CorMedix Inc. 10-K

Item 1A. Risk Factors Risks Related to Our Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital We have a history of operating losses, expect to incur additional operating losses in the future and may never be profitable. Our prospects must be considered in light of the uncertainties, risks, expenses and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in the early stages of operation. We incurred net losses of approximately $29.7 million and $28.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $275.4 million. We expect to incur substantial additional operating expenses over the next several years as our research, development, pre-clinical testing, clinical trial and commercialization activities increase as we commercialize DefenCath and develop our other product candidates. As a result, we expect to experience negative cash flow as we fund our operating losses and capital expenditures. The amount of future losses and when, if ever, we will achieve profitability are uncertain. We have not generated any significant commercial revenue and do not expect to generate substantial revenues from DefenCath unless and until it is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and launched in the United States (“U.S.”) market, and we might never generate significant revenues from the sale of DefenCath or any other products. Our ability to generate revenue and achieve profitability will depend on, among other things, the following: obtaining FDA approval of DefenCath for the prevention of catheter-related bloodstream infections (“CRBSIs”) in patients with kidney failure receiving hemodialysis through a central venous catheter; successfully launching and marketing DefenCath in the U.S., if approved by the FDA; successfully marketing Neutrolin in foreign countries in which it is approved for sale; obtaining necessary regulatory approvals for our other product candidates from the FDA and, if sought, international regulatory agencies; establishing manufacturing, sales, and marketing arrangements, either alone or with third parties; and raising sufficient funds to finance our activities. We might not succeed at any of these undertakings. If we are unsuccessful at some or all of these undertakings, our business, prospects, and results of operations may be materially adversely affected. Our cost of operations could increase significantly more than what we expect depending on the costs to complete our development program for DefenCath. Our operations are subject to a number of factors that can affect our operating results and financial condition. Such factors include, but are not limited to: the results of clinical testing and trial activities of our product candidates; the ability to obtain regulatory approval to market our products; ability to manufacture successfully; competition from products manufactured and sold or being developed by other companies; the price of, and demand for, our products; our ability to negotiate favorable licensing or other manufacturing and marketing agreements for our products; and our ability to raise capital to support our operations. To date, our commercial operations have not generated sufficient revenues to enable profitability. As of December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $275.4 million, and incurred net losses of $29.7 million for the year then ended. Based on the current development and commercialization plans for DefenCath in both the U.S. and foreign markets (including the concluded hemodialysis Phase 3 clinical trial in the U.S.) and our other operating requirements, management believes that the existing cash at December 31, 2022, after taking into consideration the costs for resubmission of the NDA and initial preparations for the commercial launch for DefenCath, will be sufficient to fund operations for at least twelve months from the issuance of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We will likely need additional funding to build out our commercial infrastructure should we receive FDA approval and to continue our operations should we decide to market and sell DefenCath in the U.S. on our own. Additional funding may also be required for the planned label expansion studies for DefenCath. Our continued operations will ultimately depend on our ability to raise additional capital through various potential sources, such as equity and/or debt financings, strategic relationships, potential strategic transactions or out-licensing of our products in order to complete the development and commercialization of DefenCath and until we achieve profitability, if ever. We can provide no assurances that such financing or strategic relationships will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Without this funding, we could be required to delay, scale back or eliminate some or all of our research and development programs which would likely have a material adverse effect on our business. We will likely need to finance our future cash needs through public or private equity offerings, debt financings or corporate collaboration and licensing arrangements. Any additional funds that we obtain may not be on terms favorable to us or our stockholders and may require us to relinquish valuable rights. Unless and until we receive applicable regulatory approval for DefenCath in the U.S., we cannot sell DefenCath in the U.S. We have begun the process of winding down our operations in the EU and discontinued Neutrolin sales in both the EU and the Middle East. 20 We believe that our cash resources as of December 31, 2022, after taking into consideration the costs for resubmission of the NDA and initial preparations for the commercial launch for DefenCath, will be sufficient to fund operations for at least twelve months from the issuance of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Nevertheless, we will likely need to raise additional funds through financings or strategic relationships if our costs exceed our expectations, as well as funds for our continued operations. We can provide no assurances that any financing or strategic relationships will be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. We expect to continue to use significant cash to fund our operations as we seek FDA approval of DefenCath in the U.S., commercialize DefenCath in the U.S and other markets, if approved by the FDA, pursue development of our medical devices and other business development activities, and incur additional legal costs to defend our intellectual property. To raise needed capital, we may sell additional equity or debt securities, obtain a bank credit facility, or enter into a corporate collaboration or licensing arrangement. The sale of additional equity or debt securities, if convertible, could result in dilution to our stockholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in fixed obligations and could also result in covenants that would restrict our operations. Raising additional funds through collaboration or licensing arrangements with third parties may require us to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates, or to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us or our stockholders. Risks Related to the Development and Commercialization of Our Product Candidates DefenCath, our lead product candidate, has received Fast Track designation and Qualified Infectious Disease Product designation from FDA, but we cannot provide assurances that these designations will not be rescinded. DefenCath is being developed as a catheter lock solution for the reduction of CRBSIs in patients with kidney failure receiving chronic hemodialysis through a central venous catheter. The FDA has determined that DefenCath will be regulated as a New Drug, because it contains the new chemical entity taurolidine as a novel antimicrobial agent. After we filed the Investigational New Drug Application (“IND”), FDA granted designations as Fast Track and a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (“QIDP”) in January 2015. Fast Track is designed to facilitate development of a drug that is intended to treat a serious or life-threatening condition and address an unmet medical need. Fast Track confers eligibility to request priority review of an NDA, with FDA’s decision regarding potential priority review to be made after receipt of a complete application. QIDP was established pursuant to the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now (“GAIN”) Act and creates incentives for the development of antibacterial and antifungal drug products that treat serious or life-threatening infections. Subject to the specified statutory limitations, a drug that is designated as QIDP and is approved for the use for which the QIDP designation was granted will receive a 5-year extension to any exclusivity for which the application qualifies upon approval, such as the 5-year exclusivity for a new chemical entity. We cannot provide assurances that DefenCath will retain these designations and continue to receive the benefits conferred. If the FDA requires a second clinical trial for DefenCath or imposes additional manufacturing requirements to approve the New Drug Application, the development of DefenCath will take longer and cost more to complete, and we will likely need significant additional funds to undertake a second trial, if required. Although two pivotal clinical trials to demonstrate safety and effectiveness of DefenCath are generally required by the FDA to secure marketing approval in the U.S., FDA will in some cases accept one adequate and well-controlled trial, where it is a large multicenter trial with a broad range of subjects and investigation sites with procedures to include trial quality that has demonstrated a clinically meaningful and statistically very persuasive effect on prevention of a disease with potentially serious outcome. We discussed submission of the NDA with the FDA based on the data from LOCK-IT-100 and were granted our request for rolling submission and review of the NDA for DefenCath as a catheter lock solution for the prevention of CRBSIs in patients with end stage renal disease receiving hemodialysis through a central venous catheter. In August 2020, the FDA accepted the DefenCath NDA for filing and granted our request for priority review, with a PDUFA date of February 28, 2021. As we announced in March 2021, the FDA informed us in a Complete Response Letter (“CRL”) that it could not approve the NDA for DefenCath in its present form, because of concerns at the third-party manufacturing facility and a requirement to conduct a manual extraction study to demonstrate that the labeled volume can be consistently withdrawn from the vials despite an existing in-process control to demonstrate fill volume within specifications. The FDA did not request additional clinical data and did not identify any deficiencies related to the data submitted on the efficacy and safety of DefenCath from LOCK-IT-100. In draft labeling discussed with FDA, the FDA added that the initial approval will be for the limited population of patients with kidney failure receiving chronic hemodialysis through a central venous catheter. This is consistent with our request for approval of the NDA pursuant to the Limited Population Pathway for Antibacterial and Antifungal Drugs (“LPAD”) pathway, which was passed as part of the 21 st Century Cures Act. LPAD is intended to expedite the development and approval of certain antibacterial and antifungal drugs which meet three criteria: intended to treat serious or life-threatening infections; in limited populations of patients; and with unmet needs. The LPAD pathway provides for a streamlined clinical development program for a limited population that may involve smaller, shorter or fewer clinical trials. Labeling of an LPAD approved product will specify the use in the limited population. In February 2022, we resubmitted the NDA after addressing the manufacturing concerns, but we received a second CRL, because the FDA issued a Warning Letter to our heparin API supplier for manufacturing concerns for an unrelated product and identified deficiencies at our primary CMO during a pre-approval inspection. Until the NDA is approved, if the FDA raises issues related to the clinical trial results, we may incur additional costs and delays in the trial, and may not be able to complete the clinical trial in a cost-effective or timely manner, which would have an adverse effect on our development program for DefenCath as a treatment for catheter-related bloodstream infections. 