Ernexa Therapeutics Inc. 10-K

ITEM 1A . Risk Factors Our business, financial condition and operating results can be affected by many factors, whether currently known or unknown, many of which are not exclusively within our control, including but not limited to those described below, any one or more of which could, directly or indirectly, cause our financial condition and operating results to differ materially from historical or anticipated future financial condition and operating results. Any of these factors, in whole or in part, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and stock price. We urge investors to carefully consider the risk factors described below in evaluating our stock and the information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” Risks Related to Ownership of our Common Stock We have a limited operating history and have never generated any product revenue. We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a limited operating history. We were formed on September 27, 2018, for the purpose of consummating a business combination with IRX Therapeutics, Inc., which business combination was consummated on November 6, 2018. Since inception, we have incurred significant net losses. As of December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $159.7 million. Since inception, we have financed our operations with capital contributions from the former beneficial holders of Brooklyn LLC’s Class A membership interests, as well as through the sale of our securities under the Purchase Agreements with Lincoln Capital and in connection with the PIPE Transaction. Our ability to generate product revenue and become profitable depends upon our ability to successfully complete the development of, and obtain the necessary regulatory approvals for, our product candidates in development, including IRX-2. We have never been profitable, have no products approved for commercial sale, and have not generated any product revenue. It is possible that none of our product candidates will be approved for marketing. Failure to obtain regulatory approvals, or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals, may adversely affect the successful commercialization of any drugs or biologics that Brooklyn or its partners develop, may impose additional costs on us or our collaborators, may diminish any competitive advantages that we or our partners may attain, and/or may adversely affect our receipt of revenues or royalties. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of increased expenses, or when or if we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Neither will we be able to predict the state of market competition which would adversely affect our potential revenues from product sales. Our expenses could increase beyond expectations if we are required by the FDA or comparable non-U.S. regulatory authorities to perform studies or clinical trials in addition to those that we currently anticipate. Even if any of our product candidates is approved for commercial sale, we anticipate incurring significant costs associated with their commercial launch. If we cannot successfully execute any one of the foregoing, our business may not succeed, and your investment will be negatively impacted. 28 Table of Contents Furthermore, we sometimes estimate for planning purposes the timing of the accomplishment of various scientific, clinical, regulatory and other product development objectives. These milestones may include our expectations regarding the commencement or completion of scientific studies, clinical trials, the submission of regulatory filings or commercialization objectives. From time to time, we may publicly announce the expected timing of some of these milestones, such as the completion of an ongoing clinical trial, the initiation of other clinical programs, the receipt of marketing approval or a commercial launch of a product. The achievement of many of these milestones may be outside of our control. All of these milestones are based on a variety of assumptions, which may cause the timing of achievement of the milestones to vary considerably from our estimates. If we fail to achieve milestones in the timeframes we expect, the commercialization of our product candidates may be delayed, we may not be entitled to receive certain contractual payments, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and future growth prospects. We may not be successful in our efforts to identify and acquire or in-license additional product candidates, or to enter into collaborations or strategic alliances for the development and commercialization of any such future product candidates. We may seek to identify and acquire or in-license novel product candidates. The process by which we identify them may fail to yield product candidates for clinical development for a number of reasons, including those discussed in these risk factors and also: ● potential product candidates may, upon further study, be shown to have harmful side effects or other characteristics that indicate that they are unlikely to be products that will receive marketing approval and achieve market acceptance; ● potential product candidates may not be effective in treating their targeted diseases; or ● the acquisition or in-licensing transactions can entail numerous operational and functional risks, including exposure to unknown liabilities, disruption of our business, or incurrence of substantial debt or dilutive issuances of equity securities to pay transaction consideration or costs, higher than expected acquisition or integration costs. We may choose to focus our efforts and resources on a potential product candidate that ultimately proves to be unsuccessful. We also cannot be certain that, following an acquisition or in-licensing transaction, we will achieve the revenue or specific net income that justifies such transaction. Further, time and resources spent identifying, acquiring and developing potential product candidates may distract management’s attention from our primary business or other development programs. Additional product candidates will require additional, time-consuming development efforts prior to commercial sale, including preclinical studies, clinical trials and approval by the FDA and/or applicable foreign regulatory authorities. All product candidates are prone to the risks of failure that are inherent in pharmaceutical product development. If we are unable to identify and acquire suitable product candidates for clinical development, this would adversely impact our business strategy, financial position and share price. We may expend our limited resources to pursue a particular product candidate or indication and fail to capitalize on product candidates or indications that may be more profitable or for which there is a greater likelihood of success. Because we have limited financial and managerial resources, we intend to focus on developing product candidates for specific indications that we identify as most likely to succeed, in terms of both their potential for marketing approval and commercialization, and there can be no assurance that the products we focus on will succeed. Because we must decide where to focus our resources, we may forego or delay pursuit of opportunities with other product candidates or for other indications that may later prove to have greater commercial potential. Our resource allocation decisions may cause us to fail to capitalize on viable commercial products or profitable market opportunities. Our spending on current and future research and development programs and product candidates for specific indications may not yield any commercially viable product candidates. If we do not accurately evaluate the commercial potential or target market for a particular product candidate, we may relinquish valuable rights to that product candidate through collaboration, licensing or other royalty arrangements in cases in which it would have been more advantageous for us to retain sole development and commercialization rights to the product candidate. 29 Table of Contents International expansion of our business exposes us to business, legal, regulatory, political, operational, financial and economic risks associated with conducting business outside of the United States. Part of our business strategy involves potential expansion internationally with third-party collaborators to seek regulatory approval for our product candidates outside the United States. Doing business internationally involves a number of risks, including but not limited to: ● multiple conflicting and changing laws and regulations such as tax laws, export and import restrictions, employment laws, anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, regulatory requirements and other governmental approvals, permits and licenses; ● failure by us or our collaborators to obtain appropriate licenses or regulatory approvals for the sale or use of IRX-2 or any other product candidate we may acquire or in license; ● difficulties in managing foreign operations; ● complexities associated with managing multiple payor-reimbursement regimes or self-pay systems; ● financial risks, such as longer payment cycles, difficulty enforcing contracts and collecting accounts receivable and exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; ● reduced protection for intellectual property rights; ● natural disasters, political and economic instability, including wars, terrorism and political unrest, outbreak of disease, boycotts, curtailment of trade and other business restrictions; and ● failure to comply with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, including its books and records provisions and its anti-bribery provisions, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010, or U.K. Bribery Act, and similar anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws in other jurisdictions, for example by failing to maintain accurate information and control over sales or distributors’ activities. Any of these risks, if encountered, could significantly harm our future international expansion and operations and consequently, negatively impact its financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. If we are not successful in attracting and retaining highly qualified personnel, we may not be able to successfully implement our business strategy. Our ability to compete in the highly competitive pharmaceuticals industry depends in large part upon the ability to attract highly qualified managerial, scientific and medical personnel. In order to induce valuable employees to remain with us, we intend to provide employees with stock options that vest over time. The value to employees of stock options that vest over time will be significantly affected by movements in the price of the common stock that it will not be able to control and may at any time be insufficient to counteract more lucrative offers from other companies. Our management team has expertise in many different aspects of drug development. However, we will need to hire additional personnel as we continue to develop our product candidates. Competition for skilled personnel in the pharmaceutical industry is intense and competition for experienced scientists may limit our ability to hire and retain highly qualified personnel on acceptable terms. Despite our efforts to retain valuable employees, members of our management, scientific and medical teams may terminate their employment with us on short notice. Our success also depends on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate highly skilled junior, mid-level, and senior managers as well as junior, mid-level, and senior scientific and medical personnel. Other pharmaceutical companies with which we compete for qualified personnel have greater financial and other resources, different risk profiles, and a longer history in the industry than we do. Other pharmaceutical companies also may provide more diverse opportunities and better chances for career advancement. Some of these characteristics may be more appealing to high-quality candidates than what Brooklyn has to offer. If we are unable to continue to attract and retain high-quality personnel, the rate and success at which we can develop and commercialize product candidates would be limited. 30 Table of Contents Risks Related to our Financial Position and Capital Requirements We expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future and may never achieve or maintain profitability. Investment in biopharmaceutical product development is highly speculative because it entails substantial upfront capital expenditures and significant risk that a product candidate will fail to gain regulatory approval or fail to become commercially viable. We have never generated any product revenue, and we cannot estimate with precision the extent of our future losses. We do not currently have any products that are available for commercial sale, and we may never generate product revenue or achieve profitability. We expect that our research and development expenses in connection with our development programs for product candidates will continue to be significant. In addition, as we prepare for and if we obtain regulatory approval for any of our product candidates, we expect to incur increased sales, marketing and manufacturing expenses. As a result, we expect to continue to incur significant and increasing operating losses and negative cash flows for the foreseeable future. These losses have harmed and will continue to harm our results of operations, financial position and working capital. There can be no assurance that we will be profitable even if we successfully commercialize IRX - 2 or any other product candidate we may acquire or in-license (including any products that may be developed from the licensed technology with Factor and Novellus, Ltd.). If we do successfully obtain regulatory approval to market any of our product candidates, our revenue will be dependent upon, in part and among other things, the size of the markets in the territories for which we gain regulatory approval, the number of competitors in such markets, the accepted price for any such product candidate and whether we own the commercial rights for those territories. If the indication approved by regulatory authorities is narrower than we expect, or the treatment population is narrowed by competition, physician choice or treatment guidelines, we may not generate significant revenue from sales of any of our product candidates, even if approved. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Failure to become and remain profitable may adversely impact the market price of the common stock and our ability to raise capital and continue operations. We own only a 25% interest in NoveCite, Inc., and that interest may be diluted unless we invest additional funds. In July 2021, we acquired 25% of the outstanding common stock of NoveCite, Inc. As a result, we will only be entitled to a portion of any benefits that flow from the development by NoveCite, Inc. of any product candidates. In the event that NoveCite, Inc. issues additional equity securities in the future, our percentage ownership would be diluted unless we were to invest additional funds. Dilution of our equity ownership would decrease our portion of any benefit that might be derived from a NoveCite, Inc. product candidate’s successful development. If we were to determine that it would be in the best interests of our company and stockholders to invest additional amounts in NoveCite, Inc. to prevent dilution of our interests, the required funds may not be available to us on reasonable terms, or at all. We may not generate the expected benefits of our Acquisition and it could disrupt our ongoing business, distract our management and increase our expenses. We entered into the Acquisition Agreement to acquire all the outstanding equity interests of Novellus, Inc. and Novellus, Ltd., which we collectively refer to as Novellus, with the expectation that the Acquisition will result in various benefits, including accelerating our research and development efforts in the gene editing and mRNA spaces. Achieving the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition is subject to a number of uncertainties, including whether our business and the business of Novellus can be integrated in an efficient and effective manner. We cannot assure you that we will be able to accurately forecast the performance or ultimate impact of the Acquisition. It is possible that the integration process following the Acquisition could take longer than anticipated and could result in unforeseen expenses, the disruption of our ongoing business, processes and systems, or inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures, practices, policies and compensation arrangements, any of which could adversely affect our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition. There may be increased risk due to integrating financial reporting and internal control systems. The integration process is subject to a number of uncertainties, and no assurance can be given that the anticipated benefits, expense savings and synergies of the Acquisition will be realized or, if realized, the timing of their realization. Failure to achieve these anticipated benefits could result in increased costs or decreases in the amount of expected revenues and could adversely affect our future business, financial condition, operating results and prospects. 