at also inhibiting STAT1 signaling.
Low-dose infigratinib is also designed for an oral route of administration. Blinded market research indicates that oral administration is the preferred route of administration amongst healthcare providers who treat children with achondroplasia.
Preclinical Data
Low-dose infigratinib has been studied preclinically in a mouse model of achondroplasia that recapitulates anomalies of the growth plates, vertebrae, and intervertebral discs. Investigators observed that low-dose infigratinib rescued ex vivo bone growth of mutant mouse embryo femurs after six days of treatment. Further, 15 days of treatment showed in vivo bone growth, which mimics human achondroplasia in many respects. Effects on both appendicular and axial skeletal parameters were observed in this study.
Below are figures demonstrating the extent of femur growth and intervertebral disc width rescue in wild-type, untreated model, and low-dose infigratinib treated (2 mg/kg) model mice:
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In vivo bone growth was further demonstrated at lower doses (0.2 mg/kg and 0.5 mg/kg) by the same laboratory. Together, preclinical studies at all doses have demonstrated meaningful increases in skeletal growth parameters between treated and untreated mutant mice, as follows:
Increase in length compared to non-treated mouse (%)
Notably, treatment with low-dose infigratinib did not modify the expression of FGFR1 in the hypertrophic zone of the growth plate. The effects seen were mainly due to FGFR3 inhibition, with no other gross side effects being observed in these preclinical studies. Furthermore, survival was improved after 15 days in low-dose infigratinib treated mice, regardless of dose, as compared to untreated mice.
Clinical Development Plan
Following positive feedback on the regulatory path to approval from the FDA and EMA, we continued to enroll patients in PROPEL 3 and we announced full enrollment of this study. This is a pivotal Phase 3 double-blinded, 2:1 randomized, placebo-controlled pivotal study of low-dose infigratinib at a dose level of 0.25 mg/kg/day in children with achondroplasia. The primary endpoint is change from baseline in AHV and the secondary endpoints include safety, proportionality, and height for age z-score.
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Key Competitors
Low-dose infigratinib is the only oral direct FGFR1-3 inhibitor that has been publicly disclosed in clinical development for the treatment of achondroplasia. There are three other identified companies in clinical development for the treatment of achondroplasia: Ascendis Pharma A/S (TransCon CNP), Tyra Biosciences Inc., (TYRA-300), and Ribomic (RBM-007). If approved, infigratinib would face competition from BioMarin’s Voxzogo (vosoritide), a CNP analog, for the treatment of achondroplasia, Voxzogo is approved in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Brazil and Australia.
Low-dose Infigratinib: Hypochondroplasia
We are also developing low-dose infigratinib as a treatment option for children living with hypochondroplasia, a skeletal dysplasia closely related to achondroplasia and similarly driven by FGFR3 gain-of-function variants. We are also committed to exploring the potential of infigratinib on the wider medical and functional impacts of hypochondroplasia, which hold significant unmet needs for families.
Market Opportunity
We believe that the total global market opportunity for hypochondroplasia will approach that of the achondroplasia market, driven by growing awareness of the condition due to ongoing clinical trials in the condition. We believe that low-dose infigratinib, if approved, would have meaningful commercial potential as a differentiated oral route of administration preferred by many patients.
Condition Overview
Hypochondroplasia is a rare, autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasia manifesting with disproportionate short stature, rhizomelic or mesomelic limb shortening, relative macrocephaly, and occasional mild orthopedic manifestations such as tibial bowing and limited elbow extension. Activating mutations in the FGFR3 gene have been shown to be the molecular source of the condition. The prevalence of hypochondroplasia is estimated to approach that of achondroplasia at one in 15,000 – 40,000. The average height is approximately 4’7” for a male and 4’3” for a female with hypochondroplasia. Medical complications common to achondroplasia (e.g., spinal stenosis, tibial bowing, obstructive apnea) occur less frequently in hypochondroplasia with reports in the literature of cases of temporal lobe dysgenesis and epilepsy. Apart from growth hormone, which is approved in Japan, there are no approved treatments for hypochondroplasia.
Preclinical Data
Low-dose infigratinib has been studied preclinically in a mouse model of hypochondroplasia (Fgfr3N534K/+ mice) that exhibits progressive dwarfism, impairment of the synchondroses of the cranial base resulting in defective formation of the foramen magnum. Mice treated with 1 mg/kg infigratinib daily for a total of 21 days showed a statistically significant increase in appendicular and axial skeleton (tibia +3.18%, femur +3.16%, humerus +3.04%, ulna +2.94%, radius +3.01%). Treatment with infigratinib modified skull shape, length of the mandible, and foramen magnum length (+3.72%). Cartilage growth plate organization, in particular the hypertrophic chondrocyte area, was modified, indicating that chondrocyte differentiation is improved. Low-dose treatment with infigratinib in the Fgfr3N534K/+ HCH mouse model ameliorated the clinical hallmarks of human pathology and significantly lengthened the axial skeleton, the appendicular skeleton and improved foramen magnum length. These findings support the rationale for targeting FGFR3 with a specific TKI such as infigratinib for the treatment of children with HCH.
Clinical Development Plan
We are currently enrolling children living with hypochondroplasia in ACCEL, an observational study for infigratinib in hypochondroplasia. The study will establish annualized height velocity (“AHV”), for each child for a minimum period of six months. ACCEL is designed to provide baseline measurements for children that we anticipate enrolling in the interventional study, ACCEL 2/3. This is a Phase 2/3, multicenter, open-label phase followed by a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of infigratinib in children with hypochondroplasia.
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Key Competitors
Low-dose infigratinib is the only oral direct FGFR1-3 inhibitor that has been publicly disclosed in clinical development for the treatment of hypochondroplasia. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. is developing Voxzogo (vosoritide), a CNP analog, for the treatment of hypochondroplasia.
Encaleret for the treatment of Autosomal Dominant Hypocalcemia Type 1 and Hypoparathyroidism
Summary
Encaleret is an oral small molecule antagonist of the calcium sensing receptor (“CaSR”) that we are developing for the treatment of Autosomal Dominant Hypocalcemia Type 1 (“ADH1”). We are currently studying encaleret in an ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial (NCT05680818) as a potential treatment for patients with ADH1. We reported results from the Phase 2b study of encaleret in ADH1 (NCT04581629) in 2022 and published the results from the same study in the New England Journal of Medicine in September 2023. In 13 participants in the Phase 2b trial, treatment with encaleret resulted in rapid and sustained restoration of normal mineral homeostasis, with mean values of blood calcium, urinary calcium, and blood parathyroid hormone (“PTH”) within the normal range by day 5 of therapy and sustained at 24 weeks, and was well-tolerated without any reported serious adverse events.
We are also currently studying encaleret in an ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial (NCT05735015) as a potential treatment for patients with post-surgical hypoparathyroidism, in collaboration with clinical researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Preliminary results from this ongoing Phase 2 study were reported at the American Society for Bone Mineral Research annual meeting in September 2024.
Encaleret has been granted orphan drug and fast track designations by the FDA for the treatment of autosomal dominant hypocalcemia. Encaleret has also been granted orphan designation by the European Commission and by the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare as a treatment for hypoparathyroidism and ADH1.
Market Opportunity
We believe that ADH1 is a serious medical condition with unmet needs and represents a market with significant commercial potential. ADH1 is caused by gain-of-function variants of the CASR gene, and independent studies of general population genetic datasets estimate that there are 25,000 carriers of ADH1-causative variants in the EU and US. If approved, encaleret could be the first targeted therapy indicated for the treatment of ADH1. Additionally, if approved, we believe there are market expansion opportunities for encaleret in pediatric ADH1 and in post-surgical hypoparathyroidism given its profile as an orally administered therapy.
Design Criteria
Encaleret is an investigational, orally administered, small molecule antagonist of the CaSR. It has been studied in more than 1,200 human subjects in its prior development and was observed to increase serum calcium in a dose-dependent manner. The rationale for developing encaleret as a potential treatment for patients with ADH1 is based on both non-clinical and clinical evidence. Antagonists of the CaSR have been shown in vitro to shift the aberrant CaSR “set-point” back towards a normal IC 50 for calcium and in vivo to increase PTH secretion, elevate blood calcium concentrations, and reduce urinary calcium excretion. By selectively antagonizing the CaSR, encaleret may restore normal CaSR function in individuals with ADH1 and may address symptoms associated with hypocalcemia and hypercalciuria.
Clinical Data
On June 13, 2022, we reported positive data from our Phase 2b clinical trial of encaleret in patients with ADH1. Thirteen adults with ADH1 caused by nine unique CASR variants participated in the three-period, Phase 2b, open-label, dose-ranging clinical trial. Oral calcium and activated vitamin D supplements were discontinued prior to encaleret initiation. Periods 1 and 2 each evaluated encaleret over the course of five inpatient days and Period 3 included a 24-week outpatient evaluation. Based on 24-week outpatient data, we observed:
• Mean values of blood calcium, urinary calcium, and blood parathyroid hormone, key biochemical parameters of mineral homeostasis, were normalized by Period 2, Day 5 and were sustained through Period 3, Week 24 of the trial.
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• At Week 24 of encaleret treatment, 92% (12/13) of participants had achieved normal trough blood calcium levels in the absence of extra-dietary calcium supplements and active vitamin D, and 77% (10/13) of participants had normal urinary calcium excretion.
• Encaleret was well-tolerated with no serious adverse events reported; there were no treatment discontinuations or study withdrawals.
The participants who completed Period 3 of the Phase 2b study were eligible to continue in an open-label extension of up to 25 months. The results of the study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in September 2023.
In September 2024, we reported preliminary results from an ongoing Phase 2 clinical study of encaleret in participants in post-surgical hypoparathyroidism. Encaleret was found to simultaneously normalize blood and urine calcium levels in 86% (6 of 7) participants evaluated within 5 days of treatment. Encaleret was well-tolerated without any reported serious adverse events.
In December 2022, we also announced the initiation of our Phase 3 registrational trial of encaleret in ADH1 and completed screening for this study in November 2024. Topline results from this Phase 3 registrational study are anticipated in the second half of 2025. A schematic of this Phase 3 trial is shown below:
Key Competitors
We believe encaleret is the only molecule that has been publicly disclosed to be in development specifically for the treatment of ADH1. There are other identified companies developing compounds for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism using recombinant parathyroid hormone analogs or PTH receptor agonists: Ascendis Pharma A/S (palopegteriparatide), AstraZeneca PLC (eneboparatide), Amolyt Pharma (AZP-3601), EnteraBio Ltd. (EB612), Extend Biosciences Inc. (EXT608), and MBX Biosciences, Inc. (MBX 2109), and Septerna Inc. (SEP-786). Palopegteriparatide is currently being marketed as Yorvipath in certain territories, including in the United States and in Europe, for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism.
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BBP-418 for the treatment of Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2I
BBP-418 is an investigational, orally administered, small molecule substrate supplementation therapy that we are developing for the treatment of LGMD2I, also known as LGMDR9 FKRP-related. In October 2023, we shared positive long-term data from our Phase 2 trial in patients with LGMD2I, including that early assessment of increased glycosylated αDG may predict subsequent ambulatory improvements at later time points, supporting the use of glycosylated αDG levels as a potential surrogate endpoint in LGMD2I. We are currently studying BBP-418 in FORTIFY, an ongoing global registrational Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with LGMD2I. We believe there is potential to pursue accelerated approval in the United States for BBP-418 based on recent interactions with the FDA discussing the use of glycosylated αDG as a surrogate endpoint, the validated bioassay and the interim analysis approach.
Disease Overview
LGMD2I is an inherited neuromuscular disorder characterized by lower-limb weakness and loss of ambulation, and possible pulmonary and cardiac dysfunction. BBP-418 has a potentially-addressable patient population of 7,000, including both LGMD2I and other potentially-addressable dystroglycanopathies, in the United States and Europe. Currently, there is no disease-modifying treatment available. Standard of care is supportive care to alleviate end organ dysfunction.
Design Criteria
The rationale for developing BBP-418 as a potential treatment for LGMD2I is based on our understanding of the disease mechanism. In healthy tissue, a properly functioning Fukutin-Related Protein (“FKRP”) glycosylates alpha-dystroglycan (“αDG”). This glycosylation helps to stabilize muscle cells by binding extracellular ligands. In LGMD2I, mutated FKRP does not function properly and results in dysfunctional, hypo-glycosylated αDG in muscle cells, limiting αDG’s ability to function as a “shock absorber” for muscle fibers and increasing cellular susceptibility to damage.
BBP-418 is designed to target the disease mechanism of LGMD2I by supplying supra-physiological levels of BBP-418 upstream to drive residual activity of the mutant FKRP enzyme and potentially increase glycosylated αDG levels.
Clinical Data
On October 9, 2023, we shared positive long-term results from our ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial of BBP-418 in patients with LGMD2I. Based on the data after 21 months of treatment, we observed:
• Increased glycosylated αDG levels from baseline observed as early as three months and sustained with treatment
• Large (≥80%), sustained reduction in creatine kinase observed over an extended (up to 21-months) treatment period
• Stabilization in NSAD scores and ambulatory measures observed over 21-months of BBP-418 treatment
• BBP-418 continues to be well-tolerated with longer-term treatment
• No treatment-related serious adverse events (“SAEs”) or dose limiting toxicities observed with 21-months of BBP-418 dosing
Clinical Development Plan
Following the release of top-line data from our Phase 2 trial, we engaged with regulatory authorities to align on a Phase 3 trial design, including an interim analysis at 12 months on study intended to support accelerated approval. Our Phase 3 trial, FORTIFY, was initiated in the U.S., with the first patient enrolled in June 2023. The FORTIFY study announced enrollment surpassed the interim analysis target in June 2024. The FORTIFY study was fully enrolled in September 2024 and is now closed for enrollment. Top-line data from the FORTIFY interim analysis is expected in the second half of 2025.
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Key Competitors
We believe BBP-418 is the only late-stage oral therapy in clinical development for potentially disease-modifying treatment of LGMD2I. Edgewise Therapeutics is developing an oral small molecule therapy (sevasemten) for adults with LGMD2I. Asklepios Biopharmaceutical, Inc. (AB-1003 also known as LION-101) and Atamyo Therapeutics (ATA-100) are two other companies that are developing gene therapies for the treatment of LGMD2I.
Other Development
Our robust late-stage pipeline is supported by our productive early-stage research engine, which has produced 19 INDs since our inception. We recently announced in the fourth quarter of 2024 a new trial ACT-EARLY, the first Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate prophylactic acoramidis therapy for the prevention or delay of ATTR amyloidosis in asymptomatic pathogenic TTR variant carriers. In addition to this Phase 3 study, our clinical product pipeline includes a Phase 2 study (ACCEL) for infigratinib for hypochondroplasia that is currently enrolling. The dosing of the first patient is anticipated in the middle of 2025. We also have an ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial for encaleret for postsurgical hypoparthyroidism. We anticipate formalizing plans to advance development of encaleret in this indication by the end of 2025. We are also conducting a Phase 1/2 study (CANaspire) for BBP-812 for Canavan disease.
Manufacturing
We do not own or operate, and currently have no plans to establish, any manufacturing facilities. We currently utilize third-party contract manufacturing organizations (“CMOs”) for all required raw materials, drug substance, drug product and packaging for Attruby and Beyonttra and for our preclinical research and our ongoing clinical trials of our product candidates. We have secured long-term manufacturing agreements with CMOs to produce and support our commercial sale of Attruby in the U.S., which began following the FDA approval of Attruby on November 22, 2024. In June 2024, BridgeBio Europe B.V. (“BridgeBio B.V.”) entered into a commercial supply agreement with Bayer (“Bayer Supply Agreement”) with an initial 30-month term ending in December 2026, for which BridgeBio B.V. will manufacture and supply to Bayer the commercial product ordered by Bayer solely for the use in the commercialization of Beyonttra in Europe under the Bayer License Agreement. As of December 31, 2024, there have been no commercial product supply sales to Bayer. In addition, during the year ended December 31, 2024, we have supplied $0.6 million of commercial product to Alexion in Japan under a commercial supply agreement. We intend to continue to rely on CMOs for later-stage development and commercialization of our product candidates, including any additional product candidates that we may identify. Although we rely on CMOs, we have employees and third-party consultants with extensive manufacturing experience to oversee the relationships with our contract manufacturers. Attruby, Beyonttra and several of our development candidates have or are in the near term expected to have redundant and overlapping drug substance and drug product supply chains. Refer to Note 11 of Part II - Item 8. Financial and Supplementary Data - Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further details regarding the Bayer Supply Agreement.
Commercialization and Product Support
U.S. Launch of Attruby (acoramidis)
We have built our own commercial organization in the U.S. to support the commercialization of Attruby in the U.S. Following the receipt of FDA approval in November 2024, we commercially launched Attruby in the U.S. with a sales force appropriately sized to call on all ATTR-CM treatment centers in the U.S. and other community cardiologists who treat ATTR-CM patients in the U.S. Attruby was approved by the FDA for the treatment of ATTR-CM in adults to reduce cardiovascular death and cardiovascular-related hospitalization. Our sales force is focused on promoting Attruby to healthcare providers and effectively communicating product benefits. Attruby is the first and only approved product for adults with ATTR-CM in the U.S. with a label specifying near-complete stabilization of TTR. The full prescribing information (PI) for Attruby can be accessed at www.attruby.com.
We estimate that there are approximately 240,000 ATTR-CM patients in the U.S., part of a global patient population of around 500,000.
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To prepare for this sizable market opportunity, commercial readiness efforts for Attruby began well in advance of its FDA approval. Our pre-launch activities, including claims analytics and disease state educational programs for healthcare providers, helped identify key stakeholders and ensure a smooth transition post-approval in November 2024.
Attruby has already demonstrated category-leading results including:
• Effect on hard clinical outcomes and quality of life (QoL) observed as early as three months
• 42% reduction in composite of all-cause mortality and recurrent cardiovascular-related hospitalization events at Month 30
• 50% reduction in the cumulative frequency of cardiovascular-related hospitalization events at Month 30
We believe these results support the strong value proposition of Attruby and underscore the opportunity to improve the lives of patients with ATTR-CM. To ensure patients can access and afford this treatment, we have established several industry-leading access programs. For Medicare patients, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) limited out-of-pocket costs (OOP) and capped OOP at $2,000 annually, effective January 1, 2025. Additionally, patients participating in the Medicare Prescription Payment Program are eligible to spread their out-of-pocket costs into monthly payments, not to exceed $167 per month, inclusive of all Part D medications. Dual-eligible and Low-Income Subsidy patients will pay no more than $13 per month. We also offer a Commercial Co-Pay program for eligible commercial patients, which can provide access to Attruby for free. We also offer Attruby for free to patients who are uninsured or underinsured through our Patient Assistance Program (PAP) and provide a free 28-day trial to patients new to Attruby.
To ensure ease of access, Attruby is distributed in the U.S. through a limited network of specialty pharmacies, specialty distributors and third-party logistics (3PL) providers. Medication can be dispensed directly to patients or directly from approved hospital pharmacies to patients.
We currently partner with Bayer for the commercialization of Beyonttra in Europe and Alexion for commercialization of acoramidis in Japan if approved. We plan to leverage a full-service distribution partnership to support commercialization of acoramidis in rest of world markets.
We evaluate our commercialization strategy as we advance each product candidate through clinical development and to regulatory approval. In any core markets outside of the United States that we may identify, we may elect to utilize strategic partners, distributors or contract management and sales organizations to assist in the commercialization of any of our approved products in certain geographies.
Intellectual Property
Overview
We strive to protect the proprietary technology that we believe is important to our business through a variety of methods, including seeking and maintaining patents and patent applications intended to cover our product candidates and compositions, their methods of use and processes for their manufacture, our platform technologies and any other aspects of inventions that are commercially important to the development of our business. We seek to obtain domestic and international patent protection and, in addition to filing and prosecuting patent applications in the United States, we may file counterpart patent applications in additional countries where we believe such foreign filing is likely to be beneficial, including Australia, Canada, Europe, China, Japan, and Mexico. We have entered into various license agreements to obtain the rights to use certain patents for the development and commercialization of our product candidates, as discussed further in the section titled, “ Our Material Agreements .” We also rely on trade secrets to protect aspects of our business that are not amenable to, or that we do not consider appropriate for, patent protection.
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Our success will depend on our ability to obtain and maintain patent and other proprietary rights protecting our commercially important technology, inventions and know-how related to our business, defend and enforce our current and future issued patents, if any, preserve the confidentiality of our trade secrets and operate without infringing the valid and enforceable patents and proprietary rights of third parties. We continually assess and refine our intellectual property strategy in order to best fortify our position, and file additional patent applications when our intellectual property strategy warrants such filings. We also rely on know-how, continuing technological innovation, and potential in-licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our intellectual property portfolio. We seek to obtain domestic and international patent protection, and endeavor to promptly file patent applications for new commercially valuable inventions.
The patent positions of biopharmaceutical companies like us are generally uncertain and involve complex legal, scientific, and factual questions. In addition, the coverage claimed in a patent application can be significantly reduced before the patent is issued, and patent scope can be reinterpreted by the courts after issuance. Moreover, many jurisdictions permit third parties to challenge issued patents in administrative proceedings, which may result in further narrowing or even cancellation of patent claims. We cannot predict whether the patent applications we are currently pursuing will issue as patents in any particular jurisdiction or whether the claims of any patents, if issued, will provide sufficient protection from competitors.
Because patent applications in the United States and certain other jurisdictions are maintained in secrecy for 18 months or potentially even longer, and since publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature often lags behind actual discoveries, we cannot be certain of the priority of inventions covered by pending patent applications. Moreover, we may have to participate in interference proceedings or derivation proceedings declared by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to determine priority of invention.
As of February 13, 2025, our intellectual property portfolio is composed of over 100 issued patents and over 400 patent applications that we license from academic and research institutions and other third parties or that we own or co-own, including through our subsidiaries. These patents and patent applications generally provide us with the rights to develop our product candidates in the United States and worldwide. Our intellectual property portfolios for each of the programs that we consider to be our core value drivers are further described below.
For our subsidiary, QED Therapeutics, Inc. (“QED”), we license rights from Novartis to two issued U.S. patents, and related pending and issued foreign patents and patent applications in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Japan and Mexico, as well as in other countries in Asia and in South America, that are directed to compositions of matter of infigratinib. The foreign patents and patent applications, if issued, are expected to expire between 2025 and 2030. The issued U.S. patents are expected to expire between 2028 and 2029, which takes into account patent term adjustments granted by the USPTO as well as a terminal disclaimer of one issued patent to another U.S. patent. Upon the initial approval of infigratinib, QED applied for 1,516 days of patent term extension (“PTE”), for the U.S. patent covering the infigratinib compound; assuming grant of the PTE application, the term of this patent may be extended from August 25, 2029, to October 19, 2033.
We also license rights from Inserm Transfert ESA and Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris to two issued U.S. patents and one pending U.S. patent application, and one granted patent in Europe, that are directed to methods of treating skeletal dysplasias using infigratinib. The issued U.S. patents, granted patent in Europe, and the pending patent application, if issued, are expected to expire in 2032.
In addition, QED owns four pending U.S. patent applications, two pending Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”) patent applications, and related pending foreign patent applications in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Japan and Mexico, as well as in other countries in Asia, that are directed to methods of treating various cancers or skeletal disorders using infigratinib. If any patents issue from these patent applications, such patents would be expected to expire between 2040 and 2044.
For our subsidiary Eidos Therapeutics, Inc., we license rights from the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, or Stanford, to ten issued U.S. patents, two pending U.S. patent applications, one issued European patent, and one issued Japanese patent with claims directed to composition of matter and methods of use relating to acoramidis. These patents are expected to expire in 2031 or 2033, not including any potential patent term extension.
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In addition, we own five issued U.S. patents, six pending U.S. patent applications, and over 60 related foreign issued patents and patent applications in various jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, Europe, China, Japan, and Mexico, with claims directed to salt and solid forms, methods of manufacturing, dosing methods, and/or formulations relating to acoramidis. The issued U.S. and foreign patents are expected to expire in 2038 or 2039. The pending U.S. and foreign patent applications, if issued, are also expected to expire between 2038 and 2044.
For our subsidiary, Calcilytix, Inc., we license rights from Japan Tobacco Company to one issued U.S. patent and two foreign patents in Europe and Japan that are directed to compositions of matter of encaleret. The U.S. patent is expected to expire in 2025, and the foreign patents expired in 2024. In addition, Calcilytix owns four pending U.S. patent applications, and thirty one related foreign patent applications pending in various jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, Europe, China, Japan, and Mexico with claims to formulations, dosing methods, and patient selection methods relating to encaleret. The pending U.S. and foreign patent applications, if issued, are expected to expire between 2041 and 2044, not including any potential patent term extension.
For our subsidiary, ML Bio Solutions, Inc. (“ML Bio”), we license rights from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority d/b/a Atrium Health to seven issued U.S. patents, one pending U.S. patent application, and over thirty related foreign patent applications pending in various jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, Europe, China, Japan, and Mexico with claims to methods of treatment, dosing methods, and compositions relating to BBP-418. The issued U.S. patents are expected to expire in 2037, not including any potential patent term extension. The pending U.S. and foreign patent applications, if issued, are expected to expire in 2040 or 2041, not including any potential patent term extension. In addition, ML Bio owns one pending U.S. patent applications relating to assays. The pending U.S. patent application, if issued, is expected to expire in 2044. Upon approval of acoramidis, patent term extension applications were timely filed for multiple U.S. patents licensed from Stanford.
Our Material Agreements
Acoramidis (Attruby/Beyonttra)
License Agreement with Bayer
In March 2024, certain of our subsidiaries, including Eidos Therapeutics, Inc. (“Eidos”), BridgeBio International GmbH and BridgeBio Europe B.V. (“BridgeBio B.V.”), entered into an exclusive license agreement (the “Bayer License Agreement”) with Bayer, to develop and commercialize acoramidis (Beyonttra) as a treatment for ATTR-CM in all EU member states as well as all member and extension states of the European Patent Organization as of effective date of the license agreement (the “Licensed Territory”).
Under the terms of the Bayer License Agreement, Eidos granted Bayer an exclusive license, to certain of Eidos’ intellectual property rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize Beyonttra in the Licensed Territory. Under the Bayer License Agreement, we received an upfront payment of $135.0 million in May 2024, and will be eligible to receive up to $150.0 million in regulatory and sales milestone payments (of which $75.0 million is for a regulatory milestone dependent upon receipt of EC approval of Beyonttra on or before December 31, 2025). We are also eligible to receive up to $450.0 million in additional sales milestones along with quarterly royalty payments according to a tiered structure starting in the low-thirties percent on net sales by Bayer of Beyonttra.
Unless earlier terminated, the Bayer License Agreement will expire at the end of the royalty term for a licensed product, provided that the licenses granted to Bayer for such licensed product survive such expiration on a non-exclusive basis. Either party may terminate the Bayer License Agreement in the event of a material breach or insolvency of the other party or in the event merger control proceedings are started and clearances are not obtained. Additionally, Bayer may terminate the Bayer License Agreement for convenience upon at least 270 days’ prior written notice, and Eidos may terminate the agreement in the event Bayer ceases exploitation of Beyonttra under certain circumstances or challenges the validity or enforceability of Eidos’ patent rights.
In June 2024, BridgeBio B.V. entered into the Bayer Supply Agreement with an initial 30-month term ending in December 2026, for which BridgeBio B.V. will manufacture and supply to Bayer the commercial product ordered by Bayer solely for the use in the commercialization in the Licensed Territory under the Bayer License Agreement. Under the Bayer Supply Agreement, Bayer shall pay to BridgeBio B.V. a commercial product per unit price equal to the applicable fully burdened manufacturing cost per unit of product, which shall include the cost of the active
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pharmaceutical ingredient (“API”) used to manufacture the product and the packaging price. As of December 31, 2024, there have been no commercial product supply sales to Bayer.
