BIOVIE INC. 10-Q

Item 1A. Risk Factors Except as described below, there have been no material changes to the Risk Factors previously disclosed in our Form 10-K. The risks described in our Form 10-K and below are not the only risks facing our company. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and/or operating results. Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry If the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities approve generic versions of any of our product candidates that receive marketing approval, or such authorities do not grant our products sufficient, or any, periods of exclusivity before approving generic versions of our products, the sales of our products could be adversely affected. Once a new drug application (“NDA”) is approved, the product covered thereby becomes a “reference listed drug” or RLD, in the FDA’s publication, “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” commonly known as the Orange Book. Other manufacturers may seek approval of generic versions of reference listed drugs through submission of abbreviated new drug applications (“ANDAs”) in the United States. In support of an ANDA, a generic manufacturer need not conduct clinical trials. Rather, the applicant generally must show that its product has the same active ingredient(s), dosage form, strength, route of administration and conditions of use or labeling as the reference listed drug and that the generic version is bioequivalent to the reference listed drug, meaning it is absorbed in the body at the same rate and to the same extent as the RLD. Generic products may be significantly less costly to bring to market than the reference listed drug and companies that produce generic products are generally able to offer them at lower prices. Moreover, generic versions of RLDs are often automatically substituted for the RLD by pharmacies when dispensing a prescription written for the RLD. Thus, following the introduction of a generic drug, a significant percentage of the sales of any branded product or reference listed drug is typically lost to the generic product. The FDA may not approve an ANDA for a generic product until any applicable period of non-patent exclusivity for the RLD has expired. The U.S. federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) provides a period of five years of non-patent exclusivity for a new drug containing a new chemical entity (“NCE”). An NCE is an active ingredient that has not previously been approved by FDA alone or in combination with other substances. Specifically, in cases where such exclusivity has been granted, an ANDA may not be submitted to the FDA until the expiration of five years unless the submission is accompanied by a Paragraph IV Certification that a patent covering the reference listed drug is either invalid or will not be infringed by the generic product, in which case the applicant may submit its application four years following approval of the reference listed drug. If an ANDA is submitted to FDA with a Paragraph IV Certification, the generic applicant must also provide a Paragraph IV Notification to the holder of the NDA for the RLD and to the owner of the listed patent(s) being challenged by the ANDA applicant, providing a detailed written statement of the basis for the ANDA applicant’s position that the relevant patent(s) is invalid or would not be infringed. If the patent owner brings a patent infringement lawsuit against the ANDA applicant within 45 days of the Paragraph IV Notification, FDA approval of the ANDA will be automatically stayed for 30 months, or until 7-1/2 years after the NDA approval if the generic application was filed between 4 years and 5 years after the NDA approval. Any such stay will be terminated earlier if the court rules that the patent is invalid or would not be infringed. Competition that our products may face from generic versions of our products could materially and adversely impact our future revenue, profitability and cash flows and substantially limit our ability to obtain a return on the investments we have made in those product candidates. - 22 - Table of Contents If we fail to obtain or maintain Orphan Drug exclusivity for BIV201, we will have to rely on other potential marketing exclusivity, and on our intellectual property rights, which may reduce the length of time that we can prevent competitors from selling generic versions of BIV201. We have obtained Orphan Drug Designation for BIV201 (terlipressin) in the U.S. for the treatment of hepatorenal syndrome (received November 21, 2018) and treatment of ascites due to all etiologies except cancer (received September 8, 2016). Under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a product as an Orphan Drug if it is a drug intended to treat a rare disease or condition, defined, in part, as a patient population of fewer than 200,000 in the U.S. In the EU, Orphan Drug designation may be granted to drugs intended to treat, diagnose or prevent a life-threatening or chronically debilitating disease having a prevalence of no more than five in 10,000 people in the EU, and which meet other specified criteria. The company that first obtains FDA approval for a designated Orphan Drug for the associated rare disease may receive a seven-year period of marketing exclusivity during which time FDA may not approve another application for the same drug for the same orphan disease or condition. Orphan Drug Exclusivity does not prevent FDA approval of another application for the same drug for a different disease or condition, or of an application for a different drug for the same rare disease or condition. Orphan Drug exclusive marketing rights may be lost under several circumstances, including a later determination by the FDA that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the drug. Similar regulations are available in the EU with a ten-year period of market exclusivity. Even though BioVie has obtained two Orphan Drug