21 Final approval by regulatory authorities of our product candidates for commercial use may be delayed, limited or prevented, any of which would adversely affect our ability to generate operating revenues. Our ability to generate operating revenue will be severely limited until we successfully commercialize DefenCath in the United States. We may experience unforeseen events during product development, scale up and/or manufacturing validation that may substantially delay or prevent product approval. For example, in the course of conducting a clinical trial, the FDA could order the temporary, or permanent, discontinuation at any time if it believes that the clinical trial either is not being conducted in accordance with FDA requirements or presents an unacceptable risk to the clinical trial patients. An Institutional Review Board (“IRB”) may also require the clinical trial at the site to be halted, either temporarily or permanently, for failure to comply with the IRB’s requirements or if the trial poses an unexpected serious harm to clinical trial patients. The FDA or an IRB may also impose conditions on the conduct of a clinical trial. Clinical trial sponsors may also choose to discontinue clinical trials as a result of risks to clinical trial patients, a lack of favorable results, or changing business priorities. The clinical development, manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, recordkeeping, export, marketing, promotion and distribution, and other possible activities relating to our product candidates are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory agencies. Failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements may, either before or after product approval, subject us to administrative or judicially imposed sanctions that may negatively impact the approval of one or more of our product candidates or otherwise negatively impact our business. Compliance with such regulations may consume substantial financial and management resources and expose us and our collaborators to the potential for other adverse circumstances. For example, a regulatory authority can place restrictions on the sale or marketing of a drug in order to manage the risks identified during initial clinical trials or after the drug is on the market. A regulatory authority can condition the approval for a drug on costly post-marketing follow-up studies. Based on these studies, if a regulatory authority does not believe that the drug demonstrates a clinical benefit to patients or an acceptable safety profile, it could limit the indications for which a drug may be sold or revoke the drug’s marketing approval. In addition, identification of certain side effects either during clinical trials or after a drug is on the market may result in reformulation of a drug, additional pre-clinical and clinical trials, labeling changes, termination of ongoing clinical trials or withdrawal of approval. Any of these events could delay or prevent us from generating revenue from the commercialization of these drugs and cause us to incur significant additional costs. We are not permitted to market a product candidate in the United States until the particular product candidate is approved for marketing by the FDA. Specific pre-clinical data, chemistry, manufacturing and controls data, a proposed clinical trial protocol and other information must be submitted to the FDA as part of an IND application, and clinical trials may commence only after the IND application becomes effective. To market a new drug in the United States, we must submit to the FDA and obtain FDA approval of an NDA. An NDA must be supported by extensive clinical and pre-clinical data, as well as extensive information regarding chemistry, manufacturing and controls, to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the product candidate, and the FDA will also assess whether the manufacturing processes and facilities are suitable to support the application. Approval of an NDA may be delayed due to delays in FDA’s review of the manufacturing facility, which may require an onsite inspection. Obtaining approval of an NDA can be a lengthy, expensive and uncertain process. Review time can be impacted by the quality of the information included in the application, FDA’s internal resources such as the availability of reviewers, or requests from the FDA for additional information. Regulatory approval of an NDA is not guaranteed. The number and types of pre-clinical studies and clinical trials that will be required for FDA approval varies depending on the product candidate, the disease or condition that the product candidate is designed to target and the regulations applicable to any particular product candidate. Despite the time and expense exerted in pre-clinical and clinical studies, failure can occur at any stage, and we could encounter problems that delay our product candidate development or that cause us to abandon clinical trials or to repeat or perform additional pre-clinical studies and clinical trials. The FDA can delay, limit or deny approval of a product candidate for many reasons, and product candidate development programs may be delayed or may not be successful for many reasons including but not limited to, the following: ● the FDA or IRBs may not authorize us to commence, amend, or continue clinical studies; ● we may not be able to enroll a sufficient number of qualified patients for clinical trials in a timely manner or at all, patients may drop out of our clinical trials or be lost to follow-up at a higher rate than we anticipate, patients may not follow the clinical trial procedures, or the number of patients required for clinical trials may be larger than we anticipate; ● the FDA may not accept an NDA or other submission due to, among other reasons, the content or formatting of the submission; ● a product candidate may not be deemed adequately safe or effective for an intended use; 22 ● the FDA may not find the data from pre-clinical studies and clinical trials sufficient; ● the FDA may require that we conduct additional pre-clinical or clinical studies, change our manufacturing process, or gather additional manufacturing information above what we currently have planned for; ● the FDA’s interpretation and our interpretation of data from pre-clinical studies and clinical trials or chemistry, manufacturing and controls data may differ significantly; ● the FDA may not agree with our intended indications, the design of our clinical or pre-clinical studies, or there may be a flaw in the design that does not become apparent until the studies are well advanced; ● we may not be able to establish agreements with contractors or collaborators or they or we may fail to comply with applicable FDA and other regulatory requirements, including those identified in other risk factors; ● the FDA may not accept aspects of our proposed labeling, or may impose specific limitations in the labeling and require post-marking commitments or Phase 4 clinical trials before the labeling can be expanded; ● the FDA may determine that the manufacturing processes and facilities for our product candidate do not have sufficient good manufacturing practice (GMP) controls in place to support approval; or ● the FDA may change its approval policies or adopt new regulations. Our pre-clinical and clinical data, other information and procedures relating to a product candidate may not be sufficient to support approval by the FDA or any other U.S. or foreign regulatory authority, or regulatory interpretation of these data and procedures may be unfavorable. Failure to conduct required post-approval studies, or confirm a clinical benefit, will allow the FDA to withdraw the drug from the market on an expedited basis. Our business and reputation may be harmed by any failure or significant delay in receiving regulatory approval for the sale of any drugs resulting from our product candidates. As a result, we cannot predict when or whether regulatory approval will be obtained for any drug we develop. Additionally, other factors may serve to delay, limit or prevent the final approval by regulatory authorities of our product candidates for commercial use, including, but not limited to: ● we or our licensees will need to conduct significant clinical testing and development work to demonstrate the quality, safety, and efficacy of these product candidates before applications for marketing can be filed with the FDA, or with the regulatory authorities of other countries; ● development and testing of product formulation, including identification of suitable excipients, or chemical additives intended to facilitate delivery of our product candidates; ● it may take us many years to complete the testing of our product candidates, and failure can occur at any stage of this process; ● negative or inconclusive results or adverse medical events during a clinical trial could cause us to delay or terminate our development efforts; and ● inspection delay given the FDA’s current backlog of foreign inspections. The successful development of any of these product candidates is uncertain and, accordingly, we may never commercialize any of these product candidates or generate significant revenue. 23 Successful development and commercialization of our products is uncertain. Our development and commercialization of current and future product candidates is subject to the risks of failure and delay inherent in the development of new pharmaceutical products, including but not limited to the following: ● inability to produce positive data in pre-clinical and clinical trials; ● delays in product development, pre-clinical and clinical testing, or manufacturing; ● unplanned expenditures in product development, clinical testing, or manufacturing; ● challenges with securing the heparin supply chain; ● uncertainties relating to, or changes in FDA view of, the appropriate product approval pathway; ● failure to obtain treatment of a drug or application under expedited development and review programs or to obtain marketing exclusivities; ● failure to receive or maintain regulatory approvals; ● emergence of superior or equivalent products; ● inability to manufacture our product candidates on a commercial scale on our own, or in collaboration with third parties; ● failure to comply with a broad range of post-marketing requirements including those related to labeling, promotion and advertising, manufacturing and quality, pharmacovigilance and adverse event reporting, commercial distribution and supply chain requirements, and drug sample distribution requirements; and ● failure to achieve market acceptance. Because of these risks, our development efforts may not result in any commercially viable products. If a significant portion of these development efforts are not successfully completed, required regulatory approvals are not obtained or any approved products are not commercialized successfully, our business, financial condition, and results of operations will be materially harmed. If we fail to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, we could become subject to fines or penalties or incur costs that could harm our business. 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. Even if we contract with third parties for the disposal of these materials and waste, 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. 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. The successful commercialization of DefenCath will depend on obtaining coverage and reimbursement for use of DefenCath from third-party payors. Sales of pharmaceutical products largely depend on the reimbursement of patients’ medical expenses by government health care programs and/or private health insurers, both in the U.S. and abroad. Further, significant uncertainty exists as to the reimbursement status of newly approved health care products. We initially expect to sell DefenCath directly to hospitals and key dialysis center operators, but also plan to expand its usage into oncology and total parenteral nutrition patients requiring catheters once those indications can be secured. All of these potential customers are healthcare providers who depend upon reimbursement by government and commercial insurance payors for dialysis and other treatments. Depending on the treatment setting, we believe that DefenCath would be eligible for coverage under various reimbursement programs, such as the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (“IPPS”), End Stage Renal Disease (“ESRD”) Prospective Payment System and ESRD Quality Incentive Program; however, coverage by any of these reimbursement programs is not assured, and even if coverage is granted, it could later be revoked or modified under future regulations. Further, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), which administers Medicare, and works with states to administer Medicaid, has adopted and will continue to adopt and/or amend rules governing reimbursement for specific treatments. We anticipate that CMS and private insurers may increasingly demand that manufacturers demonstrate the cost effectiveness of their products as part of the reimbursement review and approval process. Rising healthcare costs have also led many European and other foreign countries to adopt healthcare reform proposals and medical cost containment measures. Similar legislation could be introduced in the U.S. Any measures affecting the reimbursement programs of these governmental and private insurance payors, including any uncertainty in the medical community regarding their nature and effect on reimbursement programs, could have an adverse effect on purchasing decisions regarding DefenCath, as well as limit the prices we may charge for DefenCath. The failure to obtain or maintain reimbursement coverage for DefenCath or any other products could materially harm our operations. 