The condition for the $75.0 million regulatory-based milestone payment was achieved upon the EC approval of Beyonttra on February 10, 2025. We anticipate receiving this milestone payment from Bayer in April 2025.
License Agreement with Alexion
In September 2019, through our subsidiary Eidos, we entered into a license agreement (the “Eidos-Alexion License Agreement”), with Alexion Pharma International Operations Unlimited Company, a subsidiary of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (together, “Alexion”), to develop and commercialize Beyonttra in Japan. Additionally, in September 2019, Eidos entered into a stock purchase agreement with Alexion, pursuant to which Eidos sold to Alexion 556,173 shares of its common stock for aggregate cash proceeds of $25.0 million. Under the terms of the Eidos-Alexion License Agreement, Eidos granted Alexion an exclusive license to certain of our intellectual property rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize Beyonttra in Japan. In consideration for the license grant, Eidos received an upfront payment of $25.0 million in 2019, with the potential for an additional one-time payment of $30.0 million subject to the achievement of a regulatory milestone. In addition, Eidos is entitled to receive royalties in the low double-digits on net sales by Alexion of Beyonttra in Japan. The royalty rate is subject to reduction if Alexion is required to obtain intellectual property rights from third parties to develop, manufacture or commercialize Beyonttra in Japan, or upon the introduction of generic competition into the market.
Furthermore, in October 2024, Alexion notified Eidos that it intends to initiate the ACT-EARLY clinical trial in Japan under the Eidos-Alexion License Agreement for an upfront payment received by Eidos of $3.0 million, to be used by Eidos to cover any out-of-pocket costs and employee costs incurred by Eidos in connection with the clinical trial in Japan.
In November 2024, BridgeBio and Alexion entered into a commercial supply agreement for the manufacture and supply of the Licensed Product (as defined in the agreement) for commercial use in the Territory (as defined in the agreement). BridgeBio entered into the agreement as BridgeBio is the entity responsible for the manufacture of the Licensed Product. Under the commercial supply agreement, Alexion shall pay to BridgeBio a commercial product per unit price equal to the applicable fully burdened manufacturing cost per unit of product. BridgeBio has supplied $0.6 million of commercial products to Alexion during the year ended December 31, 2024.
License Agreement with the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
In April 2016, through Eidos, we entered into an exclusive license agreement with Stanford for rights relating to novel transthyretin aggregation inhibitors. Under our agreement, Stanford has granted us an exclusive worldwide license to make, use and sell products that are covered by the licensed patent rights. This license grant expires when the last licensed patent expires. The patent rights exclusively licensed to us under the license are described in more detail above under the heading “Intellectual property— Eidos Therapeutics, Inc.” Stanford and Eidos agree in good faith to meet and discuss performance of development milestones which are specified in amendments to the license agreement.
Stanford retains the right, on behalf of itself and all other non-profit academic research institutions, to practice under the patent rights for any non-profit purpose, including sponsored research and collaborations. We may grant sublicenses to third parties so long as we are actively pursuing the development or commercialization of products covered by the patent rights. We may also be required to sublicense our rights under the agreement at Stanford’s request under certain conditions, including if we are unwilling or unable to serve a potential market or territory and there is a third party willing to be a sublicensee in such market or territory.
We are obligated to pay to Stanford a yearly license maintenance fee during the term of the agreement, but we may offset the maintenance fee against earned royalty payments due on net sales occurring in that year. Stanford is entitled to receive a royalty as a percentage of net sales of licensed products, in the low single digits. We have agreed to pay Stanford a percentage of non-royalty revenue we receive from our sublicensees, with the amount owed decreasing annually for three years based on when we enter into the applicable sublicense agreement. In addition, we are obligated to pay Stanford up to approximately $1.0 million upon the achievement of specific intellectual property, clinical and regulatory milestone events. In the event of a change of control transaction with respect to Eidos, we are obligated to pay Stanford a change of control fee of $250,000 in connection with the assignment of the license agreement to the acquirer of Eidos.
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During 2024, we incurred and paid $8.1 million of licensing fees due to Stanford related to the Company entering into the Bayer License Agreement in March 2024, recognized a milestone payable to Stanford of $0.5 million upon the receipt of FDA approval for Attruby, and recognized an immaterial amount of royalty payable to Stanford from net product sales of Attruby.
Under the license agreement with Stanford, we are obligated to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop, manufacture, and commercialize at least one licensed product; to develop markets for such licensed products; and to meet certain development milestones as agreed upon between us and Stanford.
Subject to the expiration of the license grant described above, the agreement does not have a specified term. We may terminate the agreement by providing prior written notice to Stanford, and Stanford has the right to terminate the agreement if we fail to achieve certain milestones or make payments under the agreement or are not actively pursuing development of a licensed product, or if we otherwise materially breach the agreement and fail to cure such breach within a specified grace period.
Infigratinib
License Agreement with Novartis International Pharmaceutical Ltd.
In January 2018, through our subsidiary QED, we entered into a license agreement with Novartis International Pharmaceutical Ltd. (“Novartis”), for certain intellectual property rights, including patents and know-how, related to infigratinib for the treatment of patients with FGFR-driven diseases, including CCA, UC and achondroplasia. We refer to this agreement as the Novartis License.
Pursuant to the Novartis License, we obtained a license to research, develop, make, have made, use, import, offer for sale, sell, have sold and otherwise commercialize infigratinib, as well as therapeutic products incorporating infigratinib that would, but for the license grant, infringe Novartis’ license patent rights, or that were developed using or that incorporate or embody Novartis’ licensed know-how, in all fields of use worldwide. The license grant to us includes the right to sublicense through multiple tiers. We also have certain rights to intellectual property licensed to Novartis’ affiliate under a materials transfer agreement with a third party.
The Novartis License is subject to Novartis’ existing obligations to supply a third party with infigratinib to support the third party’s clinical trials, and we have an ongoing obligation to inform Novartis of our or our sublicensees’ intent to seek regulatory approval for and commercialize infigratinib for various indications, with potential reversionary rights to Novartis in the event of a subsequent decision not to seek regulatory approval and commercialization, or a determination by Novartis that we have failed to sufficiently pursue regulatory approval and commercialization, for Novartis to grant such third party limited rights to develop and commercialize infigratinib.
Under the terms of the Novartis License, we made a one-time payment of $15.0 million to Novartis and agreed to issue shares of Series A preferred stock of QED valued at approximately $1.7 million in the aggregate to Novartis. In addition, we are obligated to make contingent milestone payments totaling $60.0 million upon achievement of certain regulatory milestones. We are also obligated to make contingent milestone payments totaling $35.0 million upon achievement of certain sales milestones for therapeutic products incorporating infigratinib. QED also agreed to pay Novartis tiered low double-digit royalties on net sales of therapeutic products incorporating infigratinib. Following the FDA’s approval of TRUSELTIQ TM in May 2021, we paid a one-time regulatory milestone payment to Novartis of $20.0 million.
Under the Novartis License, we are required to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop infigratinib, and to obtain regulatory approval for and commercialize infigratinib in the United States and the European Union.
We may terminate the Novartis License in its entirety or on a product-by-product or country-by-country basis at any time with 60 days’ prior written notice to Novartis. Novartis may terminate if QED ceases to function as a going concern, is the subject of certain bankruptcy or similar proceedings, or otherwise winds down or discontinues its business. Either party may terminate for material breach that is not cured by the other party within a specified time period of receiving notice of such material breach. Otherwise, the Novartis License terminates on a product-by-product and country-by-country basis on the latest of the expiration of licensed patent rights, the expiration of regulatory exclusivity, or the tenth anniversary of the first commercial sale in such country.
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Corporate:
Financing Agreement
On January 17, 2024, we entered into a Financing Agreement (the “Financing Agreement”) with certain of our subsidiaries party thereto as guarantors, the lenders party thereto (the “Lenders”) and Blue Owl Capital Corporation, as administrative agent for the Lenders (the “Administrative Agent”), which was amended on February 12, 2024 and June 20, 2024 (the Financing Agreement, as amended by the second amendment, the “Amended Financing Agreement”). Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Amended Financing Agreement, the Lenders have agreed to extend a senior secured credit facility to us in an aggregate principal amount of up to $750.0 million comprised of (i) an initial term loan in an aggregate principal amount of $450.0 million (the “Initial Term Loan”) and (ii) one or more incremental term loans in an aggregate amount not to exceed $300.0 million (collectively, the “Incremental Term Loan,” and together with the Initial Term Loan, collectively, the “Term Loans”), subject to the satisfaction of certain terms and conditions set forth in the Amended Financing Agreement. The Initial Term Loan was funded on January 17, 2024. Incremental Term Loans are available at the Lenders’ and our mutual consent from time to time after January 17, 2024.
Funding Agreement
On January 17, 2024, we and our subsidiaries entered into a Funding Agreement with LSI Financing 1 Designated Activity Company and CPPIB Credit Europe S.à r.l. together, the (“Purchasers”). Pursuant to the Funding Agreement, the Purchasers agreed to pay to the Company $500.0 million (net of certain transaction expenses) upon the first FDA approval of acoramidis, subject to certain conditions relating to the FDA approval and other customary conditions (such date of payment, “Funding Date”). In return, we granted the Purchasers the right to receive payments (the “Royalty Interest Payments”) equal to 5% of the global net sales of acoramidis, and may adjust to a maximum rate of 10% (which would take effect in 2027, if certain conditions are met). Each Royalty Interest Payment will become payable to the Purchasers on a quarterly basis after the Funding Date. The Purchasers’ rights to the Royalty Interest Payments and ownership interest in Net Sales will terminate upon the earlier of the Purchasers’ receipt of (a) Royalty Interest Payments equal to $950.0 million (“Cap Amount”) and (b) a buy-out payment (“Buy-Out Payment”) in an amount determined in accordance with the Funding Agreement but that will not exceed the Cap Amount. In addition, we and our subsidiaries granted the collateral agent, for the benefit of the Purchasers, a security interest in specific assets related to acoramidis. The Funding Agreement will terminate upon customary events. Following the FDA approval of Attruby on November 22, 2024, and in accordance with the Funding Agreement, we received gross cash proceeds of $500.0 million in December 2024, and recognized debt discount and issuance costs paid in cash of $27.5 million.
Government Regulation
Government authorities in the United States at the federal, state and local level and in other countries regulate, among other things, the research, development, manufacture, testing, quality control, approval, labeling, packaging, storage, record-keeping, promotion, advertising, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, marketing and export and import of drug and biological products, including gene therapies, as well as diagnostics, and any future product candidates. Generally, before a new drug, biologic or diagnostic can be marketed, considerable data demonstrating its quality, safety and efficacy must be obtained, organized into a format specific for each regulatory authority, submitted for review and approved, authorized, or cleared by the applicable regulatory authority.
U.S. Government Regulation of Drug and Biological Products
In the United States, the FDA regulates drugs under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) and its implementing regulations and biologics under the FDCA and the Public Health Service Act (“PHSA”) and their implementing regulations. Both drugs and biologics also are subject to other federal, state and local statutes and regulations, such as those related to competition. The process of obtaining regulatory approvals and the subsequent compliance with appropriate federal, state, and local statutes and regulations requires the expenditure of substantial time and financial resources. Failure to comply with the applicable U.S. requirements at any time during the product development process, approval process or following approval may subject an applicant to administrative actions or judicial sanctions. These actions and sanctions could include, among other actions, the FDA’s refusal to approve pending applications, withdrawal of an approval, license revocation, a clinical hold, untitled or warning letters,
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voluntary or mandatory product recalls or market withdrawals, product seizures, total or partial suspension of production or distribution, injunctions, fines, refusals of government contracts, restitution, disgorgement and civil or criminal fines or penalties. Any agency or judicial enforcement action could have a material adverse effect on our business, the market acceptance of our product candidates, if approved, and our reputation.
Our product candidates must be approved by the FDA through either a New Drug Application (“NDA”) or a Biologics License Application (“BLA”) process before they may be legally marketed in the United States. The process generally involves the following:
• completion of extensive preclinical studies in accordance with applicable regulations, including studies conducted in accordance with Good Laboratory Practices (“GLP”) requirements;
• submission to the FDA of an IND, which must become effective before human clinical trials may begin;
• approval by an Institutional Review Board (“IRB”) or independent ethics committee at each clinical trial site before each human trial may be initiated;
• performance of adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials in accordance with applicable IND regulations, Good Clinical Practices (“GCP”) requirements and other clinical trial-related regulations to establish the safety and efficacy of the investigational product for each proposed indication;
• submission to the FDA of an NDA or BLA;
• a determination by the FDA within 60 days of its receipt of an NDA or BLA to accept the filing for review;
• satisfactory completion of one or more FDA pre-approval inspections of the manufacturing facility or facilities where the drug or biologic will be produced to assess compliance with Current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMP”) requirements to assure that the facilities, methods and controls are adequate to preserve the drug or biologic’s identity, strength, quality and purity;
• potential FDA audit of the clinical trial sites that generated the data in support of the NDA or BLA;
• payment of user fees for FDA review of the NDA or BLA; and
• FDA review and approval of the NDA or BLA, including consideration of the views of any FDA advisory committee, prior to any commercial marketing or sale of the drug or biologic in the United States.
The preclinical and clinical testing and approval process requires substantial time, effort and financial resources, and the regulatory scheme for drugs and biologics is evolving and subject to change at any time. We cannot be certain that any approvals for our product candidates will be granted on a timely basis, or at all.
Preclinical Studies
Before testing any drug, biological or gene therapy candidate in humans, the product candidate must undergo rigorous preclinical testing. Preclinical studies include laboratory evaluation of product chemistry and formulation, as well as in vitro and animal studies to assess safety and in some cases to establish a rationale for therapeutic use. The conduct of preclinical studies is subject to federal and state regulations and requirements, including GLP regulations for safety/toxicology studies.
An IND sponsor must submit the results of the preclinical tests, together with manufacturing information, analytical data, any available clinical data or literature and plans for clinical trials, among other things, to the FDA as part of an IND. An IND is a request for authorization from the FDA to administer an investigational product to humans, and must become effective before human clinical trials may begin. Some long-term preclinical testing, such as animal tests of reproductive AEs and carcinogenicity, may continue after the IND is submitted. An IND automatically becomes effective 30 days after receipt by the FDA, unless before that time, the FDA raises concerns or questions related to one or more proposed clinical trials and places the trial on clinical hold. In such a case, the IND sponsor and the FDA must resolve any outstanding concerns before the clinical trial can begin. As a result, submission of an IND may not result in the FDA allowing clinical trials to commence. Additionally, the review of information in an IND submission may prompt FDA to, among other things, scrutinize existing INDs or any
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marketed products and could generate requests for information or clinical holds on other product candidates or programs.
Clinical Trials
The clinical stage of development involves the administration of the investigational product to healthy volunteers or patients under the supervision of qualified investigators, generally physicians not employed by or under the trial sponsor’s control, in accordance with GCP requirements, which include the requirement that all research subjects provide their informed consent for their participation in any clinical trial. Clinical trials are conducted under protocols detailing, among other things, the objectives of the clinical trial, dosing procedures, subject selection and exclusion criteria and the parameters to be used to monitor subject safety and assess efficacy. Each protocol, and any subsequent amendments to the protocol, must be submitted to the FDA as part of the IND. Furthermore, each clinical trial must be reviewed and approved by an IRB for each institution at which the clinical trial will be conducted to ensure that the risks to individuals participating in the clinical trials are minimized and are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits. The IRB also approves the informed consent form that must be provided to each clinical trial subject or his or her legal representative, and must monitor the clinical trial until completed. There also are requirements governing the reporting of ongoing clinical trials and completed clinical trial results to public registries. Information about certain clinical trials, including clinical trial results, must be submitted within specific timeframes for publication on the www.clinicaltrials.gov website.
In addition to the submission of an IND to the FDA before initiation of a clinical trial in the United States, certain human clinical trials involving recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules are subject to oversight by institutional biosafety committees (“IBC”) as set forth in the National Institute of Health (“NIH”) Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules (“NIH Guidelines”). Under the NIH Guidelines, recombinant and synthetic nucleic acids are defined as (i) molecules that are constructed by joining nucleic acid molecules and that can replicate in a living cell (i.e., recombinant nucleic acids); (ii nucleic acid molecules that are chemically or by other means synthesized or amplified, including those that are chemically or otherwise modified but can base pair with naturally occurring nucleic acid molecules (i.e., synthetic nucleic acids); or (iii) molecules that result from the replication of those described in (i) or (ii). Specifically, under the NIH Guidelines, supervision of human gene transfer trials includes evaluation and assessment by an IBC, a local institutional committee that reviews and oversees research utilizing recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules at that institution. The IBC assesses the safety of the research and identifies any potential risk to public health or the environment, and such review may result in some delay before initiation of a clinical trial. While the NIH Guidelines are not mandatory unless the research in question is being conducted at or sponsored by institutions receiving NIH funding of recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecule research, many companies and other institutions not otherwise subject to the NIH Guidelines voluntarily follow them.
A sponsor who wishes to conduct a clinical trial outside of the United States may, but need not, obtain FDA authorization to conduct the clinical trial under an IND. If a foreign clinical trial is not conducted under an IND, the sponsor may submit data from the clinical trial to the FDA in support of an NDA or BLA. The FDA will accept a well-designed and well-conducted foreign clinical study not conducted under an IND if the study was conducted in accordance with GCP requirements, and the FDA is able to validate the data through an onsite inspection if deemed necessary.
Clinical trials generally are conducted in three sequential phases, known as Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3, and may overlap.
• Phase 1 clinical trials generally involve a small number of healthy volunteers or disease-affected patients who are initially exposed to a single dose and then multiple doses of the product candidate. The primary purpose of these clinical trials is to assess the metabolism, pharmacologic action, side effect tolerability and safety of the product candidate.
• Phase 2 clinical trials involve studies in disease-affected patients to evaluate proof of concept and/or determine the dose required to produce the desired benefits. At the same time, safety and further PK and PD information is collected, possible adverse effects and safety risks are identified, and a preliminary evaluation of efficacy is conducted.
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• Phase 3 clinical trials generally involve a large number of patients at multiple sites and are designed to provide the data necessary to demonstrate the effectiveness of the product for its intended use, its safety in use and to establish the overall benefit/risk relationship of the product and provide an adequate basis for product labeling.
Post-approval trials, sometimes referred to as Phase 4 clinical trials, may be conducted after initial marketing approval. These trials are used to gain additional experience from the treatment of patients in the intended therapeutic indication and are commonly intended to generate additional safety data regarding use of the product in a clinical setting. In certain instances, the FDA may mandate the performance of Phase 4 clinical trials as a condition of approval of an NDA or BLA.
Progress reports detailing the results of the clinical trials, among other information, must be submitted at least annually to the FDA and written IND safety reports must be submitted to the FDA and the investigators 15 days after the trial sponsor determines the information qualifies for reporting for serious and unexpected suspected AEs, findings from other studies or animal or in vitro testing that suggest a significant risk for human subjects and any clinically important increase in the rate of a serious suspected adverse reaction over that listed in the protocol or investigator brochure. The sponsor must also notify the FDA of any unexpected fatal or life-threatening suspected adverse reaction as soon as possible but in no case later than seven calendar days after the sponsor’s initial receipt of the information.
Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and other types of clinical trials may not be completed successfully within any specified period, if at all. The FDA or the sponsor may suspend or terminate a clinical trial at any time on various grounds, including a finding that the research subjects or patients are being exposed to an unacceptable health risk. Similarly, an IRB can suspend or terminate approval of a clinical trial at its institution if the clinical trial is not being conducted in accordance with the IRB’s requirements or if the drug or biologic has been associated with unexpected serious harm to patients. Additionally, some clinical trials are overseen by an independent group of qualified experts organized by the clinical trial sponsor, known as a data safety monitoring board or committee. This group provides authorization for whether a trial may move forward at designated check points based on access to certain data from the trial. Concurrent with clinical trials, companies usually complete additional animal studies and also must develop additional information about the chemistry and physical characteristics of the drug or biologic as well as finalize a process for manufacturing the product in commercial quantities in accordance with cGMP requirements. The manufacturing process must be capable of consistently producing quality batches of the product and, among other things, companies 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 candidates do not undergo unacceptable deterioration over their shelf life.
FDA Review Process
Following completion of the clinical trials, data are analyzed to assess whether the investigational product is safe and effective for the proposed indicated use or uses. The results of preclinical studies and clinical trials are then submitted to the FDA as part of an NDA or BLA, along with proposed labeling, chemistry and manufacturing information to ensure product quality and other relevant data. The NDA or BLA is a request for approval to market the drug or biologic for one or more specified indications and must contain proof of safety and efficacy for a drug or safety, purity and potency for a biologic. The application may include both negative and ambiguous results of preclinical studies and clinical trials, as well as positive findings. Data may come from company-sponsored clinical trials intended to test the safety and efficacy of a product’s use or from a number of alternative sources, including studies initiated by investigators. To support marketing approval, the data submitted must be sufficient in quality and quantity to establish the safety and efficacy of the investigational product to the satisfaction of FDA. FDA approval of an NDA or BLA must be obtained before a drug or biologic may be marketed in the United States.
Under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (“PDUFA”), as amended, each NDA or BLA must be accompanied by a user fee. FDA adjusts the PDUFA user fees on an annual basis. Fee waivers or reductions are available in certain circumstances, including a waiver of the application fee for the first application filed by a small business. Additionally, no user fees are assessed on NDAs or BLAs for products designated as orphan drugs, unless the product also includes a non-orphan indication.
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The FDA reviews all submitted NDAs and BLAs before it accepts them for filing, and may request additional information rather than accepting the NDA or BLA for filing. The FDA must make a decision on accepting an NDA or BLA for filing within 60 days of receipt, and such decision could include a refusal to file by the FDA. Once the submission is accepted for filing, the FDA begins an in-depth review of the NDA or BLA. Under the goals and policies agreed to by the FDA under PDUFA, the FDA targets ten months, from the filing date, in which to complete its initial review of a new molecular entity NDA or original BLA and respond to the applicant, and six months from the filing date of a new molecular entity NDA or original BLA designated for priority review. The FDA does not always meet its PDUFA goal dates for standard and priority NDAs or BLAs, and the review process is often extended by FDA requests for additional information or clarification.
Before approving an NDA or BLA, the FDA will conduct a pre-approval inspection of the manufacturing facilities for the new product to determine whether they comply with cGMP requirements. The FDA will not approve the product 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 also may audit data from clinical trials to ensure compliance with GCP requirements. Additionally, the FDA may refer applications for novel products or products which present difficult questions of safety or efficacy to an advisory committee, typically a panel that includes clinicians and other experts, for review, evaluation and a recommendation as to whether the application should be approved and under what conditions, if any. The FDA is not bound by recommendations of an advisory committee, but it considers such recommendations when making decisions on approval. The FDA likely will reanalyze the clinical trial data, which could result in extensive discussions between the FDA and the applicant during the review process. After the FDA evaluates an NDA or BLA, it will issue an approval letter or a Complete Response Letter. An approval letter authorizes commercial marketing of the drug or biologic with specific prescribing information for specific indications. A Complete Response Letter indicates that the review cycle of the application is complete, and the application will not be approved in its present form. A Complete Response Letter usually describes all of the specific deficiencies in the NDA or BLA identified by the FDA. The Complete Response Letter may require the applicant to obtain additional clinical data, including the potential requirement to conduct additional pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial(s) and/or to complete other significant and time-consuming requirements related to clinical trials, or to conduct additional preclinical studies or manufacturing activities. If a Complete Response Letter is issued, the applicant may either resubmit the NDA or BLA, addressing all of the deficiencies identified in the letter, or withdraw the application or request an opportunity for a hearing. Even if such data and information are submitted, the FDA may decide that the NDA or BLA does not satisfy the criteria for approval. Data obtained from clinical trials are not always conclusive and the FDA may interpret data differently than we interpret the same data.
Orphan Drug Designation and Exclusivity
Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may grant orphan drug designation to a drug or biological product intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally a disease or condition that affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or 200,000 or more individuals in the United States and for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making the product available in the United States for this type of disease or condition will be recovered from sales of the product.
Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting an NDA or BLA. After the FDA grants orphan drug designation, the identity of the therapeutic agent and its potential orphan use are disclosed publicly by the FDA. Orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in or shorten the duration of the regulatory review and approval process.
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If a product that has orphan drug designation subsequently receives the first FDA approval for the disease or condition for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to orphan drug exclusivity, which means that the FDA may not approve any other applications to market the same drug for the same indication for seven years from the date of such approval, except in limited circumstances, such as a showing of clinical superiority to the product with orphan exclusivity by means of greater effectiveness, greater safety or providing a major contribution to patient care or in instances of drug supply issues. Competitors, however, may receive approval of either a different product for the same indication or the same product for a different indication but that could be used off-label in the orphan indication. Orphan drug exclusivity also could block the approval of our products for seven years if a competitor obtains approval before we do for the same product, as defined by the FDA, for the same indication we are seeking approval, or if our product is determined to be contained within the scope of the competitor’s product for the same indication or disease. If we pursue marketing approval for an indication broader than the orphan drug designation we have received, we may not be entitled to orphan drug exclusivity. Orphan drug status in the European Union has similar, but not identical, requirements and benefits.
Rare Pediatric Disease Designation and PRVs
Under the FDCA, as amended, the FDA incentivizes the development of drugs and biologics that meet the definition of a “rare pediatric disease,” defined to mean a serious or life-threatening disease in which the serious of life-threatening manifestations primarily affect individuals aged from birth to 18 years and the disease affects fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States or affects more than 200,000 in the United States and for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making in the United States a drug for such disease or condition will be received from sales in the United States of such drug. The sponsor of a product candidate for a rare pediatric disease may be eligible for a voucher that can be used to obtain a priority review for a subsequent human drug or biologic application after the date of approval of the rare pediatric disease drug product, referred to as a PRV. A sponsor may request rare pediatric disease designation from the FDA prior to the submission of its NDA or BLA. A rare pediatric disease designation does not guarantee that a sponsor will receive a PRV upon approval of its NDA or BLA. If a PRV is received, it may be sold or transferred an unlimited number of times. The FDA’s rare pediatric disease priority voucher program began to sunset on December 20, 2024, on failure to pass a continuing resolution package that included its reauthorization. Under the amended statutory sunset provisions, after December 20, 2024, the FDA may award a PRV for an approved rare pediatric disease product application only if the sponsor has rare pediatric disease designation for the drug and if that designation was granted by December 20, 2024. After September 30, 2026, the FDA may not award any rare pediatric disease PRVs. Congress may vote to reauthorize this program, but its future remains unknown at this time.
Expedited Development and Review Programs
A sponsor may seek to develop and obtain approval of its product candidates under programs designed to accelerate the development, FDA review and approval of new drugs and biologics that meet certain criteria. For example, the FDA has a fast track program that is intended to expedite or facilitate the process for reviewing new drugs and biologics that are intended to treat a serious or life threatening disease or condition and demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs for the condition. Fast track designation applies to both the product and the specific indication for which it is being studied. For a fast track-designated product, the FDA may consider sections of the NDA or BLA for review on a rolling basis before the complete application is submitted, if the sponsor provides a schedule for the submission of the sections of the application, the FDA agrees to accept sections of the application and determines that the schedule is acceptable, and the sponsor pays any required user fees upon submission of the first section of the application. The sponsor can request the FDA to designate the product for fast track status any time before receiving NDA or BLA approval, but ideally no later than the pre-NDA or pre-BLA meeting.
