Item 3. Legal Proceedings
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
Chapman v. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. et al.
On September 3, 2020, plaintiff Jim Chapman filed a putative federal securities class action lawsuit against the Company, our Chief Executive Officer, Rostislav Raykov, and Chief Financial Officer, Robert Andrade, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, captioned Chapman v. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. et al ., Case No. 1:20-cv-00812. The complaint alleged that prior to our August 10, 2020 receipt of a CRL from the FDA concerning our NDA for PEDMARK ® , defendants made materially false or misleading statements and failed to disclose material facts about our third-party PEDMARK ® product manufacturing facility and the impact the facility would have on regulatory approval for PEDMARK ® . On December 3, 2020, the court appointed a lead plaintiff to represent the putative class. On February 1, 2021, the lead plaintiff filed an amended complaint. The amended complaint added members of our Board of Directors as defendants, asserts a putative class period from December 20, 2018 through August 10, 2020, makes allegations similar to those in the original complaint, claims the defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5, and seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees and costs.
On March 3, 2021, defendants filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint. On April 2, 2021, lead plaintiff filed an opposition to the motion to dismiss. On April 16, 2021, defendants filed a reply in support of the motion to dismiss, and on December 16, 2021, the Magistrate Judge entered an order recommending that defendants’ motion to dismiss be granted in its entirety. On January 24, 2022, lead plaintiff filed objections to the Magistrate Judge’s recommendation, and defendants filed their response on February 3, 2022. On March 2, 2022, the U.S. District Court Judge adopted the Magistrate Judge’s order and recommendation and entered an order and judgment dismissing the amended complaint with prejudice.
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On March 30, 2022, lead plaintiff filed a motion for post judgment relief, seeking leave to file a second amended complaint. In his proposed second amended complaint, lead plaintiff seeks to add allegations stemming from the receipt of a second CRL following our resubmission of our NDA for PEDMARK ® , which we received on November 29, 2021, among other things. Defendants filed an opposition to plaintiff’s motion for post judgment relief on April 20, 2022. On May 4, 2022, lead plaintiff submitted a reply in support of his motion. On September 27, 2022, defendants filed a request for judicial notice regarding the FDA’s press release announcing that it has approved PEDMARK ® . On October 18, 2022, lead plaintiff filed his opposition to request for judicial notice. On October 21, 2022, defendants filed a reply in support of the request for judicial notice. On February 15, 2023, the Magistrate Judge recommended the motion for post judgment relief be denied. Lead plaintiff filed no timely objection to the recommendation, and on March 2, 2023, the U.S. District Court Judge issued an order adopting the Magistrate Judge’s recommendation, denying the motion for post judgment relief, and entering judgment for defendants.
We believe that this lawsuit is without merit and intend to defend it vigorously. We cannot predict the outcome of this lawsuit. Failure by us to obtain a favorable resolution of the lawsuit could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We have not recorded a liability as of December 31, 2022, because we believe a potential loss is not probable or reasonably estimable given the nature of the proceedings and our success so far by obtaining a dismissal with prejudice of the amended complaint.
Fisher v. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. et al.
On February 9, 2022, plaintiff Jeffrey D. Fisher filed a putative federal securities class action lawsuit against the Company and our CEO and CFO in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, captioned Fisher v. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. et al. , Case No. 1:22-cv-00115. The complaint asserts a putative class period from May 28, 2021 through November 28, 2021, and alleges that defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5 by making materially false and misleading statements or omissions regarding the status of our third-party PEDMARK ® product manufacturing facility, the facility’s compliance with cGMP, and the impact its status and compliance would have on regulatory approval for PEDMARK ® in the period leading up to the Company’s November 29, 2021 receipt of a CRL for a subsequent NDA for PEDMARK ® . The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of damages and attorneys’ fees and costs. On April 11, 2022, plaintiff Jeffrey D. Fisher filed a motion to be appointed lead plaintiff and represent the putative class and on May 9, 2022, the court appointed him as lead plaintiff.
On June 23, 2022, lead plaintiff filed an amended complaint. The amended complaint asserts the same putative class period from May 28, 2021 through November 28, 2021, is brought against the same defendants and makes allegations similar to those in the original complaint. On August 5, 2022, defendants filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint. On August 26, 2022, lead plaintiff filed an opposition to the motion to dismiss. On September 9, 2022, defendants filed a reply in support of the motion to dismiss.
On September 27, 2022, defendants filed a request for judicial notice regarding the FDA’s press release announcing that it approved PEDMARK ® On September 30, 2022, lead plaintiff filed an opposition to the request for judicial notice. On October 6, 2022, defendants filed a reply in support of the request for judicial notice. On October 12, 2022, the U.S. District Court Judge issued a memorandum opinion and order dismissing the amended complaint in its entirety and with prejudice, and on October 14, 2022, entered judgment. Lead plaintiff had until November 14, 2022 to file a notice of appeal and did not file a notice of appeal.