24 In anticipation that the CMS and private payers will demand that we demonstrate the cost effectiveness of DefenCath as part of the reimbursement review and approval process, we have submitted posters and abstracts to support our health economic analysis and continue to commission and develop health economic evaluations to support this review in the context of the prospective use of DefenCath in dialysis. Most importantly, we are pursuing opportunities to work with healthcare systems pre and post-approval to baseline and continue to demonstrate the products clinical and economic effectiveness. However, our studies might not be sufficient to support coverage or reimbursement at levels that allow providers to use DefenCath. Physicians and patients may not accept and use our products. Even if we receive FDA or other foreign regulatory approval for DefenCath/Neutrolin or other product candidates, healthcare institutions, physicians and patients may not accept and use our products. Acceptance and use of our products will depend upon a number of factors including the following: ● perceptions by members of the health care community, including physicians, about the safety and effectiveness of our drug or device product; ● prevalence of the disease to be treated or prevented; ● prevalence and severity of any side effects; ● cost-effectiveness of our product relative to current standard of care; ● availability of coverage and reimbursement from government and other third-party payers; ● timing of market introduction of our drugs and competitive drugs; ● effectiveness of marketing and distribution efforts by us and our licensees and distributors, if any; ● potential or perceived advantages or disadvantages over alternative treatments; ● potential post-marketing commitments imposed by regulatory authorities, such as patient registries; ● price of our future products, both in absolute terms and relative to alternative treatments; and ● the effect of current and future healthcare laws and regulations on our product candidates. Because we expect sales of DefenCath to generate substantially all of our product revenues for the foreseeable future, the failure of DefenCath to find market acceptance would harm our business and would require us to seek additional financing. Changes in funding for the FDA and other government agencies or future government shutdowns or disruptions could cause delays in the submission and regulatory review of marketing applications, which could negatively impact our business or prospects. The ability of the FDA to review and approve new products can be affected by a variety of factors, including government budget and funding levels, ability to hire and retain key personnel and accept submission, applications, and the payment of user fees, and statutory, regulatory, and policy changes. In addition, government funding of other government agencies that fund research and development activities is subject to the political process, which is inherently fluid and unpredictable. The impact of global events, including terrorism, natural disasters and pandemics, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or other health emergencies, may also cause disruptions in the normal functioning of the FDA or other government agencies. Disruptions at the FDA and other agencies may also slow the time necessary for new drugs to be reviewed and/or approved by necessary government agencies, which would adversely affect our business. For example, over the last several years, including for 35 days beginning on December 22, 2018, the U.S. government has shut down several times and certain regulatory agencies, such as the FDA, had to furlough critical FDA employees and stop critical activities. If a prolonged government shutdown or other disruption to the normal functioning of government agencies occurs, it could significantly impact the ability of the FDA to timely review and process our regulatory submissions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business or prospects. 25 The resurgence of COVID-19 pandemic, or other pandemic, epidemic or outbreak of an infectious disease may materially and adversely impact our business, including our preclinical studies and clinical trials. Global health concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and related government actions to reduce the spread of the virus have had a significant impact, both direct and indirect, on businesses and commerce, as worker shortages have occurred; supply chains have been disrupted; facilities and production have been suspended; and demand for certain goods and services, such as medical services and supplies, has spiked, while demand for other goods and services, such as travel, has fallen. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, governmental authorities implementing numerous measures to try to contain the virus, including travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, “shelter-in-place” orders, and business limitations and shutdowns across much of the United States, Europe and Asia, including in the locations of our offices, clinical trial sites, key vendors and partners. Such “shelter in place” orders were previously lifted, at least partially, in many locations. A resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, or other pandemic, may lead to the re-imposition by many nations and the U.S. of quarantine requirements for travelers from other regions and may lead to the re-imposition of “shelter-in-place” or other similar orders. If an onsite inspection of the third-party manufacturing facility of our contract manufacturer is required for the satisfactory resolution of issues required for approval of the DefenCath NDA, the Company may encounter additional delays in obtaining FDA approval because the FDA is currently facing a backlog due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, or similar pandemics, we have and may in the future experience disruptions that could materially and adversely impact our clinical trials, business, financial condition and results of operations. Potential disruptions include but are not limited to: ● delays or difficulties at our third-party vendors on whom we are dependent for manufacturing activities; ● delays or difficulties in enrolling patients in our clinical trials; ● delays or difficulties in initiating or expanding clinical trials, including delays or difficulties with clinical site initiation and recruiting clinical site investigators and clinical site staff; ● increased rates of patients withdrawing from our clinical trials following enrollment as a result of contracting COVID-19 or other health conditions or being forced to quarantine; ● diversion of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials, including the diversion of hospitals serving as our clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of our clinical trials; ● interruption of key clinical trial activities, such as clinical trial site data monitoring, due to limitations on travel imposed or recommended by federal or state governments, employers and others or interruption of clinical trial subject visits and study procedures, which may impact the integrity of subject data and clinical study endpoints; ● interruption or delays in the operations of the FDA or other regulatory authorities, including a halt in on-site inspections, which may impact review and approval timelines for our NDA; ● delays or disruptions in preclinical experiments and investigational new drug application-enabling studies due to restrictions of on-site staff and unforeseen circumstances at contract research organizations and vendors; ● interruption of, or delays in receiving supplies of our product candidates from our contract manufacturing organizations due to staffing shortages, production slowdowns or stoppages and disruptions in delivery systems; ● limitations on our ability to recruit and hire key personnel due to our inability to meet with candidates because of travel restrictions and “shelter in place” orders; ● limitations on employee resources that would otherwise be focused on the conduct of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, including because of sickness of employees or their families or the desire of employees to avoid contact with large groups of people; and ● interruption or delays to our sourced discovery and clinical activities. 26 In addition, the trading prices for our common stock and other biopharmaceutical companies have been highly volatile as a result of the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we may face difficulties raising capital through sales of our common stock or such sales may be on unfavorable terms. Clinical trials required for our product candidates may be expensive and time-consuming, and their outcome is uncertain. In order to obtain FDA or foreign approval to market a new drug or device product, we must demonstrate proof of safety and effectiveness in humans. Foreign regulations and requirements are similar to those of the FDA. To meet FDA requirements, we must conduct “adequate and well-controlled” clinical trials. Conducting clinical trials is a lengthy, time-consuming, and expensive process. The length of time may vary substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty, and intended use of the product candidate, and often can be several years or more per trial. Delays associated with the DefenCath development program or the development plans for any other product candidates may cause us to incur additional operating expenses. The commencement and rate of completion of clinical trials may be delayed by many factors, including, for example: ● inability to manufacture sufficient quantities of qualified materials under the FDA’s cGMP requirements for use in clinical trials; ● slower than expected rates of patient recruitment; ● failure to recruit a sufficient number of patients; ● modification of clinical trial protocols; ● changes in regulatory requirements for clinical trials; ● lack of effectiveness during clinical trials; ● emergence of unforeseen safety issues; ● delays, suspension, or termination of clinical trials due to the IRB responsible for overseeing the study at a particular study site; and ● government or regulatory delays or “clinical holds” requiring suspension or termination of the trials. Further, the results from early pre-clinical and clinical trials are not necessarily predictive of results to be obtained in later clinical trials. Accordingly, even if we obtain positive results from early pre-clinical or clinical trials, we may not achieve the same success in later clinical trials. Moreover, comparisons of results across different studies should be viewed with caution as such comparisons are limited by a number of factors, including differences in study designs and populations. Such comparisons also will not provide a sufficient basis for any comparative claims following product approval. Clinical results are frequently susceptible to varying interpretations that may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approvals or commercialization. Negative or inconclusive results or adverse medical events during a clinical trial could cause a clinical trial to be delayed, repeated or terminated, or a clinical program to be abandoned. Our clinical trials may be conducted in patients with serious or life-threatening diseases for whom conventional treatments have been unsuccessful or for whom no conventional treatment exists, and in some cases, our product is expected to be used in combination with approved therapies that themselves have significant adverse event profiles. During the course of treatment, these patients could suffer adverse medical events or die for reasons that may or may not be related to our products. We cannot ensure that safety issues will not arise with respect to our products in clinical development. Clinical trials may not demonstrate statistically significant safety and effectiveness to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals for product candidates. The failure of clinical trials to demonstrate safety and effectiveness for the desired indications could harm the development of our product candidates. Such a failure could cause us to abandon a product candidate and could delay development of other product candidates. Any delay in, or termination of, our clinical trials would delay the filing of any NDA or any Premarket Approval Application, or PMA, with the FDA and, ultimately, our ability to commercialize our product candidates and generate product revenues. Any change in, or termination of, our clinical trials could materially harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Even if approved, our products will be subject to extensive post-approval regulation. Once a product is approved, numerous post-approval requirements apply in the United States and abroad. These include, among other things, requirements related to pharmacovigilance and adverse event and other reporting, supply chain security requirements, suspect and illegitimate product investigations and notifications, limitations on product advertising and promotion and on the distribution of product samples, and ongoing adherence to cGMPs, as well as the need to submit appropriate new or supplemental applications and obtain FDA approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling, or manufacturing process. Establishing and maintaining systems and procedures for compliance with these requirements, and for training and monitoring personnel relative to their compliance, is expensive, time consuming, and an ongoing effort. Depending on the circumstances, failure to meet these post-approval requirements can result in criminal prosecution, fines, injunctions, recall or seizure of products, total or partial suspension of production, denial or withdrawal of pre-marketing product approvals, or refusal to allow us to enter into supply contracts, including government contracts. In addition, even if we comply with FDA, foreign and other requirements, new information regarding the safety or effectiveness of a product could lead the FDA or a foreign regulatory body to modify or withdraw product approval. 