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A product submitted to the FDA for marketing, including under a fast track program, may be eligible for other types of FDA programs intended to expedite development or review, such as priority review and accelerated approval. Priority review means that, for a new molecular entity or original BLA, the FDA sets a target date for FDA action on the marketing application at six months after accepting the application for filing as opposed to ten months. A product is eligible for priority review if it is designed to treat a serious or life-threatening disease condition and, if approved, would provide a significant improvement in safety and effectiveness compared to available therapies. The FDA will attempt to direct additional resources to the evaluation of an application for a new drug or biologic designated for priority review in an effort to facilitate the review. If criteria are not met for priority review, the application for a new molecular entity or original BLA is subject to the standard FDA review period of ten months after FDA accepts the application for filing. Priority review designation does not change the scientific/medical standard for approval or the quality of evidence necessary to support approval.
Under the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022 (“FDORA”), a platform technology incorporated within or utilized by a drug or biologic is eligible for designation as a designated platform technology if (1) the platform technology is incorporated in, or utilized by, a drug approved under an NDA or BLA; (2) preliminary evidence submitted by the sponsor of the approved or licensed drug, or a sponsor that has been granted a right of reference to data submitted in the application for such drug, demonstrates that the platform technology has the potential to be incorporated in, or utilized by, more than one drug without an adverse effect on quality, manufacturing, or safety; and (3) data or information submitted by the applicable person indicates that incorporation or utilization of the platform technology has a reasonable likelihood to bring significant efficiencies to the drug development or manufacturing process and to the review process. A sponsor may request the FDA to designate a platform technology as a designated platform technology concurrently with, or at any time after, submission of an IND application for a drug that incorporates or utilizes the platform technology that is the subject of the request. If so designated, the FDA may expedite the development and review of any subsequent original NDA or BLA for a drug that uses or incorporates the platform technology. Designated platform technology status does not ensure that a drug will be developed more quickly or receive a faster FDA review process or ultimate FDA approval. In addition, the FDA may revoke a designation if the FDA determines that a designated platform technology no longer meets the criteria for such designation.
A product may also be eligible for accelerated approval if it is designed to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and generally provides a meaningful advantage over available therapies upon a determination that the product has an effect on either a surrogate that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit or on a clinical endpoint that can be measured earlier than irreversible morbidity or mortality (“IMM”), that is reasonably likely to predict an effect on IMM or other clinical benefit, taking into account the severity, rarity, or prevalence of the disease or condition and the availability or lack of alternative treatments. As a condition of approval, the FDA may require that a sponsor of a drug or biologic receiving accelerated approval perform adequate and well-controlled post-marketing confirmatory clinical trials with due diligence and, under FDORA, the FDA is permitted to require, as appropriate, that such confirmatory studies be underway prior to approval or within a specified time period after accelerated approval is granted. In addition, the FDA currently requires, unless otherwise informed by the agency, pre-approval of promotional materials, which could adversely impact the timing of the commercial launch of the product. Under FDORA, the FDA has increased authority for expedited procedures to withdraw approval of a drug or indication approved under accelerated approval if, for example, the confirmatory trial fails to verify the predicted clinical benefit of the product.
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Additionally, a drug or biologic may be eligible for designation as a breakthrough therapy if the product is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other drugs or biologics, to treat a serious or life-threatening condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the product may demonstrate substantial improvement over currently approved therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. If the FDA designates a breakthrough therapy, it may take actions appropriate to expedite the development and review of the application, which may include holding meetings with the sponsor and the review team throughout the development of the therapy; providing timely advice to, and interactive communication with, the sponsor regarding the development of the drug to ensure that the development program to gather the nonclinical and clinical data necessary for approval is as efficient as practicable; involving senior managers and experienced review staff, as appropriate, in a collaborative, cross-disciplinary review; assigning a cross-disciplinary project lead for the FDA review team to facilitate an efficient review of the development program and to serve as a scientific liaison between the review team and the sponsor; and considering alternative clinical trial designs when scientifically appropriate, which may result in smaller trials or more efficient trials that require less time to complete and may minimize the number of patients exposed to a potentially less efficacious treatment. Breakthrough therapy designation comes with all of the benefits of fast track designation, which means that the sponsor may file sections of the BLA for review on a rolling basis if certain conditions are satisfied, including an agreement with the FDA on the proposed schedule for submission of portions of the application and the payment of applicable user fees before the FDA may initiate a review.
As part of the 21st Century Cures Act, Congress amended the FDCA to facilitate an efficient development program for, and expedite review of regenerative medicine advanced therapies (“RMATs”), which include cell and gene therapies, therapeutic tissue engineering products, human cell and tissue products, and combination products using any such therapies or products. RMATs do not include those human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue based products regulated solely under section 361 of the PHSA and 21 CFR Part 1271. This program is intended to facilitate efficient development and expedite review of regenerative medicine therapies, which are intended to treat, modify, reverse, or cure a serious or life-threatening disease or condition and qualify for RMAT designation. A sponsor may request that the FDA designate a product candidate as a RMAT concurrently with or at any time after submission of an IND. The FDA has 60 calendar days to determine whether the product candidate meets the criteria, including whether there is preliminary clinical evidence indicating that the product candidate has the potential to address unmet medical needs for a serious or life-threatening disease or condition. A BLA for a product candidate that has received RMAT designation may be eligible for priority review or accelerated approval through use of surrogate or intermediate endpoints reasonably likely to predict long-term clinical benefit, or reliance upon data obtained from a meaningful number of sites. Benefits of RMAT designation also include early interactions with FDA to discuss any potential surrogate or intermediate endpoint to be used to support accelerated approval. A product candidate with RMAT designation that is granted accelerated approval and is subject to post-approval requirements may fulfill such requirements through the submission of clinical evidence from clinical studies, patient registries, or other sources of real world evidence, such as electronic health records; the collection of larger confirmatory data sets; or post-approval monitoring of all patients treated with such therapy prior to its approval.
Even if a product qualifies for one or more of these programs, the FDA may later decide that the product no longer meets the conditions for qualification or the time period for FDA review or approval may not be shortened. Furthermore, fast track designation, priority review, accelerated approval, breakthrough therapy, and RMAT designation do not change the standards for approval.
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Pediatric Information and Pediatric Exclusivity
Under the Pediatric Research Equity Act (“PREA”), certain NDAs and BLAs and certain supplements to an NDA or BLA must contain data to assess the safety and efficacy of the drug for the claimed indications in all relevant pediatric subpopulations and to support dosing and administration for each pediatric subpopulation for which the product is safe and effective. The FDA may grant deferrals for submission of pediatric data or full or partial waivers. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (“FDASIA”), amended the FDCA to require that a sponsor who is planning to submit a marketing application for a drug that includes a new active ingredient, new indication, new dosage form, new dosing regimen or new route of administration, unless the drug is for an indication for which orphan designation has been granted and is not for a molecularly targeted cancer indication, submit an initial Pediatric Study Plan (“PSP”) within 60 days of an end-of-Phase 2 meeting or, if there is no such meeting, as early as practicable before the initiation of the Phase 3 or Phase 2/3 study. The initial PSP must include an outline of the pediatric study or studies that the sponsor plans to conduct, including study objectives and design, age groups, relevant endpoints and statistical approach, or a justification for not including such detailed information, and any request for a deferral of pediatric assessments or a full or partial waiver of the requirement to provide data from pediatric studies along with supporting information. The FDA and the sponsor must reach an agreement on the PSP. A sponsor can submit amendments to an agreed-upon initial PSP at any time if changes to the pediatric plan need to be considered based on data collected from preclinical studies, early phase clinical trials and/or other clinical development programs.
A drug or biologic product can also obtain pediatric market exclusivity in the United States. Pediatric exclusivity, if granted, adds six months to existing exclusivity periods for all formulations, dosage forms, and indications of the active moiety and, for drugs, patent terms. This six-month exclusivity, which runs from the end of other exclusivity protection and, for drugs, patent term, may be granted based on the voluntary completion of a pediatric study in accordance with an FDA-issued “Written Request” for such a study provided that at the time pediatric exclusivity is granted there is not less than nine months of term remaining.
Post-Marketing Requirements
Following approval of a new product, the manufacturer and the approved product are subject to continuing regulation by the FDA, including, among other things, monitoring and record-keeping activities, reporting of adverse experiences to applicable regulatory authorities, complying with promotion and advertising requirements, which include, among other things, standards for direct-to-consumer advertising, requirements for promotional activities on the internet, restrictions on promoting products for unapproved uses or in patient populations that are not described in the product’s approved label (known as “off-label use”) and limitations on industry-sponsored scientific and educational activities. Although physicians may prescribe legally available products for off-label uses, manufacturers may not market or promote such off-label uses. The FDA does not regulate the behavior of physicians in their choice of treatment, but the FDA regulations do impose stringent restrictions on manufacturers’ communications regarding off-label uses. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant liability, including investigation by federal and state authorities. Prescription drug promotional materials must be submitted to the FDA in conjunction with their first use or first publication, and may be required to be reviewed in advance in certain circumstances such as for products that receive accelerated approval.
Further, if there are any modifications to the drug or biologic, including changes in indications, labeling or manufacturing processes or facilities, the applicant may be required to submit and obtain FDA approval of a new NDA/BLA or NDA/BLA supplement, which may require the development of additional data or preclinical studies and clinical trials. Such regulatory reviews can result in denial or modification of the planned changes, or requirements to conduct additional tests or evaluations that can substantially delay or increase the cost of the planned changes.
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The FDA may also place other conditions on approvals including the requirement for a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, or REMS, to assure the safe use of the product. If the FDA concludes a REMS is needed, the sponsor of the NDA or BLA must submit a proposed REMS. The FDA will not approve the NDA or BLA without an approved REMS, if required. A REMS could include medication guides, physician communication plans or elements to assure safe use, such as restricted distribution methods, patient registries and other risk minimization tools. Any of these limitations on approval or marketing could restrict the commercial promotion, distribution, prescription or dispensing of products. Product approvals may be withdrawn for non-compliance with regulatory requirements, if problems occur following initial marketing or if the FDA determines that the product is no longer safe or effective.
FDA regulations require that products be manufactured in specific approved facilities and in accordance with cGMP regulations. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties for the production of clinical and commercial quantities of any approved products in accordance with cGMP regulations. NDA and BLA holders using contract manufacturers, laboratories or packagers are responsible for the selection and monitoring of qualified firms, and, in certain circumstances, qualified suppliers to these firms. These manufacturers must comply with cGMP regulations that require, among other things, quality control and quality assurance, the maintenance of records and documentation and the obligation to investigate and correct any deviations from cGMP. Manufacturers and other entities involved in the manufacture and distribution of approved drugs or biologics are required to register their establishments with the FDA and certain state agencies, and are subject to periodic unannounced inspections by the FDA and certain state agencies for compliance with cGMP requirements and other laws. Accordingly, manufacturers must continue to expend time, money and effort in the area of production and quality control to maintain cGMP compliance. The discovery of violative conditions, including failure to conform to cGMP regulations, could result in enforcement actions, and the discovery of problems with a product after approval may result in restrictions on a product, manufacturer or holder of an approved NDA or BLA, including recall or withdrawal of the product from the market.
Any distribution of prescription drugs and biologics and pharmaceutical samples must comply with the U.S. Prescription Drug Marketing Act (“PDMA”) and the PHSA. In addition, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, or DSCSA, was enacted in 2013 with the aim of building an electronic system to identify and trace certain prescription drugs and biologics distributed in the United States. The DSCSA mandates phased-in and resource-intensive obligations for pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and dispensers over a 10-year period that culminated in November 2023. The FDA established a one-year stabilization period from November 2023 to November 2024 for trading partners to continue to build and validate interoperable systems and processes to meet certain requirements of the DSCSA. In late 2024, the FDA announced it is allowing a further exemption period for eligible trading partners who have successfully completed or made documented efforts to complete data connections with their immediate trading partners, but still face challenges exchanging data. The exemption period for eligible manufacturers and repackagers now extends until May 27, 2025. The law’s requirements include the quarantine and prompt investigation of a suspect product, to determine if it is illegitimate, notifying trading partners and the FDA of any illegitimate product, and compliance with product tracking and tracing requirements.
Once an approval is granted, the FDA may issue enforcement letters or withdraw the approval of the product if compliance with regulatory requirements and standards is not maintained or if problems occur after the drug or biologic reaches the market. Corrective action could delay drug or biologic distribution and require significant time and financial expenditures. Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a drug or biologic, including AEs of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may require revisions to the approved labeling to add new safety information, including the addition of new warning and contraindications; imposition of post-market studies or clinical trials to assess new safety risks; or imposition of distribution or other restrictions under a REMS program. Other potential consequences include, among other things:
• mandated corrective advertising or communications with doctors;
• restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of the drug or biologic, suspension of the approval, complete withdrawal of the drug from the market or product recalls;
• fines, warning letters or holds on post-approval clinical trials;
• refusal of the FDA to approve applications or supplements to approved applications, or suspension or revocation of drug or biologic approvals;
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• drug or biologic seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of drugs; or
• injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.
From time to time, legislation is drafted, introduced, passed in Congress and signed into law that could significantly change the statutory provisions governing the approval, manufacturing, and marketing of products regulated by the FDA. In addition to new legislation, FDA regulations, guidance, and policies are often revised or reinterpreted by the agency in ways that may significantly affect the manner in which pharmaceutical products are regulated and marketed.
Regulation of Companion Diagnostics
We believe that the success of certain of our product candidates may depend, in part, on the development and commercialization of a companion diagnostic. Companion diagnostics identify patients who are most likely to benefit from a particular therapeutic product; identify patients likely to be at increased risk for serious side effects as a result of treatment with a particular therapeutic product; or monitor response to treatment with a particular therapeutic product for the purpose of adjusting treatment to achieve improved safety or effectiveness. Companion diagnostics are regulated as medical devices by the FDA. In the United States, the FDCA and its implementing regulations, and other federal and state statutes and regulations govern, among other things, medical device design and development, preclinical and clinical testing, premarket clearance or approval, registration and listing, manufacturing, labeling, storage, advertising and promotion, sales and distribution, export and import, and post-market surveillance. Unless an exemption or FDA exercise of enforcement discretion applies, diagnostic tests generally require marketing clearance or approval from the FDA prior to commercialization. The primary types of FDA marketing authorization applicable to a medical device are premarket notification, also called 510(k) clearance, approval of a premarket approval (“PMA”) application, or grant of a de novo request for classification.
To obtain 510(k) clearance for a medical device, or for certain modifications to devices that have received 510(k) clearance, a manufacturer must submit a premarket notification demonstrating that the proposed device is substantially equivalent to a previously cleared 510(k) device or to a preamendment device that was in commercial distribution before May 28, 1976, or a predicate device, for which the FDA has not yet called for the submission of a PMA application. In making a determination that the device is substantially equivalent to a predicate device, the FDA compares the proposed device to the predicate device or predicate devices and assesses whether the subject device is comparable to the predicate device or predicate devices with respect to intended use, technology, design and other features which could affect safety and effectiveness. If the FDA determines that the subject device is substantially equivalent to the predicate device or predicate devices, the subject device may be cleared for marketing. The 510(k) premarket notification pathway generally takes from three to twelve months from the date the application is completed, but can take significantly longer.
PMA applications must be supported by valid scientific evidence, which typically requires extensive data, including technical, preclinical, clinical and manufacturing data, to demonstrate to the FDA’s satisfaction the safety and effectiveness of the device. For diagnostic tests, a PMA application typically includes data regarding analytical and clinical validation studies. As part of its review of the PMA application, the FDA will conduct a pre-approval inspection of the manufacturing facility or facilities to ensure compliance with the Quality System Regulation, or QSR, which requires manufacturers to follow design, testing, control, documentation and other quality assurance procedures. The FDA’s review of an initial PMA application is required by statute to take between six to ten months, although the process typically takes longer, and may require several years to complete. If the FDA evaluations of both the PMA application and the manufacturing facilities are favorable, the FDA will either issue an approval letter or an approvable letter, which usually contains a number of conditions that must be met in order to secure the final approval of the PMA application. If the FDA’s evaluation of the PMA application or manufacturing facilities is not favorable, the FDA will deny the approval of the PMA application or issue a not approvable letter. A not approvable letter will outline the deficiencies in the application and, where practical, will identify what is necessary to make the PMA application approvable. Once granted, PMA application approval may be withdrawn by the FDA if compliance with post-approval requirements, conditions of approval or other regulatory standards is not maintained or problems are identified following initial marketing.
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On July 31, 2014, the FDA issued a final guidance document addressing the development and approval process for “In Vitro Companion Diagnostic Devices.” According to the guidance document, for novel therapeutic products that depend on the use of a diagnostic test and where the diagnostic device could be essential for the safe and effective use of the corresponding therapeutic product, the premarket application for the companion diagnostic device should be developed and approved or cleared contemporaneously with the therapeutic, although the FDA recognizes that there may be cases when contemporaneous development may not be possible. However, in cases where a drug cannot be used safely or effectively without the companion diagnostic, the FDA’s guidance indicates it will generally not approve the drug without the approval or clearance of the diagnostic device. The FDA also issued a draft guidance in July 2016 setting forth the principles for co-development of an in vitro companion diagnostic device with a therapeutic product. The draft guidance describes principles to guide the development and contemporaneous marketing authorization for the therapeutic product and its corresponding in vitro companion diagnostic.
To date, the FDA has required premarket approval for nearly all companion diagnostics for cancer therapies. In January 2024, the FDA announced its intention to initiate the reclassification process for most in vitro diagnostics, including companion diagnostics. Further, the FDA indicated that in addition to the reclassification process, the FDA will continue taking a risk-based approach in the initial classification of individual in vitro diagnostics to determine whether a new test may be classified into class II through the de novo classification process. In so doing, the FDA indicated that it may regulate most future companion diagnostics as class II devices.
Once cleared or approved, the companion diagnostic device must adhere to post-marketing requirements including the requirements of FDA’s quality system regulation, adverse event reporting, recalls and corrections along with product marketing requirements and limitations. Like drug and biologic makers, companion diagnostic makers are subject to unannounced FDA inspections at any time during which the FDA will conduct an audit of the product(s) and the Company’s facilities for compliance with its authorities.
Biosimilars and Exclusivity
Certain of our product candidates are regulated as biologics. An abbreviated approval pathway for biological products shown to be similar to, or interchangeable with, an FDA-licensed reference biological product was created by the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCI Act”), as part of the ACA. This amendment to the PHSA, in part, attempts to minimize duplicative testing. Biosimilarity, which requires that the biological product be highly similar to the reference product notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components and that there be no clinically meaningful differences between the product and the reference product in terms of safety, purity and potency, can be shown through analytical studies, animal studies and a clinical trial or trials. Interchangeability requires that a biological product be biosimilar to the reference product and that the product can be expected to produce the same clinical results as the reference product in any given patient and, for products administered multiple times to an individual, that the product and the reference product may be alternated or switched after one has been previously administered without increasing safety risks or risks of diminished efficacy relative to exclusive use of the reference biological product without such alternation or switch. Complexities associated with the larger, and often more complex, structure of biological products as compared to small molecule drugs, as well as the processes by which such products are manufactured, pose significant hurdles to implementation that are still being worked out by the FDA.
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A reference biological product is granted four and twelve year exclusivity periods from the time of first licensure of the product. The FDA will not accept an application for a biosimilar or interchangeable product based on the reference biological product until four years after the date of first licensure of the reference product, and the FDA will not approve an application for a biosimilar or interchangeable product based on the reference biological product until twelve years after the date of first licensure of the reference product. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a BLA for the competing product containing the sponsor’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity, and potency of the other company’s product. “First licensure” typically means the initial date the particular product at issue was licensed in the United States. Date of first licensure does not include the date of licensure of (and a new period of exclusivity is not available for) a biological product if the licensure is for a supplement for the biological product or for a subsequent application by the same sponsor or manufacturer of the biological product (or licensor, predecessor in interest, or other related entity) for a change (not including a modification to the structure of the biological product) that results in a new indication, route of administration, dosing schedule, dosage form, delivery system, delivery device or strength, or for a modification to the structure of the biological product that does not result in a change in safety, purity, or potency. Therefore, one must determine whether a new product includes a modification to the structure of a previously licensed product that results in a change in safety, purity, or potency to assess whether the licensure of the new product is a first licensure that triggers its own period of exclusivity. Whether a subsequent application, if approved, warrants exclusivity as the “first licensure” of a biological product is determined on a case-by-case basis with data submitted by the sponsor. The law is complex and is still being interpreted and implemented by the FDA.
Other Regulatory Matters
Manufacturing, sales, promotion and other activities following product approval are also subject to regulation by numerous regulatory authorities in the United States in addition to the FDA, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) including the Office of Inspector General and Office for Civil Rights, other divisions of the Department of HHS, the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and state and local governments.
Healthcare providers, physicians, and third party payors will play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of any products for which we obtain marketing approval. Our current and future arrangements with healthcare providers and physicians and any future arrangements with third party payers, may expose us to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations that may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which we market, sell and distribute any drugs for which we obtain marketing approval. In the United States, these laws include: the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the False Claims Act, and the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
The Anti-Kickback Statute makes it illegal for any person, including a prescription drug manufacturer (or a party acting on its behalf), to knowingly and willfully solicit, receive, offer or pay any remuneration, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind, that is intended to induce or reward referrals, including the purchase, recommendation, order or prescription of a particular drug, for which payment may be made under a federal healthcare program, such as Medicare or Medicaid. Violations of this law are punishable by imprisonment, criminal fines, administrative civil money penalties and exclusion from participation in federal healthcare programs. In addition, a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it. Moreover, the ACA provides that the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the federal civil False Claims Act or federal civil money penalties.
Additionally, the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act (the “Sunshine Act”), within the ACA, and its implementing regulations, require that certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biological and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions) report annually to CMS information related to certain payments or other transfers of value made or distributed to physicians, certain other licensed health care practitioners and teaching hospitals, or to entities or individuals at the request of, or designated on behalf of, physicians, certain other healthcare professionals, and teaching hospitals and to report annually certain ownership and investment interests held by physicians, certain other healthcare professionals, and their immediate family members.
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We may also be subject to federal price reporting laws, which require manufacturers to calculate and report complex pricing metrics to government programs, where such reported prices may be used in the calculation of reimbursement and/or discounts on approved products. Further, we may face obligations under federal consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers.
Similar federal, state and foreign fraud and abuse laws and regulations, such as state anti-kickback and false claims laws, may apply to sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services. Such laws are generally broad and are enforced by various state agencies and private actions. Many U.S. states have adopted laws similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act, and may apply to our business practices, including, but not limited to, research, distribution, sales or marketing arrangements and claims involving healthcare items or services reimbursed by non-governmental payors, including private insurers. In addition, some states have passed laws that require us to comply with the April 2003 Office of Inspector General Compliance Program Guidance for Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and/or the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America’s Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals. Additionally, we are subject to state and foreign equivalents of each of the healthcare laws and regulations described above, some of which may be broader in scope and may apply regardless of payor, in addition to items and services reimbursed under Medicaid and other state programs. Some state laws require pharmaceutical companies to comply with the pharmaceutical industry’s voluntary compliance guidelines and the relevant federal government compliance guidance, and require drug manufacturers to report information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians and other healthcare providers or marketing expenditures. Several states also impose other marketing restrictions or require pharmaceutical companies to make marketing or price disclosures to the state and require the registration of pharmaceutical sales representatives. State and foreign laws, including, for example, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, which became effective May 2018 also govern the privacy and security of health information in some circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts. There are ambiguities as to what is required to comply with these state requirements and if we fail to comply with an applicable state law requirement we could be subject to penalties. Finally, there are state and foreign laws governing the privacy and security of health information, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and often are not preempted by HIPAA, thus complicating compliance efforts.
In order to distribute products commercially, we must comply with state laws that require the registration of manufacturers and wholesale distributors of drug and biological products in a state, including, in certain states, manufacturers and distributors who ship products into the state even if such manufacturers or distributors have no place of business within the state. Several states have enacted legislation requiring pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to establish marketing compliance programs, file periodic reports with the state, make periodic public disclosures on sales, marketing, pricing, clinical trials and other activities, and/or register their sales representatives, as well as to prohibit pharmacies and other healthcare entities from providing certain physician prescribing data to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for use in sales and marketing, and to prohibit certain other sales and marketing practices. We must also comply with federal government price reporting laws, which require us to calculate and report complex pricing metrics in an accurate and timely manner to government programs. All of our activities are potentially subject to federal and state consumer protection and unfair competition laws.
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The scope and enforcement of each of these laws is uncertain and subject to rapid change in the current environment of healthcare reform, especially in light of the lack of applicable precedent and regulations. Federal and state enforcement bodies have recently increased their scrutiny of interactions between healthcare companies and healthcare providers, which has led to a number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and settlements in the healthcare industry. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. 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, disgorgement, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, individual imprisonment, exclusion of drugs from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results. Further, defending against any such actions can be costly and time consuming, and may require significant financial and personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions that may be brought against us, our business may be impaired. If any of the physicians or other healthcare providers or entities with whom we expect to do business is found to be not in compliance with applicable laws, they may be subject to criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including exclusions from government funded healthcare programs. Ensuring business arrangements comply with applicable healthcare laws, as well as responding to possible investigations by government authorities, can be time- and resource-consuming and can divert a Company’s attention from the business.
In the United States, to help patients afford our approved product, we may utilize programs to assist them, including patient assistance programs and co-pay coupon programs for eligible patients. PAPs are regulated by and subject to guidance from CMS OIG. In addition, at least one insurer has directed its network pharmacies to no longer accept co-pay coupons for certain specialty drugs the insurer identified. Our co-pay coupon programs could become the target of similar insurer actions. In addition, in November 2013, the CMS issued guidance to the issuers of qualified health plans sold through the ACA’s marketplaces encouraging such plans to reject patient cost-sharing support from third parties and indicating that the CMS intends to monitor the provision of such support and may take regulatory action to limit it in the future. The CMS subsequently issued a rule requiring individual market qualified health plans to accept third-party premium and cost-sharing payments from certain government-related entities. In September 2014, the OIG of the HHS issued a Special Advisory Bulletin warning manufacturers that they may be subject to sanctions under the federal anti-kickback statute and/or civil monetary penalty laws if they do not take appropriate steps to exclude Part D beneficiaries from using co-pay coupons. Accordingly, companies exclude these Part D beneficiaries from using co-pay coupons.
Although we would not submit claims directly to payors, drug manufacturers can be held liable under federal civil and criminal false claims laws and civil monetary penalty laws, such as the federal civil False Claims Act, which imposes criminal and civil penalties, including through civil whistleblower or qui tam actions, against individuals or entities (including manufacturers) for, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented to federal programs (including Medicare and Medicaid) claims for items or services, including drugs, that are false or fraudulent, claims for items or services not provided as claimed, or claims for medically unnecessary items or services. Penalties for a False Claims Act violation include three times the actual damages sustained by the government, plus mandatory civil penalties for each separate false claim, the potential for exclusion from participation in federal healthcare programs and, although the federal False Claims Act is a civil statute, conduct that results in a False Claims Act violation may also implicate various federal criminal statutes. The government may deem manufacturers to have “caused” the submission of false or fraudulent claims by, for example, providing inaccurate billing or coding information to customers or promoting a product off-label. Claims which include items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute are false or fraudulent claims for purposes of the False Claims Act. The federal False Claims Act also permits a private individual acting as a “whistleblower” to bring actions on behalf of the federal government alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act and to share in any monetary recovery. Our future marketing and activities relating to the reporting of wholesaler or estimated retail prices for our products, if approved, the reporting of prices used to calculate Medicaid rebate information and other information affecting federal, state and third-party reimbursement for our products, if approved, and the sale and marketing of our product candidates, are subject to scrutiny under this law.
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HIPAA created federal criminal statutes that prohibit among other things, knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud or to obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises, any money or property owned by, or under the control or custody of, any healthcare benefit program, including private third party payors, knowingly and willfully embezzling or stealing from a healthcare benefit program, willfully obstructing a criminal investigation of a healthcare offense, and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up by trick, scheme or device, a material fact or making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for healthcare benefits, items or services. Like the federal Anti-Kickback Statute a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation.
