Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Our material risk factors are disclosed in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. There have been no material changes from the risk factors previously disclosed in such filing, except as follows:
Risks Related to our NAV Technology Platform and the Development of Our Product Candidates
Our business, operations and preclinical and clinical development timelines and plans could be adversely affected by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a possible resurgence or second wave of infections, and other public health crises.
The COVID-19 pandemic and other public health crises in regions where we have clinical trial sites or other business operations could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations and preclinical and clinical development timelines and plans, and could significantly constrain or disrupt the operations of third parties upon which we rely, including contract research organizations (CROs) and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs).
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, federal, state, local and foreign governments have put in place quarantines, executive orders, shelter-in-place orders, guidelines and other similar orders and restrictions intended to control the spread of the disease. Such orders and restrictions have resulted in business closures, work stoppages, delays, work-from-home policies, travel restrictions and cancellations of events, among other effects that could negatively impact productivity and disrupt our business and operations. Our offices, laboratories, clinical trial sites, prospective clinical trial sites, CROs, CMOs and other collaborators and partners are located in jurisdictions where such orders and restrictions have been enforced. We have implemented a work-from-home policy for all employees who are not essential to be onsite, and we may take further actions that alter our operations, as may be required by federal, state or local authorities or which we determine are in the best interests of our employees.
The COVID-19 pandemic could require us to delay or prevent us from proceeding with our clinical trials. For instance, our clinical trial site initiation and subject enrollment could be delayed or suspended due to closures and prioritization of resources toward the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, some subjects may not be able or willing to comply with clinical trial protocols, and the ability to conduct follow-up visits with treated subjects may be limited if travel or healthcare services are impeded. Similarly, our ability to recruit and retain principal investigators and other clinical trial personnel could be adversely affected. While we have not experienced significant disruptions in our supply chain to date due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it may impact our ability to procure resources, raw materials or components necessary for our research studies and preclinical and clinical development. Additionally, required inspections and reviews by regulatory authorities may be delayed due to a focus of resources on COVID-19 as well as continued travel and other restrictions. Significant delays in the timing and completion of our research studies and preclinical and clinical development would be costly and could adversely affect our ability to obtain marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the commercialization of our product candidates.
31
Table of Contents
The construction of our new headquarters, including our current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) production facility, is expected to be delayed due to various government orders and restrictions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. The potential impact of any such delay is unpredictable but may include significant additional costs and disruptions to our operations.
The spread of COVID-19 has caused a broad impact globally and may materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as continue to increase the volatility and adversely affect the value of our common stock. While the full extent of the economic impact and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic may be difficult to assess or predict, the continuation of prolonged adverse economic conditions (including due to any resurgence or second wave of COVID-19 infections) may reduce our ability to access capital and adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, if the business and operations of our licensees are adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, our revenues could in turn be adversely affected.
Scientific and economic analyses of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to evolve and we will continue to monitor the situation closely. The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health crises is highly unpredictable and subject to change. We are not yet certain about the full extent of the potential impact of COVID-19 on our business, operations and preclinical and clinical development. To the extent COVID-19 adversely affects our business, financial condition and results of operations, as well as global economic conditions more generally, it may also heighten many of the other risk factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.
Risks Related to Third Parties
We have in the past, and in the future may, enter into licensing agreements or collaborations with third parties licensing parts of our NAV Technology Platform for the development of product candidates. If these licensing arrangements or collaborations are not successful, our business could be harmed.
We have entered into agreements involving the licensing of parts of our NAV Technology Platform and relating to the development and commercialization of certain product candidates and plan to enter into additional licensing agreements or collaborations in the future. We have limited control over the amount and timing of resources that our current and future licensees and collaborators, including our NAV Technology Licensees, dedicate to the development or commercialization of product candidates or of products utilizing licensed components of our NAV Technology Platform. Our ability to generate revenues from these arrangements will depend on our and our licensees’ and collaborators’ abilities to successfully perform the functions assigned to each of us in these arrangements. In addition, our licensees and collaborators have the ability to abandon research or development projects and terminate applicable agreements. Moreover, an unsuccessful outcome in any clinical trial for which our licensee or collaborator is responsible could be harmful to the public perception and prospects of our NAV Technology Platform or product candidates.
Any current or future licensing agreements or future collaborations we enter into may pose additional risks, including the following:
•
subjects in clinical trials undertaken by licensees or future collaborators, including our NAV Technology Licensees, may suffer adverse effects, including death;
•
licensees or collaborators may not pursue development and commercialization of any product candidates that achieve regulatory approval or may elect not to continue or renew development or commercialization programs based on clinical trial results, changes in the licensees’ or collaborators’ strategic focus or available funding or external factors, such as an acquisition, that divert resources or create competing priorities;
•
we may not have access to, or may be restricted from disclosing, certain information regarding product candidates being developed or commercialized under a collaboration and, consequently, may have limited ability to inform our stockholders about the status of such product candidates;
•
licensees or collaborators could independently develop, or develop with third parties, products that compete directly or indirectly with our product candidates if the licensees or 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;
•
product candidates developed in collaboration with us may be viewed by our licensees or collaborators as competitive with their own product candidates or products, which may cause licensees or collaborators to cease to devote resources to the commercialization of our product candidates;
•
a licensee or collaborator with marketing and distribution rights to one or more of our product candidates that achieve regulatory approval may not commit sufficient resources to the marketing and distribution of any such product candidate;
•
licensees or collaborators may breach their reporting, payment, intellectual property or other obligations to us, which could prevent us from complying with our contractual obligations to GSK and Penn;
32
Table of Contents
•
disagreements with licensees or collaborators, including disagreements over intellectual property and other proprietary rights, payment obligations, contract interpretation or the preferred course of development of any product candidates, may cause delays or termination of the research, development or commercialization of such product candidates, may lead to additional responsibilities for us with respect to such product candidates or may result in litigation or arbitration, any of which would be time-consuming and expensive and could potentially lessen the value of such agreements and collaborations;
•
licensees or 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 our intellectual property or proprietary information or expose us to potential litigation;
•
disputes may arise with respect to the ownership of our other rights to intellectual property developed pursuant to our licensing agreements or collaborations;
•
licensees or collaborators may infringe or otherwise violate the intellectual property rights of third parties, which may expose us to litigation and potential liability; and
•
licensing agreements or collaborations may be terminated for the convenience of the licensee or collaborator and, if terminated, we could be required to raise additional capital to pursue further development or commercialization of the applicable product candidates.
If our licensing agreements or collaborations do not result in the successful development and commercialization of products, or if one of our licensees or collaborators terminates its agreement with us, we may not receive any future milestone or royalty payments, as applicable, under the license agreement or collaboration. If we do not receive the payments we expect under these agreements, our development of product candidates could be delayed and we may need additional resources to develop our product candidates. In addition, if one of our licensees or collaborators terminates its agreement with us, we may find it more difficult to attract new licensees or collaborators and the perception of us in the business and financial communities could be harmed. Each of our licensees and collaborators is subject to similar risks with respect to product development, regulatory approval and commercialization, and any such risk could result in its business being harmed, which could adversely affect our collaboration.
For example, we are currently in arbitration with Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (Abeona) regarding a dispute under the License Agreement dated November 4, 2018 between the Company and Abeona, as amended on November 4, 2019 (the License Agreement), Abeona was required to make a payment of $8.0 million to us no later than April 1, 2020. Abeona failed to make this payment and we therefore delivered to Abeona a written demand for payment and breach notice in April 2020. Upon expiration of the applicable cure period under the License Agreement, which expiration occurred on May 2, 2020, the License Agreement was terminated. Upon termination, all rights and licenses granted to Abeona under the License Agreement terminated and an additional $20.0 million fee that would have otherwise been due to us in November 2020 became payable within 15 days of the termination date. We have not yet received payment for any portion of the fees due from Abeona.
In May 2020, Abeona filed a claim in arbitration alleging that we breached certain responsibilities to communicate with Abeona regarding our prosecution of licensed patents under the License Agreement. We dispute Abeona’s claim and have filed a counterclaim in arbitration for the $28.0 million total unpaid fees, plus interest, which accrues at a rate of 1.5% per month under the License Agreement. We have not recorded any liabilities related to this matter, as we believe our risk of loss is remote. Additionally, we intend to enforce the collection of all amounts owed from Abeona and, based on our evaluation of the merits of the claims, we expect to receive payment in full upon the completion of arbitration. However, we may ultimately receive less than the full amount we believe we are owed, and the duration of the arbitration and the timing of payment from Abeona, if any, are unpredictable. Any such adverse result or delay in payment may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
We may in the future decide to partner or collaborate with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the development and potential commercialization of our product candidates. These relationships, or those like them, may require us to incur non-recurring and other charges, increase our near- and long-term expenditures, issue securities that dilute our existing stockholders or disrupt our management and business. In addition, we could face significant competition in seeking appropriate collaborators and the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex. Our ability to reach a definitive licensing agreement or collaboration agreement will depend, among other things, upon our assessment of the collaborator’s resources and expertise, the terms and conditions of the proposed collaboration and the proposed collaborator’s evaluation of a variety of factors. If we license rights to product candidates, we may not be able to realize the benefit of such transactions if we are unable to successfully integrate the licensed product candidates with our existing operations.
33
Table of Contents
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equit y Securities and Use of Proceeds.
None.
Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities.
None.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not Applicable.
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.