27 Risks Related to Our Business and Industry Competition and technological change may make our product candidates and technologies less attractive or obsolete. We compete with established pharmaceutical and medical device companies that are pursuing other forms of prevention or treatment for the same or similar indications we are pursuing and that have greater financial and other resources. Other companies may succeed in developing products earlier than we do, obtaining FDA or any other regulatory agency approval for products more rapidly, or developing products that are more effective than our product candidates. Research and development by others may render our technology or product candidates obsolete or noncompetitive, or result in processes, treatments or cures superior to any therapy we develop. We face competition from companies that internally develop competing technology or acquire competing technology from universities and other research institutions. As these companies develop their technologies, they may develop competitive positions that may prevent, make futile, or limit our product commercialization efforts, which would result in a decrease in the revenue we would be able to derive from the sale of any products. There can be no assurance that DefenCath or any other product candidate will be accepted by the marketplace as readily as these or other competing treatments. Furthermore, if our competitors’ products are approved before ours, it could be more difficult for us to obtain approval from the FDA or any other regulatory agency. Even if our products are successfully developed and approved for use by all governing regulatory bodies, there can be no assurance that physicians and patients will accept any of our products as a treatment of choice. Furthermore, the pharmaceutical and medical device industry is diverse, complex, and rapidly changing. By its nature, the business risks associated with the industry are numerous and significant. The effects of competition, intellectual property disputes, market acceptance, and FDA or other regulatory agency regulations preclude us from forecasting regulatory approval, product acceptance, revenues or income with certainty or even confidence. Healthcare policy changes, including reimbursement policies for drugs and medical devices, may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our future revenues, profitability and access to capital will be affected by the continuing efforts of governmental and private third-party payors to manage, contain or reduce the costs of health care through various means, such as capping prices, limiting price increases, reducing reimbursement, and requiring rebates. Market acceptance and sales of DefenCath or any other product candidates that we develop will depend on reimbursement policies and may be affected by health care reform measures in the U.S. and abroad. Government authorities and other third-party payors, such as private health insurers, decide which drugs they will pay for and establish reimbursement levels. We cannot be sure that reimbursement will be available for DefenCath or any other product candidates that we develop. Also, we cannot be sure that the amount of reimbursement available, if any, will not reduce the demand for, or the price of, our products. If reimbursement is not available or is available only at limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize DefenCath or any other product candidates that we develop. In both the U.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions, there have been and we expect there will continue to be a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the health care system that could affect our ability to sell our approved products profitably. The U.S. government and other governments have shown significant interest in pursuing healthcare reform. In particular, the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 revised the payment methodology for many products under the Medicare program in the United States. This has resulted in lower rates of reimbursement. In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (collectively, the “Affordable Care Act”), was enacted. The Affordable Care Act substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers. Such government-adopted reform measures may adversely affect the pricing of healthcare products and services in the U.S. or internationally and the amount of reimbursement available from governmental agencies or other third-party payors. 28 In recent years, the U.S. Congress has sought to repeal and has significantly amended the Affordable Care Act. We expect that there will continue to be proposals by legislators at both the federal and state levels, regulators and third-party payors to keep healthcare costs down while expanding individual healthcare benefits. Certain of these changes could impose limitations on the prices we will be able to charge for any products that are approved or the amounts of reimbursement available for these products from governmental agencies or other third-party payors or may increase the tax requirements for life sciences companies such as ours. Any such legislation could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. There has been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which have resulted in several recent Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted bills by Congress and the states designed to, among other things, bring more transparency to product pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for products. In addition, the U.S. government, state legislatures, and foreign governments have shown significant interest in implementing cost containment programs, including price-controls, restrictions on reimbursement and requirements for substitution of generic products for branded prescription drugs to limit the growth of government paid health care costs. For example, the U.S. government has passed legislation requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide rebates and discounts to certain entities and governmental payors to participate in federal healthcare programs. Further, Congress and the current administration have each indicated that it will continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs, and the current administration recently released a “Blueprint”, or plan, to reduce the cost of drugs. The current administration’s Blueprint contains certain measures that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is already working to implement. Individual states in the United States have also been increasingly passing legislation and implementing regulations designed to control pharmaceutical product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Any reduction in reimbursement rates under Medicare or private insurers or foreign health care programs could negatively affect the pricing of our products. If we are not able to charge a sufficient amount for our products, then our margins and our profitability will be adversely affected. If we lose key management or scientific personnel, cannot recruit qualified employees, directors, officers, or other personnel or experience increases in compensation costs, our business may materially suffer. We are highly dependent on the principal members of our management and scientific staff, specifically, Joseph Todisco, our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Matthew David, our Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Phoebe Mounts, our Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Elizabeth Hurlburt, our Executive Vice President and Head of Clinical Operations and Erin Mistry, our Chief Commercial Officer. Our future success will depend in part on our ability to identify, hire, and retain current and additional personnel. We experience intense competition for qualified personnel and may be unable to attract and retain the personnel necessary for the development of our business. Moreover, our work force is located in the New York metropolitan area, where competition for personnel with the scientific and technical skills that we seek is extremely high and is likely to remain high. Because of this competition, our compensation costs may increase significantly. In addition, we have only limited ability to prevent former employees from competing with us. If we are unable to hire additional qualified personnel, our ability to grow our business may be harmed. Over time, we expect to hire additional qualified personnel with expertise in government regulation, formulation and manufacturing, and sales and marketing, among others. We compete for qualified individuals with numerous pharmaceutical companies, universities and other research institutions. Competition for such individuals is intense, and we cannot be certain that our search for such personnel will be successful. Attracting and retaining such qualified personnel will be critical to our success. We may not successfully manage our growth. Our success will depend upon the expansion of our operations to commercialize DefenCath and the effective management of any growth, which could place a significant strain on our management and our administrative, operational and financial resources. To manage this growth, we may need to expand our facilities, augment our operational, financial and management systems and hire and train additional qualified personnel. If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, our business may be materially harmed. 29 We face the risk of product liability claims and the amount of insurance coverage we hold now or in the future may not be adequate to cover all liabilities we might incur. Our business exposes us to the risk of product liability claims that are inherent in the development of drugs. If the use of one or more of our or our collaborators’ drugs or devices harms people, we may be subject to costly and damaging product liability claims brought against us by clinical trial participants, consumers, health care providers, pharmaceutical companies or others selling our products. We currently carry product liability insurance. We cannot predict all of the possible harms or side effects that may result and, therefore, the amount of insurance coverage we hold may not be adequate to cover all liabilities we might incur. Our insurance covers bodily injury and property damage arising from our clinical trials, subject to industry-standard terms, conditions and exclusions. Our coverage also includes the sale of commercial products. If we are unable to obtain insurance at an acceptable cost or otherwise protect against potential product liability claims, we may be exposed to significant liabilities, which may materially and adversely affect our business and financial position. If we are sued for any injury allegedly caused by our or our collaborators’ products and do not have sufficient insurance coverage, our liability could exceed our total assets and our ability to pay the liability. A successful product liability claim or series of claims brought against us would decrease our cash and could cause the value of our capital stock to decrease. We may be exposed to liability claims associated with the use of hazardous materials and chemicals. Our research, development and manufacturing activities and/or those of our third-party contractors may involve the controlled use of hazardous materials and chemicals. Although we believe that our safety procedures for using, storing, handling and disposing of these materials comply with federal, state and local, as well as foreign, laws and regulations, we cannot completely eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from these materials. In the event of such an accident, we and the third-party could be held liable for any resulting damages and any liability could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the federal, state and local, as well as foreign, laws and regulations governing the use, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of hazardous or radioactive materials and waste products may require us to incur substantial compliance costs that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Negative U.S. and global economic conditions may pose challenges to our business strategy, which relies on funding from the financial markets or collaborators. Negative conditions in the U.S. or global economy, including financial markets, may adversely affect our business and the business of current and prospective vendors, licensees and collaborators, and others with whom we do or may conduct business. The U.S. or global economy may experience disruptions as the result of international hostilities, natural disasters, pandemics, other international health emergencies, or weather-related or similar events (such as fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, landslides and other natural conditions including the effects of climate change), political instability, labor strikes or turmoil, or terrorist attacks. In particular, countries around the world have experienced the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in quarantines, supply chain disruptions, reduction in travel, increased demand for medical services and a general decline in economic activity and market confidence. Similar potential disruptions may occur in the future in any of the locations in which we or our collaborators do business. We continue to assess the potential impact on our counterparties and customers of such events, and what impact, if any, these events could have on our business. The duration and severity of these conditions is uncertain. If negative economic conditions occur, we may be unable to secure funding on terms satisfactory to us to sustain our operations or to find suitable collaborators to advance our internal programs, even if we achieve positive results from our drug development programs. 30 Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property If we materially breach or default under any of our license agreements, the licensor party to such agreement will have the right to terminate the license agreement, which termination may materially harm our business. Our commercial success will depend in part on the maintenance of our license agreements. Each of our license agreements provides the licensor with a right to terminate the license agreement for our material breach or default under the agreement, including the failure to make any required milestone or other payments. Should the licensor under any of our license agreements exercise such a termination right, we would lose our right to the intellectual property under the respective license agreement, which loss may materially harm our business. If we and our licensors do not obtain protection for and successfully defend our respective intellectual property rights, competitors may be able to take advantage of our research and development efforts to develop competing products. Our commercial success will depend in part on obtaining further patent protection for our products, product candidates and other technologies and successfully defending any patents that we currently have or will obtain against third-party challenges. The patents which we currently believe are most material to our business are as follows: ● U.S. Patent No. 8,541,393 (expiring November 2, 2024) (the “Prosl Patent”) - use of Neutrolin for preventing infection and maintenance of catheter patency in hemodialysis catheters; ● U.S. Patent No. 9,339,036 (expiring November 2, 2024); and ● U.S. Patent No. 7,696,182 (expiring May 16, 2025). We are currently seeking further patent protection for our compounds and methods of treating diseases. However, the patent process is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that we will be successful in protecting our products by obtaining and defending patents. These risks and uncertainties include the following: ● patents that may be issued or licensed may be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented, or otherwise may not provide any competitive advantage; ● our competitors, many of which have substantially greater resources than we have and many of which have made significant investments in competing technologies, may seek, or may already have obtained, patents that will limit, interfere with, or eliminate our ability to make, use, and sell our potential products either in the United States or in international markets; ● there may be significant pressure on the United States government and other international governmental bodies to limit the scope of patent protection both inside and outside the United States for treatments that prove successful as a matter of public policy regarding worldwide health concerns; and ● countries other than the United States may have less restrictive patent laws than those upheld by United States courts, allowing foreign competitors the ability to exploit these laws to create, develop, and market competing products. In addition, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”), and patent offices in other jurisdictions have often required that patent applications concerning pharmaceutical and/or biotechnology-related inventions be limited or narrowed substantially to cover only the specific innovations exemplified in the patent application, thereby limiting the scope of protection against competitive challenges. Thus, even if we or our licensors are able to obtain patents, the patents may be substantially narrower than anticipated. Additionally, the breadth of claims allowed in biotechnology and pharmaceutical patents or their enforceability cannot be predicted. We cannot be sure that, should any patents issue, we will be provided with adequate protection against potentially competitive products. Furthermore, we cannot be sure that should patents issue, they will be of commercial value to us, or that private parties, including competitors, will not successfully challenge our patents or circumvent our patent position in the U.S. or abroad. 31 The above-mentioned patents are exclusively licensed to us. To support our patent strategy, we have engaged in a review of patentability and certain freedom to operate issues, including performing certain searches. However, patentability and certain freedom to operate issues are inherently complex, and we cannot provide assurances that a relevant patent office and/or relevant court will agree with our conclusions regarding patentability issues or with our conclusions regarding freedom to operate issues, which can involve subtle issues of claim interpretation and/or claim liability. Furthermore, we may not be aware of all patents, published applications or published literature that may affect our business either by blocking our ability to commercialize our product candidates, preventing the patentability of our product candidates to us or our licensors, or covering the same or similar technologies that may invalidate our patents, limit the scope of our future patent claims or adversely affect our ability to market our product candidates. Additionally, it is also possible that prior art of which we are aware, but which we do not believe affects the validity or enforceability of a claim, may, nonetheless, ultimately be found by a court of law or an administration panel to affect the validity or enforceability of a claim. If a 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 patent protection on our product candidates. Such loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business. Additionally, since patent applications in the United States are maintained in secrecy until published or issued and as publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature often lag behind the actual discoveries, we cannot be certain that we were the first to make the inventions covered by the pending patent applications or issued patents referred to above or that we were the first to file patent applications for such inventions. In addition to patents, we also rely on trade secrets and proprietary know-how. Although we take measures to protect this information by entering into confidentiality and inventions agreements with our employees, and some but not all of our scientific advisors, consultants, and collaborators, we cannot provide any assurances that these agreements will not be breached, that we will be able to protect ourselves from the harmful effects of disclosure or dispute ownership if they are breached, or that our trade secrets will not otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. We may also be unsuccessful in executing such an agreement with each party who in fact develops intellectual property that we regard as our own, which may result in claims by or against us related to the ownership of such intellectual property. If any of these events occurs, or we otherwise lose protection for our trade secrets or proprietary know-how, the value of our intellectual property may be greatly reduced. Even if we are successful in prosecuting or defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to our senior management and scientific personnel. Ongoing and future intellectual property disputes could require us to spend time and money to address such disputes and could limit our intellectual property rights. The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries have been characterized by extensive litigation regarding patents and other intellectual property rights, and companies have employed intellectual property litigation to gain a competitive advantage. We may initiate or become subject to infringement claims or litigation arising out of patents and pending applications of our competitors, or we may become subject to proceedings initiated by our competitors or other third parties or the PTO or applicable foreign bodies to reexamine the patentability of our licensed or owned patents. In addition, litigation may be necessary to enforce our issued patents, to protect our trade secrets and know-how, or to determine the enforceability, scope, and validity of the proprietary rights of others. If we are required to defend patent infringement actions brought by third parties, or if we sue to protect our own patent rights, we may be required to pay substantial litigation costs and managerial attention may be diverted from business operations even if the outcome is not adverse to us. In addition, any legal action that seeks damages or an injunction to stop us from carrying on our commercial activities relating to the affected technologies could subject us to monetary liability and require us or any third party licensors to obtain a license to continue to use the affected technologies. We cannot predict whether we would prevail in any of these types of actions or that any required license would be made available on commercially acceptable terms or at all. Furthermore, to the extent that we or our consultants or research collaborators use intellectual property owned by others in work performed for us, disputes may also arise as to the rights in such intellectual property or in resulting know-how and inventions. An adverse claim could subject us to significant liabilities to such other parties and/or require disputed rights to be licensed from such other parties. We initiated court proceedings in Germany for patent infringement and unfair use of our proprietary information related to Neutrolin (as described below). We also have had opposition proceedings brought against the European Patent and the German utility model patent which are the basis of our infringement proceedings (as described below). The defense and prosecution of these ongoing and any future intellectual property suits, PTO or foreign proceedings, and related legal and administrative proceedings are costly and time-consuming to pursue, and their outcome is uncertain. An adverse determination in litigation or PTO or foreign proceedings to which we may become a party could subject us to significant liabilities, including damages, require us to obtain licenses from third parties, restrict or prevent us from selling our products in certain markets, or invalidate or render unenforceable our licensed or owned patents. Although patent and intellectual property disputes might be settled through licensing or similar arrangements, the costs associated with such arrangements may be substantial and could include our paying large fixed payments and ongoing royalties. Furthermore, the necessary licenses may not be available on satisfactory terms or at all. 32 On September 9, 2014, we filed in the District Court of Mannheim, Germany a patent infringement action against TauroPharm GmbH and Tauro-Implant GmbH as well as their respective CEOs, referred to as the Defendants claiming infringement of ND Partners, LLC.'s European Patent EP 1 814 562 B1, for which we have an exclusive license, and which was granted by the EPO on January 8, 2014 (the “Prosl European Patent”). The Prosl European Patent covers a low dose heparin catheter lock solution for maintaining patency and preventing infection in a hemodialysis catheter. In this action, we claim that the Defendants infringe on the Prosl European Patent by offering, putting on the market, using, importing and possessing for the aforementioned purposes, as well as by offering to supply and supplying catheter locking solutions to the extent they are covered by the claims of the Prosl European Patent. We are seeking injunctive relief and raising claims for information, rendering of accounts, calling back, destruction and determination of damages. Separately, TauroPharm has filed an opposition with the EPO against the Prosl European Patent alleging that it lacks novelty and inventive step and that it is not patentable but relates to methods for treatment of the human body. In the same complaint against the same Defendants, we also alleged an infringement (requesting the same remedies, plus damages for costs of a warning letter) of ND Partners, LLC’s utility model DE 20 2005 022 124 U1, for which CorMedix, Inc. has an exclusive license, and which is referred to as the "Utility Model", which we believe is fundamentally identical to the Prosl European Patent in its main aspects and claims. The Court separated the two proceedings and the Prosl European Patent (docket number 7 O 118/14) and the Utility Model (docket number 7 O 2/15) claims were tried separately. TauroPharm GmbH has filed a cancellation action against the Utility Model before the German Patent and Trademark Office (the “German PTO”) based on essentially the similar arguments as those in the opposition against the Prosl European Patent. The District Court of Mannheim issued its decisions on May 8, 2015, staying both proceedings. In its decisions, the Court found that the TauroLock catheter lock solutions TauroLockHep100 and TauroLockHep500 infringe both certain claims of the Prosl European Patent and the Utility Model and further that there is no prior use right that would allow the Defendants to continue to make, offer, use or sell its product in Germany. However, the Court declined to issue an injunction in favor of us that would preclude the continued commercialization by TauroPharm and the other Defendants, based upon its finding that there is a sufficient likelihood that the EPO, in the case of the Prosl European Patent, or the German PTO, in the case of the Utility Model, may find that such patent or utility model is invalid. Specifically, the Court noted the possible publication of certain instructions for product use that may be deemed to constitute prior art. As such, the District Court determined that it will defer any consideration of the request by us for injunctive and other relief until such time as the EPO or the German PTO made a final decision on the underlying validity of the Prosl European Patent and the Utility Model. Oral proceedings before the Opposition Division at the EPO were held on November 25, 2015, at which the three-judge patent examiner panel considered arguments related to the validity of the Prosl European Patent. The hearing was adjourned due to the fact that the panel was of the view that Claus Herdeis, one of the managing directors of TauroPharm, had to be heard as a witness in a further hearing in order to close some gaps in the documentation presented by TauroPharm as regards the publication of prior art. The German PTO held a hearing in the validity proceedings relating to the Utility Model on June 29, 2016, at which the panel affirmed its preliminary finding that the Utility Model was invalid based upon prior publication of a reference to the benefits that may be associated with adding heparin to a taurolidine based solution. We filed an appeal against the ruling on September 7, 2016. An oral hearing was held on September 17, 2019 in which the German Federal Patent Court affirmed the first instance decision that the Utility Model was invalid. The decision has only a declaratory effect, as the Utility Model had expired in November 2015. On April 28, 2020, we filed a withdrawal of the complaint on the German utility model, thereby waiving our claims on these proceedings and the proceedings were closed. On November 22, 2017, the EPO in Munich, Germany held a further oral hearing in this matter. At the hearing, the panel held that the Prosl European Patent would be invalidated because it did not meet the requirements of novelty based on a technical aspect of the European intellectual property law. We disagree with this decision and have appealed the decision. In a hearing on October 27, 2022 before the EPO Board of Appeals, the Board held that the patent claims of the Prosl European Patent on file were not inventive over prior art presented by TauroPharm. We thus withdrew our appeal against the first instance decision. This means that the invalidation of the patent has become final and that, as a consequence, the infringement proceedings, which are formally still ongoing, will also be closed because there is no underlying patent anymore. In view of the invalidation of the Prosl European Patent, on November 9, 2022, the Defendants requested the infringement proceedings (docket number 7 O 118/14) to be resumed and to dismiss our infringement action. In order to avoid a dismissal, on January 12, 2023, we withdrew the infringement action with prejudice. The Defendants consented to the withdrawal on February 2, 2023 and requested that we, as plaintiff, bear the costs of the proceedings. Given that pursuant to statutory law, a plaintiff that withdraws an action, has to bear the costs of the proceedings, we put the decision on who has to bear the costs in the District Court of Mannheim's discretion. Due to the withdrawal, there will be no decision on the merits, however, the District Court of Mannheim will issue a decision that we have to bear the cost of the proceedings. Given that the court fees have already been paid by us, the cost of the proceedings are the costs that will have to be reimbursed to the Defendants, i.e. mainly statutory attorney's fees and expenses. 33 On January 16, 2015, we filed a complaint against TauroPharm GmbH and its managing directors in the District Court of Cologne, Germany. In the complaint, we allege violation of the German Unfair Competition Act by TauroPharm for the unauthorized use of our proprietary information obtained in confidence by TauroPharm. We allege that TauroPharm is improperly and unfairly using our proprietary information relating to the composition and manufacture of Neutrolin, in the manufacture and sale of TauroPharm’s products TauroLockTM, TauroLock-HEP100 and TauroLock-HEP500. We seek a cease and desist order against TauroPharm from continuing to manufacture and sell any product containing taurolidine (the API of Neutrolin) and citric acid in addition to possible other components, damages for any sales in the past and the removal of all such products from the market. An initial hearing in the District Court of Cologne, Germany was held on November 19, 2015 to consider our claims. On January 14, 2016, the Court issued an interim decision in the form of a court order outlining several issues of concern that relate primarily to the court's interest in clarifying the facts and reviewing any and all available documentation, in particular with regard to the question which specific know-how was provided to TauroPharm by whom and when. A further oral hearing in this matter was held on November 15, 2016. In this hearing, the Court heard arguments from CorMedix and TauroPharm concerning the allegations of unfair competition. On March 7, 2017, the Court issued another interim decision in the form of a court order outlining again several issues relating to the argumentation of both sides in the proceedings. Both parties have submitted further writs in this matter and the Court had scheduled a further hearing for May 8, 2018. After having been rescheduled several times, the hearing took place on November 20, 2018. A decision was rendered by the Court on December 11, 2018, dismissing the complaint in its entirety. We have appealed this decision in January 2019 and filed our grounds of appeal in March 2019. An oral hearing was held on September 6, 2019 in which our legal counsel brought forward further arguments for the fact that the manufacturing process of the respective catheter locking solution is indeed protectable as a trade secret. In view of these new arguments, the Court issued an evidentiary order on September 27, 2019 ordering an expert opinion. The expert opinion was not in our favor, but we have filed a response to the expert opinion in reaction to which the Court asked the expert to supplement his opinion to address the issues brought forward in our submission. In the supplementary expert opinion, the expert confirmed his view. In an oral hearing held on June 18, 2021, the Court only heard from the expert, and the Court, as well as both parties, asked further questions to the expert around his expert opinion. At the end of the hearing and internal deliberation among the panel of judges, the Court indicated that it would dismiss our complaint, if we did not withdraw the appeal. As there were no advantages to further pursuing the matter in view of the Court’s statements, we withdrew the appeal and the proceedings are therefore now closed. TauroPharm requested an increase of the value in dispute determined by the Court in order to receive a higher reimbursement of costs (as this is based on the value in dispute under German law) but the request was rejected in view of arguments brought forward against it by our legal counsel. We reimbursed costs in the amount of approximately $41,000 plus interest to TauroPharm. The decisions by the European and German patent offices may affect patent rights in other jurisdictions. The prior art on the basis of which the Prosl European Patent and the German Utility Model have been found to be invalid may be used to challenge the validity of issued United States and/or other foreign patents that are directed to the same or similar subject matter, in a court action or in an administrative proceeding before the USPTO. Pending United States and/or foreign patent applications may be denied on that basis of that prior art as well. Such patents and patent applications include: US 7,696,182; US 8,541,393; US 9,339,036; US 17/176,718; and EP 14150248.4. If we infringe the rights of third parties we could be prevented from selling products and forced to pay damages and defend against litigation. If our products, methods, processes and other technologies infringe the proprietary rights of other parties, we could incur substantial costs and we may have to do one or more of the following: ● obtain licenses, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all; ● abandon an infringing product candidate; ● redesign our products or processes to avoid infringement; ● stop using the subject matter claimed in the patents held by others; ● pay damages; or ● defend litigation or administrative proceedings, which may be costly whether we win or lose, and which could result in a substantial diversion of our financial and management resources. 34 Risks Related to Dependence on Third Parties If we or our collaborators are unable to manufacture our products in sufficient quantities or are unable to obtain regulatory approvals for a manufacturing facility, we may be unable to meet demand for our products and we may lose potential revenues. Commercialization of DefenCath and any other product candidate require access to, or development of, facilities to manufacture sufficient supplies. All of our manufacturing processes currently are, and we expect them to continue to be, outsourced to third parties. Specifically, we will rely on one or more manufacturers to supply us and/or our distribution partners with commercial quantities of DefenCath. If, for any reason, we become unable to rely on our current sources for the manufacture of DefenCath or any other product candidates or for active pharmaceutical ingredient (“API”), either for clinical trials or for commercial quantities, then we would need to identify and contract with additional or replacement third-party manufacturers to manufacture compounds for pre-clinical, clinical, and commercial purposes. We may not be successful in identifying such additional or replacement third-party manufacturers, or in negotiating acceptable terms with any that we do identify. Such third-party manufacturers must receive FDA or applicable foreign approval before they can produce clinical material or commercial product, and any that are identified may not receive such approval or may fail to maintain such approval. We were recently informed by FDA that the DefenCath NDA cannot be approved in its present form, because of concerns at the third-party manufacturing facility, which must be resolved to FDA’s satisfaction before the NDA can be approved. In addition, we may be in competition with other companies for access to these manufacturers’ facilities and may be subject to delays in manufacturing if the manufacturers give other clients higher priority than they give to us. If we are unable to secure and maintain third-party manufacturing capacity, the development and sales of our products and our financial performance may be materially adversely affected. Before we could begin to commercially manufacture DefenCath or any other product candidate on our own, we must obtain regulatory approval of the manufacturing facility and process. The manufacture of drugs for clinical and commercial purposes must comply with cGMP and applicable non-U.S. regulatory requirements. The cGMP requirements govern quality control and documentation policies and procedures. Complying with cGMP and non-U.S. regulatory requirements would require that we expend time, money, and effort in production, recordkeeping, and quality control to assure that the product meets applicable specifications and other requirements. We would also have to pass a pre-approval inspection prior to FDA or non-U.S. regulatory agency approval. Failure to pass a pre-approval inspection may significantly delay regulatory approval of our products. If we fail to comply with these requirements, we would be subject to possible regulatory action and may be limited in the jurisdictions in which we are permitted to sell our products. As a result, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Corporate and academic collaborators may take actions that delay, prevent, or undermine the success of our products. Our operating and financial strategy for the development, clinical testing, manufacture, and commercialization of our product candidates is heavily dependent on our entering into collaborations with corporations, academic institutions, licensors, licensees, and other parties. Our current strategy assumes that we will successfully establish and maintain these collaborations or similar relationships. However, there can be no assurance that we will be successful establishing or maintaining such collaborations. Some of our existing collaborations, such as our licensing agreements, are, and future collaborations may be, terminable at the sole discretion of the collaborator in certain circumstances. Replacement collaborators might not be available on attractive terms, or at all. In addition, the activities of any collaborator will not be within our control and may not be within our power to influence. There can be no assurance that any collaborator will perform its obligations to our satisfaction or at all, that we will derive any revenue or profits from such collaborations, or that any collaborator will not compete with us. If any collaboration is not pursued, we may require substantially greater capital to undertake on our own the development and marketing of our product candidates and may not be able to develop and market such products successfully, if at all. In addition, a lack of development and marketing collaborations may lead to significant delays in introducing product candidates into certain markets and/or reduced sales of products in such markets. 35 Data provided by collaborators and others upon which we rely that has not been independently verified could turn out to be false, misleading, or incomplete. We rely on third-party vendors, scientists, and collaborators to provide us with significant data and other information related to our projects, clinical trials, and business. If such third parties provide inaccurate, misleading, or incomplete data, our business, prospects, and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. We rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and pre-clinical studies. If those parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or meet expected deadlines, our product candidates may not advance in a timely manner or at all. In the course of our pre-clinical testing and clinical trials, we rely on third parties, including laboratories, investigators, clinical contract research organizations (“CROs”), and manufacturers, to perform critical services for us. For example, we rely on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and many of our pre-clinical studies, which are required to be conducted consistent with regulations on Good Laboratory Practice (“GLP”). CROs and study sites are responsible for many aspects of the trials, including finding and enrolling subjects for testing and administering the trials. Although we rely on these third parties to conduct our pre-clinical and clinical trials, we are responsible for ensuring that each of our trials is conducted in accordance with its investigational plan and protocol and that the integrity of the studies and resulting data is protected. Moreover, the FDA and foreign regulatory authorities require us to comply with regulations and standards, commonly referred to as Good Clinical Practices (“GCPs”), for conducting, monitoring, recording, and reporting the results of clinical trials to ensure that the data and results are scientifically credible and accurate, and that the trial subjects are adequately informed of the potential risks of participating in clinical trials. Our reliance on third parties does not relieve us of these responsibilities and requirements. These third parties may not be available when we need them or, if they are available, may not comply with all regulatory and contractual requirements or may not otherwise perform their services in a timely or acceptable manner, and we may need to enter into new arrangements with alternative third parties and our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated. These independent third parties may also have relationships with other commercial entities, some of which may compete with us. In addition, if such third parties fail to perform their obligations in compliance with our protocols or the applicable regulatory requirements, our trials may not meet regulatory requirements or may need to be repeated, we may not receive marketing approvals, or we or such third parties may face regulatory enforcement. As a result of our dependence on third parties, we may face delays, failures or cost increases outside of our direct control. These risks also apply to the development activities of collaborators, and we do not control their research and development, clinical trial or regulatory activities. We will depend on third party suppliers and contract manufacturers for the manufacturing of our product candidates and have no direct control over the cost of manufacturing our product candidates. Increases in the cost of manufacturing our product candidates would increase our costs of conducting clinical trials and could adversely affect our future profitability. We do not intend to manufacture our product candidates ourselves, and we will rely on third parties for our drug supplies both for clinical trials and for commercial quantities in the future. We have taken the strategic decision not to manufacture API for our product candidates, as these can be more economically supplied by third parties with particular expertise in this area. We have identified contract facilities that are registered with the FDA, have a track record of large-scale API manufacture, and have already invested in capital and equipment. We have no direct control over the manufacturing of our product candidates, or the cost thereof. If the contract manufacturers are unable to produce sufficient quantities of our product candidates, as a result of a lack of available materials or otherwise, our ability to complete product candidate development and our future profitability would be adversely affected. If the cost of manufacturing increases, or if the cost of the materials used increases, these costs will be passed on to us, making the cost of conducting clinical trials more expensive. For example, there could be issues securing the API heparin for our product as a result of the outbreak of African swine fever in China in 2019, which threatened the global heparin supply. The United States is largely dependent on China for its heparin, because almost half of the global pig supply, the main animal source for heparin, is in China. Increases in manufacturing costs could adversely affect our future profitability if we are unable to pass all of the increased costs along to our customers. 36 Further, we, along with our contract manufacturers, are required to comply with FDA requirements for cGMPs, related to product testing, quality assurance, manufacturing and documentation. Our contract manufacturers may not be able to comply with the applicable FDA regulatory requirements, which could result in delays to our product development programs, could result in adverse regulatory actions against them or us, and could prevent us from ultimately receiving product marketing approval. They also generally must pass an FDA preapproval inspection for conformity with cGMPs before we can obtain approval to manufacture our product candidates and will be subject to ongoing, periodic, unannounced inspection by the FDA and corresponding state agencies to ensure strict compliance with cGMP, and other applicable government regulations and corresponding foreign standards. For example, one of our API suppliers received a Warning Letter from the FDA related to inspectional observations for unrelated product that has blocked the resubmission of our NDA for DefenCath until the compliance issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the FDA. If we and our contract manufacturers fail to achieve and maintain high manufacturing standards in compliance with cGMP, we may experience manufacturing errors resulting in defective products that could be harmful to patients, product recalls or withdrawals, delays or interruptions of production or failures in product testing or delivery, delay or prevention of filing or approval of marketing applications for our products, cost overruns or other problems that could seriously harm our business. Not complying with FDA requirements could result in a product recall or prevent commercialization of our product candidates and delay our business development activities. In addition, such failure could be the basis for the FDA to issue a warning or untitled letter or take other regulatory or legal enforcement action, including recall or seizure, total or partial suspension of production, suspension of ongoing clinical trials, refusal to approve pending applications or supplemental applications, and potentially civil and/or criminal penalties depending on the matter. Risks Related to our Common Stock We will likely need additional financing to fund our activities in the future, which may dilute our stockholders. To date, our commercial operations have not generated sufficient revenues to enable profitability. As of December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $275.4 million, and incurred net losses of $29.7 million for the year then ended. Based on the current development plans for DefenCath/Neutrolin in both the U.S. and foreign markets (including the resubmission of an NDA for DefenCath in hemodialysis catheters) and our other operating requirements, management believes that the existing cash at December 31, 2022, will be sufficient to fund operations for at least twelve months from the issuance of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, after taking into consideration the costs for resubmission of the NDA and initial preparations for the commercial launch for DefenCath. Further, we will likely need additional funding for DefenCath’s commercial launch. We anticipate that we will incur operating losses for the foreseeable future. Additionally, we will require substantial funds in the future to support our operations. Accordingly, we will likely need to obtain additional financing, including through issuances of equity securities. To the extent we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience substantial dilution. We may, as we have in the past, sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner we determine from time to time. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in more than one transaction, investors may be further diluted by subsequent sales. Such sales may also result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, and new investors could gain rights superior to existing stockholders. Our executive officers and directors may sell shares of their stock, and these sales could adversely affect our stock price. Sales of our common stock by our executive officers and directors, or the perception that such sales may occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Our executive officers and directors may sell stock in the future, either as part, or outside, of trading plans under Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Our common stock price has fluctuated considerably and is likely to remain volatile, in part due to the limited market for our common stock and you could lose all or a part of your investment. During the period from the completion of our initial public offering (“IPO”), on March 30, 2010 through December 31, 2022, the high and low sales prices for our common stock were $52.00 and $0.75, respectively. There is a limited public market for our common stock and we cannot provide assurances that an active trading market will develop or continue. As a result of low trading volume in our common stock, the purchase or sale of a relatively small number of shares could result in significant share price fluctuations. 37 Additionally, the market price of our common stock may continue to fluctuate significantly in response to a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control, including the following: ● the receipt of or failure to obtain additional regulatory approvals for DefenCath, including FDA approval in the U.S.; ● our need for additional capital; ● results of clinical trials of our product candidates, including any other Phase 3 trial for DefenCath in the U.S., if required, or those of our competitors; ● our entry into or the loss of a significant collaboration, or expiration or termination of licenses; ● regulatory or legal developments in the United States and other countries, including changes in the healthcare payment systems; ● changes in financial estimates or investment recommendations by securities analysts relating to our common stock; ● future sales or anticipated sales of our securities by us or our stockholders; ● announcements by our competitors of significant developments, technological innovations, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments; ● changes in key personnel; ● variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us; ● actual or anticipated variations in operating results; ● market conditions in the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors and issuance of new or changed securities analysts’ reports or recommendations; ● instability in the stock market as a result of current or future domestic and global events; ● liquidity of any market for our securities; ● threatened or actual delisting of our common stock from a national stock exchange; ● general economic, industry and market conditions; ● developments or disputes concerning patents or other proprietary rights; and ● any other factors described in this “Risk Factors” section. In addition, the stock markets in general, and the stock of pharmaceutical and medical device companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. In addition, changes in economic conditions in the U.S., the European Union or globally, particularly in the context of current global events, could impact upon our ability to grow profitably. Adverse economic changes are outside our control and may result in material adverse impacts on our business or our results of operations. Broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against that company. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could cause us to incur substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources. For these reasons and others, an investment in our securities is risky and you should invest only if you can withstand wide fluctuations in and a significant or complete loss of the value of your investment. 38 A significant number of additional shares of our common stock may be issued at a later date, and their sale could depress the market price of our common stock. As of December 31, 2022, we had outstanding the following securities that are convertible into or exercisable for shares of our common stock: ● options to purchase an aggregate of 997,910 shares of our common stock issued to our officers, directors and non-employee consultants under our 2013 Stock Incentive Plan, with a weighted average exercise price of $9.51 per share; ● options to purchase an aggregate of 3,456,459 shares of our common stock issued to our officers, directors and non-employee consultants under our 2019 Omnibus Stock Incentive Plan (the “2019 Plan”), with a weighted average exercise price of $5.26 per share; ● 207,469 shares of restricted stock units issuable into 207,469 shares of common stock; ● 2,000 shares of Series C-3 Preferred Stock, which are convertible into 4,000 shares of common stock; ● 89,623 shares of Series E Preferred Stock, which are convertible into 391,953 shares of common stock; ● 89,999 shares of Series G Preferred Stock, which are convertible into 5,004,069 shares of common stock; and ● 48,909 shares of common stock issuable for payment of deferred board compensation. Additionally, there are 195,109 and 4,800,000 shares of common stock available for grants under the 2019 Plan (adopted on November 26, 2019) and Amended and Restated 2019 Omnibus Stock Incentive Plan (the “A&R 2019 Plan”, adopted on October 13, 2022), respectively. The possibility of the issuance of these shares, as well as the actual sale of such shares, could substantially reduce the market price for our common stock and impede our ability to obtain future financing. Provisions in our corporate charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult. Provisions in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, and our Amended and Restated Bylaws, as well as provisions of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, or DGCL, may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of our company, even if such a change in control would be beneficial to our stockholders. These provisions include the following: ● authorizing the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock, the terms of which may be established and shares of which may be issued without stockholder approval; ● prohibiting our stockholders from fixing the number of our directors; and ● establishing advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals that can be acted on at stockholder meetings and nominations to our Board of Directors. These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management. In addition, we are subject to Section 203 of the DGCL, which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with an interested stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless such transactions are approved by the board of directors. This provision could have the effect of discouraging, delaying or preventing someone from acquiring us or merging with us, whether or not it is desired by, or beneficial to, our stockholders. Any provision of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, or Amended and Restated Bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock. 39 If we fail to comply with the continued listing standards of the Nasdaq Global Market, it may result in a delisting of our common stock from the exchange. Our common stock is currently listed for trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “CRMD”, and the continued listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market is subject to our compliance with a number of listing standards. If we fail to satisfy the continued listing requirements of The Nasdaq Capital Market such as the corporate governance requirements, the stockholder’s equity requirement or the minimum closing bid price requirement, The Nasdaq Capital Market may take steps to de-list our common stock. Such a de-listing or even notification of failure to comply with such requirements would likely have a negative effect on the price of our common stock and would impair your ability to sell or purchase our common stock when you wish to do so. In addition, the delisting of our common stock could materially adversely impact our ability to raise capital on acceptable terms or at all. Delisting from Nasdaq could also have other negative results, including the potential loss of confidence by our current or prospective third-party providers and collaboration partners, the loss of institutional investor interest, and fewer licensing and partnering. In the event of a de-listing, we would take actions to restore our compliance with The Nasdaq Capital Market’s listing requirements, but we can provide no assurance that any such action taken by us would allow our common stock to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our common stock. If our common stock were no longer listed on the Nasdaq Global Market, investors might only be able to trade on one of the over-the-counter markets, including the OTC Bulletin Board ® or in the Pink Sheets ® (a quotation medium operated by Pink Sheets LLC). This would impair the liquidity of our common stock not only in the number of shares that could be bought and sold at a given price, which might be depressed by the relative illiquidity, but also through delays in the timing of transactions and reduction in media coverage. Laws, rules and regulations relating to public companies may be costly and impact our ability to attract and retain directors and executive officers. Laws and regulations affecting public companies, including rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and by the Nasdaq Global Market, may result in increased costs to us. These laws, rules and regulations could make it more difficult or costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these events could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, on our board committees or as executive officers. We cannot estimate accurately the amount or timing of additional costs we may incur to respond to these laws, rules and regulations. Our internal control over financial reporting and our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent all possible errors that could occur. Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”). Ensuring that we have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. Failure on our part to have effective internal financial and accounting controls would cause our financial reporting to be unreliable, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition, and could cause the trading price of our common stock to fall dramatically. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be satisfied. Internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures are designed to give a reasonable assurance that they are effective to achieve their objectives. We cannot provide absolute assurance that all of our possible future control issues will be detected. These inherent limitations include the possibility that judgments in our decision making can be faulty, and that isolated breakdowns can occur because of simple human error or mistake. The design of our system of controls is based in part upon assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed absolutely in achieving our stated goals under all potential future or unforeseeable conditions. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error could occur and not be detected. This and any future failures could cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative impact on our financial condition and stock price. In future periods, if the process required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act reveals any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, the correction of any such material weaknesses or significant deficiencies could require remedial measures which could be costly and time-consuming. In addition, in such a case, we may be unable to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis. Any associated accounting restatement could create a significant strain on our internal resources and cause delays in our release of quarterly or annual financial results and the filing of related reports, increase our costs and cause management distraction. Any of the foregoing could cause investors to lose confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline and make it more difficult for us to finance our operations and growth. 40 Security breaches and other disruptions could compromise our information and expose us to liability, which would cause our business and reputation to suffer. In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store sensitive data, including intellectual property, our proprietary business information and that of our suppliers, as well as personally identifiable information of clinical trial participants and employees. Similarly, our third-party providers possess certain of our sensitive protected health data. The secure maintenance of this information is critical to our operations and business strategy. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breached due to employee error, malfeasance or other disruptions. Attacks of this nature are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and are being conducted by sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of motives and expertise. Although we develop and maintain systems and controls designed to prevent these events from occurring, and we have a process to identify and mitigate threats, the development and maintenance of these systems, controls and processes is costly and requires ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies change and efforts to overcome security measures become more sophisticated, and such systems, controls and processes may not be successful in preventing a breach. Any such breach could compromise our networks and the information stored there could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. We could be required to expend significant amounts of money and other resources to repair or replace information systems or networks. In addition, our liability insurance may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to security breaches, cyberattacks and other related breaches. The legislative and regulatory landscape for privacy and data protection continues to evolve, and there has been an increasing amount of focus on privacy and data protection issues with the potential to affect our business, including compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and recently enacted laws in a majority of states requiring security breach notification. The collection and use of personal health data of individuals in the European Union is also governed by strict data protection laws. In addition to existing laws, since May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) has imposed new obligations with respect to European Union data and substantial fines for breaches of the data protection rules. It will increase our responsibility and potential liability in relation to personal data that we process, and we will be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance with the new European Union data protection rules. There is significant uncertainty related to the manner in which data protection authorities will seek to enforce compliance with GDPR. For example, it is not clear if the authorities will conduct random audits of companies doing business in the European Union, or if the authorities will wait for complaints to be filed by individuals who claim their rights have been violated. Enforcement uncertainty and the costs associated with ensuring GDPR compliance may be onerous and adversely affect our business, operating results, prospects and financial condition. Additionally, California enacted legislation that has been dubbed the first “GDPR-like” law in the United States. Known as the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), it creates new individual privacy rights for consumers (as that word is broadly defined in the law) and places increased privacy and security obligations on entities handling personal data of consumers or households. The CCPA, which went into effect on January 1, 2020, requires covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers, provide such consumers new ways to opt-out of certain sales of personal information, and allow for a new cause of action for data breaches. The CCPA, and similar legislation being enacted by other states may significantly impact our business activities and require substantial compliance costs that adversely affect business, operating results, prospects and financial condition. Any access, disclosure or other loss of information, including our data being breached at our partners or third-party providers, could result in legal claims or proceedings and liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, disrupt our operations and damage our reputation, which could adversely affect our business. We do not intend to pay dividends on our common stock so any returns on our common stock will be limited to the value of our common stock. We have never declared dividends on our common stock, and currently do not plan to declare dividends on shares of our common stock in the foreseeable future. Pursuant to the terms of our Series C-3, E and G Convertible Preferred Stock, we may not declare or pay any dividends or make any distributions on any of our shares or other equity securities as long as any of those preferred shares remain outstanding. We currently expect to retain future earnings, if any, for use in the operation and expansion of our business. The payment of cash dividends in the future, if any, will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon such factors as earnings levels, capital requirements, our overall financial condition and any other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. Any return to holders of our common stock will be limited to the value of their common stock. 41 Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments None.