The civil monetary penalties statute imposes penalties against any person or entity that, among other things, is determined to have presented or caused to be presented a claim to a federal health program that the person knows or should know is for an item or service that was not provided as claimed or is false or fraudulent.
U.S. Data Collection
We may be subject to data privacy and security regulations by both the federal government and the states in which we conduct our business. HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (“HITECH”) and their implementing regulations, including the Final Omnibus Rule published in January 2013, which imposes requirements on certain covered healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses, as well as their respective business associates, independent contractors, or agents of health covered entities, that perform services for them that involve the creation, maintenance, receipt, use, or disclosure of, individually identifiable health information relating to the privacy, security, and transmission of individual identifiable health information. Among other things, HITECH makes HIPAA’s security standards directly applicable to business associates, defined as independent contractors or agents of covered entities, which include certain health care providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses, that create, receive or obtain protected health information in connection with providing a service for or on behalf of a covered entity. HITECH also created new tiers of civil monetary penalties, amended HIPAA to make civil and criminal penalties directly applicable to business associates, and gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions for damages or injunctions in federal courts to enforce the federal HIPAA laws and seek attorneys’ fees and costs associated with pursuing federal civil actions. In addition, there may be additional federal, state, and non-U.S. laws which govern the privacy and security of health and other personal information in certain circumstances, many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, thus complicating compliance efforts. Failure to comply with these laws, where applicable, can result in the imposition of significant civil and criminal penalties.
States are also active in creating specific rules relating to the processing of personal information. The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which took effect on January 1, 2020 imposed many new requirements on businesses that process the personal information of California residents. Many of the CCPA’s requirements are similar to those found in the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”), including requiring businesses to provide notice to data subjects regarding the information collected about them and how such information is used and shared, and providing data subjects the right to request access to such personal information and, in certain cases, request the erasure of such personal information. The CCPA also affords California residents the right to opt-out of “sales” or “sharing” of their personal information. The CCPA contains significant penalties for companies that violate its requirements. In November 2020, California voters passed a ballot initiative for the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which went into effect on January 1, 2023, and significantly expanded the CCPA to incorporate additional GDPR-like provisions including requiring that the use, retention, and sharing of personal information of California residents be reasonably necessary and proportionate to the purposes of collection or processing, granting additional protections for certain sensitive personal information, and requiring greater disclosures related to notice to residents regarding retention of information. The CPRA also created a new enforcement agent—the California Privacy Protection Agency—whose sole responsibility is to enforce the CPRA, which will further increase compliance risk. The provisions in the CPRA may apply to some of our business activities.
Similar laws have been passed and proposed in numerous other states. Like the CCPA, these laws create obligations related to the processing of personal information, as well as special obligations for the processing of “sensitive” data (which includes health data in some cases). Some of the provisions of these laws may apply to our business activities. Such proposed legislation, if enacted, may add additional complexity, variation in requirements, restrictions and potential legal risk, require additional investment of resources in compliance programs, impact strategies and the availability of previously useful data and could result in increased compliance costs and/or
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changes in business practices and policies. The existence of comprehensive privacy laws in different states in the country would make our compliance obligations more complex and costly and may increase the likelihood that we may be subject to enforcement actions or otherwise incur liability for noncompliance
Further, Congress has also been debating passing a federal privacy law. There are also states that are specifically regulating health information that may affect our business. For example, Washington’s My Health My Data Act, which went into effect on March 31, 2024, regulates the collection and sharing of health information, and the law also has a private right of action, which further increases the relevant compliance risk. Connecticut and Nevada have also passed similar laws regulating consumer health data. In addition, other states have proposed and/or passed legislation that regulates the privacy and/or security of certain specific types of information. For example, a small number of states have passed laws that regulate biometric data specifically. These various privacy and security laws may impact our business activities, including our identification of research subjects, relationships with business partners and ultimately the marketing and distribution of our products. State laws are changing rapidly and there has been discussion in the U.S. Congress of a new comprehensive federal data privacy law to which we may likely become subject, if enacted. All of these evolving compliance and operational requirements impose significant costs, such as costs related to organizational changes, implementing additional protection technologies, training employees and engaging consultants and legal advisors, which are likely to increase over time. In addition, such requirements may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, utilize management’s time and/or divert resources from other initiatives and projects. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with any applicable federal, state or foreign laws and regulations relating to data privacy and security could result in damage to our reputation, as well as proceedings or litigation by governmental agencies or other third parties, including class action privacy litigation in certain jurisdictions, which would subject us to significant fines, sanctions, awards, injunctions, penalties or judgments. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Current and Future Legislation
In the United States and some foreign jurisdictions, there have been, and likely will continue to be, a number of legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system directed at broadening the availability of healthcare, improving the quality of healthcare, and containing or lowering the cost of healthcare.
For example, in 2010, the ACA was enacted in the United States. The ACA includes measures that have significantly changed, and are expected to continue to significantly change, the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers. Among the provisions of the ACA of greatest importance to the pharmaceutical industry are that the ACA:
• made several changes to the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, including increasing pharmaceutical manufacturers’ rebate liability by raising the minimum basic Medicaid rebate on most branded prescription drugs and adding a new rebate calculation for “line extensions” (i.e., new formulations, such as extended release formulations) of solid oral dosage forms of branded products.
• imposed a requirement on manufacturers of branded drugs to provide a 70% point-of-sale discount off the negotiated price of branded drugs dispensed to Medicare Part D beneficiaries in the coverage gap discount program as a condition for a manufacturer’s outpatient drugs being covered under Medicare Part D.
• extended a manufacturer’s Medicaid rebate liability to covered drugs dispensed to individuals who are enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations.
• expanded the entities eligible for discounts under the 340B Drug Discount Program.
• imposed an annual, nondeductible fee on any entity that manufactures or imports certain branded prescription drugs.
• established a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to oversee, identify priorities in, and conduct comparative clinical effectiveness research, along with funding for such research. The research conducted by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute may affect the market for certain pharmaceutical products. The ACA established the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation within CMS to test innovative payment and service delivery models to lower Medicare and Medicaid spending, potentially including prescription drug spending.
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In addition, other legislative and regulatory changes have also been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted:
• On August 2, 2011, the U.S. Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, included aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year. These reductions went into effect on April 1, 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments to the statute, will remain in effect through 2031.
• On January 2, 2013, the U.S. American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several types of providers and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years.
• On April 13, 2017, CMS published a final rule that gives states greater flexibility in setting benchmarks for insurers in the individual and small group marketplaces, which may have the effect of relaxing the essential health benefits required under the ACA for plans sold through such marketplaces.
• On May 23, 2019, CMS published a final rule to allow Medicare Advantage Plans the option of using step therapy for Part B drugs beginning January 1, 2020.
• On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law, which eliminates the statutory Medicaid drug rebate cap, currently set at 100% of a drug’s average manufacturer price, for single source and innovator multiple source drugs, beginning January 1, 2024. Due to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, estimated budget deficit increases resulting from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and subsequent legislation, Medicare payments to providers will be further reduced starting in 2025 absent further legislation. These laws and regulations may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and otherwise affect the prices we may obtain for any of our product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval or the frequency with which any such product candidate is prescribed or used.
• In August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) was signed into law. The IRA includes several provisions that will impact our business to varying degrees, including provisions that reduce the out-of-pocket cap for Medicare Part D beneficiaries to $2,000 starting in 2025; impose new manufacturer financial liability on certain drugs in Medicare Part D, allow the U.S. government to negotiate Medicare Part B and Part D price caps for certain high-cost drugs and biologics without generic or biosimilar competition, require companies to pay rebates to Medicare for certain drug prices that increase faster than inflation, and delay the rebate rule that would limit the fees that pharmacy benefit managers can charge. Further under the IRA, orphan drugs are exempted from the Medicare drug price negotiation program, but only if they have one orphan designation and for which the only approved indication is for that disease or condition. If a product receives multiple orphan designations or has multiple approved indications, it will not qualify for the orphan drug exemption. The implementation of the IRA is currently subject to ongoing litigation challenging the constitutionality of the IRA’s Medicare drug price negotiation program. The effects of the IRA on our business and the healthcare industry in general is not yet known.
Additionally, there has been increasing legislative and enforcement interest in the United States with respect to drug pricing practices. Specifically, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several U.S. Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to drug pricing, reduce the cost of prescription drugs under Medicare, and review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs. President Biden has also issued multiple executive orders that have sought to reduce prescription drug costs. In February 2023, HHS also issued a proposal in response to an October 2022 executive order from President Biden that includes a proposed prescription drug pricing model that will test whether targeted Medicare payment adjustments will sufficiently incentivize manufacturers to complete confirmatory trials for drugs approved through FDA’s accelerated approval pathway. A number of these and other proposed measures may change or be repealed by the current administration and it is possible that new legislation may be introduced. We expect that additional U.S. federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that the U.S. Federal Government will pay for healthcare drugs and services, which could result in reduced demand for our drug candidates or additional pricing pressures.
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We expect that additional U.S. federal healthcare reform measures will be adopted in the future, any of which could limit the amounts that the U.S. Federal Government will pay for healthcare drugs and services, which could result in reduced demand for our drug candidates or additional pricing pressures.
Individual states in the United States have also become increasingly active in passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain drug access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Legally mandated price controls on payment amounts by third-party payors or other restrictions could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, regional healthcare authorities and individual hospitals are increasingly using bidding procedures to determine what pharmaceutical products and which suppliers will be included in their prescription drug and other healthcare programs. This could reduce the ultimate demand for our drugs or put pressure on our drug pricing, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We cannot predict what healthcare reform initiatives may be adopted in the future, especially given the recent change in administration. Further federal, state and foreign legislative and regulatory developments are likely, and we expect ongoing initiatives to increase pressure on drug pricing. Such reforms could have an adverse effect on anticipated revenues from product candidates and may affect our overall financial condition and ability to develop product candidates.
Packaging and Distribution in the United States
If our approved products are made available to authorized users of the Federal Supply Schedule of the General Services Administration, additional laws and requirements apply. Products must meet applicable child-resistant packaging requirements under the U.S. Poison Prevention Packaging Act. Manufacturing, sales, promotion and other activities also are potentially subject to federal and state consumer protection and unfair competition laws.
The distribution of pharmaceutical products is subject to additional requirements and regulations, including extensive record-keeping, licensing, storage and security requirements intended to prevent the unauthorized sale of pharmaceutical products.
The failure to comply with any of these laws or regulatory requirements subjects firms to possible legal or regulatory action. Depending on the circumstances, failure to meet applicable regulatory requirements can result in criminal prosecution, fines or other penalties, injunctions, exclusion from federal healthcare programs, requests for recall, seizure of products, total or partial suspension of production, denial or withdrawal of product approvals, or refusal to allow a firm to enter into supply contracts, including government contracts. Any action against us for violation of these laws, even if we successfully defend against it, could cause us to incur significant legal expenses and divert our management’s attention from the operation of our business. Prohibitions or restrictions on sales or withdrawal of future products marketed by us could materially affect our business in an adverse way.
Changes in regulations, statutes or the interpretation of existing regulations could impact our business in the future by requiring, for example: (i) changes to our manufacturing arrangements; (ii) additions or modifications to product labeling; (iii) the recall or discontinuation of our potential products; or (iv) additional record-keeping requirements. If any such changes were to be imposed, they could adversely affect the operation of our business.
Other U.S. Environmental, Health and Safety Laws and Regulations
We may be subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes. From time to time and in the future, our operations may involve the use of hazardous and flammable materials, including chemicals and biological materials, and may also produce hazardous waste products. Even if we contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and waste products, we cannot completely eliminate the risk of contamination or injury resulting from these materials. In the event of contamination or injury resulting from the use or disposal of our hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources. We also could incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties for failure to comply with such laws and regulations.
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We maintain workers’ compensation insurance to cover us for costs and expenses we may incur due to injuries to our employees, but this insurance may not provide adequate coverage against potential liabilities. However, we do not maintain insurance for environmental liability or toxic tort claims that may be asserted against us.
In addition, we may incur substantial costs in order to comply with current or future environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. Current or future environmental laws and regulations may impair our research, development or production efforts. In addition, failure to comply with these laws and regulations may result in substantial fines, penalties or other sanctions.
U.S. Patent Term Extension and Marketing Exclusivity
Depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of FDA approval of a drug or biologic, some U.S. patents may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, commonly referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Act. The Hatch-Waxman Act permits extension of a patent term of up to five years beyond the normal expiration date of the patent as compensation for patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. Patent term extension, however, cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the product’s approval date and only those claims covering such approved drug product, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. 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. The USPTO, in consultation with the FDA, reviews and approves the application for any patent term extension. An NDA or BLA applicant may apply for extension of patent term for its currently owned or licensed patents to add patent life beyond its current expiration date, depending on the expected length of the clinical trials and other factors involved in the filing of the relevant NDA or BLA.
Marketing exclusivity provisions under the FDCA also can 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 the first applicant to gain approval of an NDA for a new chemical entity. A drug is a new chemical entity if the FDA has not previously approved any other new drug containing the same active moiety, which 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 ANDA, or a 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. However, an application may be submitted after four years if it contains a certification of patent invalidity or non-infringement. The FDCA also provides three years of marketing exclusivity for an NDA, 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, for example, new indications, dosages or strengths of an existing drug. This three-year exclusivity covers only the conditions of use associated with the new clinical investigations and does not prohibit the FDA from approving ANDAs for drugs containing the original active agent. Five-year and three-year exclusivity will not delay the submission or approval of a full NDA. However, an applicant submitting a full NDA would be required to conduct or obtain a right of reference to all of the preclinical studies and adequate and well-controlled clinical trials necessary to demonstrate safety and effectiveness.
European Union Drug Development
In the European Union (“EU”), our future products also may be subject to extensive regulatory requirements. As in the United States, medicinal products can be marketed only if a marketing authorization from the competent regulatory agencies has been obtained.
Similar to the United States, the various phases of preclinical and clinical research in the European Union are subject to significant regulatory controls.
In April 2014, the EU adopted the new Clinical Trials Regulation (EU) No 536/2014 (“EU Clinical Trials Regulation”), which replaced the Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC on January 31, 2022. The transitory provisions of the new EU Clinical Trials Regulation provided that, by January 31, 2025, all ongoing clinical trials must have transitioned to the new EU Clinical Trials Regulation.
The EU Clinical Trials Regulation overhauled the previous system of approvals for clinical trials in the EU. Specifically, the EU Clinical Trials Regulation, which is directly applicable in all Member States (meaning no national implementing legislation in each EU Member State is required), aims at simplifying and streamlining the approval of clinical trials in the EU. For instance, it provides for a streamlined application procedure via a single
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entry point (through the Clinical Trials Information Systems) and strictly defined deadlines for the assessment of clinical trial applications. Compliance with the more complex procedural requirements of the EU Clinical Trials Regulation could result in some delay in the initiation of clinical trials.
European Union Drug Review and Approval
In the EU, medicinal products can only be commercialized after obtaining a marketing authorization (“MA”). There are two types of MAs.
• The centralized MA is issued by the European Commission through the centralized procedure, based on the opinion of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (“CHMP’) of the EMA, and is valid throughout the entire territory of the EU, and in the additional Member States of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). The centralized procedure is mandatory for certain types of products, including medicines produced by biotechnological processes, products designated as orphan medicinal products, advanced-therapy medicinal products (gene-therapy, somatic cell-therapy or tissue-engineered medicines) and medicinal products containing a new active substance indicated for the treatment of HIV, AIDS, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, auto-immune and other immune dysfunctions and viral diseases. The centralized procedure is optional for products containing a new active substance not yet authorized in the EU, or for products that constitute a significant therapeutic, scientific or technical innovation or which are in the interest of public health in the EU.
• Under the centralized procedure, the CHMP is responsible for conducting the initial assessment of a product and for several post-authorization and maintenance activities, such as the assessment of modifications or extensions to an existing MA. Under the centralized procedure in the EU, the maximum timeframe for the evaluation of a marketing authorization application (“MAA”) by the EMA is 210 days, excluding clock stops, when additional written or oral information is to be provided by the applicant in response to questions asked by the CHMP. Clock stops may extend the timeframe of evaluation of an MAA considerably beyond 210 days. Where the CHMP gives a positive opinion, it provides the opinion together with supporting documentation to the European Commission, who makes the final decision to grant an MA, which is issued within 67 days of receipt of the EMA’s recommendation. Accelerated assessment might be granted by the CHMP in exceptional cases, when a medicinal product is expected to be of major public health interest, particularly from the point of view of therapeutic innovation. If the CHMP accepts such request, the time limit of 210 days will be reduced to 150 days, excluding clock stops, but it is possible that the CHMP may revert to the standard time limit for the centralized procedure if it determines that the application is no longer appropriate to conduct an accelerated assessment.
• National MAs, which are issued by the competent authorities of the Member States of the EU and only cover their respective territory, are available for products not falling within the mandatory scope of the centralized procedure. Where a product has already been authorized for marketing in a Member State of the EU, this national MA can be recognized in another Member State through the mutual recognition procedure. If the product has not received a national MA in any Member State at the time of application, it can be approved simultaneously in various Member States through the decentralized procedure. Under the decentralized procedure an identical dossier is submitted to the competent authorities of each of the Member States in which the MA is sought, one of which is selected by the applicant as the Reference Member State (“RMS”). The competent authority of the RMS prepares a draft assessment report, a draft summary of the product characteristics (“SmPC”), and a draft of the labeling and package leaflet, which are sent to the other Member States (referred to as the Concerned Member States) for their approval. If the Concerned Member States raise no objections, based on a potential serious risk to public health, to the assessment, SmPC, labeling, or packaging proposed by the RMS, the product is subsequently granted a national MA in all the Member States (i.e., in the RMS and the Concerned Member States).
Under the above described procedures, before granting the MA, the EMA or the competent authorities of the Member States of the EU make an assessment of the risk-benefit balance of the product on the basis of scientific criteria concerning its quality, safety and efficacy.
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European Union New Chemical Entity Exclusivity
In the EU, innovative medicinal products approved on the basis of a complete and independent data package qualify for eight years of data exclusivity upon marketing authorization and an additional two years of market exclusivity. The data exclusivity, if granted, prevents generic or biosimilar applicants from referencing the innovator’s preclinical and clinical trial data contained in the dossier of the reference product when applying for a generic or biosimilar MA in the EU, during a period of eight years from the date on which the reference product was first authorized in the EU. During the additional two-year period of market exclusivity, a generic or biosimilar MAA can be submitted, and the innovator’s data may be referenced, but no generic or biosimilar product can be placed on the EU market until the expiration of the market exclusivity. The overall ten-year period will be extended to a maximum of 11 years if, during the first eight years of those ten years, the marketing authorization holder obtains an authorization for one or more new therapeutic indications which, during the scientific evaluation prior to their authorization, are determined to bring a significant clinical benefit in comparison with currently approved therapies. There is no guarantee that a product will be considered by the EMA to be an innovative medicinal product, and products may not qualify for data exclusivity. Even if a product is considered to be an innovative medicinal product so that the innovator gains the prescribed period of data exclusivity, however, another company could nevertheless also market another version of the product if such company obtained an MA based on an MAA with a complete and independent data package of pharmaceutical tests, preclinical tests and clinical trials.
European Union Orphan Designation and Exclusivity
In the EU, the European Commission (upon recommendation of the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products) may grant an orphan designation in respect of a product if its sponsor can establish that: (1) the product is intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition; (2) either (i) such condition affects no more than five in 10,000 persons in the EU when the application is made, or (ii) it is unlikely that the product, without the benefits derived from orphan status, would generate sufficient return in the EU to justify the necessary investment in its development; and (3) there must be no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment of such condition authorized for marketing in the EU, or, if such a method exists, the product would be of significant benefit to those affected by that condition.
In the EU, orphan designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as reduction of fees or fee waivers and ten years of market exclusivity is granted following grant of a marketing authorization. During this market exclusivity period, neither the EMA nor the European Commission nor any of the competent authorities in the EU Members States can accept an application or grant a marketing authorization for a “similar medicinal product.” A “similar medicinal product” is defined as a medicinal product containing a similar active substance or substances as contained in an authorized orphan medicinal product, and which is intended for the same therapeutic indication. This period may be reduced to six years if the orphan designation criteria are no longer met, including where it is shown that the product is sufficiently profitable not to justify maintenance of market exclusivity. Market exclusivity may also be revoked in very select cases, such as if (i) it is established that a similar medicinal product is safer, more effective or otherwise clinically superior to the authorized product; (ii) the marketing authorization holder for the authorized orphan product consents to such revocation; or (iii) the marketing authorization holder for the authorized orphan product cannot supply enough orphan medicinal product. Orphan designation must be requested before submitting an application for marketing approval. Orphan designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process. Furthermore, when applying for a marketing authorization for an orphan medicinal product, the applicant is required to submit a report justifying the maintenance of the orphan designation, which the EMA will assess in parallel with assessing the application for marketing authorization. There is a risk that any orphan designation granted for our products will not be maintained upon granting of a marketing authorization and that our products will therefore not receive the market exclusivity granted to orphan medicinal products.
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European Pediatric Investigation Plan
In the EU, MAAs for new medicinal products have to include the results of studies conducted in the pediatric population, in compliance with a pediatric investigation plan (“PIP”) agreed with the EMA’s Pediatric Committee (“PDCO”) unless the EMA has granted a product-specific waiver, a class waiver, or a deferral for one or more of the measures included in the PIP. This requirement also applies when a company wants to add a new indication, pharmaceutical form or route of administration for a medicine that is already authorized. The PIP sets out the timing and measures proposed to generate data to support a pediatric indication of the drug for which marketing authorization is being sought. The PDCO can grant a deferral of the obligation to implement some or all of the measures of the PIP until there are sufficient data to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of the product in adults. Further, the obligation to provide pediatric clinical trial data can be waived by the PDCO when this data is not needed or appropriate because the product is likely to be ineffective or unsafe in children, the disease or condition for which the product is intended occurs only in adult populations, or when the product does not represent a significant therapeutic benefit over existing treatments for pediatric patients. If an MA is obtained and trial results are included in the product information, even when negative, the product is eligible for six months’ supplementary protection certificate extension. In the case of orphan medicinal products, a two year extension of the orphan market exclusivity may be available. This pediatric reward is subject to specific conditions and is not automatically available when data in compliance with the PIP are developed and submitted.
Regulatory Requirements After a Marketing Authorization has been Obtained
If authorization for a medicinal product in the EU is obtained, the holder of the MA is required to comply with a range of requirements applicable to the manufacturing, marketing, promotion, and sale of medicinal products. These include:
• Compliance with the EU’s stringent pharmacovigilance or safety reporting rules must be ensured. These rules can impose post-authorization studies and additional monitoring obligations.
• The manufacturing of authorized medicinal products, for which a separate manufacturer’s license is mandatory, must also be conducted in strict compliance with the applicable EU laws, regulations and guidance, including Directive 2001/83/EC, Directive 2017/1572, Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 and the European Commission Guidelines for Good Manufacturing Practice. These requirements include compliance with EU cGMP standards when manufacturing medicinal products and active pharmaceutical ingredients, including the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients outside of the EU with the intention to import the active pharmaceutical ingredients into the EU.
• We are a party to and may from time to time enter into additional agreements with commercial partners to supply our partner with API and bulk or finished drug product for their commercial sales of our product in a licensed territory. In connection with this supply of product, we must comply with any applicable regulations for the purchase, distribution, storage, exporting and sale of API and medicinal products in the licensed territory. For example in June 2024, our wholly-owned subsidiary BridgeBio Europe B.V. (“BridgeBio BV”), which is domiciled in the Netherlands, entered into the Bayer Supply Agreement for which BridgeBio BV has agreed to manufacture and supply to Bayer our commercial product Beyonttra to sell in the EU. To support our obligations under the Bayer Supply Agreement, we have also entered into a commercial manufacturing agreement with a third-party CMO in Germany to manufacture and package the final drug product Beyonttra. We are required to obtain the necessary registration or authorization from the relevant EU authority in order to import the API into the EU, deliver it to our German CMO, and have the final drug product for Beyonttra supplied to Bayer, as well as to export drug product or finished product. Under applicable EU and Dutch regulations, this requires BridgeBio BV to obtain a registration for activities related to API (“API Registration”) and an authorization for wholesale distribution of medicinal products (“WDA”). In order to receive the API Registration and the WDA, we must pass an inspection.
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• Much like the Anti-Kickback Statue prohibition in the United States, the provision of benefits or advantages to physicians to induce or encourage the prescription, recommendation, endorsement, purchase, supply, order or use of medicinal products is also prohibited in the European Union. The provision of benefits or advantages to induce or reward improper performance generally is governed by the national anti-bribery laws of the European Union Member States, and the Bribery Act 2010 in the UK. Infringement of these laws could result in substantial fines and imprisonment. EU Directive 2001/83/EC, which is the EU Directive governing medicinal products for human use, further provides that, where medicinal products are being promoted to persons qualified to prescribe or supply them, no gifts, pecuniary advantages or benefits in kind may be supplied, offered or promised to such persons unless they are inexpensive and relevant to the practice of medicine or pharmacy. This provision has been transposed into the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 and so remains applicable in the UK despite its departure from the EU. Payments made to physicians in certain EU Member States must be publicly disclosed. Moreover, agreements with physicians often must be the subject of prior notification and approval by the physician’s employer, his or her competent professional organization and/or the regulatory authorities of the individual EU Member States. These requirements are provided in the national laws, industry codes or professional codes of conduct, applicable in the EU Member States. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in reputational risk, public reprimands, administrative penalties, fines or imprisonment.
The aforementioned EU rules are generally applicable in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) which consists of the EU Member States, plus Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland.
Reform of the Regulatory Framework in the EU
The European Commission introduced legislative proposals in April 2023 that, if implemented, will replace the current regulatory framework in the EU for all medicines (including those for rare diseases and for children). The European Commission has provided the legislative proposals to the European Parliament and the European Council for their review and approval, and, in April 2024, the European Parliament proposed amendments to the legislative proposals. Once the European Commission’s legislative proposals are approved (with or without amendment), they will be adopted into EU law.
Brexit and the Regulatory Framework in the United Kingdom (UK)
The UK formally left the EU on January 31, 2020, and the EU and the UK have concluded a trade and cooperation agreement (a “TCA”), which was provisionally applicable since January 1, 2021 and has been formally applicable since May 1, 2021. The TCA includes specific provisions concerning pharmaceuticals, which include the mutual recognition of GMP, inspections of manufacturing facilities for medicinal products and GMP documents issued, but does not provide for wholesale mutual recognition of UK and EU pharmaceutical regulations.
At present, EU laws which have been transposed into UK law through secondary legislation continue to be applicable as “retained EU law”. However, new EU legislation, such as the EU Clinical Trials Regulation, is not applicable. The UK government has passed the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021, which introduced delegated powers in favor of the Secretary of State (or for Northern Ireland, the Department of Health in Northern Ireland) to amend or supplement existing regulations in the area of medicinal products and medical devices. This allows new rules to be introduced in the future by way of secondary legislation, which aims to allow flexibility in addressing regulatory gaps and future changes in the fields of human medicines, clinical trials and medical devices.
As a result of the Northern Ireland protocol, following Brexit, the EMA remained responsible for approving novel medicines for supply in Northern Ireland under the EU centralized procedure, and a separate authorization was required to supply the same medicine in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). However, on February 27, 2023, the UK government and the European Commission announced a political agreement in principle to replace the Northern Ireland Protocol with a new set of arrangements, known as the “Windsor Framework”. This new framework fundamentally changes the existing system under the Northern Ireland Protocol, including with respect to the regulation of medicinal products in the UK. In particular, the MHRA is now responsible for approving all medicinal products destined for the UK market (i.e., Great Britain and Northern Ireland), and the EMA will no longer have any role in approving medicinal products destined for Northern Ireland under the EU centralized procedure. A single UK-wide marketing authorization will be granted by the MHRA for all novel medicinal products to be sold in the UK, enabling products to be sold in a single pack and under a single authorization
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throughout the UK. In addition, the new arrangements require all medicines placed on the UK market to be labelled “UK only”, indicating they are not for sale in the EU. The medicinal product aspects of the Windsor Framework have applied since January 1, 2025.