31 Table of Contents We have incurred and will continue to incur non-recurring expenses in connection with the Acquisition, including legal, accounting and other expenses. Additional unanticipated costs may be incurred following consummation of the Acquisition during the integration of the business of Novellus into our business. We cannot be certain that the realization of efficiencies related to the integration of Novellus will offset in the near term, or at all, the transaction and integration costs of the Acquisition and any losses from undiscovered liabilities not covered by indemnification provisions from the sellers of Novellus under the Acquisition Agreement or otherwise. We may acquire businesses, assets or products, or form strategic alliances, in the future, and we may not realize the benefits of such acquisitions. We may acquire additional businesses, assets or products, form strategic alliances or create joint ventures with third parties that we believe will complement or augment our existing business. If we acquire businesses with promising markets or technologies, we may not be able to realize the benefit of acquiring such businesses if we are unable to successfully integrate them with our existing operations and company culture. We may encounter numerous difficulties in developing, manufacturing and marketing any new acquisition. Difficulties may prevent us from realizing its expected benefits or enhancing our business. We cannot assure you that, following any such acquisition, we will achieve the expected synergies to justify the transaction. We will require substantial additional capital to fund our operations, and if we fail to obtain the necessary financing, we may not be able to complete the development and commercialization of any of our product candidates. Brooklyn expects to spend substantial capital to complete the development of, seek regulatory approvals for and commercialize IRX-2, perhaps with development partners, as well as any of other product candidate it may develop. We will require additional capital to complete the development and potential commercialization of our product candidates. Because the length of time and activities associated with successful development of our product candidates are highly uncertain, we are unable to estimate with certainty the actual funds we will require for development and any approved marketing and commercialization activities. Our future funding requirements, both near- and long-term, will depend on many factors, including, but not limited to: ● the timing, progress, costs and results of our INSPIRE trial for the treatment of squamous cell cancer of the head and neck; ● the costs of any other clinical trials we may initiate, including the costs to conduct the study and to produce the supply of product that may be required for our own studies or for investigator-sponsored studies; ● the outcome, timing and cost of meeting regulatory requirements established by the FDA and other comparable foreign regulatory authorities; ● the cost of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing its patent claims and other intellectual property rights; ● the cost of defending potential intellectual property disputes, including patent infringement actions brought by third parties against it or any of its current or future product candidates; ● the effect of competing market developments; ● the cost and timing of completion of commercial-scale manufacturing activities; ● the cost of establishing sales, marketing and distribution capabilities for our products in regions where we choose to commercialize our products on our own; and ● the initiation, progress, timing and results of the commercialization of our product candidates, if approved for commercial sale. 32 Table of Contents Based on currently available information and our ongoing operations, we believe that our existing cash, inclusive of the funding committed by certain beneficial holders of Brooklyn LLC’s Class A membership interests and received under the Purchase Agreements with Lincoln Capital and in connection with the PIPE Transactions, will not be sufficient for us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements through the twelve-month period subsequent to the issuance date of this report. We intend to raise additional sources of capital, which could be in the form of debt, grants or equity. We cannot be certain that additional capital will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development or commercialization of any product candidate, or potentially discontinue operations altogether. In addition, attempting to secure additional capital may divert the time and attention of our management from day-to-day activities and harm its product candidate development efforts. Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with the development and potential commercialization of its product candidates, we are unable to estimate the amounts of increased capital outlays, operating expenditures and capital requirements associated with its current product development programs. Raising additional funds by issuing equity securities may cause dilution to existing holders, raising additional funds through debt financings may involve restrictive covenants, and raising funds through lending and licensing arrangements may restrict our operations or require us to relinquish proprietary rights. We expect that significant additional capital will be needed in the future to continue our planned operations. Until such time, if ever, that we can generate substantial product revenue, we expect to finance our cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, strategic alliances and license and development agreements or other collaborations. To the extent that we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, existing stockholder ownership may experience substantial dilution, and the securities may include preferred shares with liquidation or other preferences that could harm the rights of a common stockholder. If we raise additional funds through collaborations, strategic alliances or marketing, distribution or licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to its technologies, future revenue streams, research programs or product candidates, or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate its product development or future commercialization efforts, or grant rights to develop and market product candidates that we would otherwise develop and market themselves. Risks Related to our Business and Industry We face business disruption and related risks resulting from the pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which could have a material adverse effect on our business plan. The development of our product candidates has been, and could continue to be, disrupted and materially adversely affected by past and continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is largely a result of measures imposed by the governments and hospitals in affected regions, businesses and schools were suspended due to quarantines intended to contain this outbreak. The spread of COVID-19 from China to other countries resulted in the Director General of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020. While the constraints of the pandemic are being lifted, we are still assessing the longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our development plans, and on the ability to conduct our clinical trials. COVID-19 could continue to disrupt production and cause delays in the supply and delivery of products used in our operations, may affect our operations, including the conduct of clinical studies, or the ability of regulatory bodies to grant approvals or supervise our candidates and products, may further divert the attention and efforts of the medical community to coping with the COVID-19 and disrupt the marketplace in which we operate and may have a material adverse effects on our operations. COVID-19 may also affect our employees and employees and operations at suppliers that may result in delays or disruptions in supply. In addition, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of COVID-19 could materially affect our business and the value of our common stock. Additionally, if the COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on our business and financial results for an extended period of time, our liquidity and cash resources could be negatively impacted. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing global efforts to contain its spread will impact our operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain, and include the duration, severity and scope of the pandemic and the actions taken to contain or treat the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the specific clinical outcomes, or future pandemic related impacts of emerging COVID-19 variants cannot be reliably predicted. 33 Table of Contents Our business and operations would suffer in the event of system failures, cyber-attacks or a deficiency in our cyber-security. Our computer systems, as well as those of various third parties on which it relies, may sustain damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, data breaches, phishing attacks, cybercriminals, natural disasters (including hurricanes and earthquakes), terrorism, war and telecommunication and electrical failures. We rely on our third-party providers to implement effective security measures and identify and correct for any such failures, deficiencies or breaches. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyber-attacks or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. If such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our drug development and other programs. For example, the loss of nonclinical or clinical trial data from completed, ongoing or planned trials could result in delays in our regulatory approval efforts and significantly increase our costs to recover or reproduce the data. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of personal, confidential or proprietary information, we could incur liability and the further development of any product candidate could be delayed. We are substantially dependent on the success of our internal development programs and our product pipeline candidates may not successfully complete clinical trials, receive regulatory approval or be successfully commercialized. Our future success will depend heavily on the success of our development of IRX-2, successful clinical development of our in-licensed cell and gene therapy technologies and any other products we may acquire, license or develop (including any products that may be developed from the licensed technology if Brooklyn exercises its option to license certain technology from Novellus). We expect to continue our efforts and expenditures related to the continued clinical evaluation of our lead product candidate, IRX-2, and the monotherapy and combination studies related thereto. We expect to continue our efforts towards the commercialization of such product candidates following regulatory approval, if received. Additionally, we expect to devote substantial resources and efforts to the preclinical and clinical evaluation of new cell and gene therapy product platforms that we may acquire or in-license (including any products that may be developed from the licensed technology with Factor and Novellus, Ltd.). Accordingly, our business currently depends heavily on the successful completion of our clinical trials for its product candidates and subsequent regulatory approval and commercialization of such product candidates. Our ability to successfully commercialize IRX-2 and any other product we may acquire, license or develop, will depend on, among other things, our ability to: ● successfully complete pre-clinical studies and clinical trials deemed adequate by regulatory authorities and obtain and maintain regulatory approval for the marketing of our product candidates; ● receive regulatory approvals from the FDA, the EMA and other similar regulatory authorities; ● establish and maintain collaborations with third parties for the development and/or commercialization of our product candidates, or otherwise build and maintain strong development, sales, distribution and marketing capabilities that are sufficient to develop products and launch commercial sales of any approved products, including establishing sales, marketing and distribution systems for our product candidates; ● obtain coverage and adequate reimbursement from payors such as government health care systems, pharmacy benefit managers, and insurance companies and achieve commercially attractive levels of pricing; ● secure acceptance of our product candidates from physicians, health care payors, patients and the medical community; ● produce, through a validated process, in manufacturing facilities inspected and approved by regulatory authorities, including the FDA, sufficiently large quantities of our product candidates to permit successful commercialization; ● manage our spending as expenses increase due to government mandated post-approval clinical trials and commercialization; ● obtain and enforce sufficient intellectual property rights for any approved products and product candidates, maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio; ● add operational, financial, and management information systems; personnel, including personnel to support its clinical, manufacturing and planned future commercialization efforts and operations as a public company; ● conduct internal or contract manufacturing meeting specifications and in compliance with applicable cGMPs; and 34 Table of Contents ● initiate and continue relationships with third-party suppliers and manufacturers or continue to further develop our own manufacturing capabilities and have commercial quantities of our product candidates manufactured at acceptable cost and quality levels and in compliance with the FDA and other regulatory requirements. Conducting pre-clinical studies in animals and clinical studies in humans is a lengthy, time-consuming, and expensive process. In order to obtain FDA approval to market a new pharmaceutical product, we must demonstrate proof of safety and efficacy of the product. We cannot be certain that our clinical trials for our product candidates will be successful or that any of our product candidates will receive approval from the FDA, the EMA or any other comparable regulatory authority. The research, testing, manufacturing, labeling, approval, sale, marketing and distribution of products are, and will remain, subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other regulatory authorities in the United States and in other countries that each have differing regulations. While we have submitted an IND in the United States and comparable drug approval filings with certain foreign regulatory authorities, the timing of the filing for marketing approval in the United States or comparable filing in other nations is unknown. We must provide these regulatory authorities with data from preclinical studies and clinical trials that demonstrate our product candidates are safe and effective for specific indications before they can be approved for commercial distribution. Securing regulatory approval requires the submission of extensive preclinical, nonclinical and clinical data and other supporting information for each proposed therapeutic indication, in order to establish the product’s safety and efficacy for each intended use. In the case of biologics the data must also include potency and purity for each product. There are risks associated with this process that may include: ● preclinical studies and clinical trials are long, expensive and unpredictable processes that can be subject to extensive delays; ● we cannot guarantee that any clinical trials will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all; ● it may take several years and require significant expenditures to complete the preclinical studies and clinical trials necessary to commercialize a product candidate, and delays or failure are inherently unpredictable and can occur at any stage. ● we may also be required to conduct additional clinical trials or other testing of our product candidates beyond the trials and testing that we contemplate, which may lead to us incurring additional unplanned costs or result in delays in clinical development; ● we may be required to redesign or otherwise modify our plans with respect to an ongoing or planned clinical trial and changing the design of a clinical trial can be expensive and time consuming; and ● an unfavorable outcome in one or more trials would be a major setback for our product candidates and for us. It may require us to delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more product development programs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and future growth prospects. In order to obtain FDA approval to market a new pharmaceutical product, we must demonstrate proof of safety and efficacy of the product in humans. To meet these requirements, we must conduct “adequate and well controlled” clinical studies. The length of time to complete these studies 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 study. We cannot be certain that our clinical trials for our product candidates will be successful or that any of our product candidates will receive approval from the FDA, the EMA or any other comparable regulatory