Designations for its lead product candidate, terlipressin, for treatment of ascites and for treatment of HRS, and may seek other Orphan Drug Designations for BIV201, and Orphan Drug Designation for other product candidates, there is no assurance that BioVie will be the first to obtain marketing approval for any particular rare indication. Further, even though BioVie has obtained Orphan Drug Designations for its lead product candidate, or even if BioVie obtains Orphan Drug Designation for other potential product candidates, such designation may not effectively protect BioVie from competition because different drugs can be approved for the same condition and the same drug can be approved for different conditions and potentially used off-label in the Orphan indication. Even after an Orphan Drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve another competing drug with the same active ingredient for the same condition for several reasons, including, if the FDA concludes that the later drug is clinically superior due to being safer or more effective or because it makes a major contribution to patient care. Orphan Drug Designation neither shortens the development time or regulatory review time of a drug, nor gives the drug any advantage in the regulatory review or approval process. In fact, Mallinckrodt recently received an NDA approval for its terlipressin product for the hepatorenal syndrome (“HRS”) indication in September 2022, which is the same indication for which we had received an Orphan Designation. FDA granted Mallinckrodt and its approved drug a new chemical entity exclusivity. Similarly, if another company with an Orphan Drug designation for the same drug as ours for the same proposed disease or condition receives FDA approval and orphan drug exclusivity before our product is approved, approval of our drug(s) for the orphan indication may be blocked for seven years by the other company’s orphan drug exclusivity and they may obtain a competitive advantage even after the exclusivity period expires associated with being the first to market. We may face business disruption and related risks if there is another surge ofCOVID-19 or if there is another pandemic caused by other bacteria or viruses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business plan. Health emergencies or pandemics, whether from COVID-19 or other viruses or bacteria, may lead to regional quarantines, business shutdowns, labor shortages, disruptions to supply chains, and overall economic instability, which could materially and adversely affect the clinical trials, supply chain, financial condition and financial performance of our company. The duration and spread of a pandemic and its long-term impact on the financial markets and the overall economy are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. If the financial markets and/or the overall economy are impacted for an extended period, the Company’s ability to raise funds may be materially adversely affected. In addition, such health emergencies or pandemics may create a widespread labor shortage, including a shortage of medical professionals, and may impact potential patient participation in our studies which may adversely impact our ability to continue or complete our clinical trials in the planned timeline. We can provide no assurance that our product candidates will obtain regulatory approval or that the results of clinical studies will be favorable. The business plan we have developed through June 2024 for the liver disease program is to complete the Phase 2b clinical development program for our lead new product candidate BIV201 for treatment of ascites, conduct a single pivotal Phase 3 trial of BIV201 for ascites, and to pursue other key milestones such as additional patent issuances. For NE3107, we have commenced a potentially pivotal 18-month Phase 3 trial in Alzheimer’s disease, commenced a Phase 2 study of NE3017 in Parkinson’s disease. Due to our financial constraints, we do not have the resources necessary to complete all of these clinical studies. Subject to FDA guidance, we plan to commence additional Phase 2 and potentially Phase 3 clinical trials upon receipt of a successful capital raise. There is no guarantee the FDA will approve the commencement of a Phase 3 trial for BIV201, and even if it does, our financial constraints may prevent us from undertaking clinical trials. - 23 - Table of Contents We rely and will continue to rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval of or commercialize our product candidates. We depend, and will continue to depend, on contract research organizations (“CROs”), clinical trial sites and clinical trial principal investigators, contract laboratories, and other third parties to conduct our clinical trials. We rely heavily on these third parties over the course of our clinical trials, and we control only certain aspects of their activities. Nevertheless, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our studies is conducted in accordance with the protocol and applicable legal, regulatory, and scientific standards and regulations, and our reliance on third parties does not relieve us of our regulatory responsibilities. We and these third parties are required to comply with current good clinical practices (“cGCPs”), which are regulations and guidelines enforced by the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities for the conduct of clinical trials on product candidates in clinical development. Regulatory authorities enforce cGCPs through periodic inspections and for-cause inspections of clinical trial principal investigators and trial sites. If we or any of these third parties fail to comply with applicable cGCPs or fail to enroll a sufficient number of patients, we may be required to conduct additional clinical trials to support our marketing applications, which would delay the regulatory approval process. Moreover, our business may be implicated if any of these third