The MHRA has also introduced changes to national licensing procedures, including procedures to prioritize access to new medicines that will benefit patients, including a 150-day assessment and a rolling review procedure. On January 1, 2024, a new international recognition framework was put in place, under which the MHRA may have regard to decisions on the approval of marketing authorizations made by the European Medicines Agency and certain other regulators (including the FDA) when determining an application for a UK authorization. The MHRA also has the power to have regard to marketing authorizations approved in EU Member States (or Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) through decentralized or mutual recognition procedures when determining an application for a UK authorization.
EU and UK Data Collection
The collection and processing of personal data (including health data) in the European Economic Area (EEA) is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (“EU GDPR”). Similarly, the collection and use of personal data (including health data) in the UK is governed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018, collectively the UK GDPR, and together with the EU GDPR, “GDPR”. Currently, the EU GDPR and UK GDPR remain largely aligned. The GDPR applies to any company established in the EEA/UK and to companies established outside the EEA that process personal data in connection with the offering of goods or services to data subjects in the EEA or the monitoring of the behavior of data subjects in the EEA. The GDPR imposes numerous stringent requirements on companies that process personal data, including requirements relating to processing of special categories of personal data (such as health and data), relying on a legal basis or condition for processing personal data, if required obtaining consent of data subjects, providing detailed information to data subjects about how personal data is used, conducting privacy impact assessments for “high risk” processing, implementing safeguards to protect the security and confidentiality of personal data, implementing limitations on the retention of personal data, providing mandatory data breach notification, implementing “privacy by design” requirements, and taking certain measures when engaging service providers acting as data processors. The GDPR also imposes strict rules on the transfer of personal data outside of the EEA/UK to countries that do not ensure an adequate level of protection, like the United States in certain circumstances unless derogation exists or a valid GDPR transfer mechanism (for example, the European Commission approved Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”), and the UK International Data Transfer Agreement/Addendum, or UK IDTA) have been put in place. Where relying on the SCCs /UK IDTA for data transfers, we may also be required to carry out transfer impact assessments to assess whether the recipient is subject to local laws which allow public authority access to personal data. Failure to comply with the requirements of the GDPR and the related national data protection laws of the EEA Member States may result in fines up to €20 million (or £17.5 million in the UK) or 4% of a company’s global annual revenues for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher. Moreover, the GDPR grants data subjects and consumer associations the right to claim material and non-material damages resulting from infringement of the GDPR. Although the UK is regarded as a third country under the European Union’s GDPR, the European Commission has now issued a decision recognizing the UK as providing adequate protection under the EU GDPR and, therefore, transfers of personal data originating in the EU to the UK remain unrestricted.
The UK Government has introduced a Data Protection and Digital Information Bill to reform the UK data protection legal framework which failed in the UK legislative process . A new Data (Use and Access) Bill (“UK Bill”) has been introduced into parliament. If passed, the final version of the UK Bill may have the effect of further altering the similarities between the UK and EEA data protection regime and threaten the UK Adequacy Decision from the European Commission. Further, this may lead to additional compliance costs and could increase our overall risk.
Rest of the World Regulation
For other countries outside of the European Union and the United States, such as countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America or Asia, the requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials, product licensing, pricing and reimbursement vary from country to country. Additionally, the clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with GCP requirements and the applicable regulatory requirements and the ethical principles that have their origin in the Declaration of Helsinki.
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If we fail to comply with applicable foreign regulatory requirements, we may be subject to, among other things, fines, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, product recalls, seizure of products, operating restrictions and criminal prosecution.
Additional Laws and Regulations Governing International Operations
If we further expand our operations outside of the United States, we must dedicate additional resources to comply with numerous laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we plan to operate. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) prohibits any U.S. individual or business from paying, offering, authorizing payment or offering of anything of value, directly or indirectly, to any foreign official, political party or candidate for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of the foreign entity in order to assist the individual or business in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA also obligates companies whose securities are listed in the United States to comply with certain accounting provisions requiring the company to maintain books and records that accurately and fairly reflect all transactions of the corporation, including international subsidiaries, and to devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls for international operations.
Compliance with the FCPA is expensive and difficult, particularly in countries in which corruption is a recognized problem. In addition, the FCPA presents particular challenges in the pharmaceutical industry, because, in many countries, hospitals are operated by the government, and doctors and other hospital employees are considered foreign officials. Certain payments to hospitals in connection with clinical trials and other work have been deemed to be improper payments to government officials and have led to FCPA enforcement actions.
Various laws, regulations and executive orders also restrict the use and dissemination outside of the United States, or the sharing with certain non-U.S. nationals, of information classified for national security purposes, as well as certain products and technical data relating to those products. If we expand our presence outside of the United States, it will require us to dedicate additional resources to comply with these laws, and these laws may preclude us from developing, manufacturing, or selling certain product candidates outside of the United States, which could limit our growth potential and increase our development costs.
The failure to comply with laws governing international business practices may result in substantial civil and criminal penalties and suspension or debarment from government contracting. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), also may suspend or bar issuers from trading securities on U.S. exchanges for violations of the FCPA’s accounting provisions.
Coverage and Reimbursement
Successful commercialization of new drug products depends in part on the extent to which reimbursement for those drug products will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers, and other organizations. In the United States and markets in other countries, patients generally rely on third-party payors to reimburse all or part of the costs associated with their treatment. Adequate coverage and reimbursement from governmental healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and commercial payors is critical to new product acceptance. Our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement for these products and related treatments will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers and other organizations. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow us to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realize a sufficient return on our investment. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which drug products they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. The availability and extent of reimbursement by governmental and private payors is essential for most patients to be able to afford a drug product. Sales of drug products depend substantially, both domestically and abroad, on the extent to which the costs of drugs products are paid for by health maintenance, managed care, pharmacy benefit and similar healthcare management organizations, or reimbursed by government health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third-party payors.
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A primary trend in the U.S. healthcare industry and elsewhere is cost containment. Government authorities and third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular drug products. In many countries, the prices of drug products are subject to varying price control mechanisms as part of national health systems. In general, the prices of drug products under such systems are substantially lower than in the United States. Other countries allow companies to fix their own prices for drug products, but monitor and control company profits. Accordingly, in markets outside the United States, the reimbursement for drug products may be reduced compared with the United States.
T here is also significant uncertainty related to the insurance coverage and reimbursement of newly approved products and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the medicine is approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. In the United States, the principal decisions about reimbursement for new drug products are typically made by CMS, an agency within the HHS. CMS decides whether and to what extent a new drug product will be covered and reimbursed under Medicare, and private payors tend to follow CMS to a substantial degree. However, no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for drug products exists among third-party payors and coverage and reimbursement levels for drug products can differ significantly from payor to payor. Factors payors consider in determining reimbursement are based on whether the product is:
• a covered benefit under its health plan;
• safe, effective and medically necessary;
• appropriate for the specific patient;
• cost-effective; and
• neither experimental nor investigational.
Third-party payors may 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. Also, third-party payors may refuse to include a particular branded drug on their formularies or otherwise restrict patient access to a branded drug when a less costly generic equivalent or another alternative is available. Net prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs or private payors 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. Third-party payors are increasingly challenging the prices charged for medical products and services, examining the medical necessity, and reviewing the cost-effectiveness of medical products and services and imposing controls to manage costs. We cannot be sure that reimbursement will be available for any product candidate that we commercialize and, if reimbursement is available, the level of reimbursement. In addition, many pharmaceutical manufacturers must calculate and report certain price reporting metrics to the government, such as average sales price (“ASP”) and best price. Penalties may apply in some cases when such metrics are not submitted accurately and timely. Further, these prices for drugs may be reduced by mandatory discounts or rebates required by government healthcare programs.
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (“MMA”) established the Medicare Part D program to provide a voluntary prescription drug benefit to Medicare beneficiaries. Under Part D, Medicare beneficiaries may enroll in prescription drug plans offered by private entities that provide coverage of outpatient prescription drugs. Unlike Medicare Parts A and B, Part D coverage is not standardized. Part D prescription drug plan sponsors are not required to pay for all covered Part D drugs, and each drug plan can develop its own drug formulary that identifies which drugs it will cover and at what tier or level. While all Medicare drug plans must give at least a standard level of coverage set by Medicare, Part D prescription drug plan sponsors are not required to pay for all covered Part D drugs, and each drug plan can develop its own drug formulary that identifies which drugs it will cover and at what tier or level. However, Part D prescription drug formularies must include drugs within each therapeutic category and class of covered Part D drugs, though not necessarily all the drugs in each category or class. Any formulary used by a Part D prescription drug plan must be developed and reviewed by a pharmacy and therapeutic committee. Government payment for some of the costs of prescription drugs may increase demand for drugs for which we obtain marketing approval. Any negotiated prices for any of our future products covered by a Part D prescription drug plan will likely be lower than the prices we might otherwise obtain. Moreover, while the MMA applies only to drug benefits for Medicare beneficiaries, private payors often follow Medicare coverage policy and payment limitations in setting their own payment rates. Any reduction in payment that results from the MMA may result in a similar reduction in payments from non-governmental payors.
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For a drug product to receive federal reimbursement under the Medicaid or Medicare Part B programs or to be sold directly to U.S. government agencies, the manufacturer must extend discounts to entities eligible to participate in the 340B drug pricing program. The required 340B discount on a given product is calculated based on the average manufacturer price (“AMP”) and Medicaid rebate amounts reported by the manufacturer. As of 2010, the ACA expanded the types of entities eligible to receive discounted 340B pricing, although under the current state of the law these newly eligible entities (with the exception of children’s hospitals) will not be eligible to receive discounted 340B pricing on orphan drugs. As 340B drug pricing is determined based on AMP and Medicaid rebate data, the revisions to the Medicaid rebate formula and AMP definition described above could cause the required 340B discount to increase.
These laws, and future state and federal healthcare reform measures may be adopted in the future, and may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding and otherwise affect the prices we may obtain for any product candidates for which we may obtain regulatory approval or the frequency with which any such product candidate is prescribed or used. If third-party payors do not consider our drugs to be cost-effective compared to other available therapies, they may not cover our drugs after approval as a benefit under their plans or, if they do, the level of payment may not be sufficient to allow us to sell our drugs on a profitable basis.
Outside of the United States, the pricing of pharmaceutical products and medical devices is subject to governmental control in many countries. For example, in the European Union, pricing and reimbursement schemes vary widely from country to country. Some Member States provide that products may be marketed only after the proposed pricing has been approved. Some Member States may require the completion of additional studies that compare the cost effectiveness of a particular therapy to currently available therapies or so-called health technology assessments, in order to obtain reimbursement or pricing approval. A Member State may approve a specific price for the medicinal product or it may instead adopt a system of direct or indirect controls on the profitability of the company placing the medicinal product on the market. Member States may allow companies to fix their own prices for products, but monitor and control product volumes and issue guidance to physicians to limit prescriptions. Efforts to control prices and utilization of pharmaceutical products and medical devices will likely continue as countries attempt to manage healthcare expenditures. There can be no assurance that any country that has price controls or reimbursement limitations for pharmaceutical products will allow favorable reimbursement and pricing arrangements for any of our product candidates. Historically, products launched in the European Union do not follow price structures of the U.S. and generally prices tend to be significantly lower.
Human Capital Management
Our human capital philosophy relies on attracting and retaining team members who consistently demonstrate top performance. Our culture and our approach to talent reinforces this philosophy, including recruiting, professional development, performance management and total rewards. We have provided below additional details on some of our core human resources processes.
As of December 31, 2024, we had 725 full-time employees and 5 part-time employees. Of these, 391 focus on driving forward research and development programs and 202 focus on our commercialization efforts, either directly or through our affiliates, and 137 work across our affiliates to provide strategic business development, finance and executive leadership expertise, as well as general and administrative services generally across our affiliates. We have never had a work stoppage, and none of our employees is represented by a labor organization or under any collective-bargaining arrangements. We consider our employee relations to be good.
Recruiting
We have a dedicated talent acquisition capability to support our affiliates in hiring the right talent at the right time. Our team of experienced talent acquisition professionals works closely with hiring managers to understand the required skills and capabilities for an open role, and then supports the interview process and evaluation of candidates. We strive to hire top talent, and therefore need a high-quality recruiting process and candidate experience. We endeavor to fill every role with the most qualified candidate possible, which sometimes requires partnership with an external recruitment agency. We are consistently looking at new opportunities and avenues to recruit talented individuals to work at BridgeBio.
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The talent acquisition team’s focus in 2025 is to meet the hiring needs across BridgeBio and our affiliates. We recognize that our current and potential future team members have options for employment opportunities, including with other biotech and pharma companies, research and academic institutions, government entities, and consulting and investment firms. To attract and retain top performing team members, we focus on creating an environment that allows for autonomy, professional growth, and impact while also offering a competitive total rewards package.
Professional Development and Performance Management
We invest in the professional development of our team members through regular feedback and guidance, as well as targeted learning and development opportunities to meet demonstrated needs. We established a set of five core attributes that we expect every BridgeBio team member to demonstrate while performing in their roles: Patient Champion, Entrepreneurial Operator, Truth Seeker, Inspires Excellence and High-Quality Executor.
BridgeBio conducts semi-annual performance review processes for all team members to evaluate performance and provide feedback against these attributes. The feedback focuses on strengths and opportunities for improvement to enable the professional development of all team members. At the end of the year, the performance review includes self, peer, and manager feedback and also includes a formal rating and informs compensation decisions, including performance bonus, salary adjustments, and promotions.
Core Values and Ethics
Millions worldwide are afflicted with genetic diseases, but small patient populations and industry reluctance to conduct early-stage development means that for many, treatments have not been forthcoming. We are committed to bridging this gap: between business case and scientific possibility, between patient and hope. This starts with our first core value: to put patients first . We also strive to think independently . Our goal is to not simply accept the ideas and opinions of others as fact, but instead to ask “why?” and “why not?” We endeavor to bring a rigorous, first-principles mindset to each problem that we take on. We encourage all our team members to speak up when they have an idea or feedback to share, taking pride in a culture that is radically transparent when it comes to debating ideas. A commitment to independent thinking requires us to consider the ideas of others and to adopt them if they prove best. We strive to maintain a culture where any idea is worthy of both consideration and testing. We know that every minute counts . Our decentralized model strives to deliver treatments from discovery to patients as fast as humanly possible by utilizing focused teams of experts for each asset. Big decisions can be taken by people best-equipped to understand them, without wasting time on unnecessary cycles. And we let Science speak . Our model was designed to promote the rational assessment of our programs. Decisions about a program’s fate are driven by its performance against a set of objective criteria, giving each potential medicine’s scientific merits the last word. All employees are responsible for upholding these values and the BridgeBio Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which forms the foundation of our policies and practices.
Total Rewards
To attract and retain top talent, we offer a competitive total rewards package. We target total direct compensation at the upper end of market. We link a portion of every employee’s compensation to performance through a performance bonus program. To create a sense of ownership and align employee incentives with our long-term success, we offer eligible employees equity ownership in the company through stock option or restricted stock unit grants and our employee stock purchase plan. We also designed a program to incentivize affiliate-level employees to achieve specific milestones at core value-inflection points, such as IND or NDA approval.
We focus our benefits offering on areas critical to keeping our employees and their immediate families healthy and productive. We offer physical and mental health benefits to all employees who work at least 30 hours per week, on average. We have a flexible paid time off policy to empower team members to take the time they need, when they need it.
Community
We believe that building a strong sense of community at BridgeBio is critical to our success. Team members can only live up to our values of thinking independently, letting science speak, and being radically transparent when they feel a sense of belonging. This is also important to our ability to bring together team members from diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to promote unique voices within and outside our organization, and are eager to learn from others’ experiences.
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To build community, we make targeted investments at the BridgeBio level. We offer a robust onboarding program for each new hire to ensure they understand the BridgeBio history and culture and are set up for success in their roles. We work closely with people managers to ensure they understand the expectations for the critical role of leading teams. Understanding that communications is essential for a community to thrive, we have regular Town Halls to update the organization on important progress across our scientific and clinical programs. In addition to these large gatherings, we have implemented a number of communications tools to help employees stay informed and connected. Finally, our community is anchored by our commitment to patients, underscored by our commitment to bring the entire company together multiple times a year for Patient Days. On these impactful days, we hear stories from the people who are living with rare genetic diseases, their caregivers and advocates.
Corporate and Other Information
We were incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 2019 under the name BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. Our principal executive offices are located at 3160 Porter Drive, Suite 250, Palo Alto, CA 94304. Our telephone number is (650) 391-9740.
Our web page address is https://bridgebio.com . Our investor relations website is located at https://investor.bridgebio.com . We make available free of charge on our investor relations website under “SEC Filings” our Annual Reports on Form 10‑K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10‑Q, Current Reports on Form 8‑K, including exhibits, our directors’ and officers’ Section 16 Reports and any amendments to those reports after filing or furnishing such materials to the SEC. References to our website address do not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on the website, and the information contained on the website is not part of this document or any other document that we file with or furnish to the SEC.
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ITEM 1A. R ISK FACTORS
Our business involves significant risks, some of which are described below. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the consolidated financial statements and the related notes. If any of the following risks actually occur, it could harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition and future prospects. In such event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations. This Annual Report on Form 10-K also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of factors that are described below and elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Risks Related to Commercialization
Our business is substantially dependent on our ability to successfully commercialize Attruby TM and Beyonttra TM , and the commercial success of Attruby and Beyonttra or any other product candidates, if approved, will depend upon the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, healthcare payors, and others in the medical community.
Our business depends heavily on our ability to successfully commercialize Attruby and Beyonttra. The commercial success of Attruby and Beyonttra or our other product candidates, if approved, will depend upon their degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, third-party payors, and others in the medical community. Our product candidates, if approved, may nonetheless fail to gain sufficient market acceptance by physicians, patients, healthcare payors, and others in the medical community. The degree of market acceptance of Attruby and Beyonttra or any other of our product candidates we may develop, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including:
• the efficacy and safety of such product candidates as demonstrated in pivotal clinical trials and published in peer-reviewed journals;
• the potential and perceived advantages compared to alternative treatments, including any similar generic treatments;
• the ability to offer these products for sale at competitive prices;
• the ability to offer appropriate patient access programs, such as co-pay assistance;
• convenience and ease of dosing and administration compared to alternative treatments;
• the clinical indications for which the product candidate is approved by the FDA or comparable regulatory authorities;
• product labeling or product insert requirements of the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities, including any limitations, contraindications or warnings contained in a product’s approved labeling;
• restrictions on how the product is distributed;
• the timing of market introduction of competitive products;
• publicity concerning these products or competing products and treatments;
• the strength of marketing and distribution support;
• favorable third-party coverage and sufficient reimbursement or other assistance for patients who are uninsured or underinsured; and
• the prevalence and severity of any side effects or adverse events (“AEs”).
Sales of medical products also depend on the willingness of physicians to prescribe the treatment, which is likely to be based on a determination by these physicians that the products are safe, therapeutically effective and cost effective. In addition, the inclusion or exclusion of products from treatment guidelines established by various
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physician groups and the viewpoints of influential physicians can affect the willingness of other physicians to prescribe the treatment. We cannot predict whether physicians, physicians’ organizations, hospitals, other healthcare providers, government agencies or private insurers will determine that our products are safe, therapeutically effective and cost effective as compared with competing treatments. If any product candidates we develop do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenue, and we may not become profitable.
If our sales and marketing capabilities for Attruby and Beyonttra are not effective or we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into and maintain our agreements with third parties to sell and market Attruby and Beyonttra or any future product candidates approved for commercial sale, we may be unsuccessful in our commercial efforts.
To achieve commercial success for Attruby and Beyonttra and any other approved product for which we retain sales and marketing responsibilities, we must continue to develop a sales and marketing organization or outsource these functions to third parties. In the future, we may choose to grow our focused sales, marketing, and commercial support infrastructure to market and sell our product candidates, if and when they are approved. We may also elect to enter into collaborations or strategic partnerships with third parties to engage in commercialization activities with respect to selected product candidates, indications or geographic territories, including territories outside the United States, as we have done with Bayer in the case of Beyonttra once it was approved, although there is no guarantee we will be able to enter into similar arrangements in the future even if the intent is to do so.
There are risks involved with both establishing our own commercial capabilities and entering into arrangements with third parties to perform these services. For example, recruiting and training a sales force or reimbursement specialists is expensive and time consuming and could delay any product launch. If the commercial launch of a product candidate for which we recruit a sales force and establish marketing and other commercialization capabilities is delayed or does not occur for any reason, we would have prematurely or unnecessarily incurred these commercialization expenses. This may be costly, and our investment would be lost if we cannot retain or reposition commercialization personnel. We may also fail to obtain or maintain the necessary regulatory approvals, distribution licenses or other registrations that are required to ship an approved product to a customer or commercial partner.
Factors that may inhibit our efforts to commercialize any approved product on our own include:
• the inability to recruit and retain adequate numbers of effective sales, marketing, reimbursement, customer service, medical affairs, and other support personnel;
• the inability of sales personnel to obtain access to physicians or persuade adequate numbers of physicians to prescribe any future approved products;
• the inability of reimbursement professionals to negotiate arrangements for formulary access, reimbursement, and other acceptance by payors;
• the inability to price products at a sufficient price point to ensure an adequate and attractive level of profitability;
• manufacturing, supply chain or distribution disruptions that delay or prevent the launch of any approved products by us or a commercial partner;
• the failure to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, state licenses, wholesale distribution licenses or other registrations that are required to ship an approved product to a customer or commercial partner;
• the lack of complementary products to be offered by sales personnel, which may put us at a competitive disadvantage relative to companies with more extensive product lines; and
• unforeseen costs and expenses associated with creating an independent commercialization organization.
If we enter into arrangements with third parties to perform sales, marketing, commercial support, and distribution services, our product revenue or the profitability of product revenue may be lower than if we were to market and sell any products we may develop internally. In addition, we may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to commercialize, if approved, our product candidates or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us or them. We may have little control over such third parties, and any of them may fail
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to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our products effectively or may expose us to legal and regulatory risk by not adhering to regulatory requirements and restrictions governing the sale and promotion of prescription drug products, including those restricting off-label promotion. Even if we enter into a commercial partnership with a third party, we may have manufacturing, supply chain or distribution disruptions that delay or prevent the commercial launch of an approved product by our partner. There is also a risk that one of our commercial partners decides to terminate our agreement due to a change in its business priorities or financial condition, or due to other circumstances may no longer be able to fulfill its obligations under our agreement, which would negatively impact our ability to sell our products in certain markets and to generate revenues from product sales. If we do not continue to build on our commercialization capabilities successfully, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we will not be successful in commercializing Attruby and Beyonttra and our product candidates, if approved.
Our profitability will depend significantly on our ability to sell enough product at competitive prices and on the availability of adequate coverage and reimbursement through governmental or private third-party payors. The insurance coverage and reimbursement status of newly-approved products is uncertain. Our product candidates may become subject to unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party coverage and reimbursement practices, or healthcare reform initiatives, which would harm our business. Failure to obtain or maintain adequate coverage and reimbursement for new or current products could limit our ability to market those products and decrease our ability to generate revenue.
The regulations that govern marketing approvals, pricing, coverage, and reimbursement for new drugs vary widely from country to country. In the United States, recently enacted legislation may significantly change the approval requirements in ways that could involve additional costs and cause delays in obtaining approvals. Some countries require approval of the sale price of a drug before it can be marketed. In many countries, the pricing review period begins after marketing or product licensing approval is granted. In some foreign markets, prescription pharmaceutical pricing remains subject to continuing governmental control even after initial approval is granted. As a result, we might obtain marketing approval for a product in a particular country, but then be subject to price regulations that delay our commercial launch of the product, possibly for lengthy time periods, and negatively impact the revenue we are able to generate from the sale of the product in that country. Adverse pricing limitations may hinder our ability to recoup our investment in one or more product candidates even if those product candidates may obtain marketing approval. See the section titled, “ Business - Government Regulation - Coverage and Reimbursement .”
Our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates also will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and adequate reimbursement for these products and related treatments will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers, and other organizations. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which medications they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. The availability of coverage and extent of reimbursement by governmental and private payors is essential for most patients to be able to afford treatments such as gene therapy products. In particular, the list price of Attruby in the United States is $18,759.12 for a 28-day supply and a significant percentage of patients rely on government programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, for their coverage of drug and other medical care, so the availability of federal and state coverage of Attruby is critical to the success of our commercialization efforts for Attruby in the United States. Sales of Attruby or any other product candidates, if approved, that we may identify will depend substantially, both domestically and abroad, on the extent to which the costs of such drugs will be paid by health maintenance, managed care, pharmacy benefit and similar healthcare management organizations, or reimbursed by government health administration authorities, private health coverage insurers and other third-party payors. If coverage and adequate reimbursement is not available, or is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our product candidates. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow us to establish or maintain pricing sufficient to realize a sufficient return on our investment.
Additionally, we may develop companion diagnostic tests for use with Attruby and Beyonttra and our product candidates. We, or our collaborators, may be required to obtain coverage and reimbursement for these tests separate and apart from the coverage and reimbursement we seek for our product candidates, once approved. Even if we obtain regulatory approval or clearance for such companion diagnostics, there is significant uncertainty regarding our ability to obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement for the same reasons applicable to our product candidates. Medicare reimbursement methodologies, whether under Part A, Part B, or clinical laboratory fee
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schedule may be amended from time to time, and we cannot predict what effect any change to these methodologies would have on any product or product candidate or companion diagnostic for which we receive approval. Our inability to promptly obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement from both third-party payors for the companion diagnostic tests that we develop and for which we obtain regulatory approval could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our future growth may depend, in part, on our ability to penetrate foreign markets, where we would be subject to additional regulatory burdens and other risks and uncertainties.
We have partnered with Bayer to commercialize Beyonttra in Europe and we plan to commercialize Attruby and Beyonttra in other foreign markets. In June 2024, BridgeBio B.V. entered into the Bayer Supply Agreement with an initial 30-month term ending in December 2026, for which BridgeBio B.V. will manufacture and supply to Bayer the commercial product ordered by Bayer solely for use in the commercialization of Beyonttra in Europe under the Bayer License Agreement. We may also commercialize in foreign markets any future drugs we develop for which we obtain commercial rights through additional partnerships with third parties or directly by ourselves. In addition, we may agree to supply drug product to a commercial partner in other foreign markets similar to our agreement with Bayer. In doing so, we would be subject to additional risks and uncertainties, including:
• the burden of complying with complex and changing foreign regulatory, tax, accounting, compliance and legal requirements;
• different medical practices and customs in foreign countries affecting acceptance in the marketplace;
• import, export or other distribution licensing requirements;
• the potential failure of obtaining and maintaining required licenses with foreign regulatory authorities that are required to ship API or distribute our drug product to customers or commercial partners like Bayer;
• longer accounts receivable collection times;
• longer lead times for shipping;
• language barriers for technical training;
• reduced protection of intellectual property rights in some foreign countries, and related prevalence of bioequivalent or generic alternatives to therapeutics;
• foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations;
• potential resource constraints, including with respect to patients’ ability to obtain reimbursement for our products in foreign markets; and
• the interpretation of contractual provisions governed by foreign laws in the event of a contract dispute.
Any of these factors could impair our ability to commercialize Attruby and Beyonttra and any future drugs we may develop or for which we obtain commercial rights outside the United States, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
If we fail to comply with healthcare laws, we could face substantial penalties and our business, operations and financial conditions could be adversely affected.
Healthcare providers, physicians and third-party payors in the United States and elsewhere play a primary role in the recommendation and prescription of pharmaceutical products. Arrangements with third-party payors and customers can expose pharmaceutical manufacturers to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other healthcare laws and regulations, which may constrain the business or financial arrangements and relationships through which such companies sell, market and distribute pharmaceutical products. In particular, the promotion, sales and marketing of healthcare items and services, as well as certain business arrangements in the healthcare industry, are subject to extensive laws designed to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing and other abusive practices. These laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of ownership, pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, structuring and commission(s), certain customer incentive programs and other business arrangements generally. Activities subject to these laws also involve the improper use of information obtained in the course of patient
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recruitment for clinical trials. See the section titled, “ Business - Government Regulation - Other Regulatory Matters .”
Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors available, it is possible that some of our business activities, including compensation of physicians with stock or stock options, could, despite efforts to comply, be subject to challenge under one or more of such laws. Additionally, the FDA or foreign regulators may not agree that we have mitigated any risk of bias in our clinical trials due to payments or equity interests provided to investigators or institutions which could limit a regulator’s acceptance of those clinical trial data in support of a marketing application. Moreover, efforts to ensure that our business arrangements will comply with applicable healthcare laws may involve substantial costs. It is possible that governmental and enforcement authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law interpreting applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, monetary fines, exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, integrity and oversight agreements to resolve allegations of non-compliance, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, and curtailment or restructuring of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our results of operations. In addition, the approval and commercialization of any of our product candidates outside the United States will also likely subject us to foreign equivalents of the healthcare laws mentioned above, among other foreign laws.
Third party patient assistance programs that receive financial support from companies have become the subject of enhanced government and regulatory scrutiny. Government enforcement agencies have shown increased interest in pharmaceutical companies’ product and patient assistance programs, including reimbursement support services, and a number of investigations into these programs have resulted in significant civil and criminal settlements. The U.S. government has established guidelines that suggest that it is lawful for pharmaceutical manufacturers to make donations to charitable organizations who provide co-pay assistance to Medicare patients, provided that such organizations, among other things, are bona fide charities, are entirely independent of and not controlled by the manufacturer, provide aid to applicants on a first-come basis according to consistent financial criteria and do not link aid to use of a donor’s product. However, donations to patient assistance programs have received some negative publicity and have been the subject of multiple government enforcement actions, related to allegations regarding their use to promote branded pharmaceutical products over other less costly alternatives. Specifically, in recent years, there have been multiple settlements resulting out of government claims challenging the legality of their patient assistance programs under a variety of federal and state laws. It is possible that we may make grants to independent charitable foundations that help financially needy patients with their premium, co-pay, and co-insurance obligations. If we choose to do so, and if we or our vendors or donation recipients are deemed to fail to comply with relevant laws, regulations or evolving government guidance in the operation of these programs, we could be subject to damages, fines, penalties, or other criminal, civil, or administrative sanctions or enforcement actions. We cannot ensure that our compliance controls, policies, and procedures will be sufficient to protect against acts of our employees, business partners, or vendors that may violate the laws or regulations of the jurisdictions in which we operate. Regardless of whether we have complied with the law, a government investigation could impact our business practices, harm our reputation, divert the attention of management, increase our expenses, and reduce the availability of foundation support for our patients who need assistance. Further, it is possible that changes in insurer policies regarding co-pay coupons and/or the introduction and enactment of new legislation or regulatory action could restrict or otherwise negatively affect these patient support programs, which could result in fewer patients using affected products, and therefore could have a material adverse effect on our sales, business, and financial condition. Although a number of these and other proposed measures may require authorization through additional legislation to become effective, and the current U.S. presidential administration may reverse or otherwise change these measures, both the current U.S. presidential administration and Congress have indicated that they will continue to seek new legislative measures to control drug costs. We cannot predict how the implementation of and any further changes to this rule will affect our business.
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Failure to comply with health and other personal data protection laws and regulations could lead to government enforcement actions (which could include civil or criminal penalties), private litigation and/or adverse publicity, and could negatively affect our operating results and business.
We and any potential collaborators may be subject to federal, state, and foreign data protection laws and regulations (i.e., laws and regulations that address privacy and data security). In the United States, numerous federal and state laws and regulations, including federal health information privacy laws, state data breach notification laws, state health information privacy laws, U.S. state consumer privacy laws (e.g., the California Consumer Privacy Act), and federal and state consumer protection laws (e.g., Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act), that govern the collection, use, disclosure and protection of health-related and other personal information could apply to our operations or the operations of our collaborators. In addition, we may obtain health information from third parties (including research institutions from which we obtain clinical trial data) that are subject to privacy and security requirements under HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (“HITECH”). Depending on the facts and circumstances, we could be subject to civil, criminal, and administrative penalties if we knowingly obtain, use, or disclose individually identifiable health information maintained by a HIPAA-covered entity in a manner that is not authorized or permitted by HIPAA.
In addition, as discussed further in the section titled, “ Business - Government Regulation – U.S. Data Collection ,” a number of U.S. states have passed or are considering comprehensive privacy laws that may impact our business.
The uncertainty surrounding the implementation of recent and emerging state privacy laws, regulations and standards that may be adopted in other jurisdictions exemplifies the vulnerability of our business to the evolving regulatory environment related to personal data and protected health information. Compliance with U.S. and international data protection laws and regulations could require us to take on more onerous obligations in our contracts, restrict our ability to collect, use and disclose data, or in some cases, impact our ability to operate in certain jurisdictions. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations could result in government enforcement actions (which could include civil, criminal and administrative penalties), private litigation, and/or adverse publicity and could negatively affect our operating results and business. Moreover, clinical trial subjects, employees and other individuals about whom we or our potential collaborators obtain personal information, as well as the providers who share this information with us, may limit our ability to collect, use and disclose the information. Claims that we have violated individuals’ privacy rights, failed to comply with data protection laws, or breached our contractual obligations, even if we are not found liable, could be expensive and time-consuming to defend and could result in adverse publicity that could harm our business.
Healthcare legislative measures aimed at reducing healthcare costs may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
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 our product candidates or any future product candidates, restrict or regulate post-approval activities and affect our ability to profitably sell any product for which we obtain marketing approval. Changes in regulations, statutes or the interpretation of existing regulations could impact our business in the future by requiring, for example: (i) changes to our manufacturing arrangements; (ii) additions or modifications to product labeling; (iii) the recall or discontinuation of any products; or (iv) additional record-keeping requirements. If any such changes were to be imposed, they could adversely affect the operation of our business. See the section titled, “ Business - Government Regulation - Current and Future Legislation .”
In addition, the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act (“CREATES Act”), was enacted in 2019 requiring sponsors of approved NDAs and BLAs to provide enough product samples on commercially reasonable, market-based terms to entities developing generic drugs and biosimilar biological products. The law establishes a private right of action allowing developers to sue application holders that refuse to sell them product samples needed to support their applications. If we are required to provide product samples or allocate additional resources to respond to such requests or any legal challenges under this law, our business could be adversely impacted.
There have been, and likely will continue to be, legislative and regulatory proposals at the foreign, federal and state levels directed at containing or lowering the cost of healthcare. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or
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commercialize Attruby and Beyonttra and our other product candidates, if approved. Such reforms could have an adverse effect on anticipated revenue from product candidates that we may successfully develop and for which we may obtain regulatory approval and may affect our overall financial condition and ability to develop product candidates. We cannot predict the initiatives that may be adopted in the future. The continuing efforts of the government, insurance companies, managed care organizations and other payors of healthcare services to contain or reduce costs of healthcare and/or impose price controls may adversely affect:
• the demand for Attruby and Beyonttra and our other product candidates, if approved;
• our ability to receive or set a price that we believe is fair for our future products;
• our ability to generate revenue and achieve or maintain profitability;
• the amount of taxes that we are required to pay; and
• the availability of capital.
We expect that the ACA, as well as other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, may result in additional reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, more rigorous coverage criteria, lower reimbursement, and new payment methodologies. This could lower the price that we receive for any approved product. Any denial in coverage or reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government-funded programs may result in a similar denial or reduction in payments from private payors, which may prevent us from being able to generate sufficient revenue, attain profitability or commercialize Attruby and our other product candidates, if approved.
If we 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 reimbursement requirements, penalties, sanctions and fines, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We participate in the Medicaid Drug Rebate program, the 340B drug pricing program, and the VA’s FSS pricing program. Under the Medicaid Drug Rebate program, we are required to pay a 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 Medicare Part B. Those rebates are based on pricing data reported by us on a monthly and quarterly basis to CMS, the federal agency that administers the Medicaid Drug Rebate program. These data include the average manufacturer price and, in the case of innovator products, the best price for each drug which, in general, represents the lowest price available from the manufacturer to any entity in the United States in any pricing structure, calculated to include all sales and associated rebates, discounts and other price concessions. Our failure to comply with these price reporting and rebate payment obligations could negatively impact our financial results.
The ACA made significant changes to the Medicaid Drug Rebate program. CMS issued a final regulation, which became effective on April 1, 2016, to implement the changes to the Medicaid Drug Rebate program under the ACA. The issuance of the final regulation has increased and will continue to increase our costs and the complexity of compliance, has been and will continue to be time-consuming to implement, and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, particularly if CMS challenges the approach we take in our implementation of the final regulation.
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 for federal funds to be available for the manufacturer’s drugs under Medicaid and Medicare Part B. The 340B 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. The 340B ceiling price is calculated using a statutory formula based on the average manufacturer price and Medicaid rebate amount for the covered outpatient drug as calculated under the Medicaid Drug Rebate program, and in general, products subject to Medicaid price reporting and rebate liability are also subject to the 340B ceiling price calculation and discount requirement. Any additional future changes to the definition of average manufacturer price and the Medicaid rebate amount under the ACA, other legislation, or in regulation could affect our 340B ceiling price calculations and negatively impact our results of operations.
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The Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”), which administers the 340B program, issued a final regulation regarding the calculation of the 340B ceiling price and the imposition of civil monetary penalties on manufacturers that knowingly and intentionally overcharge covered entities, which became effective on January 1, 2019. We also are required to report our 340B ceiling prices to HRSA on a quarterly basis. Implementation of the civil monetary penalties regulation and the issuance of any other final regulations and guidance could affect our obligations under the 340B program in ways we cannot anticipate. In addition, legislation may be introduced that, if passed, would further expand the 340B program to additional covered entities or would require participating manufacturers to agree to provide 340B discounted pricing on drugs used in the inpatient setting.
Pricing and rebate calculations vary across products and programs, are complex, and are often subject to interpretation by us, governmental or regulatory agencies and the courts. In the case of our Medicaid pricing data, 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 up to three years after those data originally were due. Such restatements and recalculations increase our costs for complying with the laws and regulations governing the Medicaid Drug Rebate program and could result in an overage or underage in our rebate liability for past quarters. Price recalculations also may affect the ceiling price at which we are required to offer our products under the 340B program or could require us to issue refunds to 340B covered entities.
Significant civil monetary penalties can be applied if we are found to have knowingly submitted any false pricing information to CMS, or if we fail to submit the required price data on a timely basis. Such conduct also could be grounds for CMS to terminate our Medicaid drug rebate agreement, in which case federal payments may not be available under Medicaid or Medicare Part B for our covered outpatient drugs. Significant civil monetary penalties also can be applied if we are found to have knowingly and intentionally charged 340B covered entities more than the statutorily mandated ceiling price. We cannot assure you that our submissions will not be found by CMS or HRSA to be incomplete or incorrect.
To be eligible to have our products paid for with federal funds under the Medicaid and Medicare Part B programs and purchased by certain federal agencies and grantees, as noted above, we participate in the VA’s FSS pricing program. As part of this program, we are obligated to make our products 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 (“FCP”), to four federal agencies (the VA, U.S. Department of Defense, or DOD, Public Health Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard). The FCP is based on the Non-Federal Average Manufacturer Price (“Non-FAMP”), which we calculate and report to the VA on a quarterly and annual basis. Pursuant to applicable law, knowing provision of false information in connection with a Non-FAMP filing can subject a manufacturer to significant penalties for each item of false information. These obligations also contain extensive disclosure and certification requirements.
We also participate in the Tricare Retail Pharmacy program, under which we pay quarterly rebates on utilization of innovator products that are dispensed through the Tricare Retail Pharmacy network to Tricare beneficiaries. The rebates are calculated as the difference between the annual Non-FAMP and FCP. We are required to list our covered products on a Tricare Agreement in order for these products to be eligible for DOD formulary inclusion. If we overcharge the government in connection with our FSS contract or Tricare Agreement, whether due to a misstated FCP or otherwise, we are required to refund the difference to the government. Failure to make necessary disclosures and/or to identify contract overcharges can result in allegations against us under the FCA 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.
Recent federal legislation and actions by state and local governments may permit reimportation of drugs from foreign countries into the United States, including foreign countries where the drugs are sold at lower prices than in the United States, which could materially adversely affect our operating results.
We face competition in the United States for Attruby and may face competition for our other product candidates if approved, from therapies sourced from foreign countries that have placed price controls on pharmaceutical products. In the United States, the Medicare Modernization Act contains provisions that may change U.S. importation laws and expand pharmacists’ and wholesalers’ ability to import cheaper versions of an approved drug and competing products from Canada, where there are government price controls. The FDA also issued a final guidance document outlining a pathway for manufacturers to obtain an additional National Drug Code (“NDC”) for
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an FDA-approved drug that was originally intended to be marketed in a foreign country and that was authorized for sale in that foreign country. See the section titled, “Business-Government Regulation-Current and Future Legislation” for more information regarding legislative and regulatory changes and proposed changes regarding the healthcare system directed at broadening the availability of healthcare, improving the quality of healthcare, and containing or lowering the cost of healthcare. If certain of these changes are implemented, importation of drugs from Canada may materially and adversely affect the price we receive for any of our product candidates. The regulatory and market implications of the final rule and guidance are unknown at this time. Proponents of drug reimportation may attempt to pass legislation that would directly allow reimportation under certain circumstances. Legislation or regulations allowing the reimportation of drugs, if enacted, could decrease the price we receive for any products that we may develop and adversely affect our future revenues and prospects for profitability. We will continue to monitor developments and their potential effect on our business.
We face significant competition in an environment of rapid technological and scientific change, and there is a possibility that our competitors may achieve regulatory approval or commercial success before us or develop therapies that are safer, more advanced or more effective than ours, which may negatively impact our ability to successfully market or commercialize any product candidates we may develop and ultimately harm our financial condition.
The development and commercialization of new drug products is highly competitive. We face competition for Attruby and Beyonttra and we may face competition with respect to any other product candidates that we seek to develop or commercialize in the future from major pharmaceutical companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies, and biotechnology companies worldwide. Potential competitors also include academic institutions, government agencies, and other public and private research organizations that conduct research, seek patent protection, and establish collaborative arrangements for research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization.
There are a number of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that are currently pursuing the development and commercialization of products for the treatment of the indications that our core value drivers are pursuing. If any competitors for our product candidates receive FDA approval before we do, our product candidates would not be the first treatment on the market, and our market share may be limited. In addition to competition from other companies targeting our target indications, any products we may develop may also face competition from other types of therapies.
Many of our current or potential competitors, either alone or with their strategic partners, have significantly greater financial resources and expertise in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals, and marketing approved products than we do.
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 or early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel and establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Our commercial opportunity could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, are more convenient, or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. Furthermore, currently approved products could be discovered to have application for treatment of our targeted disease indications or similar indications, which could give such products significant regulatory and market timing advantages over our product candidates. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours and may obtain orphan product exclusivity from the FDA for indications that we are targeting, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. Additionally, products or technologies developed by our competitors may render our product candidates uneconomical or obsolete and we may not be successful in marketing those product candidates, once approved, against competitors.
In addition, we could face litigation or other proceedings with respect to the scope, ownership, validity and/or enforceability of our patents relating to our competitors’ products and our competitors may allege that our products infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property. The availability of our competitors’ products could limit the demand, and the price we are able to charge, for any products that we may develop and commercialize. See the section titled, “Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property.”
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If the market opportunities for our product candidates are smaller than we believe they are, our revenue may be adversely affected, and our business may suffer. Our ability to successfully identify patients and acquire a significant market share will be necessary for us to achieve profitability and growth.
We focus research and product development on treatments for Mendelian diseases, many of which are rare or orphan indications. Our projections of both the number of individuals who are affected by our target disease indications and have the potential to benefit from treatment with our product candidates, are based on our beliefs and estimates. These estimates have been derived from a variety of sources, including the scientific literature, and may prove to be incorrect. Further, new studies may change the estimated incidence or prevalence of these diseases. The number of patients may turn out to be lower than expected. The effort to identify patients with diseases we seek to treat is in early stages, and we cannot accurately predict the number of patients for whom treatment might be possible. Additionally, the potentially addressable patient population for our product candidates may be limited or may not be amenable to treatment with our products or product candidates, and new patients may become increasingly difficult to identify or gain access to, which would adversely affect our results of operations and our business. Further, even if we obtain significant market share for our product candidates under development in our key value driver programs, because the potential target populations are small, we may never achieve profitability despite obtaining such significant market share. In addition, market share could be limited by the availability of other treatments. In particular, Attruby is not the first treatment on the market for ATTR-CM, and its market share and potential to generate revenues may be limited.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Growth Strategy
Drug development is a highly uncertain undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. We have incurred significant losses since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future. We have not generated significant revenue since inception, which, together with our limited operating history, may make it difficult for you to assess our future viability.
Pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical product development is a highly speculative undertaking and involves a substantial degree of risk. We are a newly commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history upon which you can evaluate our business and prospects. Our subsidiaries, on whose success we largely rely, are primarily early-stage biopharmaceutical companies. To date, we have focused principally on identifying, acquiring or in-licensing and developing our product candidates at the subsidiary level, almost all of which are in discovery, lead optimization, preclinical or clinical development. In November 2024, Attruby was approved for commercial sale in the United States. In February 2025, Beyonttra was approved for commercial sale in Europe. Our pipeline of product candidates will require substantial additional development time, including extensive clinical research, and resources before we would be able to apply for or receive additional regulatory approvals and begin generating revenue from sales of those product candidates, if approved.
We are not profitable and have incurred losses in each year since our inception in April 2015. Our net losses for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 were $543.3 million, $653.3 million and $484.7 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $3.1 billion. In November 2024, Attruby was approved for commercial sale in the United States, and to date, we have not yet generated substantial revenue from sales of Attruby. In addition, we previously had two products approved for commercial sale, NULIBRY and TRUSELTIQ TM , but did not generate any significant revenues from product sales, and have financed operations solely through the sale of equity securities, debt financings, royalty financing, and the sale of certain assets. Sentynl purchased the global rights to NULIBRY in March 2022 and Helsinn, who is the principal selling party of TRUSELTIQ TM , discontinued selling TRUSELTIQ TM in March 31, 2023. We continue to incur significant research and development (“R&D”), costs for the commercialization of Attruby, and other expenses related to ongoing operations and expect to incur losses for the foreseeable future. In addition, we believe that potential delays in our ongoing and planned clinical trials and adjustments to certain of our study procedures for various reasons, such as challenges in enrollment, additional requirements imposed by regulatory authorities or investigative sites, or supply chain issues, could increase our expenditures or draw out our expenditures over a longer period of time than originally estimated. Additionally, changes to our selection of contract research organizations (“CROs”) for non-clinical laboratory activities and engagement with CMOs, to mitigate any potential impacts to our supply chain may increase our expenditures relative to initial expectations. We anticipate these losses will increase substantially in future periods.
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Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with drug development and commercialization, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of our expenses, or when we will be able to generate any meaningful revenue or achieve or maintain profitability, if ever. In addition, our expenses could increase beyond our current expectations if we are required by the FDA, or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, to conduct nonclinical or preclinical studies or clinical trials in addition to those that we currently anticipate or to otherwise provide data beyond that which we currently believe is necessary to support an application for marketing approval or to continue clinical development, or if there are any delays in any of our or our future collaborators’ clinical trials or the development of our product candidates, that we may identify. We anticipate incurring significant costs associated with commercializing any future product candidates, if approved, and ongoing compliance efforts.
We may never be able to successfully commercialize a marketable drug or achieve profitability. Revenue from the sale of any product will be dependent, in part, upon the size of the markets in the territories for which we have or may gain regulatory approval, the accepted price for the product, the ability to obtain reimbursement at any price and whether we own the commercial rights for that territory. Our growth strategy depends on our ability to generate revenue. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods. Our failure to achieve sustained profitability would depress our stock price and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, diversify our research and development pipeline, market our product candidates, if approved, that we may identify and pursue, or continue our operations. Our prior losses, combined with expected future losses, have had and will continue to have an adverse effect on our stockholders’ deficit and working capital.
If we obtain a controlling interest in additional companies in the future, it could adversely affect our operating results and the value of our common stock, thereby disrupting our business.
As part of our strategy, we expect to form and invest in additional wholly-owned subsidiaries and variable interest entities (“VIEs”). Investments in our existing and any future subsidiaries involve numerous risks, including, but not necessarily limited to:
• risk of conducting research and development activities in new therapeutic areas or treatment modalities in which we have little to no experience;
• diversion of financial and managerial resources from existing operations;
• our ability to negotiate a proposed acquisition, in-license or investment in a timely manner or at a price or on terms and conditions favorable to us;
• our ability to combine and integrate a potential acquisition into our existing business to fully realize the benefits of such acquisition;
• the impact of regulatory reviews on a proposed acquisition, in-license or investment; and
• the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted with respect to a potential acquisition, in-license or investment.
If we fail to properly evaluate potential acquisitions, in-licenses, investments or other transactions associated with the creation of new research and development programs or the maintenance of existing ones, we might not achieve the anticipated benefits of any such transaction, we might incur costs in excess of what we anticipate, and management resources and attention might be diverted from other necessary or valuable activities. For instance, in January 2021, we completed our acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Eidos that were not previously owned by us or our subsidiaries, to which we refer as the Eidos Merger. In connection with the Eidos Merger and our integration of Eidos’ historical operations into our business, the attention of certain members of each company’s management and each company’s resources were diverted from day-to-day business operations. Additionally, the interests of our stockholders were diluted as a result of our issuance of shares of our common stock to Eidos’ stockholders and our assumption of certain equity awards of Eidos in connection with the transaction. We may engage in similar discussions in the future with respect to other potential transactions that may divert our time and resources from our ongoing operations. In addition, from time to time we have pursued, and may in the future pursue, research and development programs through our wholly-owned subsidiaries and VIEs that we may ultimately determine not to advance, based on our ongoing assessment of the likelihood of success relative to the costs and risks associated with the program.
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Risks Related to the Development of Our Product Candidates
We may encounter substantial delays in clinical trials, or may not be able to conduct or complete clinical trials on the expected timelines, if at all.
Clinical testing is expensive, time consuming and subject to uncertainty. We cannot guarantee that any of our ongoing and planned clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all. Moreover, even if these trials are initiated or conducted on a timely basis, issues may arise that could result in the suspension or termination of such clinical trials. A failure of one or more clinical trials can occur at any stage of testing, and our ongoing and future clinical trials may not be successful. Events that may prevent successful or timely initiation or completion of clinical trials include:
• inability to generate sufficient preclinical, toxicology or other in vivo or in vitro data to support the initiation or continuation of clinical trials;
• delays in confirming target engagement, patient selection or other relevant biomarkers to be utilized in preclinical and clinical product candidate development;
• delays in reaching a consensus with regulatory agencies as to the design or implementation of our clinical trials;
• delays in reaching agreement on acceptable terms with prospective CROs and clinical trial sites, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different CROs and clinical trial sites;
• delays in identifying, recruiting and training suitable clinical investigators;
• delays in obtaining required Institutional Review Board (“IRB”) approval at each clinical trial site;
• imposition of a temporary or permanent clinical hold by regulatory agencies for a number of reasons, including after review of an Investigational New Drug application (“IND”) or IND amendment, clinical trial application (“CTA”) or CTA amendment, or equivalent application or amendment; or as a result of a new safety finding that presents unreasonable risk to clinical trial participants or a negative finding from an inspection of our clinical trial operations or study sites;
• developments in trials for other product candidates with the same targets or related modalities as our product candidates conducted by third parties that raise regulatory or safety concerns about risk to patients of the treatment, or if the FDA or other governmental authority finds that the investigational protocol or plan is clearly deficient to meet its stated objectives;
• difficulties in securing access to materials for the comparator arm of certain of our clinical trials;
• delays in identifying, recruiting and enrolling suitable patients to participate in clinical trials, and delays caused by patients withdrawing from clinical trials or failing to return for post-treatment follow-up;
• difficulty collaborating with patient groups and investigators;
• failure by CROs, other third parties or us to adhere to clinical trial requirements;
• failure to perform in accordance with the FDA’s or any other regulatory authority’s current good clinical practices (“GCP”), requirements, or regulatory guidelines in other countries;
• occurrence of AEs associated with the product candidate that are viewed to outweigh its potential benefits;
• changes in regulatory requirements and guidance that require amending or submitting new clinical protocols;
• changes in the standard of care on which a clinical development plan was based, which may require new or additional trials;
• the cost of clinical trials of any product candidates that we may identify and pursue being greater than we anticipate;
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• clinical trials of any product candidates that we may identify and pursue producing negative or inconclusive results or failing to meet a specified endpoint, which may result in our deciding, or regulators requiring us, to conduct additional clinical trials or to abandon product development programs;
• delays in clinical trial enrollment or clinical trial initiation resulting from any global health emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic;
• transfer of manufacturing processes to larger-scale facilities operated by a CMO, or by us, and delays or failure by our CMOs or us to make any necessary changes to such manufacturing process; and
• delays in manufacturing, testing, releasing, validating or importing/exporting sufficient stable quantities of product candidates that we may identify for use in clinical trials, or the inability to do any of the foregoing.
Any inability to successfully initiate, conduct or complete clinical trials could result in additional costs to us or impair our ability to generate revenue. In addition, if we make manufacturing or formulation changes to our product candidates, we may be required to or we may elect to conduct additional nonclinical studies or clinical trials to bridge data obtained from our modified product candidates to data obtained from nonclinical and clinical research conducted using earlier versions of these product candidates. Clinical trial delays could also shorten any periods during which our product candidates have patent protection and may allow our competitors to bring products to market before we do, which could impair our ability to successfully commercialize product candidates and may harm our business and results of operations.
We could also encounter delays if an ongoing or planned clinical trial is suspended or terminated by us, by the data safety monitoring board (“DSMB”) including for our ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of low-dose infigratinib, our ongoing Phase 2 and planned Phase 3 clinical trials of BBP-418, and our ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of encaleret, or by the FDA or other regulatory authority, or if the IRBs of the institutions in which such trials are being conducted suspend or terminate the participation of their clinical investigators and sites subject to their review. Such authorities may suspend or terminate a clinical trial due to a number of factors, including failure to conduct the clinical trial in accordance with regulatory requirements or our clinical protocols, inspection of the clinical trial operations or trial site by the FDA or other regulatory authorities resulting in the imposition of a clinical hold, unforeseen safety issues or adverse side effects, failure to demonstrate a benefit from using a product candidate, changes in governmental regulations or administrative actions or lack of adequate funding to continue the clinical trial. We have in the past received, and may receive in the future, partial or full clinical hold notices from the FDA or other regulatory authorities, which have required, and may in the future require, us to conduct additional studies, generate additional data, amend our clinical trial protocols and/or delay or halt the initiation or continuation of our clinical trials. We may be required or may voluntarily determine to place one or more of our product candidates on clinical hold in the future for various reasons, which could delay or otherwise impair our clinical development efforts and ability to obtain regulatory approval for any such product candidate. Additionally, the FDA may determine, upon review of an IND submission, that we have not provided sufficient information needed to assess the risks to subjects of the proposed studies, or that our IND submission is otherwise insufficient to support initiation of a clinical trial. There is no guarantee that the FDA will agree that our responses are sufficient, and we may be required to conduct additional preclinical studies or manufacturing steps before the FDA allows our proposed clinical trials to proceed.
Moreover, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and receive compensation in connection with such services. Under certain circumstances, we may be required to report some of these relationships to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may conclude that a financial relationship between us and a principal investigator has created a conflict of interest or otherwise affected interpretation of the study. The FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority may therefore question the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized. This could result in a delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority, as the case may be, and may ultimately lead to the denial of marketing approval of one or more of our product candidates.
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Delays in the initiation, conduct or completion of any clinical trial of our product candidates will increase our costs, slow down the product candidate development and approval process and delay or potentially jeopardize our ability to commence product sales and generate revenue from such product candidates, if approved. In addition, many of the factors that cause, or lead to, a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of regulatory approval of our product candidates. In the event we identify any additional product candidates to pursue, we cannot be sure that submission of an IND or a CTA will result in the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority allowing clinical trials to begin in a timely manner, if at all. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
Results of earlier studies or clinical trials may not be predictive of future clinical trial results, and initial studies or clinical trials may not establish an adequate safety or efficacy profile for our product candidates to justify proceeding to advanced clinical trials or an application for regulatory approval.
The results of nonclinical and preclinical studies and clinical trials may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trials, and interim results of a clinical trial do not necessarily predict final results. In addition, for certain of our product candidates that we acquired, we did not undertake the preclinical studies and clinical trials ourselves. The results of preclinical studies and clinical trials in one set of patients or disease indications, or from preclinical studies or clinical trials that we did not lead, may not be predictive of those obtained in another. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in and adherence to the dosing regimen and other clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. In addition, preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to various interpretations and analyses, and many companies that have believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval. Product candidates in later stages of clinical trials may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy profile despite having progressed through nonclinical studies and initial clinical trials. A number of companies in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials due to lack of efficacy or adverse safety profiles, despite promising results in earlier studies, and we cannot be certain that we will not face similar setbacks. Even if early-stage clinical trials are successful, we may need to conduct additional clinical trials of our product candidates in additional patient populations or under different treatment conditions before we are able to seek approvals from the FDA and regulatory authorities outside the United States to market and sell these product candidates. Our failure to obtain marketing approval for our product candidates for commercially viable indications, or at all, would substantially harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
Additionally, some clinical trials of our product candidates performed to date were designed as open-label studies and were conducted at a limited number of clinical sites on a limited number of patients. An “open-label” clinical trial is one where both the patient and investigator know whether the patient is receiving the investigational product candidate or either an existing approved drug or placebo. Most typically, open-label clinical trials test only the investigational product candidate and sometimes may do so at different dose levels. Open-label clinical trials are subject to various limitations that may exaggerate any therapeutic effect as patients in open-label clinical trials are aware when they are receiving treatment. Open-label clinical trials may be subject to a “patient bias” where patients perceive their symptoms to have improved merely due to their awareness of receiving an experimental treatment. Moreover, patients selected for early clinical trials often include the most severe sufferers and their symptoms may have been bound to improve notwithstanding the new treatment. In addition, open-label clinical trials may be subject to an “investigator bias” where those assessing and reviewing the physiological outcomes of the clinical trials are aware of which patients have received treatment and may interpret the information of the treated group more favorably given this knowledge. Given that our Phase 2 dose-escalation and expansion study of low-dose infigratinib in children with achondroplasia, or PROPEL 2, was designed as an open-label trial, the results from this clinical trial may not be predictive of future clinical trial results with this or other product candidates for which we include an open-label clinical trial when studied in a controlled environment with a placebo or active control.
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We may encounter difficulties enrolling patients in clinical trials, and clinical development activities could thereby be delayed or otherwise adversely affected.
The timely completion of clinical trials in accordance with their protocols depends, among other things, on our ability to enroll a sufficient number of patients who remain in the trial until its conclusion. The indications for which we plan to evaluate our current product candidates each represent a rare disease or condition with limited patient populations from which to draw participants in clinical trials. Due to our focus on the development of product candidates for the treatment of Mendelian diseases and genetically driven cancers, many of which are rare conditions, we may not be able to identify and enroll a sufficient number of patients, or those with required or desired characteristics and criteria, in a timely manner.
We may experience difficulties in patient enrollment in our clinical trials for a variety of reasons, including:
• the size and nature of a patient population;
• the patient eligibility criteria defined in the applicable clinical trial protocols, which may limit the patient populations eligible for clinical trials to a greater extent than competing clinical trials for the same indication;
• the size of the study population required for analysis of the trial’s primary endpoints;
• the severity of the disease under investigation;
• the proximity of patients to a trial site;
• the design of the trial;
• the ability to recruit clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and experience;
• the approval or concurrent enrollment of clinical trials involving competing product candidates currently under development for Mendelian diseases or genetically driven cancers, or competing clinical trials for similar therapies or targeting patient populations meeting our patient eligibility criteria;
• clinicians’ and patients’ perceptions as to the potential advantages and side effects of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies and product candidates;
• the ability to obtain and maintain patient consents; and
• the risk that patients enrolled in clinical trials will not complete such trials for any reason.
If we have difficulty enrolling sufficient numbers of patients to conduct clinical trials as planned, we may need to delay or terminate ongoing or planned clinical trials, either of which would have an adverse effect on our business.
Use of our product candidates could be associated with side effects, adverse events or other properties or safety risks, which could delay or halt their clinical development, prevent their regulatory approval, cause us to suspend or discontinue clinical trials, abandon a product or product candidate, limit the commercial potential of a product candidate, if approved, or result in other significant negative consequences that could harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition.
As is the case with pharmaceuticals generally, it is likely that there may be side effects and AEs, associated with use of our product candidates. Results of our clinical trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects or unexpected characteristics. Undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates could cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials, and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of regulatory approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The drug-related side effects of our product candidates could affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. Any of these occurrences may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.
Moreover, if our product candidates are associated with undesirable side effects in preclinical studies or clinical trials or have characteristics that are unexpected, we may elect to abandon their development or limit their development to more narrow uses or subpopulations in which the undesirable side effects or other characteristics are less prevalent, less severe or more acceptable from a risk-benefit perspective, which may limit the commercial
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expectations for the product candidate if approved. We may also be required to modify or terminate our study plans based on findings in our preclinical studies or clinical trials. AEs that we may observe in our ongoing and future preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates could require us to delay, modify or abandon our development plans for the affected product candidate or other product candidates that share properties of the affected product candidate. Many product candidates that initially show promise in early-stage testing may later be found to cause side effects that prevent further development. As we work to advance existing product candidates and to identify new product candidates, we cannot be certain that later testing or trials of product candidates that initially showed promise in early testing will not be found to cause similar or different unacceptable side effects that prevent their further development.
It is possible that as we test our product candidates in larger, longer and more extensive clinical trials, or as the use of our product candidates, if they receive regulatory approval, becomes more widespread, illnesses, injuries, discomforts and other AEs that were observed in earlier trials, as well as conditions that did not occur or went undetected in previous trials, will be reported by subjects. If such side effects become known later in development or upon approval, such findings may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.
Additionally, adverse developments in clinical trials of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products conducted by others may cause the FDA or other regulatory oversight bodies to suspend or terminate our clinical trials, to change the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates.
In addition to side effects caused by a product candidate, the administration process or related procedures also can cause adverse side effects. If any such AEs occur, our clinical trials of a product candidate could be suspended or terminated. If we are unable to demonstrate that any AEs were caused by the administration process or related procedures, the FDA, the European Commission, the EMA, or other regulatory authorities could order us to cease further development of, or deny approval of, a product candidate for any or all targeted indications. Even if we can demonstrate that all future SAEs are not product-related, such occurrences could affect patient recruitment, or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the trial. Moreover, if we elect, or are required, to not initiate, delay, suspend or terminate any future clinical trial of any of our product candidates, the commercial prospects of such product candidates may be harmed and our ability to generate product revenues from any of these product candidates may be delayed or eliminated. Any of these occurrences may harm our ability to develop other product candidates, and may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.
Additionally, if any of our product candidates receives marketing approval, the FDA could impose a boxed warning in the labeling of our product and could require us to adopt a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (“REMS”), and could apply elements to assure safe use to ensure that the benefits of the product outweigh its risks, which may include, among other things, a Medication Guide outlining the risks of the product for distribution to patients and a communication plan to health care practitioners. Furthermore, if we or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by our product candidates once approved, several potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:
• regulatory authorities may suspend or withdraw approvals of such product or product candidate;
• regulatory authorities may require additional warnings or statements on the label;
• regulatory authorities may refuse to approve label expansion for additional indications of such product or product candidate;
• we may be required by the FDA to implement a REMS;
• we may be required to change the way a product or product candidate is distributed, administered or conduct additional clinical trials;
• we may be subject to regulatory investigations and enforcement actions;
• we may decide to remove such product or product candidate from the marketplace;
• we could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; and
• our reputation may suffer.
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Any of these occurrences could prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the particular product or product candidate, if approved, and may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly.
Certain of our product candidates are under development for the treatment of patient populations with significant comorbidities that may result in deaths or serious adverse or unacceptable side effects and require us to abandon or limit our clinical development activities.
Patients in certain of our ongoing and planned clinical trials of product candidates in genetically driven cancers, as well as patients who may undergo treatment with other product candidates that we may develop, may also receive chemotherapy, radiation, and/or other high dose or myeloablative treatments in the course of treatment of their disease, and may therefore experience side effects or AEs, including death, that are unrelated to our product candidates. While these side effects or AEs may be unrelated to our product candidates, they may still affect the success of our clinical trials. The inclusion of critically ill patients in our clinical trials may also result in deaths or other adverse medical events due to underlying disease or to other therapies or medications that such patients may receive. Any of these events could prevent us from advancing our product candidates through clinical development, and from obtaining regulatory approval, and would impair our ability to commercialize our product candidates. Any inability to advance our product candidates through clinical development may harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Preliminary, interim or topline data from our clinical trials that we announce or publish from time to time may change as more patient data become available or as additional analyses are conducted, and as the data are subject to audit and verification procedures that could result in material changes in the final data.
From time to time, we have and may in the future publish or report preliminary, interim or topline data from our clinical trials. Preliminary, interim or topline data from clinical trials may not be indicative of the final results of the trial and are subject to the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues and/or more patient data become available. The results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials of our product candidates may not be predictive of the results of later-stage clinical trial, and favorable data from interim analysis do not ensure the final results of a trial will be favorable. Preliminary, interim or topline data also remain subject to audit and verification procedures that may result in the final data being materially different from the preliminary, interim or topline data we previously published. As a result, preliminary, interim or topline data should be viewed with caution until the final data are available. Material adverse changes between preliminary, interim or topline data and final data could significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Risks Related to Regulatory Review and Approval of our Product Candidates
Most of our product candidates are in preclinical or clinical development, which is a lengthy and expensive process with uncertain outcomes and the potential for substantial delays. We cannot give any assurance that any of our product candidates will receive regulatory approval, which is necessary before they can be commercialized.
Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of our product candidates, we must conduct extensive clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the product candidates in humans. To date, we have focused substantially all of our efforts and financial resources on identifying, acquiring, and developing our product candidates, including conducting lead optimization, nonclinical studies, preclinical studies and clinical trials, and providing general and administrative support for these operations. We cannot be certain that any clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all. Our inability to successfully complete preclinical and clinical development could result in additional costs to us and negatively impact our ability to generate revenue. Our future success is dependent on our ability to successfully develop, obtain regulatory approval for, and then successfully commercialize product candidates. While Attruby was approved for commercial sales in November 2024 and we previously had two products approved for sale, we have not yet generated significant revenue from sales of drugs, and we may never be able to successfully commercialize a marketable drug.
Our product candidates require additional development; management of preclinical, clinical and manufacturing activities; and regulatory approval. In addition, we will need to obtain adequate manufacturing supply; complete the build-out of a commercial organization; commence product candidate-specific marketing
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efforts; and obtain reimbursement before we generate any significant revenue from commercial product sales from such product candidates, if ever. Many of our product candidates are in early-stage research or translational phases of development, and the risk of failure for these programs is high. We cannot be certain that our product candidates will be successful in clinical trials or receive regulatory approval. Further, our product candidates may not receive regulatory approval even if they are successful in clinical trials. If we are not able to successfully commercialize an approved drug or if we do not receive additional regulatory approvals for our product candidates, we and our subsidiaries may not be able to continue operations, which may result in us winding down and dissolving the subsidiary, selling or out-licensing the technology or pursuing an alternative strategy.
If we are unable to obtain regulatory approval in one or more jurisdictions for any product candidates that we may identify and develop, our business will be substantially harmed.
We cannot commercialize a product until the appropriate regulatory authorities have reviewed and approved the product candidate. Approval by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities is lengthy and unpredictable, and depends upon numerous factors, including substantial discretion of the regulatory authorities. Approval policies, regulations or the type and amount of nonclinical or clinical data necessary to gain approval may change during the course of a product candidate’s development and may vary among jurisdictions, which may cause delays in the approval or the decision not to approve an application. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 2024 decision to overturn prior established case law giving deference to regulatory agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutory language has introduced uncertainty regarding the extent to which the FDA’s regulations, policies and decisions may become subject to increasing legal challenges, delays, and/or changes. It is possible that our current product candidates and any other product candidates which we may seek to develop in the future will not ever obtain regulatory approval. Although Attruby received FDA approval for commercial sale in the United States in November 2024, we cannot be certain that any of our other product candidates will receive regulatory approval or that Attruby, or any of our other product candidates, if approved, will be successfully commercialized.
Obtaining marketing approval is an extensive, lengthy, expensive and inherently uncertain process, and regulatory authorities may delay, limit or deny approval of our product candidates for many reasons, including, but not limited to:
• the inability to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities that the applicable product candidate is safe and effective as a treatment for our targeted indications;
• the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with the design, endpoints or implementation of our clinical trials;
• the population studied in the clinical program may not be sufficiently broad or representative to assure safety or efficacy in the full population for which we seek approval;
• the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require additional preclinical studies or clinical trials beyond those that we currently anticipate;
• the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from nonclinical studies or clinical trials;
• the data collected from clinical trials of product candidates that we may identify and pursue may not be sufficient to support the submission of a new drug application (“NDA”) biologics license application (“BLA”), or other submission for regulatory approval in the United States or elsewhere;
• we may be unable to demonstrate to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities that a product candidate’s risk-benefit ratio for its proposed indication is acceptable;
• the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may identify deficiencies in the manufacturing processes, test procedures and specifications, or facilities of third party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies; and the approval policies or regulations of the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may change in a manner that renders the clinical trial design or data insufficient for approval.
In addition, even if an NDA, BLA, or other submission for regulatory approval, is filed and accepted for review, the FDA or comparable regulatory authorities may delay their review or approval process or may decline to grant regulatory approval for a variety of reasons. The lengthy approval process, as well as the unpredictability of
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the results of clinical trials and evolving regulatory requirements, may result in our failure to obtain regulatory approval to market product candidates that we may pursue in the United States or elsewhere, which would significantly harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
Our clinical trials may fail to demonstrate substantial evidence of the safety and efficacy of product candidates that we may identify and pursue for their intended uses, which would prevent, delay or limit the scope of regulatory approval and commercialization.
Before obtaining regulatory approvals for the commercial sale of our product candidates, we must demonstrate through lengthy, complex and expensive nonclinical studies, preclinical studies and clinical trials that the applicable product candidate is both safe and effective for use in each target indication, and in the case of our product candidates regulated as biological products, that the product candidate is safe, pure, and potent for use in its targeted indication. Each product candidate must demonstrate an adequate risk versus benefit profile in its intended patient population and for its intended use.
Clinical testing is expensive and can take many years to complete, and its outcome is inherently uncertain. Failure can occur at any time during the clinical development process. Most product candidates that begin clinical trials are never approved by regulatory authorities for commercialization. We have limited experience in designing clinical trials and may be unable to design and execute a clinical trial to support future marketing approvals.
We cannot be certain that our current clinical trials or any other future clinical trials will be successful. Additionally, any safety concerns observed in any one of our clinical trials in our targeted indications could limit the prospects for regulatory approval of our product candidates in those and other indications, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, even if such clinical trials are successfully completed, we cannot guarantee that the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities will interpret the results as we do, and more trials could be required before we submit our product candidates for approval. Success in clinical trials in a particular indication does not ensure that a product candidate will be successful in other indications. Similarly, approval of a product candidate in a particular indication does not ensure that that the product candidate will be successful in other indications. Moreover, results acceptable to support approval in one jurisdiction may be deemed inadequate by another regulatory authority to support regulatory approval in that other jurisdiction. To the extent that the results of the trials are not satisfactory to the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities for support of a marketing application, we may be required to expend significant resources, which may not be available to us, to conduct additional trials in support of potential approval of our product candidates. Even if regulatory approval is secured for a product candidate, the terms of such approval may limit the scope and use of the specific product candidate, which may also limit its commercial potential.
We conduct clinical trials for product candidates outside the United States, and the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities may not accept data from such trials.
We have conducted and plan to conduct clinical trials outside the United States, including in Europe. The acceptance by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authority of study data from clinical trials conducted outside the United States or another jurisdiction may be subject to certain conditions or may not be accepted at all. In cases where data from foreign clinical trials are intended to serve as the basis for marketing approval in the United States, the FDA will generally not approve the application on the basis of foreign data alone unless (i) the data are applicable to the U.S. population and U.S. medical practice; (ii) the trials were performed by clinical investigators of recognized competence and pursuant to GCP regulations; and (iii) the data may be considered valid without the need for an on-site inspection by the FDA or, if the FDA considers such as inspection to be necessary, the FDA is able to validate the data through an on-site inspection or other appropriate means. Additionally, the FDA’s clinical trial requirements, including sufficient size of patient populations and statistical powering, must be met. Many foreign regulatory authorities have similar approval requirements. In addition, such foreign trials would be subject to the applicable local laws of the foreign jurisdictions where the trials are conducted. There can be no assurance that the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority will accept data from trials conducted outside of the United States or the applicable jurisdiction. If the FDA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority does not accept such data, it would result in the need for additional trials, which would be costly and time-consuming and delay aspects of our business plan, and which may result in product candidates that we may develop not receiving approval or clearance for commercialization in the applicable jurisdiction.
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Even if we obtain FDA approval for any of our current product candidates in the United States, we may never obtain approval to commercialize any of these product candidates 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 safety and effectiveness. 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 or different administrative review periods from those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials, as clinical trials conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for our products, once approved is also subject to approval.
Seeking foreign regulatory approval could result in difficulties and costs and require additional nonclinical 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 product candidates in those countries. The foreign regulatory approval process may include all of the risks associated with obtaining FDA approval. While we previously had two products approved for sale in the United States, we do not have any product candidates approved for sale in international markets, and we have only limited 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 any approved products will be harmed.
Even though we may apply for orphan drug designation for our product candidates, we may not be able to obtain such designations or maintain the benefits associated with orphan drug status, including orphan drug marketing exclusivity.
Our business strategy focuses on the development of product candidates for the treatment of genetic diseases, which may be eligible for FDA or European Commission orphan drug designation. Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and European Union, may designate drugs or biologics for relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. After the FDA grants orphan drug designation, the generic identity of the drug and its potential orphan use are disclosed publicly by the FDA. Orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process.
Even if one of our product candidates receives orphan exclusivity, the FDA can still approve other drugs or biologics for use in treating the same indication or disease or the same biologic for a different indication or disease during the exclusivity period. Furthermore, the FDA can waive orphan exclusivity if we are unable to manufacture sufficient supply of our product or orphan drug exclusivity can be overcome if a subsequent applicant demonstrates clinical superiority over our product. See the section titled, “Business — Government Regulation — Orphan Drug Designation and Exclusivity.”
We have obtained from the FDA orphan drug designations, including for: Attruby for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis; low-dose infigratinib for the treatment of achondroplasia; encaleret for the treatment of autosomal dominant hypocalcemia (including ADH type 1 and ADH type 2); and BBP-812 for the treatment of Canavan Disease. We have obtained from the EMA and European Commission, orphan drug designation for: Attruby for the treatment of ATTR amyloidosis; low-dose infigratinib for the treatment of achondroplasia; BBP-418 for the treatment of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy; BBP-812 for the treatment of Canavan Disease; and encaleret as a treatment for hypoparathyroidism (inclusive of ADH1). We may seek orphan drug designation for other product candidates. Even if we obtain orphan drug designation, exclusive marketing rights in the United States may be limited if we seek approval for an indication broader than the orphan designated indication and may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective, if we are unable to assure sufficient quantities of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition, or if a subsequent applicant demonstrates clinical superiority over our products. In addition, although we may seek orphan drug designation for other product candidates, we may never receive such designations. Any failure to obtain, maintain or otherwise recognize the benefits of orphan drug designation for our product candidates could have a material adverse effect on our prospects.
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On August 3, 2017, Congress passed the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 (“FDARA”). FDARA, among other things, codified the FDA’s pre-existing regulatory interpretation to require that a sponsor demonstrate the clinical superiority of an orphan drug that is otherwise the same as a previously approved drug for the same rare disease in order to receive orphan drug exclusivity. The legislation reverses prior precedent holding that the Orphan Drug Act unambiguously requires that the FDA recognize the orphan exclusivity period regardless of a showing of clinical superiority. Moreover, in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, Congress did not further change this interpretation when it clarified that the interpretation codified in FDARA would apply in cases where FDA issued an orphan designation before the enactment of FDARA but where product approval came after the enactment of FDARA. The FDA may further reevaluate the Orphan Drug Act and its regulations and policies. We do not know if, when, or how the FDA may change the orphan drug regulations and policies in the future, and it is uncertain how any changes might affect our business. Depending on what changes the FDA may make to its orphan drug regulations and policies, our business could be adversely impacted.
The FDA has granted rare pediatric disease designation to BBP-812 for the treatment of Canavan Disease. However, a marketing application for BBP-812 or any other product candidate, if approved, may not meet the eligibility criteria for a PRV.
The FDA has granted rare pediatric disease designation to BBP-812 for the treatment of Canavan Disease. Designation of a drug as a drug for a rare pediatric disease does not guarantee that an NDA for such drug will meet the eligibility criteria for a rare pediatric disease PRV at the time the application is approved. Under the Federal Food, Drugs, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”), we will need to request a rare pediatric disease PRV, in our original NDA for BBP-812. The FDA may determine that an NDA for BBP-812, if approved, does not meet the eligibility criteria for a PRV, including for the following reasons:
• achondroplasia or Canavan Disease no longer meets the definition of a rare pediatric disease;
• the NDA contains an active ingredient (including any ester or salt of the active ingredient) that has been previously approved in an NDA;
• the NDA is not deemed eligible for priority review;
• the NDA does not rely on clinical data derived from studies examining a pediatric population and dosages of the drug intended for that population (that is, if the NDA does not contain sufficient clinical data to allow for adequate labeling for use by the full range of affected pediatric patients); or
• the NDA is approved for a different adult indication than the rare pediatric disease for which BBP-812 is designated (for example, if BBP-812 is approved for an indication based on specific genetic alterations that would be inclusive of, but not limited to, BBP-812).
The FDA’s rare pediatric disease priority voucher program began to sunset on December 20, 2024, on failure to pass a continuing resolution package that included its reauthorization. Under the amended statutory sunset provisions, after December 20, 2024, the FDA may award a PRV for an approved rare pediatric disease product application only if the sponsor has rare pediatric disease designation for the drug and if that designation was granted by December 20, 2024. After September 30, 2026, the FDA may not award any rare pediatric disease PRVs. Congress may vote to reauthorize this program, but its future remains unknown at this time. Absent such legislative reauthorization of the program, if an NDA for BBP-812 is not approved prior to September 30, 2026 for any reason, regardless of whether it meets the criteria for a rare pediatric disease PRV, it will not be eligible for a PRV.
Accelerated approval by the FDA, even if granted for any of our product candidates, may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process and it does not increase the likelihood that our product candidates will receive marketing approval.
We may seek approval of our product candidates using the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway. We may seek approval of additional product candidates, where applicable, under the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway. This pathway may not lead to a faster development, regulatory review or approval process and does not increase the likelihood that our product candidates will receive marketing approval. A product may be eligible for accelerated approval if it treats a serious or life-threatening condition, generally provides a meaningful advantage over available therapies, and demonstrates an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. As a condition of approval, the FDA may require that a sponsor of a product receiving accelerated approval perform
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adequate and well-controlled post-marketing confirmatory clinical trials. These confirmatory trials must be completed with due diligence. Under the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022 (“FDORA”), the FDA is permitted to require, as appropriate, that a post-approval confirmatory trial or trials be underway prior to approval or within a specified time period after the date accelerated approval was granted. FDORA also requires sponsors to send updates to the FDA every 180 days on the status of such studies, including progress toward enrollment targets, and the FDA must promptly post this information publicly. Furthermore, under FDORA, the FDA is empowered to take action, such as issuing fines, against companies that fail to conduct with due diligence any post-approval confirmatory trial or submit timely reports to the agency on their progress. In addition, for products under consideration for accelerated approval, the FDA currently requires, unless otherwise requested by the agency, pre-approval of promotional materials prior to dissemination or publication, which could adversely impact the timing of the commercial launch of the product. Thus, even if we seek to utilize the accelerated approval pathway, we may not be able to obtain accelerated approval and, even if we do, we may not experience a faster development, regulatory review or approval process for that product. In addition, receiving accelerated approval does not assure that the product’s accelerated approval will eventually be converted to a traditional approval.
We may not elect or be able to take advantage of any expedited development or regulatory review and approval processes available to product candidates granted breakthrough therapy, fast track or regenerative medicine advanced therapy designation by the FDA.
We intend to evaluate and continue ongoing discussions with the FDA on regulatory strategies that could enable us to take advantage of expedited development pathways for certain of our product candidates, although we cannot be certain that our product candidates will qualify for any expedited development pathways or that regulatory authorities will grant, or allow us to maintain, the relevant qualifying designations. Potential expedited development pathways that we could pursue include breakthrough therapy, fast track designation and/or regenerative medicine advanced therapy (“RMAT”).
Breakthrough therapy designation is intended to expedite the development and review of product candidates that are designed to treat serious or life-threatening diseases when “preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development.” The designation of a product candidate as a breakthrough therapy provides potential benefits that include more frequent meetings with the FDA to discuss the development plan for the product candidate and ensure collection of appropriate data needed to support approval; more frequent written correspondence from the FDA about matters such as the design of the proposed clinical trials and use of biomarkers; intensive guidance on an efficient drug development program, beginning as early as Phase 1; organizational commitment involving senior managers; and eligibility for rolling review and priority review.
Fast track designation is designed for product candidates intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, where nonclinical or clinical data demonstrate the potential to address an unmet medical need for this disease or condition.
We may also seek RMAT designation for one or more of our product candidates. See the section titled, “Business — Government Regulation — Expedited Development and Review Programs” for additional information regarding RMAT designation.
Although some of our product candidates, including the following, were granted fast track designation by the FDA, we may elect not to pursue any of breakthrough therapy, fast track or RMAT designations for our other product candidates, and the FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant these designations:
• BBP-418 for the treatment of LGMD2I,
• encaleret for the treatment of ADH1, and
• BBP-812 for the treatment of Canavan Disease.