We believe that the lawsuit is without merit and intend to defend it vigorously. We cannot predict the outcome of this lawsuit. Failure by us to obtain a favorable resolution of the lawsuit could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We have not recorded a liability as of December 31, 2022, because we believe a potential loss is not probable or reasonably estimable given the nature of the proceedings and our success so far by obtaining a dismissal with prejudice of the amended complaint.
Hope Medical Enterprises, Inc. Inter Partes Review (IPR) Challenges
On October 29, 2021, Hope Medical Enterprises, Inc. (“Hope”) filed two petitions for inter partes review (“IPR”) with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) of the USPTO. In its petitions, Hope seeks to invalidate our U.S. Patent No. 10,596,190 (“US ‘190 Patent”), which is exclusively in-licensed from Oregon Health & Science University
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(“OHSU”) and relates to a method of using our PEDMARK ® product, and our U.S. Patent No. 10,792,363 (“US ’363 Patent”), which relates to an anhydrous form of STS and its method of manufacture, which is the active pharmaceutical ingredient in our PEDMARK ® product. The US ‘190 Patent was issued on March 24, 2020. The US ‘363 Patent was issued on October 6, 2020.
On January 11, 2022, OHSU filed a Request for Supplemental Examination of US ‘190 Patent (Control No. 96.000,390) requesting the consideration by the Central Re-examination Unit (“CRU”) of the USPTO of certain prior art references, including references cited by Hope in its Petition for IPR that are relevant to the granted claim of the patent. On January 28, 2022, the CRU issued a Supplemental Examination Certificate, identified a Substantial New Question (“SNQ”) on the patentability of the US ‘190 Patent claims, and ordered a Reexamination of US ‘190 Patent on March 9, 2022. On May 9, the PTAB granted Hope Medical’s Petition to Institute the IPR against the US ‘190 Patent and a stayed the US ‘190 Patent Reexamination pending the result of the US ‘190 Patent IPR. On August 12, 2022, OHSU filed a Motion to Amend the single claim of the US ‘190 Patent in the IPR to focus on the treatment of medulloblastoma. On December 5, 2022, OHSU filed a Revised Motion to Amend the single claim of the US ‘190 Patent. We expect a decision in the ‘190 Patent IPR in May 2023, which can be appealed by the losing party.
On April 5, 2022, the USPTO issued U.S. Patent No. 11,291,728 (‘728) that covers the PEDMARK ® pharmaceutical formulation. On September 14, 2022, the USPTO issued Notices of Allowance to us for two additional patent applications that cover the PEDMARK ® pharmaceutical formulation. We expect these two additional U.S. patents to issue in Q4 of 2022 or Q1 of 2023. These patents will expire in 2039, unless held invalid or unenforceable by a court of final jurisdiction.
On approval of PEDMARK ® , we listed the ‘728 and the ‘190 patents in the FDA Orange Book. We were granted Orphan Drug Exclusivity in January 2023 for the use of PEDMARK ® in the indication to reduce the risk of ototoxicity, or hearing loss, associated with cisplatin use in pediatric patients one month of age and older with localized, non-metastatic solid tumors. We plan to pursue PUMA upon approval of the MAA, which would allow for 10 years of market exclusivity upon PUMA approval.
We plan to vigorously defend our intellectual property rights related to PEDMARK ® . However, we are unable to predict the outcome of Hope’s IPR petitions, or the Supplemental Examination. While we now have, or will shortly receive, additional U.S. patents that cover PEDMARK ® over the IPR challenged patents, an invalidation of our patents covering PEDMARK ® could have a material adverse effect on our ability to protect our rights in PEDMARK ® beyond periods of marketing exclusivity for PEDMARK ® possible in the United States under Orphan Drug Designation and in Europe under PUMA.
CIPLA Litigation
On December 1, 2022, we received a letter dated November 30, 2022, notifying us that CIPLA submitted to the FDA an ANDA for a generic version of PEDMARK ® (sodium thiosulfate solution) that contains Paragraph IV certifications with respect to two of our patents covering PEDMARK ® , ‘190, expiration date May 2038; and ‘728, expiration date May 2039. These patents are listed in FDA’s list of Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations, commonly referred to as the Orange Book, for PEDMARK ® . The certifications allege these patents are invalid or will not be infringed by the manufacture, use or sale of CIPLA’s sodium thiousulfate solution.
Under the Food and Drug Cosmetic Act, as amended by the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, as amended, after receipt of a valid Paragraph IV notice, the Company may bring a patent infringement suit in a federal district court against CIPLA within 45 days from the receipt of the Notice Letter and if such a suit is commenced within the 45-day period, the Company is entitled to a 30 month stay on the FDA’s ability to give final approval to any proposed products that reference PEDMARK ® . In addition to the 30-month stay, because we have received Orphan Drug Exclusivity, the FDA may not approve CIPLA’s ANDA for at least 7 years from PEDMARK ® ’s FDA approval date of September 20, 2022.
On January 10, 2023 we filed suit against the CIPLA entities in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (Case No. 3:23-cv-00123), for infringement of the ‘190 Patent and the ‘728 Patent. The suit is ongoing.
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Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
PART II
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.