parties violates federal, state, or foreign fraud and abuse or false claims laws and regulations or healthcare privacy and security laws, or provide us or government agencies with inaccurate, misleading, or incomplete data. Although we design the clinical trials for our product candidates, our CROs will facilitate and monitor our clinical trials. As a result, many important aspects of our clinical development programs, including site and investigator selection, and the conduct and timing and monitoring of the study, will be partly or completely outside our direct control. Our reliance on third parties to conduct clinical trials will also result in less direct control over the collection, management, and quality of data developed through clinical trials than would be the case if we were relying entirely upon our own employees. Communicating with third parties can also be challenging, potentially leading to mistakes as well as difficulties in coordinating activities. Any third parties conducting our clinical trials are not, and will not be, our employees and, except for remedies available to us under our agreements with these third parties, we cannot control whether they devote sufficient time and resources to our ongoing preclinical, clinical, and nonclinical programs. These third parties may also have relationships with other commercial entities, including our competitors, for whom they may also be conducting clinical trials or other drug development activities, which could affect their performance on our behalf. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or obligations or meet expected deadlines, if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to the failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements, or if there are other difficulties with such third parties, such as staffing difficulties, changes in priorities, or financial distress, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed, or terminated. As a result, we may not be able to complete development of, obtain regulatory approval of, or successfully commercialize our product candidates. As a result, our financial results and the commercial prospects for our product candidates will be harmed, our costs could increase, and our ability to generate revenue could be delayed. If any of our relationships with trial sites, or any CRO that we may use in the future, terminates, we may not be able to timely enter into arrangements with alternative trial sites or CROs, or do so on commercially reasonable terms. Switching or adding clinical trial sites or CROs to conduct our clinical trials involves substantial cost and requires extensive management time, training, and focus. In addition, there is a natural transition lag when a new third party must learn about our product candidates and protocols, which can result in delays that may materially impact our ability to meet our desired clinical development timelines. - 24 - Table of Contents We may be unable to obtain or protect intellectual property rights relating to our product candidates, and we may be liable for infringing upon the intellectual property rights of others, which could have a materially adverse effect on our business. Our ability to compete effectively will depend on our ability to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies. We cannot assure investors that we will continue to innovate and file new patent applications, or that if filed any future patent applications will result in granted patents with respect to the technology owned by us or licensed to us. Further, we cannot predict how long it will take for such patents to issue, if at all. The patent position of pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies, including ours, is generally uncertain and involves complex legal and factual considerations and, therefore, validity and enforceability cannot be predicted with certainty. Patents may be challenged, deemed unenforceable, invalidated or circumvented. BioVie has also filed a PCT (“Patent Cooperation Treaty”) application covering our novel liquid formulations of terlipressin (international patent application PCT/US2020/034269 published as WO2020/237170) and we are seeking patent protection in the United States, Europe, China, Japan and eight other jurisdictions. As of December 31, 2022, we have fifteen (15) issued U.S. patents, one (1) pending U.S. patent application, one (1) pending PCT application and six (6) issued foreign patents directed to protecting NE3107 and related compounds and methods of making and using thereof. However, there can be no assurance that our pending patent applications will result in issued patents, or that any issued patent claims from pending or future patent applications will be sufficiently broad to protect BIV201, NE3107, or any other product candidates or to provide us with competitive advantages. Any patents we do obtain may be challenged by re-examination or otherwise invalidated or eventually found unenforceable. Both the patent application process and the process of managing patent disputes can be time consuming and expensive. If we were to initiate legal proceedings against a third party to enforce a patent related to one of our products, the defendant in such litigation could counterclaim that our patent is invalid and/or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the U.S., defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity and/or unenforceability are commonplace, as are validity challenges by the defendant against the subject patent or other patents before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO”). Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness or non-enablement, failure to meet the written description requirement, indefiniteness, and/or failure to claim patent eligible subject matter. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent intentionally withheld material information from the USPTO, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. Additional grounds for an unenforceability assertion include an allegation of misuse or anticompetitive use of patent rights, and an allegation of incorrect inventorship with deceptive intent. Third parties may also raise similar claims before the USPTO even outside the context of litigation. The outcome is unpredictable following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability. With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that no invalidating prior art existed of which we and the patent examiner were unaware during prosecution. These assertions may also be based on information known to us or the Patent Office. If a defendant or third party were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity and/or unenforceability, we would lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the claims of the challenged patent. Such a loss of patent protection would or could have a material adverse impact on our business. The standards that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (and foreign countries) use to grant patents are not always applied predictably or uniformly and can change. There is also no uniform, worldwide policy regarding the subject matter and scope of claims granted or allowable in pharmaceutical or biotechnology patents. Accordingly, we do not know the degree of future protection for our proprietary rights or the breadth of claims that will be allowed in any patents issued to us or to others. Further, we rely on a combination of trade secrets, know-how, technology and nondisclosure, and other contractual agreements and technical measures to protect our rights in the technology. If any trade secret, know-how or other technology not protected by a patent were to be disclosed to or independently developed by a competitor, our business and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. The laws of some foreign countries do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S., and we may encounter significant problems in protecting our proprietary rights in these countries. We do not believe that either BIV201 or NE3107, the product candidates we are currently developing, infringe upon the rights of any third parties nor are they infringed upon by third parties. However, there can be no assurance that our technology will not be found in the future to infringe upon the rights of others or be infringed upon by others. Moreover, patent applications are in some cases maintained in secrecy until patents are issued. The publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature frequently occurs substantially later than the date on which the underlying discoveries were made and patent applications were filed. Because patents can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending applications of which we are unaware that may later result in issued patents that our products or product candidates infringe. For example, pending applications may exist that provide support or can be amended to provide support for a claim that results in an issued patent that our product infringes. In such a case, others may assert infringement claims against us, and should we be found to infringe upon their patents, or otherwise impermissibly utilize their intellectual property, we might be forced to pay damages, potentially including treble damages, if we are found to have willfully infringed on such parties’ patent rights. In addition to any damages we might have to pay, we may be required to obtain licenses from the holders of this intellectual property. We may fail to obtain any of these licenses or intellectual property rights on commercially reasonable terms. Even if we are able to obtain a license, it may be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us. In that event, we may be required to expend significant time and resources to develop or license replacement technology. If we are unable to do so, we may be unable to develop or commercialize the affected products, which could materially harm our business and the third parties owning such intellectual property rights could seek either an injunction prohibiting our sales, or, with respect to our sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties and/or other forms of compensation. Conversely, we may not always be able to successfully pursue our claims against others that infringe upon our technology. Thus, the proprietary nature of our technology or technology licensed by us may not provide adequate protection against competitors. - 25 - Table of Contents The pharmaceutical industry is characterized by extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights. Moreover, the cost to us of any litigation or other proceeding relating to our patents and other intellectual property rights, even if resolved in our favor, could be substantial, and the litigation would divert our management’s efforts. We may not have sufficient resources to bring any such action to a successful conclusion. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could limit our ability to continue our operations and you could lose all of your investment. There may be conflicts of interest among our officers, directors and stockholders. Certain of our executive officers and directors and their affiliates are engaged in other activities and have interests in other entities on their own behalf or on behalf of other persons. Neither we nor any of our stockholders will have any rights in these ventures or their income or profits. In particular, our executive officers or directors or their affiliates may have an economic interest in or other business relationship with partner companies that invest in us or are engaged in competing drug development. Our executive officers or directors may have conflicting fiduciary duties to us and third parties. The terms of transactions with third parties may not be subject to arm’s length negotiations and therefore may be on terms less