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Even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for breakthrough therapy, fast track designation or RMAT, there can be no assurance that the FDA would decide to grant it. Breakthrough therapy designation, fast track and RMAT designation do not change the standards for product approval, and there is no assurance that such designation or eligibility will result in expedited review or approval or that the approved indication will not be narrower than the indication covered by the breakthrough therapy, fast track or RMAT designation. Thus, even if we do receive breakthrough therapy, fast track or RMAT designation, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may withdraw breakthrough therapy, fast track or RMAT designation if it believes that the product no longer meets the qualifying criteria. Our business may be harmed if we are unable to avail ourselves of these or any other expedited development and regulatory pathways.
Additionally, certain oncology product candidates may be eligible for review under the Real-Time Oncology Review (“RTOR”), which is an initiative of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence designed to expedite the delivery of safe and effective cancer treatments to patients. Although this program allows the FDA to review data earlier, before an applicant formally submits a complete application, acceptance into the RTOR pilot does not guarantee or influence approvability of the application, which is subject to the usual benefit-risk evaluation by FDA reviewers, and it does not affect the FDA’s Prescription Drug User Fee Act timelines. Although early approvals have occurred with applications selected for RTOR, this may not be the case for our application even if it is selected for RTOR. If at any time the FDA determines our participation in RTOR, if selected, is no longer appropriate, the FDA may rescind our acceptance and instruct us to follow routine submission procedures for marketing approval.
We may seek designation for our platform technology as a designated platform technology, but we might not receive such designation, and even if we do, such designation may not lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process.
We may seek designation for our platform technology as a designated platform technology. A sponsor may request the FDA to designate a platform technology as a designated platform technology concurrently with, or at any time after, submission of an IND application for a drug that incorporates or utilizes the platform technology that is the subject of the request. If so designated, the FDA may expedite the development and review of any subsequent original NDA or BLA for a drug that uses or incorporates the platform technology. Even if we believe our platform technology meets the criteria for such designation, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to grant such designation. In addition, the receipt of such designation for a platform technology does not ensure that a drug will be developed more quickly or receive a faster FDA review process or ultimate FDA approval. Moreover, the FDA may revoke a designation if the FDA determines that a designated platform technology no longer meets the criteria for such designation. See the section titled, “ Business — Government Regulation — Expedited Development and Review Programs .”
If we are unable to successfully validate, develop and obtain regulatory approval for companion diagnostic tests for our drug candidates that require or would commercially benefit from such tests, or experience significant delays in doing so, we may not realize the full commercial potential of these product candidates.
In connection with the clinical development of our product candidates for certain indications, we may work with collaborators to develop or obtain access to in vitro companion diagnostic tests to identify patient subsets within a disease category who may derive selective and meaningful benefit from our drug candidates. Such companion diagnostics would be used during our clinical trials as well as in connection with the commercialization of our product candidates. To be successful, we or our collaborators will need to address a number of scientific, technical, regulatory and logistical challenges. The FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities regulate in vitro companion diagnostics as medical devices and, under that regulatory framework, will likely require the conduct of clinical trials to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of any diagnostics we may develop, which we expect will require separate regulatory clearance or approval prior to commercialization.
We may rely on third parties for the design, development and manufacture of companion diagnostic tests for our therapeutic product candidates that may require such tests. If we enter into such collaborative agreements, we will be dependent on the sustained cooperation and effort of our future collaborators in developing and obtaining approval for these companion diagnostics. It may be necessary to resolve issues such as selectivity/specificity, analytical validation, reproducibility, or clinical validation of companion diagnostics during the development and regulatory approval processes. Moreover, even if data from preclinical studies and early clinical trials appear to support development of a companion diagnostic for a product candidate, data generated in later clinical trials may
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fail to support the analytical and clinical validation of the companion diagnostic. We and our future collaborators may encounter difficulties in developing, obtaining regulatory approval for, manufacturing and commercializing companion diagnostics similar to those we face with respect to our therapeutic candidates and therapeutics themselves, including issues with achieving regulatory clearance or approval, production of sufficient quantities at commercial scale and with appropriate quality standards, and in gaining market acceptance. If we are unable to successfully develop companion diagnostics for these therapeutic product candidates, or experience delays in doing so, the development of these therapeutic product candidates may be adversely affected, these therapeutic product candidates may not obtain marketing approval, and we may not realize the full commercial potential of any of these therapeutics that have or may obtain marketing approval. As a result, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially harmed. In addition, a diagnostic company with whom we contract may decide to discontinue selling or manufacturing the companion diagnostic test that we anticipate using in connection with development and commercialization of our product candidates or our relationship with such diagnostic company may otherwise terminate. We may not be able to enter into arrangements with another diagnostic company to obtain supplies of an alternative diagnostic test for use in connection with the development and commercialization of our product candidates or do so on commercially reasonable terms, which could adversely affect and/or delay the development or commercialization of our therapeutic candidates.
If approved, our investigational products regulated as biologics may face competition from biosimilars approved through an abbreviated regulatory pathway.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, the “ACA”), includes a subtitle called the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”), which created an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are biosimilar to or interchangeable with an FDA-licensed reference biological product. Under the BPCIA, an application for a biosimilar product may not be submitted to the FDA until four years following the date that the reference product was first licensed by the FDA. In addition, the approval of a biosimilar product may not be made effective by the FDA until 12 years from the date on which the reference product was first licensed. During this 12-year period of exclusivity, another company may still market a competing version of the reference product if the FDA approves a BLA for the competing product containing the sponsor’s own preclinical data and data from adequate and well-controlled clinical trials to demonstrate the safety, purity, and potency of the other company’s product. The law is complex and is still being interpreted and implemented by the FDA. As a result, its ultimate impact, implementation, and meaning are subject to uncertainty.
We believe that any of our product candidates approved as a biological product under a BLA should qualify for the 12-year period of exclusivity. However, there is a risk that this exclusivity could be shortened due to congressional action or otherwise, or that the FDA will not consider our investigational medicines to be reference products for competing products, potentially creating the opportunity for generic competition sooner than anticipated. Moreover, the extent to which a biosimilar, once licensed, will be substituted for any one of our reference products in a way that is similar to traditional generic substitution for non-biological products is not yet clear, and will depend on a number of marketplace and regulatory factors that are still developing.
If competitors are able to obtain marketing approval for biosimilars referencing any of our product candidates, our products may become subject to competition from such biosimilars, which would impair our ability to successfully commercialize and generate revenues from sales of such products.
Attruby and Beyonttra and our current product candidates, if approved, will be subject to ongoing regulatory obligations and continued regulatory review, which may result in significant additional expense and we may be subject to penalties if we fail to comply with regulatory requirements or experience unanticipated problems with our product candidates.
Attruby and Beyonttra and our current product candidates, if approved, will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements and review by the FDA and other applicable regulatory authorities for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record-keeping, conduct of post-marketing studies, and submission of safety, efficacy, and other post-market information, including both federal and state requirements in the United States and requirements of comparable foreign regulatory authorities.
Manufacturers and manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive requirements imposed by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities, including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing
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procedures conform to current good manufacturing practices (“cGMP”), regulations. As such, we and our CMOs will be subject to continual review and inspections to assess compliance with cGMP and adherence to commitments made in any NDA, BLA or marketing authorization application (“MAA”). Accordingly, we and others with whom we work must continue to expend time, money, and effort in all areas of regulatory compliance, including manufacturing, production and quality control. Furthermore, under the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, for certain commercial prescription drug products, manufacturers and other parties involved in the supply chain must also meet chain of distribution requirements and build electronic, interoperable systems for product tracking and tracing and for notifying the FDA of counterfeit, diverted, stolen, and intentionally adulterated products or other products that are otherwise unfit for distribution in the United States In addition, the distribution of prescription pharmaceutical products, including samples, is subject to the Prescription Drug Marketing Act (“PDMA”), which regulates the distribution of drugs and drug samples at the federal level, and sets minimum standards for the registration and regulation of drug distributors by the states. Both the PDMA and state laws limit the distribution of prescription pharmaceutical product samples and impose requirements to ensure accountability in distribution. Prescription drug products must also meet applicable child-resistant packaging requirements under the U.S. Poison Prevention Packaging Act. If we are not able to comply with post-approval regulatory requirements, we could have the marketing approvals for any approved products withdrawn by regulatory authorities and our ability to market such products could be limited, which could adversely affect our ability to achieve or sustain profitability and we could be subject to substantial penalties. As a result, the cost of compliance with post-approval regulations may have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition.
Any regulatory approvals that we may receive for our product candidates, are or will be subject to limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed and promoted or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical trials and surveillance to monitor the safety and efficacy of the product. We will be required to report certain adverse reactions and production problems, if any, to the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Any new legislation addressing drug safety issues could result in delays in product development or commercialization, or increased costs to assure compliance. Additionally, under FDORA, sponsors of approved drugs and biologics must provide six months’ notice to the FDA of any changes in marketing status, such as the withdrawal of a drug, and failure to do so could result in the FDA placing the product on a list of discontinued products, which would revoke the product’s ability to be marketed.
The FDA and other agencies, including the Department of Justice, closely regulate and monitor the post-approval marketing, labeling, advertising and promotion of products to ensure that they are manufactured, marketed and distributed only for the approved indications and in accordance with the provisions of the approved label. We are required to comply with requirements concerning advertising and promotion for products that may be approved. Promotional communications with respect to prescription drugs are subject to a variety of legal and regulatory restrictions and must be consistent with the information in the product’s approved label. As such, we may not promote those products for indications or uses for which they do not have approval.
The holder of an approved NDA, BLA or MAA must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling, or manufacturing process. We could also be asked to conduct post-marketing clinical trials to verify the safety and efficacy of our products, if approved in general or in specific patient subsets. If original marketing approval was obtained via the accelerated approval pathway, we could be required to conduct a successful post-marketing clinical trial to confirm clinical benefit for those products.
If a regulatory agency discovers previously unknown problems with a product, such as AEs of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured, or disagrees with the promotion, marketing or labeling of a product, such regulatory agency may impose restrictions on that product or us, including requiring withdrawal of the product from the market. If we fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, a regulatory agency or enforcement authority may, among other things:
• issue warning or untitled letters that would result in adverse publicity;
• impose civil or criminal penalties;
• suspend or withdraw regulatory approvals;
• suspend any of our ongoing clinical trials;
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• refuse to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications submitted by us;
• impose restrictions on our operations, including closing our CMOs’ facilities;
• impose restrictions on the labeling of products;
• impose restrictions on product distribution or use, such as a REMS;
• seize or detain products; or
• require a product recall.
Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require us to expend significant time and resources in response, and could generate negative publicity. Any failure to comply with ongoing regulatory requirements may significantly and adversely affect our ability to commercialize and generate revenue from our products. If regulatory sanctions are applied or if regulatory approval is withdrawn, our operating results will be adversely affected and our stock price may decline. The FDA’s and other regulatory authorities’ policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates or suspend, withdraw or modify regulatory approval of our products.
The FDA and other regulatory agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses.
If any of our current product candidates are approved and we are found to have improperly promoted off-label uses of our products, we may become subject to significant liability. The FDA and other regulatory agencies strictly regulate the promotional claims that may be made about prescription products. In particular, while the FDA permits the dissemination of truthful and non-misleading information about an approved product, a sponsor may not promote a product for uses that are not approved by the FDA or such other regulatory agencies as reflected in the product’s approved labeling. If we are found to have promoted such off-label uses, we may become subject to significant liability. The federal government has levied large civil and criminal fines against companies for alleged improper promotion of off-label use and has enjoined several companies from engaging in off-label promotion. The FDA has also requested that companies enter into consent decrees, corporate integrity agreements or permanent injunctions under which specified promotional conduct must be changed or curtailed. If we cannot successfully manage the promotion of our product candidates, if approved, we could become subject to significant liability, which would materially adversely affect our business and financial condition.
Notwithstanding regulations related to product promotion, the FDA and other regulatory authorities allow companies to engage in truthful, non-misleading, and non-promotional scientific exchange concerning their products. We intend to engage in medical education activities and communicate with healthcare providers in compliance with all applicable laws and regulatory guidance.
Existing regulatory policies may change, and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of our product candidates.
In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the Chevron doctrine, which gives deference to regulatory agencies’ statutory interpretations in litigation against federal government agencies, such as the FDA, where the law is ambiguous. This decision may result in more lawsuits against the FDA to challenge longstanding decisions and policies of the FDA, which could undermine the FDA’s authority, lead to uncertainties in the industry, and disrupt the FDA’s normal operations, any of which could delay the FDA’s review of our regulatory submissions. We cannot predict the full impact of this decision, future judicial challenges brought against the FDA, or the nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained, and we may not achieve or sustain profitability.
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Risks Related to the Novel Nature of our Product Candidates
Certain of our product candidates, including our protein therapeutic and gene therapy product candidates, are novel, complex and difficult to manufacture. We could experience manufacturing problems that result in delays in our development or commercialization programs or otherwise harm our business.
The manufacturing processes our CMOs use to produce our product candidates, including our protein therapeutic and gene therapy product candidates, are complex, novel and have not been validated for commercial use. Several factors have caused and may cause future production interruptions, including restrictions on certain manufacturing operations and shortages in on-site personnel at our CMOs’ manufacturing facilities, equipment malfunctions, facility contamination, raw material shortages or contamination, natural disasters, disruption in utility services, human error or disruptions in the operations of our suppliers, including historical disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which could reoccur in connection with any future global pandemic or health emergency.
Several of our small molecule product candidates are particularly complex and difficult to manufacture, in some cases due to the number of steps required, the process complexity and the toxicity of end or intermediate-stage products. Our protein therapeutic and gene therapy product candidates require processing steps that are more complex than those required for most small molecule drugs. Moreover, unlike small molecules, the physical and chemical properties of certain of our biologic product candidates generally cannot be fully characterized. As a result, assays of the finished product may not be sufficient to ensure that the product is consistent from lot-to-lot or will perform in the intended manner. Accordingly, our CMOs must employ multiple steps to control the manufacturing process to assure that the process is reproducible and the product candidate is made strictly and consistently in compliance with the process. Problems with the manufacturing process, even minor deviations from the normal process, could result in product defects or manufacturing failures that result in lot failures, product recalls, product liability claims or insufficient inventory to conduct clinical trials or supply commercial markets. We may encounter problems achieving adequate quantities and quality of clinical-grade materials that meet the FDA, the EMA or other applicable standards or specifications with consistent and acceptable production yields and costs.
In addition, the FDA, the EMA and other foreign regulatory authorities may require us to submit samples of any lot of any approved product together with the protocols showing the results of applicable tests at any time. Under some circumstances, the FDA, the EMA or other foreign regulatory authorities may require that we not distribute a lot until the agency authorizes its release. Slight deviations in the manufacturing process, including those affecting quality attributes and stability, may result in unacceptable changes in the product that could result in lot failures or product recalls. Lot failures or product recalls could cause us to delay product launches or clinical trials, which could be costly to us and otherwise harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our CMOs also may encounter problems hiring and retaining the experienced scientific, quality assurance, quality-control and manufacturing personnel needed to operate our manufacturing processes, which could result in delays in production or difficulties in maintaining compliance with applicable regulatory requirements.
Any problems in our CMOs’ manufacturing process or facilities could result in delays in planned clinical trials and increased costs, and could make us a less attractive collaborator for potential partners, including larger biotechnology companies and academic research institutions, which could limit access to additional attractive development programs. Problems in our manufacturing process could also restrict our ability to meet potential future market demand for any products that may be approved.
Certain of our product candidates are based on a novel adeno-associated virus (“AAV”) gene therapy technology with which there is limited clinical or regulatory experience to date, which makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of product candidate development and subsequently obtaining regulatory approval.
Certain of our product candidates are based on gene therapy technology and our future success depends on the successful development of this novel therapeutic approach. We cannot assure you that any development problems we or other gene therapy companies experience in the future related to gene therapy technology will not cause significant delays or unanticipated costs in the development of our product candidates, or that such development problems can be solved. In addition, the clinical study requirements of the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory agencies and the criteria these regulators use to determine the safety and efficacy of a product candidate vary substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty and intended use and market of the potential products. The regulatory approval process for novel product candidates such as ours can be more expensive and take longer than
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for other, better known or extensively studied therapeutic modalities. Further, as we are developing novel treatments for diseases in which there is limited clinical experience with new endpoints and methodologies, there is heightened risk that the FDA, the EMA or comparable foreign regulatory bodies may not consider the clinical trial endpoints to provide clinically meaningful results, and the resulting clinical data and results may be more difficult to analyze. To date, few gene therapy products have been approved by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, which makes it difficult to determine how long it will take or how much it will cost to obtain regulatory approvals for our product candidates in the United States, the European Union or other jurisdictions. Further, approvals by one regulatory agency may not be indicative of what other regulatory agencies may require for approval.
Regulatory requirements governing the development of gene therapy products have changed frequently and may continue to change in the future. In 2016, the FDA established the Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies (“OTAT”), within its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (“CBER”), to consolidate the review of gene therapy and related products, and to advise CBER on its review. In September 2022, the FDA announced retitling of OTAT to the Office of Therapeutic Products (“OTP”), and elevation of OTP to a “Super Office” to meet its growing cell and gene therapy workload. In addition, under guidelines issued by the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) gene therapy clinical trials are also subject to review and oversight by an institutional biosafety committee (“IBC”) a local institutional committee that reviews and oversees research utilizing recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules at that institution. Before a clinical trial can begin at any institution, that institution’s institutional review board (“IRB”), and its IBC assesses the safety of the research and identifies any potential risk to public health or the environment. While the NIH guidelines are not mandatory unless the research in question is being conducted at or sponsored by institutions receiving NIH funding of recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecule research, many companies and other institutions not otherwise subject to the NIH Guidelines voluntarily follow them. Moreover, serious adverse events or developments in clinical trials of gene therapy product candidates conducted by others may cause the FDA or other regulatory bodies to initiate a clinical hold on our clinical trials or otherwise change the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates. Although the FDA decides whether individual cell and gene therapy protocols may proceed, the review process and determinations of other reviewing bodies can impede or delay the initiation of a clinical trial, even if the FDA has reviewed the trial and approved its initiation.
Similarly, the EMA governs the approval of gene therapies in the European Union and may issue new guidelines concerning the development and marketing authorization for gene therapy products and require that we comply with these new guidelines.
These regulatory review committees and advisory groups and the new guidelines they promulgate may lengthen the regulatory review process, require us to perform additional studies or trials, increase our development costs, lead to changes in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of our product candidates or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. As we advance our product candidates, we will be required to consult with these regulatory and advisory groups and comply with applicable guidelines. If we fail to do so, we may be required to delay or discontinue development of such product candidates. These additional processes may result in a review and approval process that is longer than we otherwise would have expected. Delays as a result of an increased or lengthier regulatory approval process or further restrictions on the development of our product candidates can be costly and could negatively impact our ability to complete clinical trials and commercialize our current and future product candidates, if approved, in a timely manner, if at all.
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Our product candidates based on gene therapy technology may cause undesirable and unforeseen side effects or be perceived by the public as unsafe, which could delay or prevent their advancement into clinical trials or regulatory approval, the imposition of a clinical hold, limit the commercial potential or result in significant negative consequences.
Public attitudes may be influenced by claims that gene therapy as a novel technology is unsafe, unethical, or immoral, and, consequently, our product candidates may not gain the acceptance of the public or the medical community. Adverse public attitudes may adversely impact our ability to enroll clinical trials. In addition, the FDA has imposed an increased number of clinical holds on gene therapy candidates in recent years. Moreover, our success will depend upon physicians prescribing, and their patients being willing to receive, treatments that involve the use of product candidates we may develop in lieu of, or in addition to, existing treatments with which they are already familiar and for which greater clinical data may be available. For example, there have been several significant adverse side effects in prior clinical trials of gene therapy product candidates, including reported cases of leukemia and death seen in other trials using other vectors. While new AAV vectors have been developed to reduce these side effects, gene therapy is still a relatively new approach to disease treatment and additional adverse side effects could develop. There also is the potential risk of delayed AEs following exposure to gene therapy products due to persistent biologic activity of the genetic material or other components of products used to carry the genetic material.
Possible adverse side effects that could occur with treatment with gene therapy products include an immunologic reaction early after administration which could be detrimental to the patient’s health or substantially limit the effectiveness and durability of the treatment. For example, an increasingly anticipated side effect of AAV gene therapy is the development of a T-cell immunological response, most often seen affecting the liver. Any actual or perceived negative effects of our AAV gene therapy product candidates or those under development by third parties could impair our ability to continue the development of these product candidates and have an adverse effect on our prospects.
Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties
We expect to rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and some aspects of our research and preclinical testing, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such trials, research or testing.
We currently rely and expect to continue to rely on third parties, such as CROs, clinical data management organizations, medical institutions and clinical investigators, to conduct some aspects of research and preclinical testing and clinical trials. Any of these third parties may terminate their engagements with us or be unable to fulfill their contractual obligations. If any of our relationships with these third parties terminate, we may not be able to enter into arrangements with alternative third parties on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements, it will delay our product development activities.
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Our reliance on these third parties for research and development activities reduces control over these activities but does not relieve us of our responsibilities. For example, we remain responsible for ensuring that each of our respective clinical trials is conducted in accordance with the general investigational plan and protocols for the trial and applicable legal, regulatory, and scientific standards, and our reliance on third parties does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. In addition, the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities require compliance with GCPs for conducting, recording and reporting the results of clinical trials to assure that data and reported results are credible, reproducible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and confidentiality of trial participants are protected. Regulatory authorities enforce these GCPs through periodic inspections of trial sponsors, principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of these third parties fail to comply with applicable GCP regulations, some or all of the clinical data generated in our clinical trials may be deemed unreliable and the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may require us to perform additional nonclinical or clinical trials or to enroll additional patients before approving our marketing applications. We cannot be certain that, upon inspection, such regulatory authorities will determine that any of our clinical trials complies with the GCP regulations. For any violations of laws and regulations during the conduct of clinical trials, we could be subject to untitled and warning letters or enforcement action that may include civil penalties up to and including criminal prosecution. We also are required to register ongoing clinical trials and post the results of completed clinical trials on a government-sponsored database within certain timeframes. Failure to do so can result in fines, adverse publicity, and civil and criminal sanctions.
If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, meet expected deadlines or conduct clinical trials in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols, we will not be able to obtain, or may be delayed in obtaining, marketing approvals for any product candidates we may develop and will not be able to, or may be delayed in our efforts to, successfully commercialize our medicines. Our failure or the failure of these third parties to comply applicable regulatory requirements or our stated protocols could also subject us to enforcement action.
We also expect to rely on other third parties to store and distribute drug supplies for our clinical trials. Any performance failure on the part of our distributors could delay commercial sales of Attruby and Beyonttra or the clinical development or marketing approval of any product candidates we may develop resulting in additional losses and depriving us of potential product revenue.
We rely entirely on third parties for the manufacturing of Attruby and Beyonttra and our product candidates that we may develop for preclinical studies and clinical trials. Our business could be harmed if those third parties fail to provide us with sufficient quantities of drug product, or fail to do so at acceptable quality levels or prices.
We do not currently have, nor do we plan to acquire, the infrastructure or capability internally to manufacture drug supplies for our ongoing clinical trials or any future clinical trials that we may conduct, and we lack the resources to manufacture our product candidates, if approved, on a commercial scale. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third-party manufacturers for the manufacturing of commercial supply of Attruby and Beyonttra and other product candidates, if approved. We also rely on third party manufacturers for the clinical manufacturing supply of our product candidates. Although we generally do not begin a clinical trial unless we believe we have a sufficient supply of a product candidate to complete the trial, any significant delay or discontinuity in the supply of a product candidate, or the raw material components thereof, for an ongoing clinical trial due to the need to replace a third-party manufacturer could considerably delay the clinical development and potential regulatory approval of our product candidates, which could harm our business and results of operations.
We may be unable to identify and appropriately qualify third-party manufacturers or establish agreements with third-party manufacturers or do so on acceptable terms. Even if we are able to establish agreements with third-party manufacturers, reliance on third-party manufacturers entails additional risks, including:
• reliance on the third party for sourcing of raw materials, components, and such other goods as may be required for execution of its manufacturing processes and the oversight by the third party of its suppliers;
• reliance on the third party for regulatory compliance and quality assurance for the manufacturing activities each performs;
• the possible breach of the manufacturing agreement by the third party;
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• the possible misappropriation of proprietary information, including trade secrets and know-how; and
• the possible termination or non-renewal of the agreement by the third party at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us.
Furthermore, all of our CMOs are engaged with other companies to supply and/or manufacture materials or products for such companies, which exposes our manufacturers to regulatory risks for the production of such materials and products. The facilities used by our contract manufacturers to manufacture our product candidates are subject to review by the FDA pursuant to inspections that will be conducted after we submit an NDA or BLA to the FDA. We do not control the manufacturing process of, and are completely dependent on, our contract manufacturing partners for compliance with the regulatory requirements, known as cGMP, requirements for manufacture of drug and biologic products. If our contract manufacturers cannot successfully manufacture material that conforms to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or others, we will not be able to secure or maintain regulatory approval for our product candidates manufactured at these manufacturing facilities. In addition, we have no control over the ability of our contract manufacturers to maintain adequate quality control, quality assurance and qualified personnel. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory agency does not approve these facilities for the manufacture of our product candidates or if any agency withdraws its approval in the future, we may need to find alternative manufacturing facilities, which would negatively impact the ability to develop, obtain regulatory approval for or market, if approved, our product candidates.
On March 27, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States passed into law the CARES Act, which enhanced the FDA’s authority with respect to drug shortage measures. Under the CARES Act, we must have in place a risk management plan that identifies and evaluates the risks to the supply of approved drugs for certain serious diseases or conditions for each establishment where the drug or active pharmaceutical ingredient is manufactured. The risk management plan will be subject to FDA review during an inspection. If we experience shortages in the supply of Attruby or any of our other product candidates that receive marketing approval, our results could be materially impacted.
Our product candidates may compete with other product candidates and marketed drugs for access to manufacturing facilities. In addition, any performance failure on the part of our existing or future manufacturers could delay clinical development, marketing approval or commercialization. Our current and anticipated future dependence upon others for the manufacturing of our product candidates may adversely affect our future profit margins and our ability to commercialize any product candidates that receive marketing approval on a timely and competitive basis.
The drug substance and drug product for certain of our product candidates are currently acquired from single-source suppliers. The loss of these suppliers, or their failure to supply us with the drug substance or drug product, could materially and adversely affect our business.
The drug substance and drug product for certain of our product candidates are manufactured by single-source suppliers or CMOs under development and manufacturing contracts and services and quality agreements and purchase orders. We do not currently have any other suppliers for the drug substance or drug product of these product candidates and, although we believe that there are alternate sources of supply that could satisfy our clinical and commercial requirements, we cannot assure you that identifying alternate sources and establishing relationships with such sources would not result in significant delay in the development of our product candidates.
Our dependence on single-source suppliers exposes us to certain risks, including the following:
• our suppliers may cease or reduce production or deliveries, raise prices or renegotiate terms;
• delays caused by supply issues may harm our reputation; and
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• our ability to progress our business could be materially and adversely impacted if our single-source suppliers upon which we rely were to experience a significant business challenges, disruption or failures due to issues such as financial difficulties or bankruptcy, issues relating regulatory or quality compliance issues, or other legal or reputational issues.
Additionally, we may not be able to enter into supply arrangements with alternative suppliers on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. A delay in the development of our product candidates or having to enter into a new agreement with a different third party on less favorable terms than we have with our current suppliers could have a material adverse impact upon on our business.
If the contract manufacturing facilities on which we rely do not continue to meet regulatory requirements or are unable to meet our supply demands, our business will be harmed.
All entities involved in the preparation of products for commercial sale or product candidates for clinical trials, including our existing CMOs for Attruby and Beyonttra and all of our product candidates, are subject to extensive regulation. Components of a finished therapeutic product approved for commercial sale or used in late-stage clinical trials must be manufactured in accordance with cGMP, or similar regulatory requirements outside the United States. These regulations govern manufactur
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.