authority. Of the large number of drugs in development in the pharmaceutical industry, only a small percentage result in the submission of a new drug marketing application to the FDA and even fewer are approved for commercialization. The FDA or other foreign regulatory authorities may delay, limit or deny approval of any of our product candidates for many reasons, including: ● We may not be able to demonstrate that any product candidate is safe or effective as a treatment for any of our currently or future targeted indications to the satisfaction of the FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities. ● The relevant regulatory authorities may require additional pre-approval studies or clinical trials which would increase our costs and prolong development timelines or could grant conditional approval with a requirement to perform additional studies at a significant cost. 35 Table of Contents ● The results of our clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical or clinical significance required by the FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities for marketing approval. ● The FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities may disagree with the number, design, size, conduct or implementation of our clinical trials, including the design of its future pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials. ● Contract Research Organizations (“CROs”) that we may retain to conduct clinical trials may take actions outside of our control, or otherwise commit errors or violations of protocols, that adversely impact our clinical trials and ability to obtain market approvals. ● The FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities may not find the data from nonclinical studies or clinical trials sufficient to demonstrate that the clinical and other benefits of these products outweigh their safety risks. ● The FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data or significance of results from the nonclinical studies and clinical trials of IRX - 2 or any other product candidate we may acquire or in-license or may require that it conduct additional studies. ● The FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities may not accept data generated from our clinical trial sites. ● If our MA or other foreign application is reviewed by an advisory committee, the FDA or other relevant regulatory authority, may have difficulties scheduling an advisory committee meeting in a timely manner or the advisory committee may recommend against approval of such application or may recommend that the FDA or other relevant regulatory authority require, as a condition of approval, additional nonclinical studies or clinical trials, limitations on approved labeling or distribution and use restrictions. ● The FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities may require development of a REMS, or its equivalent, as a condition of approval. ● The FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities may require additional post-marketing studies and/or a patient registry, which would be costly. ● The FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities may find the chemistry, manufacturing and controls data insufficient to support the quality of IRX - 2 or any other product candidate we may acquire or in-license. ● The FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities may identify deficiencies in the manufacturing processes or facilities of our third-party manufacturer or our own manufacturing processes or facilities. ● The FDA or other relevant regulatory authorities may change their approval policies or adopt new regulations. Many of the factors that cause or lead to a delay in the commencement or completion of clinical trials may also ultimately lead to the denial of marketing approval for our product candidates. The FDA, EMA or any other comparable regulatory authority may disagree with our clinical trial design and our interpretation of data from clinical trials or may change the requirements for approval even after it has reviewed and commented on the design for our clinical trials. In connection with clinical trials of our product candidates, we face a number of risks, including risks that: ● a product candidate is ineffective or inferior to existing approved products for the same indications; ● patients may die or suffer adverse effects for reasons that may or may not be related to the product candidate being tested; ● a product candidate causes or is associated with unacceptable toxicity or has unacceptable side effects; ● the results may not confirm the positive results of earlier trials; ● we are unable to manufacture sufficient quantities of stable and qualified materials under cGMP for use in clinical studies; ● we fail to recruit a sufficient number of patients or we have slower than expected rates of patient recruitment; ● modification of clinical study protocols is necessary; ● there may be changes in regulatory requirements for clinical studies; ● there is a lack of effectiveness during clinical studies; ● there is an emergence of unforeseen safety issues; ● there may be delays, suspension, or termination of the clinical studies due to the IRB responsible for overseeing the study at a particular study site; 36 Table of Contents ● there could be government or regulatory delays or “clinical holds” requiring suspension or termination of the studies; and ● our collaborators may be unable or unwilling to perform under their contracts. Delays associated with products for which we are directly conducting clinical studies may cause us to incur additional operating expenses. An unfavorable outcome in one or more trials would be a major setback for our product candidates and for us. It may require us to delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more product development programs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and future growth prospects. Furthermore, even if we do receive regulatory approval to market our product candidates, any such approval may be subject to limitations on the indicated uses or patient populations for which we may market the product. The failure of clinical studies to demonstrate safety and effectiveness for the desired indications could harm the development of that product candidate and other product candidates. This 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 studies would delay the filing of its marketing application with the FDA and, ultimately, our ability to commercialize its product candidates and generate product revenues. Any change in, or termination of, our clinical studies could materially harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Any of these events could harm our business and operations and could negatively impact the price of our common stock. Results of preclinical studies and early clinical trials may not be predictive of results of future clinical trials. The outcome of preclinical studies and early clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials, and interim results of clinical trials do not necessarily predict success in the results of completed clinical trials. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials after achieving positive results in earlier development, and we could face similar setbacks. For example, results from the INSPIRE trial of IRX-2 may not be positive or replicated at clinical trial sites in a later stage clinical trial conducted by us or our collaborators. The design of a clinical trial can determine whether its results will support approval of a product and flaws in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced. We may be unable to design and execute a clinical trial to support marketing approval. Preclinical and clinical data are often susceptible to varying interpretations and analyses. Many companies that believed their product candidates performed satisfactorily in preclinical studies and clinical trials have nonetheless failed to obtain marketing approval for the product candidates. Even if we, or any collaborators, believe that the results of clinical trials for our product candidates warrant marketing approval, the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree and may not grant marketing approval of our product candidates. In some instances, there can be significant variability in safety or efficacy results between different clinical trials of the same product candidate due to numerous factors, including changes in trial procedures set forth in protocols, differences in the size and type of the patient populations, changes in and adherence to the dosing regimen and other clinical trial protocols and the rate of dropout among clinical trial participants. If we fail to receive positive results in clinical trials of our product candidates, the development timeline and regulatory approval and commercialization prospects for our most advanced product candidates, and, correspondingly, our business and financial prospects would be negatively impacted. 37 Table of Contents Clinical studies required for our product candidates may involve combination with other products which may result in unpredictable outcomes In some cases, IRX-2 and any other product we may acquire or in-license (including any products that may be developed from the licensed technology if Brooklyn exercises its option to exclusively license certain technology from Novellus) may be expected to be used in combination with approved therapies that may 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 product candidates. We cannot ensure that safety issues will not arise with respect to our product candidates in clinical development. In addition, several of our IRX-2 studies focus on IRX-2 in conjunction with current preferred treatments for certain types of cancer, including head and neck cancers. If the drugs being studied in conjunction with IRX-2 are found to be faulty in any way, or if they fall out of favor as a preferred treatment, our clinical studies may be adversely effected, as we may have to restart such studies with the newer, preferred treatment in conjunction with IRX-2. Any delay in obtaining or failure to obtain required approvals could negatively impact our ability to generate revenue from the particular product candidate, which likely would result in significant harm to our financial position and adversely impact the price of our common stock. We may find it difficult to enroll patients in our clinical trials, which could delay or prevent us from proceeding with clinical trials of our product candidates. Identifying and qualifying patients to participate in clinical trials of our product candidates is critical to our success. The timing of our clinical trials depends on our ability to recruit patients to participate as well as the completion of required follow-up periods. Patients may be unwilling to participate in our clinical trials because of negative publicity from adverse events related to novel therapeutic approaches, competitive clinical trials for similar patient populations, the existence of current treatments or for other reasons. Enrollment risks are heightened with respect to certain indications that we may target for one or more of our product candidates that may be rare diseases, which may limit the pool of patients that may be enrolled in our planned clinical trials. The timeline for recruiting patients, conducting trials and obtaining regulatory approval of our product candidates may be delayed, including as a result of the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could result in increased costs, delays in advancing our product candidates, delays in testing the effectiveness of our product candidates or termination of the clinical trials altogether. We may not be able to identify, recruit and enroll a sufficient number of patients, or those with the required or desired characteristics, to complete our clinical trials in a timely manner. For example, due to the nature of the indications that we are initially targeting, patients with advanced disease progression may not be suitable candidates for treatment with our product candidates and may be ineligible for enrollment in our clinical trials. Therefore, early diagnosis in patients with our target diseases is critical to our success. Patient enrollment and trial completion is affected by factors including the: ● size of the patient population and process for identifying subjects; ● design of the trial protocol; ● eligibility and exclusion criteria; ● safety profile, to date, of the product candidate under study; ● perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study; ● perceived risks and benefits of our approach to treatment of diseases; ● availability of competing therapies and clinical trials; ● severity of the disease under investigation; ● degree of progression of the subject’s disease at the time of enrollment; ● proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective subjects; ● ability to obtain and maintain subject consent; ● risks that enrolled patients will drop out before completion of the trial; ● patient referral services of physicians; and ● ability to monitor subjects adequately during and after treatment. If we have difficulty enrolling a sufficient number of patients to conduct our clinical trials as planned, we may need to delay, limit or terminate ongoing or planned clinical trials, any of which would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. If product liability lawsuits are brought against us, we may incur substantial liabilities and may be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates. We face a potential risk of product liability as a result of the clinical testing of our product candidates and will face an even greater risk if we commercialize our product candidates. For example, we may be sued if any product we develop or any materials that we use in our products allegedly causes injury or is found to be otherwise unsuitable during product testing, manufacturing, marketing or sale. Any such product liability claims may include allegations of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, a failure to warn of dangers inherent in the product, negligence, strict liability and a breach of warranties. Claims could also be asserted under state consumer protection acts. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against product liability claims, we may incur substantial liabilities or be required to limit commercialization of our product candidates. Even a successful defense would require significant financial and management resources. Regardless of the merits or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in: 38 Table of Contents ● decreased demand for our product candidates; ● injury to our reputation; ● withdrawal of clinical trial participants; ● costs to defend the related litigation; ● a diversion of management’s time and its resources; ● substantial monetary awards to trial participants or patients; ● product recalls, withdrawals or labeling, marketing or promotional restrictions; ● the inability to commercialize our product candidates; and ● a decline in the value of the common stock. Any inability to obtain and retain sufficient product liability insurance at an acceptable cost to protect against potential product liability claims could prevent or inhibit the commercialization of products we develop. We intend to obtain product liability insurance covering our clinical trials. Although we will maintain such insurance, any claim that may be brought against us could result in a court judgment or settlement in an amount that is not covered, in whole or in part, by our insurance or that is in excess of the limits of our insurance coverage. Our insurance policies also have various exclusions, and we may be subject to a product liability claim for which we have no coverage. We may have to pay any amounts awarded by a court or negotiated in a settlement that exceed its coverage limitations or that are not covered by its insurance, and we may not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient capital to pay such amounts. Our current or future product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties when used alone or in combination with other approved products or investigational new drugs that could halt their clinical development, prevent their marketing approval, limit their commercial potential or result in significant negative consequences. Undesirable or clinically unmanageable side effects could occur and cause us or regulatory authorities to interrupt, delay or halt clinical trials and could result in a more restrictive label or the delay or denial of marketing approval by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. Results of our trials could reveal a high and unacceptable severity and prevalence of side effects or unexpected characteristics. If unacceptable side effects arise in the development of our product candidates, we, the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, IRBs, or independent ethics committees at the institutions in which our studies are conducted, or the Data Safety Monitoring Board, or DSMB, could suspend or terminate our clinical trials or the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities could order us to cease clinical trials or deny approval of our product candidates for any or all targeted indications. Treatment-related side effects could also affect patient recruitment or the ability of enrolled subjects to complete the trial or result in potential product liability claims. In addition, these side effects may not be appropriately recognized or managed by the treating medical staff. We may be required to train medical personnel using our product candidates to understand the side effect profiles for our clinical trials and upon any commercialization of any of our product candidates. Inadequate training in recognizing or managing the potential side effects of our product candidates could result in patient injury or death. Any of these occurrences may prevent us from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of the affected product candidate and may harm our business, financial condition and prospects significantly. Moreover, clinical trials of our product candidates are conducted in carefully defined sets of patients who have agreed to enter into clinical trials. Consequently, it is possible that our clinical trials may indicate an apparent positive effect of a product candidate that is greater than the actual positive effect, if any, or alternatively fail to identify undesirable side effects. If, following approval of a product candidate, we, or others, discover that the product is less effective than previously believed or causes undesirable side effects that were not previously identified, any of the following consequences could occur: 39 Table of Contents ● regulatory authorities may withdraw their approval of the product or seize the product; ● we, or any collaborators, may need to recall the product, or be required to change the way the product is administered or conduct additional clinical trials; ● additional restrictions may be imposed on the marketing of, or the manufacturing processes for, the product; ● we may be subject to fines, injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties; ● regulatory authorities may require the addition of labeling statements, such as a boxed warning or a contraindication; ● we, or any collaborators, may be required to create a medication guide outlining the risks of the previously unidentified side effects for distribution to patients; ● we, or any collaborators, could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; ● the product may become less competitive; and ● our reputation may suffer. Risks Related to New, Cutting Edge Technologies Because our gene-editing and cell therapy product candidates are based on novel technologies, we cannot assure that we will be successful, or predict the related cost and time we will spend, in initiating, conducting and completing clinical development, and obtaining the necessary regulatory and reimbursement approvals, required for commercialization. Cellular immunotherapies, stem cell therapies, gene-edited, and iPSC-derived cell therapies represent relatively new therapeutic areas, and the FDA has cautioned consumers about potential safety risks associated with them. To date, there are relatively few approved cell therapies. As a result, the regulatory approval process for a gene-editing or cellular therapy product candidates are uncertain and may be more expensive and take longer than the approval process for product candidates based on other, better known or more extensively studied technologies and therapeutic approaches. For example, there are no new FDA approved products with a label designation that supports the use of a product to treat and reduce the severity of ARDS in patients with COVID-19, which makes it difficult to determine the clinical endpoints and data required to support an application or regulatory approval, and the time and cost required to obtain regulatory approval in the United States for our product candidate. Cell reprogramming technology and cell therapy products using allogenic MSCs derived from iPSCs represent novel therapeutic approaches, and to our knowledge no iPSC-derived cell products are currently approved for commercial sale anywhere in the world. As such, it is difficult to accurately predict the type and scope of challenges that we will incur during development of our respective product candidates. We thus face uncertainties associated with the preclinical and clinical development, manufacture, and regulatory compliance for the initiation and conduct of clinical trials, regulatory approval, and reimbursement required for successful commercialization of product candidates. In addition, because the iPSC-derived cell product candidates are in the pre-clinical stage, no human data are yet available to assess the effects of treatment. Animal models and assays may not accurately predict the safety and efficacy of our product candidates in our target patient populations, and appropriate models and assays may need to be developed for demonstrating the safety, efficacy and purity of the product candidates, as required by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for ongoing clinical development and regulatory approval. Regulatory processes in the United States governing cell therapy products have changed frequently and the FDA or other regulatory bodies may change the requirements, or identify different regulatory pathways, for approval of these product candidates. For example, within the FDA, the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, CBER, restructured and created a new Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies, OTAT, to better align its oversight activities with FDA Centers for Drugs and Medical Devices. It is possible that over time new or different divisions may be established or be granted the authority for regulating cell and/or gene therapy products, including iPSC-derived cell products. As a result, we may be required to change regulatory strategies or to modify applications for regulatory approval, which could delay and impair our ability to complete the pre-clinical and clinical development and manufacture of, and obtain regulatory approval for, our product candidates. Changes in regulatory authorities and advisory groups, or any new requirements or guidelines they promulgate, may lengthen the regulatory review process, require us to perform additional studies, increase development and manufacturing costs, lead to changes in regulatory pathways, positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of the product candidates or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. As we advance our product candidates, we will be required to consult with the FDA and other regulatory authorities, and our product candidates will likely be reviewed by an FDA advisory committee. We also must comply with applicable requirements, and if we fail to do so, we may be required to delay or discontinue development of our product candidates. Delays or unexpected costs in obtaining, or the failure to obtain, the regulatory approval necessary to bring the product candidates to market could impair our ability to generate sufficient product revenues to maintain our respective businesses. 40 Table of Contents The pre-clinical and clinical development, manufacture, and regulatory requirements for approval of the product candidates may be more expensive and take longer than for other more well-known or extensively studied pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical product candidates, due to a lack of prior experiences on the side of both developers and regulatory agencies. Additionally, we may be required to modify or change pre-clinical and clinical development plans or manufacturing activities and plans or be required to meet stricter regulatory requirements for approval. Any such modifications or changes could delay or prevent our ability to develop, manufacture, obtain regulatory approval or commercialize the product candidates, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Gene editing product candidates we may develop based on our license agreements with Factor and Novellus are based on new technology, which makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of development and of subsequently obtaining regulatory approval, if we are able to obtain such approval. Gene editing product candidates we may develop based on our license agreements with Factor and Novellus are based on new technology, which makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of development and of subsequently obtaining regulatory approval, if we are able to obtain such approval . Gene editing technology is relatively new, and no products based on such technology have been approved in the U.S. or the E.U. to date, and only a limited number of clinical trials of product candidates based on gene-editing technologies have been commenced. As such, it is difficult to accurately predict the developmental challenges we may incur if we exclusively license the technology from Factor, as we proceed through product discovery or identification, preclinical studies and clinical trials. There may be long-term effects from treatment with any such product candidates that we may develop that we cannot predict at this time. Any product candidates we may develop may interact with genetic material (RNA/DNA) and because animal genetic materials differ from human genetic material, past testing of any such product candidates in animal models may not be predictive of results in human clinical trials for safety or efficacy. As a result of these factors, it is more difficult to predict the time and cost of such product candidate development, and we cannot predict whether the application of gene editing technology, or other similar or competitive gene editing technologies, will result in the identification, development and regulatory approval of any products. There can be no assurance that any development problems we may experience related to such gene editing technology or any of our research programs that use such technology will not cause significant delays or anticipated costs, or that such development problems can be solved. Any of these factors may prevent us from completing preclinical studies or clinical trials based on such technology or from commercializing any such product candidates on a timely or profitable basis, if at all. The clinical trial requirements of the FDA, the EMA and other regulatory authorities and the criteria these regulators use to determine the safety and efficacy of a product candidate vary substantially according to the type, complexity, novelty and intended use and market of the product candidate. No products based on gene-editing technologies have been approved by regulators to date. As a result, the regulatory approval process for product candidates using such technology is uncertain and may be more expensive and take longer than the approval process for product candidates based on other, better known or more extensively studied technologies. It is difficult to determine how long it will take or how much it will cost to obtain regulatory approvals for product candidates using this technology in either the United States or the E.U. or how long it will take to commercialize any product candidates. Delay or failure to obtain, or unexpected costs in obtaining, the regulatory approval necessary to bring a potential product candidate to market could decrease our ability to generate sufficient product revenue, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be harmed. 41 Table of Contents Regulatory requirements in the United States and in other jurisdictions governing gene therapy products have changed frequently and may continue to change in the future. In January 2020, the FDA issued several new guidance documents on gene therapy products. The FDA established the Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies within its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research to consolidate the review of gene therapy and related products, and established the Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee to advise this review. In addition to the government regulators, the IBC and IRB of each institution at which we conduct clinical trials of our product candidates, or a central IRB if appropriate, would need to review the proposed clinical trial to assess the safety of the trial. In addition, adverse developments in clinical trials of gene therapy products conducted by others may cause the FDA or other oversight bodies to change the requirements for approval of any of our product candidates. Similarly, the EMA governs the development of gene therapies in the EU and may issue new guidelines concerning the development and marketing authorization for gene therapy products and require that we comply with these new guidelines. These regulatory review agencies and committees and the new requirements or guidelines they promulgate may lengthen the regulatory review process, require us to perform additional studies or trials, increase our development costs, lead to changes in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of any product candidates we may develop if we exercise our option agreements with Novellus or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. As we advance any such product candidates, we will be required to consult with these regulatory agencies and committees and comply with applicable requirements and guidelines. If we fail to do so, we may be required to delay or discontinue development of such product candidates. These additional processes may result in a review and approval process that is longer than we otherwise would have expected. Delays as a result of an increased or lengthier regulatory approval process or further restrictions on the development of our product candidates can be costly and could negatively impact our or our collaborators’ ability to complete clinical trials and commercialize our current and future product candidates in a timely manner, if at all. Risks Related to Regulatory Requirements We are subject to extensive and costly government regulation. Product candidates employing medical technology are subject to extensive and rigorous domestic government regulation including regulation by the FDA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, other divisions of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the United States Department of Justice, state and local governments, and their respective foreign equivalents. If products employing our technologies are marketed abroad, they will also be subject to extensive regulation by foreign governments, whether or not they have obtained FDA approval for a given product and its uses. Such foreign regulation may be equally or more demanding than corresponding United States regulation. Government regulation substantially increases the cost and risk of researching, developing, manufacturing, and selling our products. Even if we are able to obtain regulatory approval for a particular product, the approval may limit the indicated medical uses for the product, may otherwise limit our ability to promote, sell, and distribute the product, may require that we conduct costly post-marketing surveillance, and/or may require that we conduct ongoing post-marketing studies. Material changes to an approved product, such as, for example, manufacturing changes or revised labeling, may require further regulatory review and approval. Once obtained, any approvals may be withdrawn, including, for example, if there is a later discovery of previously unknown problems with the product, such as a previously unknown safety issue. In addition, regulatory agencies may not approve the labeling claims that are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of our product candidates. For example, regulatory agencies may approve a product candidate for fewer or more limited indications than requested or may grant approval subject to the performance of post-marketing studies. Regulators may approve a product candidate for a smaller patient population, a different drug formulation or a different manufacturing process, than we are seeking. If we are unable to obtain necessary regulatory approvals, or more limited regulatory approvals than we expect, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may suffer. Moreover, principal investigators for our clinical trials may serve as scientific advisors or consultants to us from time to time and receive compensation in connection with such services. Under certain circumstances, we may be required to report some of these relationships to the FDA or other regulatory authority. The FDA or other regulatory authority may conclude that a financial relationship between us and a principal investigator has created a conflict of interest or otherwise affected interpretation of the study. The FDA or other regulatory authority may therefore question the integrity of the data generated at the applicable clinical trial site and the utility of the clinical trial itself may be jeopardized. This could result in a delay in approval, or rejection, of our marketing applications by the FDA or other regulatory authority, as the case may be, and may ultimately lead to the denial of marketing approval of one or more of our product candidates. 42 Table of Contents Changes in marketing approval policies during the development period, changes in or the enactment or promulgation of additional statutes, regulations or guidance or changes in regulatory review for each submitted product application, may cause delays in the approval or rejection of an application. Regulatory authorities have substantial discretion in the approval process and may refuse to accept any application or may decide that our data are insufficient for approval and require additional preclinical, clinical or other studies. Varying interpretations of the data obtained from preclinical and clinical testing could delay, limit or prevent marketing approval of a product candidate. We cannot commercialize a product until the appropriate regulatory authorities have reviewed and approved the product candidate. Even if our product candidates demonstrate safety and efficacy in clinical trials, the regulatory agencies may not complete their review processes in a timely manner, or we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval. Additional delays may result if an FDA Advisory Committee or other regulatory authority recommends non-approval or restrictions on approval. In addition, we may experience delays or rejections based upon additional government regulation from future legislation or administrative action, or changes in regulatory agency policy during the period of product development, clinical trials and the review process. Any marketing approval we ultimately obtain may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product commercially unviable. Securing marketing approval also requires the submission of information about the product manufacturing process to, and inspection of manufacturing facilities by, the regulatory authorities. The FDA or other regulatory authorities may determine that our product candidates are not safe and effective, only moderately effective or have undesirable or unintended side effects, toxicities or other characteristics that preclude our obtaining marketing approval or prevent or limit commercial use. Any marketing approval we ultimately obtain may be limited or subject to restrictions or post-approval commitments that render the approved product not commercially viable. 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. We are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing laboratory procedures and the handling, use, storage, treatment and wastes generated in our manufacturing facility. We cannot eliminate the risk of contamination or injury from these materials. In the event of contamination or injury resulting from the use of hazardous materials, we could be held liable for any resulting damages, and the amount of the liability could exceed our resources. We could also incur significant costs associated with civil or criminal fines and penalties for failure to comply with such laws and regulations. If we, our collaborators, or our contract manufacturing organizations fail to comply with applicable regulatory requirements at any stage during the regulatory process, such noncompliance could result in, among other things delays in the approval of applications or supplements to approved applications; refusal of a regulatory authority, including the FDA, to review pending market approval applications or supplements to approved applications; warning letters; fines; import and/or export restrictions; product recalls or seizures; injunctions; total or partial suspension of production; civil penalties; withdrawals of previously approved marketing applications or licenses; recommendations by the FDA or other regulatory authorities against governmental contracts; and/or criminal prosecutions. Any fast-track designation or grant of priority review status by the FDA may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process, nor will it assure FDA approval of our product candidates. Additionally, our product candidates may treat indications that do not qualify for priority review vouchers. Our product candidate, IRX-2, has received fast track designation in head and neck cancers. If a drug or biologic is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition and the drug or biologic demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for this condition, the drug or biologic sponsor may apply for FDA fast track designation. If a product candidate offers major advances in treatment, the FDA may designate it eligible for a priority review. The FDA has broad discretion to grant these designations, so even if we believe a particular product candidate is eligible for these designations, we cannot assure you that the FDA would decide to grant them. We may also seek fast track designation for IRX-2 in the other indications or for future products we may seek to develop. Even if we are granted fast track designation or priority review, we may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures. The FDA may also withdraw fast track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from Brooklyn’s clinical development program. 43 Table of Contents Orphan Drug Designation and Fast Track Designation may not actually lead to a faster review process. Under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, the FDA has a goal of responding to NDAs or BLAs for new molecular entities within 10 months of the date that it is filed for standard review, but the timeframe is also often extended. We have in the past sought and we may in the future seek approval of IRX-2 or any other product candidate we may acquire or license under programs designed to accelerate the FDA’s review and approval of NDAs or BLAs. For example, fast track designation is a process designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of drugs and biologics to treat serious conditions that fill an unmet clinical need. The purpose is to get important new drugs and biologics to the patient earlier. In our case, IRX-2 has been granted fast track designation for the treatment of head and neck cancer. In the future, we may request fast track designation from the FDA for other diseases or for other products we may acquire or in-license, but we cannot assure that we will obtain such designations. Further, even if we obtain fast track designation, the designation does not guarantee FDA approval of any NDA or BLA that we file, that the development program or review timeline will ultimately be shorter than if we had not obtained the designations, or that the FDA will not request additional information, including requesting additional clinical studies (although potentially a post-marketing requirement), during its review. Any request for additional information or clinical data could delay the FDA’s timely review of any NDA or BLA that we submit. Obtaining and maintaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in one jurisdiction does not mean that we will be successful in obtaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in other jurisdictions. Obtaining and maintaining marketing approval of our current and future product candidates in one jurisdiction does not guarantee that we will be able to obtain or maintain marketing approval in any other jurisdiction, while a failure or delay in obtaining marketing approval in one jurisdiction may have a negative effect on the marketing approval process in others. For example, even if the FDA grants marketing approval of a product candidate, comparable regulatory authorities in foreign jurisdictions must also approve the manufacturing, marketing and promotion of the product candidate in those countries. Approval procedures vary among jurisdictions and can involve requirements and administrative review periods different from, and greater than, those in the United States, including additional preclinical studies or clinical trials as clinical studies conducted in one jurisdiction may not be accepted by regulatory authorities in other jurisdictions. In many jurisdictions outside the United States, a product candidate must be approved for reimbursement before it can be approved for sale in that jurisdiction. In some cases, the price that we intend to charge for our products is also subject to approval. We do not have experience in obtaining reimbursement or pricing approvals in international markets. Further, pricing obtained in other jurisdictions may impact pricing realized in the United States and in other jurisdictions where the product is approved. Obtaining marketing approvals and compliance with regulatory requirements could result in significant delays, difficulties and costs for us and could delay or prevent the introduction of our products in certain countries outside of the United States. If we fail to comply with the regulatory requirements in international markets and/or receive applicable marketing approvals, our target market will be reduced and our ability to realize the full market potential of our product candidates will be harmed. Healthcare legislative reform measures and constraints on national budget social security systems may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Payors, whether domestic or foreign, or governmental or private, are developing increasingly sophisticated or complex methods of controlling healthcare costs and those methods are not always specifically adapted for new technologies such as those we are developing. In both the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions, there have been a number of legislative and regulatory changes to the health care system that could impact our ability to sell our products profitably. In particular, in the United States, the Affordable Care Act, among other things, subjects biologic products to potential competition by lower-cost biosimilars; addresses a new methodology by which rebates owed by manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program are calculated for drugs that are inhaled, infused, instilled, implanted or injected; increases the minimum Medicaid rebates owed by most manufacturers under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program; extends the Medicaid Drug Rebate program to utilization of prescriptions of individuals enrolled in Medicaid managed care organizations; subjects manufacturers to new annual fees and taxes for certain branded prescription drugs; and provides incentives to programs that increase the federal government’s comparative effectiveness research. 44 Table of Contents In addition, other legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the Affordable Care Act was enacted. In August 2011, the Budget Control Act of 2011, among other things, created measures for spending reductions by Congress. A Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with recommending a targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.5 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, was unable to reach required goals, thereby triggering the legislation’s automatic reduction to several government programs. This includes aggregate reductions of Medicare payments to providers of 2% per fiscal year, which went into effect in April 2013, and due to subsequent legislative amendments, including the BBA, will remain in effect through 2027 unless additional Congressional action is taken. The CARES Act, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and the Act to Prevent Across-the-Board Direct Spending Cuts suspended the 2% sequestration mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the American Relief Act of 2011 through December 31, 2021. In December 2021, Congress extended the suspension of the automatic 2% reduction through March 2022 and reduced the sequestration adjustment to 1% beginning on April 1, 2022 through June 30, 2022, with the full 2% reduction for sequestration resuming thereafter. In January 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, was signed into law, which, among other things, further reduced Medicare payments to several providers, including hospitals and cancer treatment centers, and increased the statute of limitations period for the government to recover overpayments to providers from three to five years. We cannot anticipate whether Congress will further extend the sequestration and when the sequestration reimbursement will return. Also, there has been heightened governmental scrutiny recently over the manner in which drug manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in several Congressional inquiries and proposed and enacted federal and state legislation 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 drug products. For example, in November 2018, CMS issued a proposed rule for comment that would, among other things, provide Medicare prescription drug plans under Part D more transparency in pricing and greater flexibility to negotiate discounts for, and in certain circumstances exclude, drugs in the six “protected” formulary classes and allow Medicare Advantage plans to use certain drug management tools such as step therapy for physician-administered drugs. Although a number of these, and other proposed measures will require authorization through additional legislation to become effective, Congress and the Biden administration has each indicated that it will continue to seek new legislative and/or administrative measures to control drug costs. There have been, and likely will continue to be, legislative and regulatory proposals at the foreign, federal and state levels directed at broadening the availability of healthcare and containing or lowering the cost of healthcare. We cannot predict the initiatives that may be adopted in the future. The continuing efforts of these governments and other payors to contain or reduce costs of healthcare and/or impose price controls may adversely affect: ● the demand for our product candidates, if we obtain regulatory approval; ● our ability to set a price that we believe is fair for our products; ● our ability to generate revenue and achieve or maintain profitability; ● the level of taxes that we are required to pay; and ● the availability of capital. Any denial in coverage or reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or any other government programs may result in a similar denial or reduction in payments from private payors, which may adversely affect our future profitability. Risks Related to the Commercialization of Brooklyn’s Product Candidates We may be unable to successfully scale up manufacturing of IRX-2 or newer gene editing or cellular products in sufficient quality and quantity, which may delay or prevent us from commercializing the product even if approved for marketing by the FDA or other regulatory agencies. 45 Table of Contents In order to commercialize IRX -2 or any other product candidate we may acquire or in-license (including any products that may be developed from the licensed technology from Factor or via the Novellus acquisition), we will need to manufacture them in large quantities. We would need to scale up the manufacturing process to enable production of commercial quantities of IRX-2, likely at a qualified contract manufacturer, if approved, and we are currently exploring options for implementing scale-up activities in anticipation of study completion and submitting applications for marketing approval, if supported by study data. However, we may be unable to successfully increase manufacturing capability in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all. In addition, quality issues may arise during scale-up activities. Further, in order to release and demonstrate stability of product candidates for future commercial use, our analytical methods must be validated in accordance with regulatory guidelines. We may not be able to successfully validate or maintain validation of analytical methods during scale-up or demonstrate adequate purity, stability or comparability of the biological product candidates in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all. Even if we believe our manufacturing processes meet all the regulatory manufacturing requirements, the FDA will review those processes and the manufacturing facility as part of the review of any future MA for IRX-2, if submitted after completion of the INSPIRE trial. If we are unable to successfully scale up the manufacture of IRX-2 in sufficient quality and quantity, or if we encounter validation issues, the development, testing, and clinical trials of future product candidates, may be delayed or infeasible, and regulatory approval or commercial launch of any resulting product, including IRX-2, may be delayed or may not be successfully achieved. Even if we are able to commercialize any product candidate that we may develop, the product may become subject to unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party payor reimbursement practices or healthcare reform initiatives that could harm our business. The commercial success of our current or future product candidates will depend substantially, both domestically and abroad, on the extent to which the costs of its product candidates will be paid by health maintenance, managed care, pharmacy benefit and similar healthcare management organizations, or reimbursed by government health administration authorities (such as Medicare and Medicaid), private health coverage insurers and other third-party payors. If reimbursement is not available, or is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize our products. Even if coverage is provided, the approved reimbursement amount may not be high enough to allow us to establish and maintain pricing sufficient to realize a meaningful return on our investment. There is significant uncertainty related to third-party payor coverage and reimbursement of newly approved drugs. Marketing approvals, pricing and reimbursement for new drug products vary widely from country to country. Some countries require approval of the sale price of a drug before it can be marketed. In many countries, the pricing review period begins after marketing or product licensing approval is granted. In some non-U.S. markets, prescription pharmaceutical pricing remains subject to continuing governmental control even after initial approval is granted. As a result, we might obtain marketing approval for a product in a particular country, but then be subject to price regulations that delay commercial launch of the product, possibly for lengthy time periods, which may negatively impact the revenues it is able to generate from the sale of the product in that country. Adverse pricing limitations may hinder our ability to recoup our investment in one or more product candidates, even if our product candidates obtain marketing approval. Our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidate will depend in part on the extent to which coverage and reimbursement for these products and related treatments will be available from government health administration authorities, private health insurers and other organizations. Government authorities and third-party payors, such as private health insurers and health maintenance organizations, decide which medications they will cover and establish reimbursement levels. The healthcare industry is acutely focused on cost containment, both in the United States and elsewhere. Government authorities and third-party payors have attempted to control costs by limiting coverage and the amount of reimbursement for particular medications, which could affect our ability to sell our product candidates profitably. These payors may not view our products, if any, as cost-effective, and coverage and reimbursement may not be available to our customers, or may not be sufficient to allow our products, if any, to be marketed on a competitive basis. Cost-control initiatives could cause us to decrease the price we might establish for products, which could result in lower than anticipated product revenues. If the prices for our products, if any, decrease or if governmental and other third-party payors do not provide adequate coverage or reimbursement, our prospects for revenue and profitability will suffer. 46 Table of Contents There may also be delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs, and coverage may be more limited than the indications for which the drug is approved by the FDA or comparable non-U.S. regulatory authorities. Moreover, eligibility for reimbursement does not imply that any drug will be paid for in all cases or at a rate that covers our costs, including research, development, manufacture, sale and distribution. Reimbursement rates may vary, by way of example, according to the use of the drug and the clinical setting in which it is used. Reimbursement rates may also be based on reimbursement levels already set for lower cost drugs or may be incorporated into existing payments for other services. In addition, increasingly, third-party payors are requiring higher levels of evidence of the benefits and clinical outcomes of new technologies and are challenging the prices charged. We cannot be sure that coverage will be available for any product candidate that we may commercialize and, if available, that the reimbursement rates will be adequate. Further, the net reimbursement for drug products may be subject to additional reductions if there are changes to laws that presently restrict imports of drugs from countries where they may be sold at lower prices than in the United States. An inability to promptly obtain coverage and adequate payment rates from both government-funded and private payors for any of our product candidates for which we obtain marketing approval could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, our ability to raise capital needed to commercialize products and our overall financial condition. If we are unable to develop our sales, marketing and distribution capability on our own or through collaborations with marketing partners, we will not be successful in commercializing our product candidates. We currently have no marketing, sales or distribution capabilities and have limited sales or marketing experience within our organization. If one or more of our product candidates is approved, we intend either to establish a sales and marketing organization with technical expertise and supporting distribution capabilities to commercialize that product candidate, or to outsource this function to a third party. There are risks involved with either establishing our own sales and marketing capabilities and entering into arrangements with third parties to perform these services. Recruiting and training an internal commercial organization is expensive and time consuming and could delay any product launch. Some or all of these costs may be incurred in advance of any approval of any of our product candidates. If the commercial launch of a product candidate for which we recruit a sales force and establish marketing capabilities is delayed or does not occur for any reason, we would have prematurely or unnecessarily incurred these commercialization expenses. This may be costly and our investment would be lost if we cannot retain or reposition our sales and marketing personnel. In addition, we may not be able to hire a sales force in the United States or other target market that is sufficient in size or has adequate expertise in the medical markets that we intend to target. Factors that may inhibit our efforts to commercialize our product candidates on our own include: ● the inability to recruit, train and retain adequate numbers of effective sales and marketing personnel; ● the inability of sales personnel to obtain access to physicians or persuade adequate numbers of physicians to prescribe any future product that we may develop; ● the lack of complementary treatments to be offered by sales personnel, which may put us at a competitive disadvantage relative to companies with more extensive product lines; and ● unforeseen costs and expenses associated with creating an independent sales and marketing organization. If we enter into arrangements with third parties to perform sales, marketing and distribution services, our product revenue or the profitability to us from these revenue streams is likely to be lower than if we were to market and sell any product candidates that we develop ourselves. In addition, we may not be successful in entering into arrangements with third parties to sell and market our product candidates or may be unable to do so on terms that are favorable to us. We likely will have little control over such third parties and any of them may fail to devote the necessary resources and attention to sell and market our product candidates effectively. If we do not establish sales and marketing capabilities successfully, either on our own or in collaboration with third parties, we may not be successful in commercializing our product candidates. 47 Table of Contents The market opportunities for any current or future product candidate we develop, if and when approved, may be limited to those patients who are ineligible for established therapies or for whom prior therapies have failed, and therefore may be small. Cancer therapies are sometimes characterized as first-line, second-line, or third-line, and the FDA often approves new therapies initially only for third-line use. When cancer is detected early enough, first-line therapy, usually chemotherapy, hormone therapy, surgery, radiation therapy, immunotherapy or a combination of these, is sometimes adequate to cure the cancer or prolong life without a cure. Second- and third-line therapies are administered to patients when prior therapy is not effective. We may initially seek approval of IRX-2 and any other product candidates we develop as a therapy for patients who have received one or more prior treatments. Subsequently, for those products that prove to be sufficiently beneficial, if any, we would expect to seek approval potentially as a first-line therapy, but there is no guarantee that product candidates we develop, even if approved, would be approved for first-line therapy, and, prior to any such approvals, we may have to conduct additional clinical trials. The number of patients who have the cancers we are targeting may turn out to be lower than we expect or may change as we develop the product candidate (e.g., lower rates of smoking around the globe may lead to lower incidence levels of head and neck cancer at the time of approval). Additionally, the potentially addressable patient population for our current programs or future product candidates, if and when approved, may be limited. Even if we obtain significant market share for any product candidate, if and when approved, if the potential target populations are small, we may never achieve profitability without obtaining marketing approval for additional indications, including use as first- or second-line therapy. We face significant competition and if our competitors develop and market products that are more effective, safer or less expensive than the product candidates we develop, our commercial opportunities will be negatively impacted. The life sciences industry is highly competitive. We are currently developing therapeutics that will compete, if approved, with other products and therapies that currently exist, are being developed or will in the future be developed, some of which we may not currently be aware. Competitors who are developing products in the same fields or that target the same indications as us with products that have a similar mechanism of action may experience problems with its products that could identify problems that would potentially harm our business. We have competitors both in the United States and internationally, including major multinational pharmaceutical companies, established biotechnology companies, specialty pharmaceutical companies, universities and other research institutions. Many of our competitors have significantly greater financial, manufacturing, marketing, product development, technical and human resources than we do. Large pharmaceutical companies, in particular, have extensive experience in clinical testing, obtaining marketing approvals, recruiting patients and manufacturing pharmaceutical products. These companies also have significantly greater research and marketing capabilities than we do and may also have products that have been approved or are in late stages of development, and collaborative arrangements in our target markets with leading companies and research institutions. Established pharmaceutical companies may also invest heavily to accelerate discovery and development of novel compounds or to in-license novel compounds that could make the product candidates that we develop obsolete. Mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of our competitors. As a result of all of these factors, our competitors may succeed in obtaining patent protection and/or marketing approval or discovering, developing and commercializing products in our field before we do. There are a large number of companies developing or marketing treatments for cancer, including many major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. These treatments consist both of small molecule drug products, such as traditional chemotherapy, as well as novel immunotherapies. Our commercial opportunities could be reduced or eliminated if our competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe effects, are more convenient, have a broader label, are marketed more effectively, are reimbursed or are less expensive than any products that we may develop. Our competitors also may obtain FDA, EMA or other marketing approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market. Even if the product candidate we develop achieve marketing approval, they may be priced at a significant premium over competitive products if any have been approved by then, resulting in reduced competitiveness. 48 Table of Contents Smaller and other early-stage companies may also prove to be significant competitors. These third parties compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel, establishing clinical trial sites and patient registration for clinical trials, as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. In addition, the biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by rapid technological change. If we fail to stay at the forefront of technological change, we may be unable to compete effectively. Technological advances or products developed by our competitors may render our product candidates obsolete, less competitive or not economical. If we fail to maintain orphan drug exclusivity for IRX-2 or we fail to obtain or maintain such exclusivity for any future product candidate we may license, our competitors may sell products to treat the same conditions, and our revenues would be significantly adversely affected. In July 2005 the FDA granted orphan drug designation for IRX-2 for head or neck cancer. In the U.S., orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as opportunities for grant funding towards clinical trial costs, tax advantages and user-fee waivers. The company that first obtains FDA approval for a designated orphan drug for a given rare disease receives marketing exclusivity for use of that drug for the stated disease or condition for a period of seven years, with an additional six months if for a pediatric indication. Orphan drug exclusive marketing rights may be lost if the FDA later determines that the request for designation was materially defective, a subsequent product is deemed clinically superior, or if the manufacturer is unable to deliver sufficient quantity of the drug. In the E.U., the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products, or COMP, grants orphan drug designation to promote the development of products that are intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of life-threatening or chronically debilitating conditions affecting not more than five in 10,000 persons in the EU Community and for which no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention, or treatment has been authorized (or the product would be a significant benefit to those affected). Additionally, designation is granted for products intended for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of a life-threatening, seriously debilitating or serious and chronic condition and when, without incentives, it is unlikely that sales of the drug in the EU would be sufficient to justify the necessary investment in developing the medicinal product. An EU orphan drug designation entitles a party to financial incentives such as reduction of fees or fee waivers and 10 years of market exclusivity is granted following medicinal product approval. This period may be reduced to six years if the orphan drug designation criteria are no longer met, including where it is shown that the product is sufficiently profitable not to justify maintenance of market exclusivity. Orphan drug designation must be requested before submitting an application for marketing approval. Orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process. Because the extent and scope of patent protection for IRX-2 may be particularly limited, orphan drug designation is especially important. We plan to rely on the orphan exclusivity period to maintain a competitive position. However, if we cannot maintain orphan exclusivity for our IRX-2, our competitors may then sell the same drug to treat the same condition and our revenues will be reduced. Also, without strong patent protection, competitors may sell a generic version upon the expiration of orphan exclusivity, if our patent position is not upheld. Even if we obtain orphan drug designation for our future product candidates, we may not fulfill the criteria for exclusivity, or we may not be the first to obtain marketing approval for any orphan indication. Further, even if we obtain orphan drug exclusivity for a particular product, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product from competition because different drugs can be approved for the same condition. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA can subsequently approve a drug for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the later drug is safer, more effective or makes a major contribution to patient care. The FDA can discontinue Orphan Drug exclusivity after it has been granted if the orphan drug cannot be manufactured in sufficient quantities to meet demand. 49 Table of Contents The commercial success of any current or future product candidate will depend upon the degree of market acceptance by physicians, patients, payors and others in the medical community. We have never commercialized a product, and even if we obtain any regulatory approval for our product candidates, the commercial success of our product candidates will depend in part on the medical community, patients, and payors accepting our product candidates as effective, safe and cost-effective. Any product that we bring to the market may not gain market acceptance by physicians, patients, payors and others in the medical community. Physicians are often reluctant to switch their patients from existing therapies even when new and potentially more effective or convenient treatments enter the market. Further, patients often acclimate to the therapy that they are currently taking and do not want to switch unless their physicians recommend switching products or they are required to switch therapies due to lack of reimbursement for existing therapies. The degree of market acceptance of these product candidates, if approved for commercial sale, will depend on a number of factors, including: ● the potential efficacy and potential advantages over alternative treatments; ● the frequency and severity of any side effects, including any limitations or warnings contained in a product’s approved labeling; ● the frequency and severity of any side effects resulting from follow-up requirements for the administration of our product candidates; ● the relative convenience and ease of administration; ● the willingness of the target patient population to try new therapies and of physicians to prescribe these therapies; ● the strength of marketing and distribution support and timing of market introduction of competitive products; ● formulary acceptance; ● publicity concerning our products or competing products and treatments; and ● sufficient third-party insurance coverage and adequate reimbursement. Even if a product candidate displays a favorable efficacy and safety profile in preclinical studies and clinical trials, market acceptance of the product, if approved for commercial sale, will not be known until after it is commercially launched. Our efforts to educate the medical community and payors on the benefits of our product candidates may require significant resources and may never be successful. Such efforts to educate the marketplace may require more resources than are required by the conventional technologies marketed by our competitors. If these products do not achieve an adequate level of acceptance, we may not generate significant product revenue and may not become profitable. Risks Related to Brooklyn’s Dependence on Third Parties We or our affiliates’ employees, independent contractors, principal investigators, consultants, commercial collaborators, service providers and other vendors or potential collaborators may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could harm the results of our operations. We are exposed to the risk that our employees or affiliates’ employees and contractors, including any prospective or current principal investigators, CROs, consultants, commercial collaborators, service providers and other vendors may engage in misconduct or other illegal activity. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless or negligent conduct or other unauthorized activities that violate the laws and regulations of the FDA or other similar regulatory bodies, including those laws that require the reporting of true, complete and accurate information to such regulatory bodies; manufacturing and the FDA’s GCP or cGMP standards; federal, state and foreign healthcare fraud and abuse laws and data privacy; or laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. In particular, sales, marketing and other business arrangements in the healthcare industry are subject to extensive laws intended to prevent fraud, kickbacks, self-dealing, bribery, corruption, antitrust violations and other abusive practices. These laws may restrict or prohibit a wide range of business activities, including research, manufacturing, distribution, pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, customer incentive programs and other business arrangements. 50 Table of Contents Activities subject to these laws also involve the improper use or misrepresentation of information obtained during clinical trials, creating fraudulent data in our nonclinical studies or clinical trials or illegal misappropriation of drug product, which could result in data being eliminated from the final analysis of studies, regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee or third-party misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting them from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to comply with such laws or regulations. Additionally, we are subject to the risk that a person, including any person who may have engaged in any fraud or misconduct, or government agency could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. Furthermore, we rely on our CROs and clinical trial sites to adequately report data from ongoing clinical trials. Any failure by such parties to adequately report safety events to us in a timely manner from any such trials may also affect the approvability of our product candidates or cause delays and disruptions for the approval of any of our product candidates, if at all. If we or our affiliates’ employees, independent contractors, principal investigators, consultants, commercial collaborators, service providers or other vendors are alleged or found to be in violation of any such regulatory standards or requirements, or become subject to a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement and curtailment of our operations, it could have a significant impact on our business and financial results, including the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, suspension or delay in Brooklyn’s clinical trials, possible exclusion from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs or formulary and pharmacy benefit management programs, FDA debarment, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings, and additional reporting requirements and oversight, any of which could harm our ability to operate our business and results of operations. We rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct our clinical studies, and those third parties may not perform satisfactorily, including failing to meet deadlines for the completion of such studies. Outside of the INSPIRE trial, each of the trials involving IRX-2 that are currently being performed are investigator-sponsored trials. Outside our providing study drug and financial support for these studies, we have less involvement and less control of these studies than we would if these were our studies. Negative results from these studies could have material adverse effects on our business despite our lack of control. We may seek to enter into collaborations with third parties for the development and commercialization of our product candidates. If we fail to enter into such collaborations, or such collaborations are not successful, we may not be able to capitalize on the market potential of IRX-2 or any other product we may acquire or in-license. We may seek third-party collaborators for development and commercialization of IRX-2 or any other product we may acquire or in-license. Our likely collaborators for any marketing, distribution, development, licensing or broader collaboration arrangements include large and mid-size pharmaceutical companies, regional and national pharmaceutical companies, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and biotechnology companies. We will face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators. We may not be successful in our efforts to establish a strategic partnership or other alternative arrangements for our product candidates because such product candidates may be deemed to be at too early of a stage of development for collaborative effort and third parties may not view our product candidates as having the requisite potential to demonstrate safety and efficacy. We are currently party to a limited number of such arrangements and have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our collaborators dedicate to the development or commercialization of our product candidates. Our ability to generate revenues from these arrangements will depend on our collaborators’ abilities to successfully perform the functions assigned to them in these arrangements. If and when we collaborate with a third party for development and commercialization of a product candidate, we can expect to relinquish some or all of the control over the future success of that product candidate to the third party. Our ability to reach a definitive agreement for a collaboration will depend, among other things, upon assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a number of factors. Collaborations involving our product candidates currently pose, and will continue to pose, the following risks to it: ● collaborators have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to these collaborations; ● collaborators may not pursue development and commercialization of our product candidates or may elect not to continue or renew development or commercialization programs based on preclinical or clinical study results, changes in the collaborators’ strategic focus or available funding, or external factors such as an acquisition that diverts resources or creates competing priorities; 51 Table of Contents ● collaborators may delay clinical studies, provide insufficient funding for a clinical study program, stop a clinical study or abandon a product candidate, repeat or conduct new clinical studies or require a new formulation of a product candidate for clinical testing; ● collaborators could independently develop, or develop with third parties, products that compete directly or indirectly with our product candidates if the collaborators believe that competitive products are more likely to be successfully developed or can be commercialized under terms that are more economically attractive than ours; ● collaborators with marketing and distribution rights to one or more products may not commit sufficient resources to the marketing and distribution of such product or products; ● collaborators may not properly maintain or defend our intellectual property rights or may use our proprietary information in such a way as to invite litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate its intellectual property or proprietary information or expose it to potential litigation; ● collaborators may infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties, which may expose us to litigation and potential liability; ● disputes may arise between the collaborators and us that result in the delay or termination of the research, development or commercialization of our product candidates or that result in costly litigation or arbitration that diverts management attention and resources; and ● collaborations may be terminated and, if terminated, may result in a need for additional capital to pursue further development or commercialization of the applicable product candidates. Collaboration agreements may not lead to development or commercialization of our product candidates in the most efficient manner or at all. If a collaborator of ours were to be involved in a business combination, the continued pursuit and emphasis on its product development or commercialization program could be delayed, diminished or terminated. Risks Relating to Brooklyn’s Intellectual Property If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent and other intellectual property protection for our products and product candidates, or if the scope of the patent and other intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our products and product candidates may be adversely affected. Our ability to compete effectively will depend, in part, on our ability to maintain the proprietary nature of our technology and manufacturing processes. We rely on research, manufacturing and other know-how, patents, trade secrets, license agreements and contractual provisions to establish our intellectual property rights and protect our products and product candidates. These legal means, however, afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights. As of April 12, 2022, our intellectual property portfolio included 16 patents in the United States and an additional 92 patents around the world. In certain situations, and as considered appropriate, we have sought, and we intend to continue to seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and, in at least some cases, one or more countries outside the United States relating to current and future products and product candidates that are important to our business. However, we cannot predict whether the patent applications currently being pursued will issue as patents, or whether the claims of any resulting patents will provide us with a competitive advantage or whether we will be able to successfully pursue patent applications in the future relating to our current or future products and product candidates. Moreover, the patent application and approval processes are expensive and time-consuming. We may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Furthermore, we, or any future partners, collaborators, or licensees, may fail to identify patentable aspects of inventions made in the course of development and commercialization activities before it is too late to obtain patent protection on them. Therefore, we may miss potential opportunities to seek additional patent protection. It is possible that defects of form in the preparation or filing of patent applications may exist, or may arise in the future, for example with respect to proper priority claims, inventorship, claim scope, or requests for patent term adjustments. If we fail to establish, maintain or protect such patents and other intellectual property rights, such rights may be reduced or eliminated. If there are material defects in the form, preparation, prosecution or enforcement of our patents or patent applications, such patents may be invalid and/or unenforceable, and such applications may never result in valid, enforceable patents. 52 Table of Contents Even if they are unchallenged, our patents and patent applications, if issued, may not provide us with any meaningful protection or prevent competitors from designing around our patent claims by developing similar or alternative technologies or therapeutics in a non-infringing manner. For example, a third party may develop a competitive therapy that provides benefits similar to one or more of our product candidates but that falls outside the scope of our patent protection. If the patent protection provided by the patents and patent applications we hold or pursue with respect to our product candidates is not sufficiently broad to impede such competition, our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates could be negatively affected. Other parties, many of whom have substantially greater resources and have made significant investments in competing technologies, have developed or may develop technologies that may be related or competitive with our approach, and may have filed or may file patent applications and may have been issued or may be issued patents with claims that overlap or conflict with our patent applications, either by claiming the same compositions, formulations or methods or by claiming subject matter that could dominate our patent position. In addition, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. As a result, any patents we may obtain in the future may not provide us with adequate and continuing patent protection sufficient to exclude others from commercializing products similar to our products and product candidates. The patent position of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies generally is highly uncertain. No consistent policy regarding the breadth of claims allowed in biotechnology and pharmaceutical patents has emerged to date in the United States or in many foreign jurisdictions. In addition, the determination of patent rights with respect to pharmaceutical compounds commonly involves complex legal and factual questions, which has in recent years been the subject of much litigation. As a result, the issuance, scope, validity, enforceability and commercial value of our patent rights are highly uncertain. Our competitors may also seek approval to market their own products similar to or otherwise competitive with our products. Alternatively, our competitors may seek to market generic versions of any approved products by submitting ANDAs or ABLAs to the FDA in which they claim that our patents are invalid, unenforceable or not infringed. In these circumstances, we may need to defend or assert our patents, or both, including by filing lawsuits alleging patent infringement. In any of these types of proceedings, a court or other agency with jurisdiction may find our patents invalid or unenforceable, or that our competitors are competing in a non-infringing manner. Thus, even if we have valid and enforceable patents, these patents still may not provide protection against competing products or processes sufficient to achieve our business objectives. In addition to patent protection, we expect to rely heavily on trade secrets, know-how and other unpatented technology, which are difficult to protect. Although we seek such protection in part by entering into confidentiality agreements with our vendors, employees, consultants and others who may have access to proprietary information, we cannot be certain that these agreements will not be breached, adequate remedies for any breach would be available, or our trade secrets, know-how and other unpatented proprietary technology will not otherwise become known to or be independently developed by our competitors. If we are unsuccessful in protecting our intellectual property rights, sales of our products may suffer and our ability to generate revenue could be severely impacted. Issued patents covering our products and product candidates could be found invalid or unenforceable if challenged in court or in administrative proceedings. We may not be able to protect our trade secrets in court. If we initiate legal proceedings against a third-party to enforce a patent covering one of our products or product candidates, the defendant could counterclaim that the patent covering our product or product candidate is invalid or unenforceable. In patent litigation in the United States, defendant counterclaims alleging invalidity or unenforceability are commonplace. Grounds for a validity challenge could be an alleged failure to meet any of several statutory requirements, including lack of novelty, obviousness, written description or non- enablement. Grounds for an unenforceability assertion could be an allegation that someone connected with prosecution of the patent withheld information material to patentability from the USPTO, or made a misleading statement, during prosecution. Third parties also may raise similar claims before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. Such mechanisms include re- examination, post grant review, inter partes review and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. An adverse determination in any of the foregoing proceedings could result in the revocation or cancellation of, or amendment to, our patents in such a way that they no longer cover our products or product candidates. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. With respect to the validity question, for example, we cannot be certain that there is no invalidating prior art, of which the patent examiner and we were unaware during prosecution. If a defendant or third party were to prevail on a legal assertion of invalidity or unenforceability, we could lose at least part, and perhaps all, of the patent protection on one or more of our products and product candidates. Such a loss of patent protection could have a material adverse impact on our business. 53 Table of Contents In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. Competitors and other third parties could purchase our products and product candidates and attempt to replicate some or all of the competitive advantages we derive from our development efforts, willfully infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate our intellectual property rights, design around our protected technology or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual property rights. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we would have no right to prevent them, or those to whom they communicate it, from using that technology or information to compete with us. If our trade secrets are not adequately protected or sufficient to provide an advantage over our competitors, our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business. Additionally, if the steps taken to maintain our trade secrets are deemed inadequate, we may have insufficient recourse against third parties for misappropriating our trade secrets. Obtaining and maintaining patent protection depends on compliance with various procedural, document submission, fee payment and other requirements imposed by governmental patent agencies, and our patent protection could be reduced or eliminated for non- compliance with these requirements. Periodic maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuity fees and various other governmental fees on patents and applications are required to be paid to the USPTO and various governmental patent agencies outside of the United States in several stages over the lifetime of the patents and applications. The USPTO and various non-U.S. governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedurals, documentary, fee payment and other similar provisions during the patent application process and after a patent has issued. There are situations in which non- compliance can result in abandonment or lapse of the patent or patent application, resulting in partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction. The terms of one or more licenses that we enter into the future may not provide us with the ability to maintain or prosecute patents in the portfolio and must therefore rely on third parties to do so. If we fail to obtain and maintain the patents and patent applications covering our products or procedures, we may not be able to stop a competitor from marketing products that are the same as our product candidates, which could have a material adverse effect on our business. If we do not obtain patent term extension and data exclusivity for our products and product candidates, our business may be materially harmed. Patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, if all maintenance fees are timely paid, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years from its earliest U.S. non-provisional filing date. Various extensions may be available, but the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Even if patents covering our product candidates are obtained, once the patent life has expired for a product candidate, we may be open to competition from competitive products. Given the amount of time required for the development, testing and regulatory review of new product candidates, patents protecting such candidates might expire before or shortly after such candidates are commercialized. As a result, our patent portfolio may not provide us with sufficient rights to exclude others from commercializing products similar or identical to ours. In the future, if we obtain an issued patent covering one of our present or future product candidates, depending upon the timing, duration and specifics of any FDA marketing approval of such product candidates, such patent may be eligible for limited patent term extension under the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, or Hatch-Waxman Amendments. The Hatch-Waxman Amendments permit a patent extension term of up to five years as compensation for patent term lost during the FDA regulatory review process. A patent term extension cannot extend the remaining term of a patent beyond a total of 14 years from the date of product approval, only one patent may be extended and only those claims covering the approved drug, a method for using it or a method for manufacturing it may be extended. A patent may only be extended once and only based on a single approved product. However, we may not be granted an extension because of, for example, failure to obtain a granted patent before approval of a product candidate, failure to exercise due diligence during the testing phase or regulatory review process, failure to apply within applicable deadlines, failure to apply prior to expiration of relevant patents or otherwise our failure to satisfy applicable requirements. A patent licensed to us by a third party may not be available for patent term extension. Moreover, the applicable time period or the scope of patent protection afforded could be less than we request. If we are unable to obtain patent term extension or the term of any such extension is less than we request, our competitors may obtain approval of competing products following our patent expiration, and our revenue could be reduced, possibly materially. 54 Table of Contents Changes in patent law in the United States and other jurisdictions could diminish the value of patents in general, thereby impairing our ability to protect our products and product candidates. Changes in either the patent laws or the interpretation of the patent laws in the United States or other jurisdictions could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents. On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, or the Leahy-Smith Act, was signed into law. When implemented, the Leahy-Smith Act included several significant changes to U.S. patent law that impacted how patent rights could be prosecuted, enforced and defended. In particular, the Leahy-Smith Act also included provisions that switched the United States from a “first-to-invent” system to a “first-to-file” system, allowed third- party submission of prior art to the USPTO during patent prosecution and set forth additional procedures to attack the validity of a patent by the USPTO administered post grant proceedings. Under a first-to-file system, assuming the other requirements for patentability are met, the first inventor to file a patent application generally will be entitled to the patent on an invention regardless of whether another inventor had made the invention earlier. The USPTO developed new regulations and procedures governing the administration of the Leahy-Smith Act, and many of the substantive changes to patent law associated with the Leahy-Smith Act, and in particular, the first to file provisions, only became effective on March 16, 2013. Some of the Company’s patents and patent applications have effective dates later than March 16, 2013 and thus will be subject to the provisions of the Leahy-Smith Act. In addition, the patent positions of companies in the development and commercialization of biologics and pharmaceuticals are particularly uncertain. Recent rulings from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court have narrowed the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances and weakened the rights of patent owners in certain situations. This combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the validity and enforceability of patents, once obtained. Depending on future actions by the U.S. Congress, the federal courts, and the USPTO, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that could have a material adverse effect on our existing patent portfolio and our ability to protect and enforce our intellectual property in the future. We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world. Filing, prosecuting, maintaining, defending and enforcing patents on products and product candidates in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive, and our intellectual property rights in some countries outside the United States could be less extensive than those in the United States. The requirements for patentability may differ in certain countries, particularly in developing countries; thus, even in countries where we do pursue patent protection, there can be no assurance that any patents will issue with claims that cover our products. There can be no assurance that we will obtain or maintain patent rights in or outside the United States under any future license agreements. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as federal and state laws in the United States. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from utilizing our inventions in all countries outside the United States, even in jurisdictions where we pursue patent protection, or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not pursued and obtained patent protection to develop their own products and, further, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection, but enforcement is not as strong as that in the United States. These products may compete with our products and product candidates and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing. 55 Table of Contents Many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. The legal systems of certain countries, particularly certain developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology and pharmaceutical products, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents or marketing of competing products in violation of our proprietary rights generally. For example, many foreign countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner must grant licenses to third parties. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights, even if obtained, in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial costs and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, could put our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications at risk of not issuing and could provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. While we intend to protect our intellectual property rights in major markets for our products, we cannot ensure that we will be able to initiate or maintain similar efforts in all jurisdictions in which we may wish to market our products. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop. We may be subject to claims by third parties asserting that our employees or we have misappropriated their intellectual property or claiming ownership of what we regard as our own intellectual property. Many of our current and former employees, including our senior management, were previously employed at universities or at other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, including some which may be competitors or potential competitors. Some of these employees may be subject to proprietary rights, non-disclosure and non- competition agreements, or similar agreements, in connection with such previous employment. Although we try to ensure that our employees do not use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or these employees have used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary information, of any such third party. Litigation may be necessary to defend against such claims. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel or sustain damages. Such intellectual property rights could be awarded to a third party, and we could be required to obtain a license from such third party to commercialize our technology or products. Such a license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and be a distraction to management. In addition, while we typically require our employees, consultants and contractors who may be involved in the development of intellectual property to execute agreements assigning such intellectual property to us, we may 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 we fail in prosecuting or defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights. 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. We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, which could be expensive, time-consuming and unsuccessful. Competitors may infringe our patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property. To counter infringement or unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time consuming and divert the time and attention of our management and scientific personnel. In addition, our patents may become, involved in inventorship, priority, or validity disputes. To counter or defend against such claims can be expensive and time-consuming, and our adversaries may have the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to prosecuting these legal actions than we can. Any claims we assert against perceived infringers could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe their patents, in addition to counterclaims asserting that our patents are invalid or unenforceable, or both. In an infringement proceeding, a court may decide that a patent is invalid or unenforceable or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that our patents do not cover the technology in question. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating intellectual property rights we own or control. An adverse result in any litigation proceeding could put one or more of our owned or in-licensed patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. Further, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. 56 Table of Contents Even if resolved in our favor, the court may decide not to grant an injunction against further infringing activity and instead award only monetary damages, which may or may not be an adequate remedy. Litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions, or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing, or distribution activities. We may not have sufficient financial or other resources to conduct such litigation or proceedings adequately. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our ability to compete in the marketplace. If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our marks of interest and our business may be adversely affected. Our trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. We rely on both registration and common law protection for our trademarks. We may not be able to protect our rights to these trademarks and trade names or may be forced to stop using these names, which we need for name recognition by potential partners or customers in our markets of interest. During trademark registration proceedings, we may receive rejections. Although we would be given an opportunity to respond to those rejections, we may be unable to overcome such rejections. In addition, with the USPTO and with comparable agencies in many foreign jurisdictions, third parties are given an opportunity to oppose pending trademark applications and to seek to cancel registered trademarks. Opposition or cancellation proceedings may be filed against our trademarks, and our trademarks may not survive such proceedings. If we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, we may not be able to compete effectively and our business may be adversely affected. ITEM 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments We do not have any unresolved comments issued by the SEC Staff. ITEM 2. Properties We currently lease approximately 9,000 square feet of office and laboratory space in New York, Massachusetts and California. The terms of our leases expire from December 2026 through June 2028. We believe that our leased property meets our current needs.