favorable to us than those that could be procured through arm’s length negotiations. Risks Relating To Our Common Stock You may experience future dilution as a result of future equity offerings or if we issue shares subject to options, warrants, stock awards or other arrangements. In order to raise additional capital, we may in the future offer additional shares of our common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock, including under the Controlled Equity Offering Sales Agreement (the “Sales Agreement”), dated as of August 31, 2022, by and among the Company, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. and B. Riley Securities, Inc. (collectively, the “Agents”), pursuant to which the Company may issue and sell from time to time shares of common stock through the Agents. We may sell shares or other securities in any other offering at a price per share that is less than the current market price of our securities, and investors purchasing shares or other securities in the future could have rights superior to existing stockholders. The sale of additional shares of common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock would dilute all of our stockholders, and if such sales of convertible securities into or exchangeable into our common stock occur at a deemed issuance price that is lower than the current exercise price of our outstanding warrants sold to Acuitas Group Holdings, LLC (“Acuitas”) in August 2022, the exercise price for those warrants would adjust downward to the deemed issuance price pursuant to price adjustment protection contained within those warrants. In addition, as of December 31, 2022, there were warrants outstanding to purchase an aggregate of 7,770,285 shares of common stock at exercise prices ranging from $1.82 to $12.50 per share and 3,448,797 shares issuable upon exercise of outstanding options at exercise prices ranging from $1.69 to $42.09 per share. Our Loan Agreement entered into on November 30, 2021 contains a conversion feature whereby at the option of lender, up to $5 million of the outstanding loan amount may be converted into shares of common stock at a conversion price of $6.98 per share. We may grant additional options, warrants or stock awards. To the extent such shares are issued, the interest of holders of our common stock will be diluted. Moreover, we are obligated to issue shares of common stock upon achievement of certain clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones with respect to certain of our drug candidates (i.e., NE3107, NE3291, NE3413, and NE3789) pursuant to the asset purchase agreement, dated April 27, 2021, by and among the Company, NeurMedix, Inc. and Acuitas, as amended on May 9, 2021. The achievement of these milestones could result in the issuance of up to 18 million shares of our common stock, further diluting the interest of holders of our common stock. Certain stockholders who are also officers and directors of the Company may have significant control over our management. As of December 31, 2022, our directors and executive officers currently own an aggregate 24,431,826 shares of our common stock, which currently constitutes 67.9% of our issued and outstanding common stock. As a result, directors and executive officers may have a significant influence on our affairs and management, as well as on all matters requiring member approval, including electing and removing members of our board of directors, causing us to engage in transactions with affiliated entities, causing or restricting our sale or merger, and certain other matters. Our Chairman, Mr. Terren Peizer, may be deemed to beneficially own the shares held by Acuitas. Such concentration of ownership and control could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of us even when such a change of control would be in the best interests of our stockholders. - 26 - Table of Contents There is a limited trading market for our common stock, which could make it difficult to liquidate an investment in our common stock, in a timely manner. Our common stock is currently traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Because there is a limited public market for our common stock, investors may not be able to liquidate their investment whenever desired. We cannot assure that there will be an active trading market for our common stock and the lack of an active public trading market could mean that investors may be exposed to increased risk. In addition, if we failed to meet the criteria set forth in SEC regulations, various requirements would be imposed by law on broker dealers who sell our securities to persons other than established customers and accredited investors. Consequently, such regulations may deter broker-dealers from recommending or selling our common stock, which may further affect its liquidity. We may, in the future, issue additional common stock, which would reduce investors’ percent of ownership and may dilute our share value. As of December 31, 2022 our Articles of Incorporation, as amended, authorize the issuance of 800,000,000 shares of common stock, and we had 34,504,332 shares of common stock outstanding. Accordingly, we may issue up to an additional 753,719,062 shares of common stock. The future issuance of common stock may result in substantial dilution in the percentage of our common stock held by our then existing stockholders. We may value any common stock in the future on an arbitrary basis. The issuance of common stock for future services or acquisitions or other corporate actions may have the effect of diluting the value of the shares held by our investors, might have an adverse effect on any trading market for our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital in the future through the sale of equity securities. Item 2. Unregistered sales of equity securities None. Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities None Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures None